Microbes, viruses and genes grab our body and mind control
Health / / December 19, 2019
The assertion that the mind and brain function as a single system, without internal contradiction or disharmony, should be considered obsolete. Numerous studies prove: it would be very naive to believe that at the most basic, biological level, we are a single genetic construct.
Psychic conflicts that are provoked by imprinted genes expressing conflicting interests of our biological parents, this is what we face every day. In addition, our emotions and behavior are controlled by not only genes but also alien microbes, viruses and other "invaders".
This is indicated by the most recent scientific work. For example, Peter Kramer (Peter Kramer) and Paola Bressan (Paola Bressan) published results of the study of genomic imprinting and its influence on the human brain.
You may not know this, but the emotions, behavior, and mental health are influenced by a large the number of entities that live in our bodies, and pursue interests that often do not coincide with our own. This may be microbes, foreign human cells, viruses or imprinted genes controlled virus-like elements.
Authors were able to show that we are not unitary individuals who fully control himself, but rather a superorganism collection human and non-human elements that are integrated with each other and being in constant struggle, define who we are there is.
How it works? Take, for example, toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma gondii). This parasite was originally developed in cats and rodents, but now they are infected from 10 to 70% of people, depending on age.
The parasite can complete the sexual part of the life cycle, only when the cat is inside the body. So when Toxoplasma is in rodents, it changes its behavior, destroying the instinctive fear of cats. Rodent becomes sluggish, weak and does not run away from a predator. Cat easily catches a mouse and eats moving parasite inside their bodies.
They say that people love to feline also partly due to infection with Toxoplasma. This phenomenon is more known as the Cat Lady Syndrome.
For fear of the limbic lobe is responsible. The limbic system of the mice developed according to the genetic material of the father, not the mother. The same is likely characteristic of humans. According to the Cramer and Bressan, toxoplasmosis can cause the development of schizophrenia or other psychiatric diseases in humans.
The fact that the capture or attack is paternal genes leads to disruption mental balance. Perhaps Toxoplasma interacts with the contact, causing a certain immune response starts, during which breaks the amino acid tryptophan. This leads to the development of schizophrenia.
Neurochemical changes that occur as a result of the collapse of tryptophan, were found in the brains of patients with schizophrenia. They are associated with disorders of perception, memory, spatial orientation and ability to learn.
Similarly, bacteria and affect us. The bacteria that are in the gastrointestinal tract, contain a hundred times more genes than the human body. Such bacterial colonization irreversibly affects our behavior and alter neural connections in certain parts of the brain. Studies conducted on animals confirm this fact.
In humans, the bacteria can cause gastrointestinal inflammation, which is also involved in the development of schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety and depression.
Therefore, Kramer and Bressan note: the appointment of probiotics (bifidobacteria and lactobacilli) may have a therapeutic effect on a person's mental health.
Exploitation of human viruses most clearly demonstrated by the example of cytomegalovirus. In the United States between 1988 and 1994, about 60% of people older than six years and more than 90% of people older than 80 years were hit by the virus. Infection usually been benign. However, some patients with a particular gene variant have received a five-fold increased risk of developing schizophrenia because of maternal cytomegalovirus infection. Just as is the case with Toxoplasma, CMV attacks the limbic system of the body.
But retroviruses replicate the DNA in our genome. DNA of human endogenous retroviruses takes at least 8% of our genome. More 37% are so-called jumping genes, which only resemble retroviruses or have a viral origin. Because of this harmful viral elements that remain inactive, they may be awakened by various pathogens. For example, the flu or a cold can trigger a number of endogenous retroviral elements, which could lead to neuroinflammation and myelin degeneration, as well as becoming part of the development process, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.
But the "invaders" do not necessarily have to be alien. They may also have human origin.
Recently, researchers are finding more and more evidence to support the assumption that our brain and behavior are constantly modified because of the invasion of certain cells, such as from a stranger person. The most probable period of infiltration - stage embryo. Then we "infect" the mother or fetal twin.
Foreign cells go into our body, multiply and form large areas within the body or the brain. Consequently, their integration can be called gourmet: they literally become part of the host organism.
Thus, the authors discuss the phenomenon of chimerism, in which co-exist in one organism genetically different cells. Real-world examples show: the integration of fetal cells in the mother's brain and / or brain twin has a huge impact on the development of thinking and behavior. Kramer and Bressan say the study of chimerism and "capture" other people's body cells can be of practical use. It is about the development of methods of treatment of mental diseases in humans.
Therapists, for example, could benefit from these scientific developments, to get answers to questions not only about the mind, but that is the human body in general. Kramer and Bressan wrote:
It seems it is time to change the very concept of rights. We must understand that the people - it is not an individual.