Neurotransmitters Flow in this Autism Mind

The Neurotransmitter Showdown: GABA v Glutamate in the Courtroom.

The Neurotransmitter Showdown: GABA v Glutamate in the Courtroom.

GABA: Good day, Glutamate. How do you plead today?

Glutamate: Not guilty Your Honor. My actions were justified.

GABA: Oh, please. You know that you always overexcite the receptors and cause chaos in the brain.

Glutamate: That's simply untrue. I only activate the NMDA, AMPA, and kainate receptors as needed.

GABA: Needed?

Your excessive activation of those receptors leads to seizures and neurotoxicity and not to mention hyperactivity, mood swings, social communication challenges, and sensory dysfunction in autistics.

You are totally implicated in the Excitatory-Inhibition Imbalance theory in autism.

Hari: You Said It, GABA!! Tell it like it is.

Judge (pounding table with mallet): Order in the court! The audience is not allowed to speak.

Hari: Your Honor, I was not speaking out loud. It was all in my mind.

Judge: But we are in your mind so everyone here can hear you.

Hari: Oh, Ok. Then I'll go off and take a nap.

Judge. Thank you Hari.

(Pounding with mallet) Order! Order!I call order in the courtroom!

While no single theory fully explains all aspects of autism, each attempts to provide insights into different cognitive and behavioral characteristics.

ECCT posits that individuals with autism have difficulties with contextual control, which is the ability to modulate behavior based on the context. This can be related to challenges in executive function and flexibility.
Implications: Difficulty in adjusting behavior to suit different social contexts, rigidity in thought processes, and a tendency toward repetitive behaviors.

27 Genetic Variants Linked to ADHD

https://neurosciencenews.com/genetics-adhd-22476/

"imbalance in dopamine in the brains of people with ADHD is partly attributable to genetic risk factors"

"7,300 common genetic variants that increase the risk of ADHD. It is particularly interesting that the vast majority of these variants—84-98 percent—also have an influence on other mental disorders, e.g. autism, depression and schizophrenia"

Serenity is the harmony that comes with being in balance.

Informal Removals

This is so deja vu for me.

Never mind even the struggles involved in getting access to general ed classrooms,

even special education classrooms only want the Good Patients.

=================

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/us/students-disabilities-informal-removal.html?fbclid=IwAR36fyuIXrWPV7QZMxdeHt_HPxYJy9___BwxYS0k7YIEKBarCdHdrxEAW4U

"During her son’s elementary years, Ms. LaVigne was called almost daily to pick him up hours early because he was having “a bad day.” By middle school, he was only attending an hour a day..."

"...tactic that schools... use to remove challenging students with disabilities from class. The removals — which can include repeated dismissals in the middle of the day or shortening students’ education to a few hours a week."

"In a report last year, the National Disability Rights Network, a national nonprofit established by Congress more than four decades ago, found informal removals occurring hundreds and perhaps thousands of times per year as “off-the-book suspensions.” The report said the removals also included “transfers to nowhere,” when students are involuntarily sent to programs that do not exist."

"The removals largely escape scrutiny because schools are not required to report them in the same manner as formal suspensions and expulsions, making them difficult to track and their impact hard to measure."

"continuation of the practice sends a terrible message to students and to school communities about which students deserve an education.”

Cellular Neuroscience

Last semester was systems neuroscience, this semester is cellular neuroscience.

What's interesting is the way the course is organized. It's very different from what I'm used to. Every week we get a different professor teaching the class on a different topic followed by a Friday quiz on that topic. Of course the other parts are there like a midterm, final and a class presentation. While the class feels a bit disjointed with a new professor this week (autism & change are not the best of bedfellows), its also kinda cool to be taught a topic by a someone researching that area specifically. They know the topic absolutely inside out. But the quizzes are tough!!

Wk 5: Synaptic Plasticity with Prof Roger Colbran (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics)

Wk4: Voltage Gated Ion Channels and Presynaptic Calcium Channels. If last week was glutamate receptors, this week its GABA receptors with Prof David Jacobson (Molecular Physiology & Biophysics).

Wk2-3 Presynaptic & Postsynaptic specialization: Prof Ege Kavalali (Pharmacology) and Prof Teru Nakagawa (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics)

Wk1: Electrophysiology : This week was Bioelectricity of Neurons with Jerod Denton (Anesthesiology). After all, electrophysiology forms the basis of how the nervous system works, it determines how we interact with our environment, how we process that information in the nervous system and how we respond (hopefully appropriately?). And I loved how he said we should be so comfortable with it that we can strike up a casual conversation on the topic at the next VBI (Vanderbilt Brain Institute) meet.

A lot of material is covered in each class. Interesting, a maze and tough all at once.

Some poems being inspired by the neuroscience I'm learning.

Woody Vine Dance

Gale tosses the woody vines of tall trees.

Strong wind and rustling leaves.

Nature roars, unrelenting crescendo

Rustic music and Woody Vine dance.

Equanimity is the gentle acceptance of ourselves and others

Towards a more humane society. #MentalHealth. Contemplation, one line a day.

Equanimity is the non-judgmental awareness of our thoughts and emotions

Towards a more humane society. #MentalHealth. Contemplation, one line a day.

16 of 118

16 of the 118 elements. Go Bears!! I have the Berkelium t-shirt.

I laughed when i saw the last hashtag. Cal and Stanford have this friendly rivalry going on which is most evident at Big Game (annual football game). Like a former therapist (had been a student at Stanford when working with me), was overjoyed that I got into Cal, with the caveat of "except during Big Game."