Scientist explains how Omega-3 could give you more than a natural highWE ARE told that Omega-3 is good for our health but a researcher has found it has another effect – boosting the impact of cannabis in those who use it.Prof Roger Pertwee of the University of Aberdeen has also discovered a way to dial, either up or down, the body’s response to cannabis and other substances that chemically act the same way in the body. His work represents just one of about 250 scientific events and presentations taking place this week in Birmingham at Aston University during the British Science Festival 2010.It will bring 350 leading scientists from around the world to Birmingham where they will meet the public and explain their varied research work.Always entertaining and eclectic, the festival is one of the biggest “public understanding of science” events in the world. Its organisers in the British Science Association expect up to 75,000 people between today and the festival’s close next Sunday 19th September.There is also a separate schools programme that will see about 3,000 students attending events during the festival.“Better lives through science” is the theme chosen for the 2010 event and this theme was addressed at the press launch by the president of British Science Association, Lord Sainsbury.He stressed the importance of helping the public to understand the issues surrounding scientific research. He mentioned as an example the controversy sparked by genetically modified foods despite the benefits this technology could deliver in terms of world hunger.The press launch also included a tempting selection of the presentations that will feature during the festival, including Prof Pertwee’s work with cannabis and its chemical response in the body.In a second presentation, Dr Craig Jackson of Birmingham City University offered a controversial view about the failure of initiatives meant to help capture serial killers. In particular, Dr Jackson was dismissive of forensic psychology and behavioural profiling, saying they were at best harmless but at worst misleading and unhelpful to murder detectives.These techniques had been popularised on television and in films and yet they offered little or no value to those attempting to track down the serial killer.In another presentation, Dr Ross Hatton of the University of Warwick described his efforts to develop more efficient solar cells. The sun could deliver far more energy than any other source, provided a way was developed to convert sunlight into electricity.Dr Hatton has developed a new way to do this using “see-through metal films”. These gold films would be lightweight, flexible and tough, and could be integrated into everyday objects such as tables or bags to charge up your mobile phone or mp3 player.http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0914/1224278831362.html
Omega-3 & cannabis stave off Alzheimer’sIt seems that the lifestyle one leads is a major factor determining the probability that a person will suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease in their twilight years. In recent months, various studies have provided evidence that apple juice, a Mediterranean diet, cabernet sauvignon and curry can either reduce the likelehood of developing Alzheminer’s or reverse the cognitive impairment which is symptomatic of the disease. To that list we can now add omega-3 oils. And marijuana.Yvonne Freund-Levi and her colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden report that a diet supplemented with omega-3 oils may slow the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s Disease.Omega-3 oils are polyunsaturated fatty acids found in abundance in oily fish such as salmon, mackeral and herring. They are classified as essential because they cannot be synthesized by the body but instead have to be obtained from food.In a year-long randomized doule-blind study, 204 Alzheimer’s patients were given either 1.7 g of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and 0.6 g of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on a daily basis for 6 months a placebo. All the patients were already being treated with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.At the end of the 6-month period, the levels of cognitive impairment in all the patients was then tested using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Omega-3 oils were seen to have a significant effect on the performance of one sub-group of 32 patients with very mild cognitive dysfunction, in which cognitive decline was delayed. The effect was not observed in patients with more advanced Alzheimer’s symptoms.“To our knowledge, this…is the first to be published on the effects of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation…for Alzheimers disease,” writes Freund-Levi in the Annals of Neurology paper in which the study is described. “Our study indicated that the omega-3 fatty acid preparation conferred a slower decline of cognition in those with the mildest impairment compared with placebo control subjects with a similar degree of cognitive dysfunction at the start of the study.”It is unclear how omega-3 oils may act to prevent the advance of Alzeimer’s, but Freund-Levi speculates that it may have something to do with their anti-inflammatory properties. Furthermore, as Freund-Levi points out, the improved performance of the patients with mild cognitive impairments may have been due to practice rather than the effects of omega-3 oils.At the Scripps Institute, researchers have shown that delta-9 tetrahydracannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, inhibits acetylcholinesterase (AChE) more effectively than several approved drugs which are being prescribed to Alzheimer’s patients.The neurodegeneration that occurs in Alzheimer’s severely damages cholinergic pathways (ones that use the neurotransmitter actylcholine) in the brain. Hence, drugs such as propidium and donepezil, which block the actions of AChE, the enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine once it has been released from nerve terminals, are prescribed to Alzheimer’s patients. By preventing the degradation of the transmitter, its actions are prolonged, and the consequences of the degeneration alleviated somewhat. AChE acts as a molecular chaperone during the deposition of misfolded amyloid-beta, which causes the formation of plaques that are characterisitic of Alzheimer’s. While carrying out biochemical assays, the Scripps Institute researchers observed that THC was more effective than other AChE inhibitors in preventing the AChE-induced aggregation of plaques. THC binds to a different site on the enzyme, and the inhibition required far lower concentrations of THC than of the approved AChE inhibitors.“In a test against propidium, one of the most effective inhibitors reported to date, THC blocked AChE-induced aggregation completely, while the propidium did not,” says Kim Janda, the chemistry professor who led the study. “Although our study is far from final, it does show that there is a previously unrecognized molecular mechanism through which THC may directly affect the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.”The findings, which are published in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics, may eventually lead to an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s. Although marijuana is prescribed for medicinal purposes in a small number of cases, it is illegal in the U.S. and the U.K., and Janda emphasises that he does not advocate its use.http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/10/11/omega3-oils-marijuana-may-stave-off-alzheimers/
>>254626 >blog
Interesting, thanks OP.
stoners think that smoking weed will prevent mental illnesses lol
>>254639I've known schizophrenics whose symptoms abate when they get high.>Of the 23 studies that were found, 14 reported that the cannabis users had better cognitive performance than the schizophrenia non-users.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2786315/Of course, its also a major risk factor for developing sz in the first place...
>>254650it's also solved by killing yourself.