The Trouble with Traumatized Girls

Rita Dove, “Primer for the Nuclear Age”, Collected Poems 1974-2004

Dr. Carmel Harrington, the lead researcher for the study, was one of these parents. Her son unexpectedly and suddenly died as an infant 29 years ago. (...) Harrington explained what she was told about the cause of her child’s death. 

"Nobody could tell me. They just said it's a tragedy. But it was a tragedy that didn't sit well with my scientific brain.” 

Since then, she’s worked to find the cause of SIDS, both for herself and for the medical community as a whole. She went on to explain why this discovery is so important for parents whose babies suffered from SIDS. 

"These families can now live with the knowledge that this was not their fault," she said.

A weak heart makes a suffering brain

Heart problems cause disturbed gene activity in the brain’s memory center, from which cognitive deficits arise. Researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) and the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) come to this conclusion based on laboratory studies. They consider that they have found a possible cause for the increased risk of dementia in people with heart problems. In mice, a specific drug which is known to affect gene activity alleviated the mental deficits. The involved experts see these results as potential approaches for therapies. The study data are published in the scientific journal “EMBO Molecular Medicine”.

In Germany, about four million people are affected by what is called “heart failure”: Their heart muscle is too weak to pump enough blood through the body and is therefore abnormally enlarged. Physical fitness and quality of life suffer as a result. Moreover, affected individuals have an increased risk of developing dementia. “People with cardiological problems and heart failure in particular may experience noticeable cognitive deficits and increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Possible reasons include impaired blood supply to the brain and dysfunction of the hippocampus, which is the memory’s control center,” explained André Fischer, research group leader at the DZNE’s Göttingen site and professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at UMG. “Yet, there is a lack of therapies to effectively treat cognitive deficits in people with heart problems. This is because it is completely unclear which deficiencies are triggered in neurons. There was no data on this so far.”

Stressed Cells

Now, a team led by Prof. André Fischer and Prof. Karl Toischer (Clinic of Cardiology and Pneumology at UMG and DZHK’s Göttingen site) is presenting findings on this subject for the first time. The researchers observed in mice that impaired gene activity developed in the hippocampus as a result of heart problems. “In memory tests, mice with heart failure performed significantly worse than their healthy mates,” Fischer explained. “We then examined the neurons of the hippocampus. In the mice with heart failure, we found increased cellular stress pathways and altered gene activity in neurons.”

Tight Windings

The genome of a mouse - and also of humans - comprises around 20,000 genes. In any given cell, however, only a part of them is active, switched on, so to speak. This is not a mere on or off state: the activity can be strong or less strong. This depends, among other things, on how tightly the DNA (the thread-like molecule that carries the genome) is wound and how accessible the genes on it are. In both mice and humans, the DNA is more than a meter long. But in a cell, the molecule is so tightly packed that it fits into the nucleus. “Genes can only be active if they are accessible to the cell’s machinery. To this end, the DNA needs to be wound a little more loosely at the relevant sites. This is similar to a ball of yarn with loops sticking out of it,” said Fischer. In the current study, the DNA was found to be more tightly wound in neurons of mice with heart problems than in healthy mates. Various genes important for hippocampal function were therefore less active than in healthy mice.

A Drug Improved Memory

The scientists identified chemical changes in the histones as the cause of the tight winding. Histones are special proteins: The DNA wraps around them, much like yarn around a spool of thread. Fischer’s research group has been studying histones and other players that influence gene activity for quite some time - in technical jargon they are called “epigenetic mechanisms”. In this context, the researchers are also investigating drugs. In previous studies, they were able to show that the cancer drug “vorinostat” can alleviate genetically driven as well as age-related memory problems in mice. Currently, vorinostat is being investigated for the therapy of people with Alzheimer’s in a clinical trial of the DZNE. In the current study, the scientists treated mice with heart failure with this drug. They found that the heart’s pumping capacity did not change significantly, but memory performance improved.

Interdisciplinary Cooperation

I wanted a series to do, not only to practice with my new art program but also to get my artist juices flowing. I eventually landed on of all things the periodic table. I decided to start at Hydrogen and go on from there. I'm not gonna preplan anything I'm just gonna open Wikipedia learn about the element and draw as I go.

I think it's going well so far.

Hydrogen was the first element formed in the big bang. It is colorless and orderless. When burned the flame appears as a pale blue color but as the flame rises it shifts to an almost mauve shade. When a charge is past through it has a very vibrant pink color.

Hydrogen means 'water-former' in Greek. It is a key component of water and most organic compounds. It is also insanely reactive and highly explosive. It is non-metallic, but actually plays a role in metallurgy.

One night he was writing something and his wife noticed he was writing from right to left.  Since she was studying occupational therapy she realized he had a learning disability and started working with him.  He slowly began to learn to read, and at 26 got his GED and went to college.

His first year of college he took the lowest level math course he could take, 001.  Over the years he worked on learning what he needed to, ended up graduating with a biology degree.  He then went on to get his masters and PhD, graduating at the top of his class.  He is now an extremely accomplished biologist and professor.

Also in there: therapist, early childhood educator, then finally: web developer–because by then it was an actual thing that existed. I didn’t actually figure out what I “wanted to do when I grew up” until about eight years ago, when I was 36. I tried pursuing writing when I was 30, stopped, then started pursuing it seriously again when I was 40.