19:45 | 
Publicada por
Luis Guerreiro
sexta-feira, 8 de janeiro de 2010
Dr. Doug Graham: Nutrition and Physical Performance (2005)
Doug Graham, D.C., speaking at the first annual OranicAthlete conference held September 24, 2005 in San Francisco California. Information about OrganicAthlete is at http://www.OrganicAthlete.org
quinta-feira, 7 de janeiro de 2010
VS VIDEO: Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped civilization
Neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran outlines the fascinating functions of mirror neurons. Only recently discovered, these neurons allow us to learn complex social behaviors, some of which formed the foundations of human civilization as we know it.
I'd like to talk to you today about the human brain,which is what we do research on at the University of California. Just think about this problem for a second. Here is a lump of flesh, about three pounds, which you can hold in the palm of your hand. But it can contemplate the vastness of interstellar space. It can contemplate the meaning of infinity, ask questions about the meaning of its own existence, about the nature of God.
And this is truly the most amazing thing in the world. It's the greatest mystery confronting human beings: How does this all come about? Well, the brain, as you know, is made up of neurons. We're looking at neurons here. There are 100 billion neurons in the adult human brain. And each neuron makes something like 1,000 to 10,000 contacts with other neurons in the brain. And based on this, people have calculated that the number of permutations and combinations of brain activity exceeds the number of elementary particles in the universe.
So, how do you go about studying the brain? One approach is to look at patients who had lesions in different part of the brain, and study changes in their behavior. This is what I spoke about in the last TED. Today I'll talk about a different approachwhich is to put electrodes in different parts of the brain, and actually record the activity of individual nerve cells in the brain. Sort of evesdrop on the activity of nerve cells in the the brain.
Now, one recent discovery that has been made by researchers in Italy, in Parma, by Giacomo Rizzolatti and his colleagues, is a group of neurons called mirror neurons, which are on the front of the brain in the frontal lobes. Now, it turns out there are neurons which are called ordinary motor command neurons in the front of the brain,which have been known for over 50 years. These neurons will fire when a person performs a specific action. For example, if I do that, and reach and grab an apple, a motor command neuron in the front of my brain will fire. If I reach out and pull and object, another neuron will fire, commanding me to pull that object. These are called motor command neurons that have been known for a long time.
But what Rizzolatti found was a subset of these neurons, maybe about 20 percent of them, will also fire when I'm looking at somebody else performing the same action. So, here is a neuron that fires when I reach and grab something, but it also fires when I watch Joe reaching and grabbing something. And this is truly astonishing. Because it's as though this neuron is adopting the other person's point of view. It's almost as though it's performing a virtual reality simulation of the other person's action.
Now, what is the significance of these mirror neurons? For one thing they must be involved in things like imitation and emulation. Because to imitate a complex act requires my brain to adopt the other person's point of view. So, this is important of imitation and emulation. Well, why is that important? Well, let's take a look at the next slide. So, how do you do imitation? Why is imitation important? Mirror neurons and imitation, emulation.
Now, let's look at culture, the phenomenon of human culture. If you go back in time about [75,000] to 100,000 years ago, let's look at human evolution, it turns out that something very important happened around 75,000 years ago. And that is, there is a sudden emergence and rapid spread of a number of skills that are unique to human beings like tool use, the use of fire, the use of shelters, and, of course, language, and the ability to read somebody else's mind and interpret that person's behavior. All of that happened relatively quickly.
Even though the human brain had achieved its present size almost three or four hundred thousand years ago, 100,000 years ago all of this happened very very quickly. And I claim that what happened was the sudden emergence of a sophisticated mirror neuron system, which allowed you to emulate and imitate other people's actions. So that when there was a sudden accidental discovery by one member of the group, say the use of fire, or a particular type of tool, instead of dying out this spread rapidly, horizontally across the population, or was transmitted vertically, down the generations.
So, this made evolution suddenly Lamarckian,instead of Darwinian. Darwinian evolution is slow; it takes hundreds of thousands of years. A polar bear, to evolve a coat, will take thousands of generations, maybe 100,000 years. A human being, a child, can just watch its parent kill another polar bear, and skin it and put the skin on its body, fur on the body, and learn it in one step. What the polar bear took 100,000 years to learn, it can learn in five minutes, maybe 10 minutes. And then once it's learned this it spreads in geometric proportion across a population.
This is the basis. The imitation of complex skills is what we call culture and is the basis of civilization.Now there is another kind of mirror neuron, which is involved in something quite different. And that is, there are mirror neurons, just as there are mirror neurons for action, there are mirror neurons for touch. In other words, if somebody touches me, my hand, neuron in the somatosensory cortex in the sensory region of the brain fires. But the same neuron, in some cases will fire when I simply watch another person being touched. So, it's empathizing the other person being touched.
So, most of them will fire when I'm touched in different locations. Different neurons for different locations. But a subset of them will fire even when I watch somebody else being touched in the same location. So, here again you have neurons which are enrolled in empathy. Now, the question then arises: If I simply watch another person being touched, why do I not get confused and literally feel that touch sensation merely by watching somebody being touched? I mean, I empathize with that person but I don't literally feel the touch.Well, that's because you've got receptors in your skin, touch and pain receptors, going back into your brain and saying don't worry, you're not being touched. So, empathize, by all means, with the other person. but do not actually experience the touch otherwise you'll get confused and muddled.
Okay, so there is a feedback signal that vetos the signal of the mirror neuron preventing you from consciously experiencing that touch. But if you remove the arm, you simply anesthetize my arm,so you put an injection into my arm, anesthetize the brachial plexus, so the arm is numb, and there is no sensations coming in, if I now watch you being touched, I literally feel it in my hand. In other words, you have dissolved the barrier between you and other human beings. So, I call them Gandhi neurons, or empathy neurons. (Laughter)
And this is not in some abstract metaphorical sense, all that's separating you from him, from the other person, is your skin. Remove the skin, you experience that person's touch in your mind. You've dissolved the barrier between you and other human beings. And this, of course is the basis of much of Eastern philosophy, And that is there is no real independent self, aloof from other human beings, inspecting the world, inspecting other people. You are in fact, connected not just via Facebook, and Internet, you're actually quite literally connected by your neurons. And there is whole chains of neurons around this room, talking to each other. And there is no real distinctiveness of your consciousness from somebody else's consciousness.
And this is not mumbo-jumbo philosophy. It emerges from our understanding of basic neuroscience. So, you have a patient with a phantom limb. If the arm has been removed and you have a phantom, and you watch somebody esle being touched, you feel it in your phantom.Now the astonishing thing is, if you have pain in your phantom limb, you squeeze the other person's hand, massage the other person's hand,that relieves the pain in your phantom hand,almost as though the neuron were obtaining relief from merely watching somebody else being massaged.
So, here you have my last slide. For the longest time people have regarded science and humanities as being distinct. C.P. Snow spoke of the two cultures: science on the one hand, humanities on the other; never the twain shall meet. So, I'm saying the mirror neuron system lies the interface allowing you to rethink about issues like consciousness, representation of self, what separates you from other human beings, what allows you to empathize with other human beings,and also even things like the emergence of culture and civilization, which is unique to human beings. Thank you. (Applause)
http://www.ted.com/talks/vs_ramachandran_the_neurons_that_shaped_civilization.html
I'd like to talk to you today about the human brain,which is what we do research on at the University of California. Just think about this problem for a second. Here is a lump of flesh, about three pounds, which you can hold in the palm of your hand. But it can contemplate the vastness of interstellar space. It can contemplate the meaning of infinity, ask questions about the meaning of its own existence, about the nature of God.
And this is truly the most amazing thing in the world. It's the greatest mystery confronting human beings: How does this all come about? Well, the brain, as you know, is made up of neurons. We're looking at neurons here. There are 100 billion neurons in the adult human brain. And each neuron makes something like 1,000 to 10,000 contacts with other neurons in the brain. And based on this, people have calculated that the number of permutations and combinations of brain activity exceeds the number of elementary particles in the universe.
So, how do you go about studying the brain? One approach is to look at patients who had lesions in different part of the brain, and study changes in their behavior. This is what I spoke about in the last TED. Today I'll talk about a different approachwhich is to put electrodes in different parts of the brain, and actually record the activity of individual nerve cells in the brain. Sort of evesdrop on the activity of nerve cells in the the brain.
Now, one recent discovery that has been made by researchers in Italy, in Parma, by Giacomo Rizzolatti and his colleagues, is a group of neurons called mirror neurons, which are on the front of the brain in the frontal lobes. Now, it turns out there are neurons which are called ordinary motor command neurons in the front of the brain,which have been known for over 50 years. These neurons will fire when a person performs a specific action. For example, if I do that, and reach and grab an apple, a motor command neuron in the front of my brain will fire. If I reach out and pull and object, another neuron will fire, commanding me to pull that object. These are called motor command neurons that have been known for a long time.
But what Rizzolatti found was a subset of these neurons, maybe about 20 percent of them, will also fire when I'm looking at somebody else performing the same action. So, here is a neuron that fires when I reach and grab something, but it also fires when I watch Joe reaching and grabbing something. And this is truly astonishing. Because it's as though this neuron is adopting the other person's point of view. It's almost as though it's performing a virtual reality simulation of the other person's action.
Now, what is the significance of these mirror neurons? For one thing they must be involved in things like imitation and emulation. Because to imitate a complex act requires my brain to adopt the other person's point of view. So, this is important of imitation and emulation. Well, why is that important? Well, let's take a look at the next slide. So, how do you do imitation? Why is imitation important? Mirror neurons and imitation, emulation.
Now, let's look at culture, the phenomenon of human culture. If you go back in time about [75,000] to 100,000 years ago, let's look at human evolution, it turns out that something very important happened around 75,000 years ago. And that is, there is a sudden emergence and rapid spread of a number of skills that are unique to human beings like tool use, the use of fire, the use of shelters, and, of course, language, and the ability to read somebody else's mind and interpret that person's behavior. All of that happened relatively quickly.
Even though the human brain had achieved its present size almost three or four hundred thousand years ago, 100,000 years ago all of this happened very very quickly. And I claim that what happened was the sudden emergence of a sophisticated mirror neuron system, which allowed you to emulate and imitate other people's actions. So that when there was a sudden accidental discovery by one member of the group, say the use of fire, or a particular type of tool, instead of dying out this spread rapidly, horizontally across the population, or was transmitted vertically, down the generations.
So, this made evolution suddenly Lamarckian,instead of Darwinian. Darwinian evolution is slow; it takes hundreds of thousands of years. A polar bear, to evolve a coat, will take thousands of generations, maybe 100,000 years. A human being, a child, can just watch its parent kill another polar bear, and skin it and put the skin on its body, fur on the body, and learn it in one step. What the polar bear took 100,000 years to learn, it can learn in five minutes, maybe 10 minutes. And then once it's learned this it spreads in geometric proportion across a population.
This is the basis. The imitation of complex skills is what we call culture and is the basis of civilization.Now there is another kind of mirror neuron, which is involved in something quite different. And that is, there are mirror neurons, just as there are mirror neurons for action, there are mirror neurons for touch. In other words, if somebody touches me, my hand, neuron in the somatosensory cortex in the sensory region of the brain fires. But the same neuron, in some cases will fire when I simply watch another person being touched. So, it's empathizing the other person being touched.
So, most of them will fire when I'm touched in different locations. Different neurons for different locations. But a subset of them will fire even when I watch somebody else being touched in the same location. So, here again you have neurons which are enrolled in empathy. Now, the question then arises: If I simply watch another person being touched, why do I not get confused and literally feel that touch sensation merely by watching somebody being touched? I mean, I empathize with that person but I don't literally feel the touch.Well, that's because you've got receptors in your skin, touch and pain receptors, going back into your brain and saying don't worry, you're not being touched. So, empathize, by all means, with the other person. but do not actually experience the touch otherwise you'll get confused and muddled.
Okay, so there is a feedback signal that vetos the signal of the mirror neuron preventing you from consciously experiencing that touch. But if you remove the arm, you simply anesthetize my arm,so you put an injection into my arm, anesthetize the brachial plexus, so the arm is numb, and there is no sensations coming in, if I now watch you being touched, I literally feel it in my hand. In other words, you have dissolved the barrier between you and other human beings. So, I call them Gandhi neurons, or empathy neurons. (Laughter)
And this is not in some abstract metaphorical sense, all that's separating you from him, from the other person, is your skin. Remove the skin, you experience that person's touch in your mind. You've dissolved the barrier between you and other human beings. And this, of course is the basis of much of Eastern philosophy, And that is there is no real independent self, aloof from other human beings, inspecting the world, inspecting other people. You are in fact, connected not just via Facebook, and Internet, you're actually quite literally connected by your neurons. And there is whole chains of neurons around this room, talking to each other. And there is no real distinctiveness of your consciousness from somebody else's consciousness.
And this is not mumbo-jumbo philosophy. It emerges from our understanding of basic neuroscience. So, you have a patient with a phantom limb. If the arm has been removed and you have a phantom, and you watch somebody esle being touched, you feel it in your phantom.Now the astonishing thing is, if you have pain in your phantom limb, you squeeze the other person's hand, massage the other person's hand,that relieves the pain in your phantom hand,almost as though the neuron were obtaining relief from merely watching somebody else being massaged.
So, here you have my last slide. For the longest time people have regarded science and humanities as being distinct. C.P. Snow spoke of the two cultures: science on the one hand, humanities on the other; never the twain shall meet. So, I'm saying the mirror neuron system lies the interface allowing you to rethink about issues like consciousness, representation of self, what separates you from other human beings, what allows you to empathize with other human beings,and also even things like the emergence of culture and civilization, which is unique to human beings. Thank you. (Applause)
http://www.ted.com/talks/vs_ramachandran_the_neurons_that_shaped_civilization.html
VIDEO: Dr. Dean Ornish sobre alimentação e doenças
Pare de se desesperar com AIDS/SIDA, câncer/cancro e gripe aviária. Doenças cardiovasculares matam mais do que todas as outras doenças combinadas - e são preveníveis em grande parte. Dr. Dean Ornish explica como ao mudar nossos hábitos alimentares vidas serão salvas.
(se não entende Inglês clique em "View subtitles" para escolher "Portuguese" e ver as legendas)
(se não entende Inglês clique em "View subtitles" para escolher "Portuguese" e ver as legendas)
Transcrição da palestra
Com todas as preocupações legítimas sobre AIDS e gripe aviária -- e ouviremos sobre isso do brilhante Dr. Brilliant hoje mais tarde -- Quero falar sobre a outra pandemia, que é doença cardiovascular, diabetes, hipertensão -- todas das quais são completamente preveníveis para ao menos 95 por cento das pessoas, apenas pela mudança de dieta e estilo de vida.
E o que está acontecendo é que há uma globalização de doenças ocorrendo, e pessoas estão começando a comer como nós, viver como nós, e morrer como nós. E em uma geração, por exemplo, a Ásia passou de uma das menores taxas de doença cardiovascular, obesidade, e diabetes para ter uma das maiores. E na África, doenças cardiovasculares equiparam mortes por HIV e AIDS na maioria dos países. Então há uma janela crítica de oportunidade que nós temos para fazer uma diferença importante que possa afetar as vidas de literalmente milhões de pessoas, e praticar medicina preventiva numa escala global.
Doenças de coração e vasos sanguíneos ainda matam mais pessoas -- não só nesse país, mas também no mundo -- que todo resto combinado, e ainda assim é completamente prevenível para quase todo mundo. Não é apenas prevenível, é na verdade reversível. E nos últimos quase 29 anos, fomos capazes de mostrar que pela simples mudança de dieta e estilo de vida, usando essas medidas tecnológicas, caras, avançadas para provar o quão poderosas essas intervenções simples e básicas e baratas podem ser. Arteriografia quantitativa, antes e após um ano, e PET scans cardíacos.
Nós mostramos alguns meses atrás -- nós publicamos o primeiro estudo mostrando que você pode mesmo parar ou reverter a progressão de câncer de próstata fazendo mudanças na dieta e estilo de vida, e 70 por cento de regressão no crescimento do tumor, ou inibição do crescimento do tumor, comparado a apenas 9 por cento no grupo de controle. E na espectrocopia de MRI e MR, a atividade do tumor de próstata é mostrada em vermelho -- você pode observá-lo diminuindo após um ano.
Agora há uma epidemia de obesidade. Dois terços dos adultos e 15 por cento das crianças. O que realmente está me preocupando é que a diabetes aumentou em 70 por cento nos últimos 10 anos, e essa pode ser a primeira geração na qual nossas crianças vivem uma expectativa de vida menor do que nós. Isso é uma pena, e isso é prevenível. Agora isso não é contagem de votos, isso são pessoas -- o número de pessoas que são obesas por estado, a partir do ano de 85, 86, 87 -- esses são da página da web do CDC -- 88, 89, 90, 91 -- você tem uma nova categoria -- 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 2001 -- isso piora. Nós estamos meio que desevoluindo.
Agora o que podemos fazer quanto a isso? Bem, você sabe, a dieta que nós encontramos para reverter doenças cardíacas e o câncer é a dieta da Ásia. Mas as pessoas na Ásia estão começando a comer como nós comemos, e por isso estão começando a ficar doentes como nós. Então eu estive trabalhando com um monte de grandes empresas alimentícias. Elas podem tornar divertido e atraente e legal e gostoso e conveniente comer alimentos saudáveis, como -- eu presido o comitê de conselho do McDonald's, da PepsiCo, da ConAgra, da Safeway, e logo da Del Monte, e elas estão descobrindo que isso é bom negócio. As saladas que você vê no McDonald's vêm desse trabalho -- eles terão uma salada asiática. Na Pepsi, dois terços do crescimento de rendimento vieram de seus alimentos saudáveis.
E assim se nós podemos fazer isso, então nós podemos liberar recursos para comprar remédios que você realmente precisa para tratar AIDS e HIV e malária e para prevenir a gripe aviária. Obrigado.
Com todas as preocupações legítimas sobre AIDS e gripe aviária -- e ouviremos sobre isso do brilhante Dr. Brilliant hoje mais tarde -- Quero falar sobre a outra pandemia, que é doença cardiovascular, diabetes, hipertensão -- todas das quais são completamente preveníveis para ao menos 95 por cento das pessoas, apenas pela mudança de dieta e estilo de vida.
E o que está acontecendo é que há uma globalização de doenças ocorrendo, e pessoas estão começando a comer como nós, viver como nós, e morrer como nós. E em uma geração, por exemplo, a Ásia passou de uma das menores taxas de doença cardiovascular, obesidade, e diabetes para ter uma das maiores. E na África, doenças cardiovasculares equiparam mortes por HIV e AIDS na maioria dos países. Então há uma janela crítica de oportunidade que nós temos para fazer uma diferença importante que possa afetar as vidas de literalmente milhões de pessoas, e praticar medicina preventiva numa escala global.
Doenças de coração e vasos sanguíneos ainda matam mais pessoas -- não só nesse país, mas também no mundo -- que todo resto combinado, e ainda assim é completamente prevenível para quase todo mundo. Não é apenas prevenível, é na verdade reversível. E nos últimos quase 29 anos, fomos capazes de mostrar que pela simples mudança de dieta e estilo de vida, usando essas medidas tecnológicas, caras, avançadas para provar o quão poderosas essas intervenções simples e básicas e baratas podem ser. Arteriografia quantitativa, antes e após um ano, e PET scans cardíacos.
Nós mostramos alguns meses atrás -- nós publicamos o primeiro estudo mostrando que você pode mesmo parar ou reverter a progressão de câncer de próstata fazendo mudanças na dieta e estilo de vida, e 70 por cento de regressão no crescimento do tumor, ou inibição do crescimento do tumor, comparado a apenas 9 por cento no grupo de controle. E na espectrocopia de MRI e MR, a atividade do tumor de próstata é mostrada em vermelho -- você pode observá-lo diminuindo após um ano.
Agora há uma epidemia de obesidade. Dois terços dos adultos e 15 por cento das crianças. O que realmente está me preocupando é que a diabetes aumentou em 70 por cento nos últimos 10 anos, e essa pode ser a primeira geração na qual nossas crianças vivem uma expectativa de vida menor do que nós. Isso é uma pena, e isso é prevenível. Agora isso não é contagem de votos, isso são pessoas -- o número de pessoas que são obesas por estado, a partir do ano de 85, 86, 87 -- esses são da página da web do CDC -- 88, 89, 90, 91 -- você tem uma nova categoria -- 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 2001 -- isso piora. Nós estamos meio que desevoluindo.
Agora o que podemos fazer quanto a isso? Bem, você sabe, a dieta que nós encontramos para reverter doenças cardíacas e o câncer é a dieta da Ásia. Mas as pessoas na Ásia estão começando a comer como nós comemos, e por isso estão começando a ficar doentes como nós. Então eu estive trabalhando com um monte de grandes empresas alimentícias. Elas podem tornar divertido e atraente e legal e gostoso e conveniente comer alimentos saudáveis, como -- eu presido o comitê de conselho do McDonald's, da PepsiCo, da ConAgra, da Safeway, e logo da Del Monte, e elas estão descobrindo que isso é bom negócio. As saladas que você vê no McDonald's vêm desse trabalho -- eles terão uma salada asiática. Na Pepsi, dois terços do crescimento de rendimento vieram de seus alimentos saudáveis.
E assim se nós podemos fazer isso, então nós podemos liberar recursos para comprar remédios que você realmente precisa para tratar AIDS e HIV e malária e para prevenir a gripe aviária. Obrigado.
Fonte: TED
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