Concussion Healing Aided by Menstruation

Photo via askchiq.com  

               When you think of sports related concussions you probably think of men’s football, rugby, ice hockey, and other aggressive sports but, many wouldn’t jump to females suffering many concussions due to sports injuries as well. Well according to Dr. Bazarian at the University of Rochester Sport Concussion Clinic about 70% of the head injuries patients he sees are females. Women typically show longer recovery times than do men when faced with a head injury but, menstrual cycles could play a role in just how long.

                After receiving a head injury sex hormones are often immediately changed from the normal levels. This is due to the pituitary gland in the brain which can be shut down by a hit to the head. The pituitary gland is part of the endocrine system which releases several hormones such as luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) which are both important to the regular menstrual cycle of females (Discovery Communications, LLC. , 2013). The pituitary is often called

Photo via WebMD

the "master gland” because it can influence a majority of all the other glands in the body; it has the ability to manufacture and store hormones that can be released, causing the stimulation of other glands (Discovery Communications, LLC, 2013). Researchers have determined that if the pituitary gland no longer produces and releases FSH and LH then the levels of estrogen and progesterone in the body will drastically drop (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2013). FSH and LH are an important part of the menstrual cycle and greatly affect the release of progesterone, as can be seen in the chart shown below.

                The hormone progesterone is a hormone in the human body that is produced in the ovaries, in the placenta after implantation of a fetus, and by the adrenal glands (National Women's Health Resource Center, 2013). Progesterone is important in preparing the body for conception and is also responsible for maintaining a regular monthly menstrual cycle (National Women's Health Resource Center, 2013). As is shown in the diagram, when the levels of progesterone are high the uterine lining is thickening, preparing for implantation and if an egg is not fertilized and implanted the levels of progesterone quickly drop and the lining will be broken down and removed via menses (National Women's Health Resource Center, 2013). The menstrual cycle is broken into the two weeks prior to menstruation and the two weeks after, including the seven day menses. The point you are in this cycle proves to be viable information for females recovering from concussion and other head trauma related injuries.

       Bazarian and his team took 144 women from age 18 to 60 that had just experienced a head injury within the past four hours. These women gave blood samples as soon as they arrived and their progesterone levels were calculated determining the phase of the menstrual cycle they were currently in (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2013). Based on progesterone levels all 144 females were placed into three groups: the first was women who were in the premenstrual phase; their progesterone levels were high. The second group tested low for progesterone, which indicated they are postmenstrual (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2013). The third and final group was those who reported being on birth control pills which have synthesized progesterone hormones and females taking birth control pills receive a constant flow of hormones (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2013).

                The researchers and Bazarian came up with the “withdrawal hypothesis” before proceeding with any additional follow-up tests. This hypothesis stated that if a woman suffers a concussion during the premenstrual period her progesterone levels are high and after the injury they are drastically dropped leaving her with symptoms such as headaches, nausea, dizziness, and other uncomfortable side effects (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2013). But, if she suffers a concussion after her menstrual cycle her progesterone levels are already drastically reduced naturally so the effects previously stated won’t apply to these females because the progesterone isn’t dropping dramatically (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2013). This should cause females in the premenstrual group to suffer longer after their injury while postmenstrual females recover quicker.

After one month these same 144 females were brought back to do follow-up testing to see if the different phases of menstruation and progesterone levels have effects on the slow recovery time females endure after head injury. Standardized tests were used to assess the women for their concussion recovery and their quality of life; they were asked questions about their mobility, daily activities, and the pains they experience (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2013). The women who were in the premenstrual phase were twice as likely to score worse on these tests as the postmenstrual women and those on the pill. Women in the birth control group has the highest scores overall than the other groups. These results concur with Bazarian’s “withdrawal hypothesis” but further testing needs to be done to conclude that birth control pills are even more advantageous to female athletes. Birth control pills are already popular among female athletes because of the predictable periods and the added protection for bones; if this data is another plus for birth control pills it will be one more reason for female athletes to use them.

AskChiq. (2010, December 08). Concussion symptoms differ between girls and boys. Retrieved from http://askchiq.com/fitness_health/5588432 

Discovery Communications, LLC. (2013). What does the pituitary gland do?. Retrieved from http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/parts/what-does-pituitary-gland-do.htm

National Women's Health Resource Center. (2013). Progesterone overview. Retrieved from http://www.healthywomen.org/condition/progesterone

University of Rochester Medical Center (2013, November 13). Menstrual cycle influences concussion outcomes. ScienceDaily, Retrieved November 16, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131113130033.htm

WebMD. (2010, July 23). Pituitary gland. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/brain/pituitary-gland

Womack, L. (2013). Birth control and the female athlete. Retrieved from http://www.sportsmd.com/SportsMD_Articles/id/309.aspx

 

Autism and my future

A Child's Journey out of Autism by Leeann Whiffen

          Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a topic that is gaining popularity and backing through research. Countless studies are trying to crack the genetic mystery of where this disorder originates or what causes it. Are there factors prenatally that affect the outcome of autistic children? My interest in this particular disorder originated from a book I read a few years ago titled, A Child's Jorney out of Autism by Leeann Whiffen about her personal experience with her son Clay who was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The story was very inspirational about her triumphs and her struggle to get him better in every way and eventually off the spectrum entirely.

Autism Spectrum Disorder consists of a wide variety of symptoms and complex brain developmental disorders. Each child with ASD has their own set of symptoms and their own unique deficits, whether it be with social interactions, difficulties getting their words and feelings across, or performing acts repeatedly without cause (NINDS, 2013). Because of the complexity of the brain and the individualized deficits experienced within each individual makes getting to the bottom of the disorder harder than anyone anticipated. In the book, Clay showed severe ASD symptoms that included  gastrointestinal problems (GI); which according to a recent study at the UC Davis MIND Institute has found to be a common side effect to the behavioral symptoms of ASD (Science Daily, 2013). Behaviors including the social deficits, repetitiveness, and irritability are linked to the GI upsets including constipation, difficulty swallowing food and food sensitivities. In Clay’s case he was put on a strict gluten-free, daily-free diet and his food intake was monitored very closely by his mother, these changes weren’t easy to adjust to for Clay but, they eventually paid off when he was removed from the spectrum. Although Clay’s story is a success, there is still no research to back-up the research done at the UC Davis MIND Institute about the treatments of these prevalent GI problems in ASD children, the research only focused on the fact that there is a correlation between them.  

How common is ASD you may be wondering? According to statistics from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently 1 in 88 children born into the U.S. are diagnosed with an ASD (NINDS, 2013).  

Why does this interest me so much? I plan on becoming an occupational therapist for children in my career and many children that receive occupational therapy (OT) in the school system suffer from an autism spectrum disorder. In my experience shadowing at local elementary schools over the past year I’ve seen the effects of OT in the students that receive it. They play games and do crafts and get one-on-one attention that they might not get at home. These children love going to OT and they feel special that they get to go during class and do these things. I’ve always been the kind of person that tries everything to make someone else feel better, whether it’s saying the thing they need to hear, to being there for support, or anything else they need and experiencing the feeling that you made someone else feel better has always been something I strive for.

From the time I was a little girl all the way through high school I thought I wanted to teach elementary school kids, but when someone told me I would be good at doing occupational therapy I looked into it and I thought that person was right. I can’t wait until the day that my goals are achieved, the day I become an occupational therapist and start to make my mark on the World. I hope to experience the joy of helping children and hopefully getting the chance to specialize with those children with autism spectrum disorders. The research being done on the entire spectrum hopefully will provide some answers that will be of help to me in future years. For now I am simply fascinated by stories like Leeann, who gave up everything to help her son come off the autism spectrum.

         I highly recommend this book for anyone of any age it is truly inspiring.

NINDS. (2013, November 06). Autism fact sheet. Retrieved from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm

Science Daily. (2013, November 06). Children who have autism far more likely to have tummy troubles. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131106202237.htm

The Puzzle Place. (2005). The puzzle place foundation. Retrieved from

              http://www.thepuzzleplace.com/sponsors.html

Whiffen, L. (2013). Leeann whiffen. Retrieved from http://leeannwhiffen.com/

 

Sea turtles facing extinction

Photo Credit Morris, 2012

                               

            Throwing a soda bottle out the window, tossing an empty bag aside on a mid-morning stroll actions that both mean nothing at the time; you're just getting rid of garbage you don't want to carry. We've all done it before but not many of us think further into the future at what those simple actions will lead to. Before learning about sea turtles I wouldn't have thought twice about it but there are serious consequences for these careless acts.

            When it comes to sea turtles pollution is a serious problem for them as a species especially plastics that make their way into our oceans. Sea turtle often ingest these plastics mistaking them for food sources such as jellyfish, which often get mistaken for plastic bags floating in the water. When plastics such as this get digested there are chemicals released inside the turtle that produce gases giving turtles a symptom termed "bubble-butts" because they float (Carr, 2011) This side effect is often lethal to the sea turtles because they're rear ends float and they suffocate not being able to reach the surface (Carr, 2011).

            Plastics and chemicals aren't the only new problems sea turtles have to face, there are several man-made factors influencing their lives and making it a struggle. A major problem is the rise of coastal developments along beaches where sea turtles nest. There are a multitude of side effects from these establishments; one being the artificial light that is overcast onto the beach induces “false crawls” for the female turtle and they often don't nest on these beaches and choose less optimum places to nest (Magnuson, 1990). These lights also disorient hatchlings as they try to make their way to the sea, they don't see well on land and look for the horizon lights of the sea and when the artificial lights are brighter than the sea lights they sometimes crawl inward and get into traffic (Magnuson, 1990) The influx of people to the coastal areas also increases the amount of activity on the beach both during the day and during the night. Female sea turtles are very particular about where they nest and the conditions they need to have in order to do so. These include a completely quiet, dark place where they don't feel threatened or in danger (Carr, 2011). Humans on the beach at night don't allow the female sea turtle to feel safe so they retreat back to another beach to nest. Another consequence of humans living along the coast is the occurrence of beach furniture left behind by them (Carr, 2011). These cause unnatural obstacles for both female turtles trying to nest as well as the hatchlings trying to journey to sea and can even cause strangulation or predation to occur.

            Along with humans come they're domesticated pets like dogs and cats; these animals often roam free along the coast and become predators to sea turtles. They often wander along the coast during the night and come across a nesting female either in the process or making her way to a nesting spot. The presence of the dog, for example, will either make her retreat back or get attacked (Carr, 2011). With the success of finding the turtle the animal will return to that beach in hopes of finding another turtle and thus the beach is no longer a viable nesting ground for that specific turtle. The scent of trash left behind by humans during their beach lounging during the day invites creatures like raccoons, which aren’t natural predators of sea turtles, to the beach in search of food. Like with domesticated animals the raccoons will often find the turtles and continue coming back (Carr, 2011).

            Humans are a big problem when it comes to the sea turtles demise, but the good news is that human activities can be monitored and resolved. There’s no easy or quick fix for this problem but there is a slight chance of hope because the problem isn’t of natural causes. If the extinction of sea turtles was of natural causes due to say global climate change there would be nothing us humans could do for them. Thankfully there are already conservationists working to get laws enforced and countless turtle hospitals taking in sick turtles.

Visit the following links to learn more about sea turtle conservation and sea turtle hospitals.        

                                          Conservation Efforts         Turtle Hospital

 

 

Carr, A. (2011). Information about sea turtles, their habitats, and threats to survival. Retrieved from http://www.conserveturtles.org/
 

Magnuson, J. (1990). Decline of sea turtles. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press.

Morris, H. (2012, March 13). Sea turtle hatchling. Retrieved from http://calibermag.org/articles/should-animal-captivity-be-allowed/sea-turtle-hatchling/\

 

Estrogen gives females an advantage with stress

Photo Credit Greenfieldboyce, 2011

Females are superior to males; a fact that women have been scouring to prove for decades, even if for their own satisfaction or to just rub in it the faces of men. But, there may be certain key benefits for those of us with the ability to produce estrogen. A recent study from the University of Buffalo has been working to determine the protective effects of estrogen in the brains of female rats in response to stress. Overall females tend to show a better response or less of an adverse effect to stress and the underlying factor may be estrogen. You may say, “males have the ability to produce estrogen as well”, and although that statement is true the amounts of which are produced in both are drastically different. But, if males could produce or be given a safe way to produce or maintain estrogen in their brains they may have the same reaction to stress.

The original article "Estrogen protects against the detrimental effects of repeated stress on glutamatergic transmission and cognition" outlines the entire procedure done on the rats for this experiment. The researchers used several different methods of recording data from the rats being examined; the first was simple behavior testing. The rats were subject to temporal order recognition memory (TORM) tasks, which consisted of two sample phases and one test phase (Wei & Yuen, 2013). During the sample phases two plastic objects, of the same height and material, were shown to the rats and the rats were allowed to check out (Wei & Yuen, 2013). In each phase there were two different objects, but in the final test phase one object from the first phase and another from the second phase were used to test the rats short-term memory (Wei & Yuen, 2013). If everything is in working order within the rats brain, the rats will spend more time checking out the object from phase one because it has been the longest since it has seen it (Wei & Yuen, 2013). Another test used was actual slices of the experimental rats’ brains to examine closer into the physiological effects of stress.

The stressors of the experiment were preformed two-hours daily for five to seven days with the last happening about a day before test were going to be done on the individual rat (Wei & Yuen, 2013). The rats were placed in cylinder containers that were just barely big enough to contain the rat with minimal room to maneuver around within it (Wei & Yuen, 2013). This stimulated a stressful response in the rats given the confines of the space they were limited to compared to the space they were used to. After the stressed rats came out of the last round in the small containers a day was used as s rest period before the TORM tests began.

Female rats showed much better responses in all categories studies compared to male mice so the researchers wanted to look into the effects of estrogen specifically. The repeated stressors imposed on females showed to be the same as males when their estrogen signaling was blocked and the male rats exhibited behavior similar to females when their estrogen signaling was activated (Wei & Yuen, 2013). This experimentation shows a linkage between estrogen and the effects of stress.

The biology behind the estrogen receptors in the brain is focused on the glutamate receptors in the prefrontal cortexregion of the brain which is the outermost layer of brain matter directly behind the forehead, or frontal bone (Prefrontal cortex, 2013). This area is very important in complex cognitive processes such as memory and emotion (Prefrontal Cortex, 2013). Glutamate receptors are located in the prefrontal cortex and the neurotransmitter glutamate is essential to the central nervous system because of their properties as an excitatory transmitter (Danbolt, 2001). The normal functioning of glutamate neurotransmitters is important to human memory, cognition, and learning which are all very important to human activities (Danbolt, 2001).

In the study discussed researchers found that glutamate receptors in the prefrontal cortex of female rat brain slices examined were completely intact, but not intact in males (University at Buffalo, 2013). This gives researchers clues that the glutamate receptors are targets of stress causing a loss of function in that area which houses memory and cognition (University at Buffalo, 2013). In females the stressors aren’t as debilitating cognitively as is shown in males; therefore there is a protective factor at work here. The common thread is estrogen; scientists should now be working on a way to get the protective effects of estrogen into males without having harmful side effects. With that technology both males and females will be on an even playing field in terms of stress.  

Danbolt, N. (2001). Glutamate as a neurotransmitter-an overview . Retrieved from http://neurotransporter.org/glutamate.html

Greenfieldboyce, N. (2011, December 08). Cagebreak! rats will work to free a trapped pal. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2011/12/09/143304206/cagebreak-rats-will-work-to-free-a-trapped-pal

Prefrontal cortex. 2013. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved November 4, 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prefrontal%20cortex

University at Buffalo, (2013, July 11). Females respond better to stress becasue of estrogen in the brain, animal study finds.. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130710061824.htm

Wei, J., & Yuen, E. (2013). Estrogen protects against the detrimental effects of repeated stress on glutanatergic transmission and cognition. Molecular Psychiatry, 1-11. doi: 10.1038 Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/mp201383a.html