Researchers have found evidence of drug use during Bronze Age ceremonies.
Analysis of strands of human hair from a burial site in Menorca, Spain, indicates ancient human civilisations used hallucinogenic drugs derived from plants.
Writing in the Scientific Reports journal, the authors said: “As early as the Paleolithic period, humans came across the non-food properties of certain plants. “Considering the potential toxicity of the alkaloids found in the hair, their handling, use and applications represented highly-specialised knowledge.
It is thought these drug plants may have been used as part of ritual ceremonies performed by a shaman.
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Association of Brain Age, Lesion Volume, and Functional Outcome in Patients With StrokeBackground and objectives: Functional outcomes after stroke are strongly related to focal injury measures. However, the role of global brain health is less clear. Here, we examined the impact of brain age, a measure of neurobiological aging derived from whole brain structural neuroimaging, on post-stroke outcomes, with a focus on sensorimotor performance. We hypothesized that more lesion damage would result in older brain age, which would in turn be associated with poorer outcomes. Related, we expected that brain age would mediate the relationship between lesion damage and outcomes. Finally, we hypothesized that structural brain resilience, which we define in the context of stroke as younger brain age given matched lesion damage, would differentiate people with good versus poor outcomes. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study using a multi-site dataset of 3D brain structural MRIs and clinical measures from ENIGMA Stroke Recovery. Brain age was calculated from 77 neuroanatomical features using a ridge regression model trained and validated on 4,314 healthy controls. We performed a three-step mediation analysis with robust mixed-effects linear regression models to examine relationships between brain age, lesion damage, and stroke outcomes. We used propensity score matching and logistic regression to examine whether brain resilience predicts good versus poor outcomes in patients with matched lesion damage. Results: We examined 963 patients across 38 cohorts. Greater lesion damage was associated with older brain age (β=0.21; 95% CI 0.04,0.38, P=0.015), which in turn was associated with poorer outcomes, both in the sensorimotor domain (β=-0.28; 95% CI: -0.41,-0.15, P |0.001) and across multiple domains of function (β=-0.14; 95% CI: -0.22,-0.06, P |0.001). Brain age mediated 15% of the impact of lesion damage on sensorimotor performance (95% CI: 3%,58%, P=0.01). Greater brain resilience explained why people have better outcomes, given matched lesion d
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This Orchestra Is Connecting Local Scientists Through Their Love of MusicTwo women working in the sciences in the Boston area wanted to build connections among other workers in the local industry. So they started an orchestra for workers, who are also musicians, to join. Five years later, the Kendall Square Orchestra is creating harmony across the STEM industry in Greater Boston, particularly Cambridge, and raising money for science-related causes. “Towards…
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