Pineal Gland: A Brain in the dark

¿Have you ever thought about what happens to your brain when you're surrounded with dark? ¿Maybe the effects of it when you sleep? 

The word pineal, from Latin pinea (pine-cone), was first used in the late 17th century to refer to the cone shape of the brain gland.

The pineal gland , also known has "the third eye", is a small, pea-shaped gland in the brain. Its function isn’t fully understood. Researchers do know that it produces and regulates some hormones, including melatonin.

The shape of the gland resembles a pine cone from which it derived its name. The pineal gland is located in the epithalamus, near the center of the brain, between the two hemispheres tucked in a groove where the two halves of the thalamus join.

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How's melatonin produced? Even if we don't fully understand the brain between studies Melatonin is best known for the role it plays in regulating sleep patterns. Sleep patterns are also called circadian rhythms.

It's not coincidence that we has humans, sleep better and peacefully in a place where there's no light, the explanation for this is simple. Melatonin is inhibited by light but starts producing more effectively in darkness, even more when the brain knows we are trying to sleep, this substance makes it easier for us to not only close our eyes better, but also is rumored that is the one that produce dreams. 

•P I N E A L  G L A N D & M E L A T O N I N• 

If you have a sleep disorder, it could be a sign that your pineal gland is not producing the correct amount of melatonin. Some alternative medicine practitioners believe you can detox and activate your pineal gland to improve sleep and open your third eye. There is no scientific research to support these claims, though.

Even when there's not a lot of scientist research, there's a lot spiritual research.

In the late 19th century Madame Blavatsky (who founded theosophy) identified the pineal glande Hindu concept of the third eye, or the Ajna chakra. This association is still popular today.

Philosopher and scientist René Descartes discussed the pineal gland both in his first book, the "Treatise of Man" & in his last book "The Passions of the Soul" and he regarded it as "the principal seat of the soul and the place in which all our thoughts are formed."

In the short story "From Beyond" by H. P. Lovecraft, a scientist creates an electronic device that emits a resonance wave, which stimulates an affected person's pineal gland, thereby allowing her or him to perceive planes of existence outside the scope of accepted reality, a translucent, alien environment that overlaps our own recognized reality. It was adapted as a film of the same name in 1986. The 2013 horror film, Banshee Chapter is heavily influenced by this short story.




A lot of monks like to meditate in complete darkness tanks to the effects of melatonin in their brains, this makes them reach ther higher self and third eyes.

Egypt and Indian culture were highly aware of what was the third eye, including the melatonin, however, this knowelege was burried deep dawn history till this day were tech and internet let us investigate ancient information.

SOURCES:

What we know 

&

https://www.healthline.com/health/pineal-gland-function

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319882.php

https://youtu.be/jJ5E8HhnsdI

https://www.richardcassaro.com/the-ancient-egyptian-third-eye/

Brain death.

            Brain dead means that your brain stop working, as a result the patient or the person cannot breathe or keep another vital function, and it loses permanently all the consciousness for the thinking. No treatment can improve it and when the diagnostic is confirmed it is called or consider as a legally dead person.

            In the past brain dead was irrelevant, the people in that age said; when the brain die the body too, the person stopped breathing and the heart stop beating. However, in the actuality there are some artificial methods, some examples are: respirators and drugs, they can keep your breathing and heartbeat, even when there is no more live in your brain, but any way with or without drugs and artificial things as the time will pass your organs and your body will die and decompose. There is a process to diagnostic brain dead in patients, the first thing that doctors check is the eyes, when the pupils do not react by the light there is a problem, the second one will be that the patient do not react by the touches of some objects that doctors use, another one is that the temperature will go down or your artery press too. After the doctor check all these steps twice they diagnostic as brain dead without any lab tests.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=3CAFC088C35977CE373A055643B29A09F25FEA2D&thid=OIP.pUou2ReeJfu0AysKo0IhTAHaEO&exph=400&expw=700&q=Neurologist+Surgeon&selectedindex=3&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2,6&sim=11

 

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          Some causes of the brain death include:

1.    Trauma to the brain (severe head injury).

2.    Cerebrovascular injury.

3.    Anoxia (heart attack when the patient is revived).

4.    Brain tumor.

5.    A stroke (when the blood supply to the brain is blocked).

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Doctors are experimenting with brain death.

›The U.S. based biotechnology company Bioquark is about to make a series of experiments that are, for many, controversial. Important people gave them permission to experiment with 20 patients declared brain dead in India. The permit was revoked, but now, Bioquark is back announcing new experiments in Latin America. The basic idea was to inject stem cells into the upper part of the patient's spinal cord along with a cocktail of peptides that have already been shown to aid the development of neurons. They then stimulated the brain using electrical impulses and laser therapy. Some people criticized him but he said that not all people see his vision.

› In India there is a group of scientists who claim that with new technologies and advances in neuroscience, it is possible for cells to erase their history and restart a person's life as if it were a computer. It's like some kind of biological "reset." In people diagnosed with brain death, they use peptides, lasers and stem cells to try to make this reversible. But there is a simple hypothesis

› Suspended animation. It is a way to pause the body before death. Vital processes slow down. Doctors purposely suspend vital functions to prevent cardiac arrest from irreversibly damaging the body. 

How does brain death feel like?

People confuses a lot of the term of being brain dead, in sensory and emotional senses of the body are impossible to feel without the brain, to which our nervous system sends all the data and make us translate all the data as a feeling, if the brain is dead your whole body and emotions does not feel like anything, so who is a person capable of any sense in their body without a brain? No one. 

                                            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFVL4AQO2hM

Alexa Rivera.

Daniela Regalado.

Sources: https://www.merckmanuals.com/es-us/hogar/enfermedades-cerebrales,-medulares-y-nerviosas/coma-y-alteraci%C3%B3n-de-la-consciencia/muerte-cerebral

• https://www.infobae.com/mix5411/2017/06/12/el-controversial-experimento-       que-intentara-despertar-a-pacientes-con-muerte-cerebral

HOW THE BRAIN WORKS

The brain functions as a structural and functional unit 

formed mainly by two types of cells:

1.  Neurons.

2.  Glial cells.

It is estimated that there are about 100 billion neurons in the entire human nervous system and about 1,000 billion glial cells. Neurons are highly specialized and their functions are to receive, process and transmit information through different circuits and systems. The process of transmitting the information is done through synapses, which can be electrical or chemical.

The glial cells, in turn, are responsible for regulating the

 internal environment of the brain and facilitating the process

 of neuronal communication. These cells are arranged 

throughout the nervous system forming their structure and

 are involved in the processes of development and formation 

of the brain.

Formerly it was thought that glial cells only formed the 

structure of the nervous system, hence the famous myth that

 we only use 10% of our brain. But today we know that it

 performs much more complex functions, for example, they

 are related to the regulation of the immune system and the 

processes of celular plasticity after 

suffering an injury.

In addition, they are essential for 

neurons to function

 properly, as they facilitate 

neuronal communication and

 play 

an important role in the transport 

of nutrients to neurons. 

As you can intuit, the human brain 

is impressively complex.

 It is estimated that an adult 

human brain contains between

 100 and 500 trillion connections and our galaxy has about 

100 billion stars, so it can be concluded that the human brain

 is much more complex than a Galaxy.

How is information transmitted in the brain?

Brain functioning consists of the transmission of information between neurons, this transmission is carried out through a more or less complex procedure called synapse.

The synapses can be electrical or chemical. Electric synapses consist of bidirectional transmission of electric current between two neurons directly, while chemical synapses require intermediaries called neurotransmitters.

Ultimately, when a neuron communicates with another, it activates or inhibits it, the final observable effects on behavior or in some physiological process are the result of excitation and inhibition of several neurons along a neuronal circuit. 

Neurotransmitters and neuromodulators.

The concept of neurotransmitter includes all substances that are released at the chemical synapse and that allow neuronal communication. Neurotransmitters meet the following criteria:

Ø They are synthesized within neurons and are present in axon terminals.

Ø When a sufficient amount of the neurotransmitter is released, it exerts its effects on adjacent neurons.

Ø When they have finished their task, they are eliminated through degradation, inactivation or reuptake mechanisms.

Neuromodulators are substances that complement the actions of neurotransmitters by increasing or decreasing their effect. They do this by joining specific sites within the postsynaptic receptor.

There are numerous types of neurotransmitters, the most important are: Amino acids, which can be excitators, such as glutamate, or inhibitors, such as γ-aminobutyric acid, better known as GABA. Acetylcholine Catecolamides, such as dopamine or norepinephrine Indolamines, such as serotonin.

MADE BY CAMILA PEÑA AND VALERIA CÓRDOVA.