Discover Magazine

The new Discover magazine arrived and I read through it last evening after supper. On page 19, there was a small article, "The Origin of Schizophrenia", which cited a new study suggesting that the disorder is related to "the process of neuron creation". A disrupted gene causes new neurons to migrate to the wrong places within the brain, causing connections between parts of the brain that shouldn't be connected to each other. Interesting. It may explain the feeling that the world is speaking to you.......you notice too many little things in the world around you and you take them too personally. Your brain simply has mixed up wiring. But, then again, maybe some of the greatest human creativity over the ages can be attributed to mixed up brain wiring.

On page 24, there is a fascinating map of disease connections, developed by researchers at Columbia University. They gathered info from 1.5 million people with 161 different diseases. Here's one of the findings: "......some diseases were found to compete with one another. Women with breast cancer, for example, were not likely to have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and vice versa."

And on page 58, an article entitled, "Can We Cure Aging?", talks about the ongoing research into inflammation as the root cause of the adverse effects of aging. I remember studying the inflammatory process back in nursing school years ago. Here is my view: The inflammatory process is like the fire department of your body........it responds big time when your body is injured in any way, large or small. Think about fire trucks.......as they rush along on roads and streets, over time those byways will become worn out from all the traffic. Combatting aging will involve maintaining the infrastructure of the roads and streets in our bodies. The key to good aging may be to protect the body from the effects of its own protective mechanisms!

Discover magazine is always informative and interesting!!

Whoa......the Schwans truck and the milktruck are in a traffic jam out in our farmyard, and the vet just arrived to possibly do surgery on Barbie the Barbarian's twisted stomach.