Jul 24, 2024 04:04 PM
(This post was last modified: Jul 24, 2024 06:55 PM by C C.)
How placebos trick the brain into reducing pain
https://gizmodo.com/scientists-identify-...2000477943
INTRO: The placebo effect—one of the most well-known neural pain relief phenomena—has remained poorly understood for centuries. In an important development, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tricked a bunch of mice into expecting some relief when there wasn’t any, and in doing so, they identified a specific brain circuit that appears to play a crucial role in this process.
The effect, in which a patient shows improvement in their condition despite being given a substance with no actual medicinal properties, has been well documented going back to the 18th century. While previous experiments established that activity in certain parts of the brain correlated with the placebo effect, the exact mechanism for how it works remains a bit of a puzzle.
Sure, when a patient responds to a placebo intended to relieve their pain, brain imaging shows activity in the anterior cingulate cortex—a region associated with processing pain—but this explanation remains somewhat vague. The UNCCH scientists believe they’ve narrowed down how this all works... (MORE - details)
RELATED (wikipedia): Madstone (folklore)
Undigested fruit, chewing gum and hair – the stony masses that might be growing in your stomach
https://theconversation.com/undigested-f...ach-232688
EXCERPT: The name bezoar is a derivative of both the Persian and Arabic languages, translating as “antidote” and “against poisons” – which is probably where J.K. Rowling got her inspiration. But many Harry Potter readers may not have realised that bezoars aren’t just a product of Rowling’s imagination.
And while it’s true they can be found in the stomachs of goats and other animals, humans can also develop bezoars – albeit rarely – in their stomachs, intestines, gullets and even windpipes.
Bezoars range in size and weight. In July 2024, a 16-inch mass of hair, weighing two pounds, was surgically removed from a 24-year-old woman’s stomach in Manabi, Ecuador. In March 2024, doctors in Newcastle removed a 6-inch hairball from the stomach of a seven-year-old girl. According to reports, it covered 80% of her bowel.
Bezoars are often stony in their appearance, and can be made up of any material that won’t be digested and absorbed through the gut wall. As a result, the material accumulates inside the lumen – the hollow space – of the gut, gradually increasing in size.
It takes certain conditions for someone to develop a bezoar – usually eating indigestible material while having a slow-moving digestive system, which means they are unable to move the material along the gut and out as faeces. There’s a wide range of bezoar types... (MORE - missing details)
Bezoar ... https://youtu.be/njszAcJ9lGo
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/njszAcJ9lGo
https://gizmodo.com/scientists-identify-...2000477943
INTRO: The placebo effect—one of the most well-known neural pain relief phenomena—has remained poorly understood for centuries. In an important development, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tricked a bunch of mice into expecting some relief when there wasn’t any, and in doing so, they identified a specific brain circuit that appears to play a crucial role in this process.
The effect, in which a patient shows improvement in their condition despite being given a substance with no actual medicinal properties, has been well documented going back to the 18th century. While previous experiments established that activity in certain parts of the brain correlated with the placebo effect, the exact mechanism for how it works remains a bit of a puzzle.
Sure, when a patient responds to a placebo intended to relieve their pain, brain imaging shows activity in the anterior cingulate cortex—a region associated with processing pain—but this explanation remains somewhat vague. The UNCCH scientists believe they’ve narrowed down how this all works... (MORE - details)
RELATED (wikipedia): Madstone (folklore)
Undigested fruit, chewing gum and hair – the stony masses that might be growing in your stomach
https://theconversation.com/undigested-f...ach-232688
EXCERPT: The name bezoar is a derivative of both the Persian and Arabic languages, translating as “antidote” and “against poisons” – which is probably where J.K. Rowling got her inspiration. But many Harry Potter readers may not have realised that bezoars aren’t just a product of Rowling’s imagination.
And while it’s true they can be found in the stomachs of goats and other animals, humans can also develop bezoars – albeit rarely – in their stomachs, intestines, gullets and even windpipes.
Bezoars range in size and weight. In July 2024, a 16-inch mass of hair, weighing two pounds, was surgically removed from a 24-year-old woman’s stomach in Manabi, Ecuador. In March 2024, doctors in Newcastle removed a 6-inch hairball from the stomach of a seven-year-old girl. According to reports, it covered 80% of her bowel.
Bezoars are often stony in their appearance, and can be made up of any material that won’t be digested and absorbed through the gut wall. As a result, the material accumulates inside the lumen – the hollow space – of the gut, gradually increasing in size.
It takes certain conditions for someone to develop a bezoar – usually eating indigestible material while having a slow-moving digestive system, which means they are unable to move the material along the gut and out as faeces. There’s a wide range of bezoar types... (MORE - missing details)
Bezoar ... https://youtu.be/njszAcJ9lGo