Phantom Limbs

I have a friend who happens to be in the military and has come to know some friends who have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with the war in the Middle East. Yes, they have seen the worse and also have experienced the worse especially if they have had an arm or leg amputated due to gun shots or explosive devices. I've heard him tell me on different occasions how his friends experience the phantom limb pain.

The phantom limb is a continuing sensation of an amputated body part. These sensations may only occur if the relevant portion of the somatosensory cortex recognizes and is responsive to alternative inputs. The mirror therapy can apparently used to relieve the pain that people experience because it tricks their brain into thinking that the amputated leg or arm is actually the one doing the movements as well. I would think it would be because of the current sensations are binding with the memories of previous experiences. The synapse that used to receive input from the new amputated part become vacant is what makes the phantom limb sensation. Axons representing another part of the body take over those synapses.

 I happened to find a video that demonstrated this kind of therapy that is being done on soldier who has had their leg amputated.

 

Blood -Brian Barrier

The blood -brain barrier is very important to our health. The purpose for it is to protect the nervous system from and viruses and other dangerous chemicals with a wall of cells that surround the blood vessels of the brain and spinal cord. However this only works if the virus infects a skin or blood cell, because there are other viruses, such as rabies, that can enter the nervous system and make their way into the brain leading to death. In the case of this video it shows how lead is able to pass through the cell wall and into the brain causing brain damage:

I came across a newsletter where there has been research done on drugs that allow it to reach the brain and can have a huge impact for people with Alzheimer's or brain cancer. It can be a huge step forward to help with these certain viruses that can slowly but surely lead to death.  

Animal Research

I personally have never been either for or against the animal research. It never really bothered me, and as I read from the readings, I would have considered myself as a "minimalist" as well, as long as the animals were not experiencing any harm/distress and follow the rules and regulations that are available when testing is being done on animals. This would make plenty of sense to me if procedures were done correctly but unfortunately not all facilities that do testing on animals follow such regulations.

 As I visited the PETA website it did bring up some questions while viewing a video on primates that were being held in a laboratory. It made my stomach turn as I saw the video, some may not think it's that bad, but I sure wouldn't appreciate if they stuck tubes down my nose and throat and had me tied down while they injected me with drugs. I certainly felt bad for the monkeys especially when they stuffed one into a big tube with such force, that it looked like they were going to break their necks and arms. Now I'm on the edge of such studies that can be done to help humans in the field of medicine, even though if it were to be completed stopped there would be a major setback for medical reasons.