By Helen Massy-Beresford — 2014
Developing the mysterious condition in the 96% of people who do not have it may help to improve learning skills, aid recovery from brain injury and guard against mental decline in old age
Read on www.theguardian.com
CLEAR ALL
Donna Jackson Nakazawa on Microglial Cells and Nature's "Neat Evolutionary Trick".
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If you’ve ever wondered why you’ve been struggling a little too hard for a little too long with chronic emotional and physical health conditions that just won’t abate, or feeling as if you’ve been swimming against some invisible current that never ceases, a new field of scientific research...
Millions suffer from conditions without known causes. Some contend with constant pain, many live with unrelenting mental anguish. None of them know why.
As a science journalist whose niche spans neuroscience, immunology, and human emotion, I knew at the time that it didn’t make scientific sense that inflammation in the body could be connected to — much less cause — illness in the brain.
A new understanding of long-overlooked cells called microglia is challenging the assumption that body and brain function are completely independent.
When physicians help patients come to the profound revelation that childhood adversity plays a role in the chronic illnesses they face now, they help them to heal physically and emotionally at last.