Showing posts with label depression. Show all posts
Showing posts with label depression. Show all posts

Thursday, September 25, 2014

The Intergenerational effects of Trauma


In my last three posts, I discussed the individual and group affects of bullying and their cost to society and business.

In this post, I'd like to discuss some of the latest updates in epigenetics that have identified the inter-generational effects of trauma, and how that is shaping the wellbeing of current and future generations.

In a study from the University of Lethbridge in Canada, researchers identified that generational exposure to stress and trauma, progressively shortened pregnancy length, leading to ongoing negative effects for both mother and child. These effects had a compounding effect, growing more pronounced with each generation:

"Gerlinde Metz, senior author of the article, says: "We show that stress across generations becomes powerful enough to shorten pregnancy length in rats and induce hallmark features of human preterm birth. A surprising finding was that mild to moderate stress during pregnancy had a compounding effect across generations. Thus, the effects of stress grew larger with each generation."*


In another study it was shown that trauma effects histone and methylation, leading genes that should be silenced to be expressed, while others that should be expressed to be silenced.

"This distinction is especially important when a cell copies its genetic material, which happens just prior to cell division. As the cell replicates its DNA, it must also preserve the epigenetic marks that delineate active and inactive areas of the genome. In fact, silencing machinery, which deposits methylation marks on H3.1, works in tandem with the replication machinery. "Because H3.3 can't carry this modification, its presence on active genes allows them to escape silencing," says Jacob. "In our research, we discovered a way for cells to protect active genes from silencing and preserve that memory through successive cellular generations.

This study also has implications for how the genetic material is copied. "We have found that replication (how DNA copies itself) and transcription (how DNA is copied into RNA) are controlled by the same highly conserved histone. Thus, these most fundamental properties of the genetic material are regulated by our chromosomes," says Martienssen.**

This study identified the mechanism through which gene expression is silenced or not, explaining a phenomenon that has been postulated for some time. Histone, it appears, is the epigenetic smoking gun.


In a further study it was shown that even two childhood exposures to bullying or psychological trauma predisposed the individual to the activation of a genetic risk factor for PTSD, Bipolar Disorder and Depression.

The question of whether the genetic risks for developing PTSD are similar in other populations that are exposed to different traumas at different periods in their lives remains to be further tested, noted Galea. "However, our findings that the ADRB2 factor might be shared by men and women, African Americans and European Americans, and military and civilians is consistent with the idea that some genetic risk factors for PTSD might be common across populations and even shared by other stress-related disorders, such as depression."***

What is the take-home message from these and other studies into gene expression and the epigenetic effects of trauma?

1. It's clear that bullying and other psychological trauma changes gene expression for the individual experiencing it. These effects can continue well into adulthood, contributing to mental and physical illness.
2. If your parents or grandparents experienced bullying or other psychological trauma, the genes you inherited from them were changed by the experience.
3. If you inherited these changed genes and experience bullying in childhood or adolescence your response will be more severe.
4. If your children then experience bullying the negative effects will be magnified.
5. If your mother was psychologically or physically abused before or during pregnancy, the downstream effects for each subsequent generation become more pronounced.

So when we bully, either as an individual, group or community, we create negative outcomes for generations to come. When an individual or group is oppressed, the effects get worse for each generation, making it harder for subsequent generations to fight for their rights.

When we stand by and do nothing while an individual or group is bullied, we contribute to this problem. The long-term effects may well create fertile ground for crime and terrorism, as the second or third generation feel themselves immersed in an inescapable sense of hopelessness and despair. Indeed population studies seem to make this link - that individuals or groups will struggle to achieve their potential and may become easy targets for radicalization.

If you've been bullied, seek help and support and as much counseling as you require to reverse these effects, so you can pass on more resilient genes to subsequent generations.

As communities, we need to provide more support for the victims of bullying and trauma, providing inter-generational counseling and opportunity to those most at risk, rather than oppressing them further and compounding the problems.




Elisabetta is an expert in human performance, specializing in the study of epigenetics. Elisabetta is an in demand speaker, writer and mentor, and the author of The Energy Code (2014), The Infidel (2013), The DNA of Bullying (2011), The Energy Bucket (2010) and D'Arc, the Legend of Saint Joan (1998), as well as the soon to be released novel - Veritas...

Visit her website

Buy her books






Citations:
 
* Youli Yao, Alexandra M Robinson, Fabiola Zucchi, Jerrah C Robbins, Olena Babenko, Olga Kovalchuk, Igor Kovalchuk, David M Olson, Gerlinde Metz. Ancestral exposure to stress epigenetically programs preterm birth risk and adverse maternal and newborn outcomes. BMC Medicine, 2014; 12 (1): 121 DOI: 10.1186/s12916-014-0121-6
** Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. "Unraveling mystery in 'histone code' shows how gene activity is inherited." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 March 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140313142612.htm>.
 
*** Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "Evidence of genetic link to PTSD in soldiers exposed to childhood trauma." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 September 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140916123636.htm>.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

What is Energetic Health? Excerpt from The Energy Code by Elisabetta L. Faenza



 To celebrate the launch of The Energy Code, today's blog shares an excerpt about the very important concept of energetic health; a concept that relates to our internal well-being as well as how we interact with the world at large.


Enjoy,

Elisabetta 25th of August 2014




If we think of our bodies, cells and relationships as buckets of energy
that we can have conscious awareness of, we start to be able to better
manage our health. And by this, I am not referring solely to physical
health. The latest scientific discoveries imply that the physical, mental,
emotional and even metaphysical are intertwined via the DNA feedback
loop, and cannot be understood in isolation.


One area of our life links to another, so I use the term Energetic Health
to represent the sum-total of the health of these systems. Using the 7 Key
Principles I outline in The Energy Code, we can manage the Energetic Health of our
cells, and organs, with a flow on effect to the health of our body, mind
and spirit.

This doesn’t stop at the individual. Because of the DNA’s ability to
broadcast its health into the environment, each of us affects the Energetic
Health of everyone we interact with. So managing our own Energetic
Health, by implication, helps us to manage the health of our close
relationships; whether at home, at work or at play.

The alternative to Energetic Health is Energetic Disease - a state that
leaves us vulnerable to the over or under methylating (silencing) of our
genes, toxic overload of our organs and cells, mind-blocks rather than
healthy, flexible mind-maps, and negative feedback loops between our
peptide receptors and information/emotion molecules. Perpetuated over
time, this leads to a state of chronic fatigue or unwellness, eventually
resulting in acute illness. It is clear we are all born with the
mechanisms to self-heal; we are in fact a self-healing organism, with all
the mechanisms and back-up systems to promote health.

For some, the decline into disease, whether it be classed as mental or
physical illness (I believe the distinction is a misnomer, as the mind is
the body), leads rapidly to an under functioning in many areas of life;
for others, it leads to acute illness and death. For a great many, the path
is slowed by watching the actions of those around us and changing our
behavior to mimic theirs. If we adopt the habits of the energetically
healthy, we can return to wellness bit-by-bit.

If you think of our body’s ability to store physical and mental energy as
akin to a battery that is recharged through rest, diet, exercise and healthy
thought patterns, then just like a battery, we can be drained - in our case -
by poor diet, lack of exercise, not enough rest, and negative thought patterns.
Just like a car battery can be used to jump start another car battery that has run flat,
so the human energy system can be drained by those around us.

All too often, we charge ourselves up by stealing energy, often
learning these techniques at quite a young age. The energy theft required
is unsustainable as one-by-one those we have stolen from succumb to
illness or leave for self-preservation. Bullying is a common example that
drains the victim and temporarily tops up the bully. Countless studies
have shown that both the bully and the victim have increased incidence
of mental illness, depression and incarceration as young adults. The bully
has learned this behavior by observing adults or older children and
then mimicking it. You can often see this playing out in family groups
where a dominant, aggressive parent will berate and bully their spouse,
draining them of energy, who may then use passive-aggressive techniques
to gain pity and sympathy, from friends or family draining them in turn.

Children observe this and learn to adopt either:
♦ A passive aggressive, ‘poor-me’ style, demanding sympathy and assistance without any serious
   intention to change their situation
♦ An aloof, detached style, requiring others to spend a lot of time and energy trying to    
    connect with them
♦ An interrogating, critical style, seeking to undermine others through criticism, sapping
    all joy
♦ Or the more aggressive and overt, dominator style that seeks to overpower and intimidate
    others

I class all energy theft as a form of predation, and the thinking that
goes with it as ‘the predator’, because regardless of whether the technique
is covert or overt, it involves the theft and devouring of someone else’s
energy - their life-force.

In extreme cases, this is obvious - the work place psychopath, the
sociopath and narcissist have developed successful techniques for stealing
energy from others in a conscious, planned way, literally draining the
reserves of those around them. Do not be fooled however, we all do it to
some degree if we are not taking care of our system’s energy needs through
healthy means.

Entertainment and media, especially, reinforce these patterns by
feeding the dominant thought patterns of this predatory mind-set,
through fuelling our fears, anxieties and insecurities, prompting division
over gender, race or beliefs and draining society and the individuals
within it of energy. Ill-gotten gains are never sweet, however, and the
predatory path of energy management leads to more despair, insecurity
and ill health, leading us to consume more of the earth’s resources, trying
desperately to re-charge our batteries.

Clearly the predatory path is not sustainable and it is at the root of
many of society’s ills. It is the voice in your head telling you ‘I’m not
good enough’ that fuels jealousy, greed, anxiety, violence and addictions.
It sets in motion chemical feedback loops within the body/mind that
may persist for years, reinforcing and deepening our unhappiness, until
we believe that voice is us, forgetting that it is something we learned and
adopted. It is a false mind that prevents us from activating our natural
predisposition to living in harmony with each other, our environment
and ourselves.

Fortunately, we can free ourselves from this negative energy pattern, by following
some common-sense steps that free our body-mind to be healthy and energized, allowing
us to be the best we can be, and make the most of our time on this precious planet.*

To discover the 7 Keys to Energetic Health go to:
The Energy Code by Elisabetta L. Faenza

*Faenza, Elisabetta L., The Energy Code, Motivational Press, New York, 2014, pp88-89

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Nutrition linked to DNA switching

Epigenetics - the how and why of gene switching
It's been a while since my last blog, and that's because I have been following a trail down a very interesting rabbit hole. Recent advances is epigenetics are filling in the gaps in the DNA puzzle. In this blog, I'd like to share what I've learned about how our genes get switched on or off, and the fascinating process involved.
 
If you think back to high school, you may have a vague memory in biology about the difference between DNA and RNA. In recent years DNA has become the celebrity of the two, making headlines as the 'code behind all life.' Some reports have even implied that we've 'cracked the code.'
 
The truth is far more complex, and recently RNA has started to grab the headlines. The RNA molecule's job is assist in the copying or transcribing of a gene, so that proteins can be made. Proteins are the basic building blocks of all bodily functions and cells. So this process is crucial to life.
 
What has now been discovered is that RNA is involved in the silencing of genes.
Scientists have been trying to figure out how the cell knows which genes to silence and when. At any given moment a huge amount of our genetic material remains silent, with only selected genetic material being transcribed.
 
In the two articles below, scientists explain how the body produces specific enzymes to methylate or silence genes. These enzymes attach themselves to specific letters in a DNA sequence, preventing the code from being read, and thus silencing that gene temporarily.
As I've discussed in previous blogs, it seems that a large amount of our non-coding or 'junk' DNA is involved in the signalling of what should or shouldn't be silenced.
 
In a separate pilot study published in the ACNEM Journal (Vol 29, No 3, Nov 2010), researchers found a relationship between methylation and mental illness, including addictions, depression and anxiety. This relationship had been studied previously, however because the genetic mechanisms were not understood the results of previous studies were often sidelined.

Extracts of the study - The Effectiveness of Targeted Nutrient Therapy in Treatment of Mental Illness, a pilot study by Richard Stuckey, MB.BS., DRCOG; William Walsh, PhD; Brett Lambert are quoted below:
 
"A clinical outcome assessment was performed on 567 consecutive patients followed up for one year after initial consultation. The data covered patients interviewed between March 2004 and June 2007. Established diagnoses included Autism, ADHD, Asperger’s, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Schizophrenia and OCD. All patients had an established verifiable diagnosis and most were receiving conventional pharmacological therapy. Patients were instructed not to change any treatment (pharmacological or physical) unless on the instruction of their usual treating practitioner. Treating practitioners were also informed of the additional targeted nutrient program."

Specifically what the researchers found was that both over and under methylation creates serious behavioural problems.
 
For example over methylation creates a high tolerance to pain, resistance to certain drugs, mood swings, poor sleep patterns, poor dream recall, racing thoughts, poor organisation and alcoholism. In extreme cases these individuals may be treated for ADHA, hyperactivity, depression or bipolar disorder.

Scientists have identified abnormalities in methylation in these conditions. It is also likely that the genes being silenced by the over-methylation are involved in the production of brain chemicals like seratonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins. We know that an imbalance in the production of these brain chemicals may lead to poor focus, despite intelligence and therefore poor performance academically.
 
The natural high and calm our brains are supposed to feel in joyous situations may be blocked for these individuals, leading to seratonin seeking behaviour - a craving for carbohydrates, through eating sugary foods and consuming alcohol.
 
Under methylation is associated with anxiety, low pain threshold, low muscle tone, aversion to sunlight, addictions, perfectionism, obsessive compulsive behaviours, high academic achievement, low social skills, arrogance and competitiveness. In extreme cases it may be associated with sociopathic behaviours.
 
Under methylation may be related to an inability to silence certain genes, leading to too many genes being active at once.

What is exciting about this pilot study, is that the researchers used nutritional therapy to correct the methylation abnormality.
 
"Compounds were individualised for each patient according to the nature of the imbalance, the degree of deficiencies and the age and size of the patient. Doses were well in excess of recommended daily allowances.

Decisions were generally made according to the biochemical profile but in cases where this was indistinct, decisions were made on the clinical diagnosis. Note from the schematic representation of the methylation pathway (see Figure 1) there may appear to be some logic in using methionine, or SAMe, in under-methylators and B3, folate and B12 in over-methylators.

It is noted that ‘over-methylation’ may not necessarily be a literal overactivity of methylation but alternatively a block in the adjacent folic acid pathway. The two enzymes implicated are Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase and Cathchol-O- Methyltransferase

Patients exhibiting symptoms and pathology correlating with under-methylation were administered Vitamins C and B6, Pyridine-5-Phosphate (P5P), Methionine, Calcium, Zinc and Magnesium.

Those exhibiting symptoms and pathology correlating with over-methylation were prescribed Vitamins B3 (Niacinamide), B6, B12, C and E, P5P, Folic acid and Zinc. Patients exhibiting elevated urinary pyrroles (and symptoms of Pyroluria) were prescribed Vitamins C, B6, P5P, and Zinc, while patients exhibiting Copper/Zinc imbalance were prescribed Zinc alone or in combination with Vitamin C."


I include the results as reported below. What has my interest is that it appears that nutritional deficiency is at the heart of many clinical mental disorders, and may be at the root of the chronic unhappiness that is epidemic in our lives.


Outcome Measures


"The interview process for the treatment program began with 567 patients of whom 492 commenced treatment with 382 complying for 12 months. 110 discontinued for a range of reasons (22.4% non-compliance). 75 of those interviewed did not commence the program and respondents to a questionnaire in this group were assigned to the comparison group. Of the 382 that completed one year of the program, 221 (57.9%) stated major improvement, 91 (23.8%) partial improvement and 70 (18.3%) nil improvement.

It is understood that there are methods to ‘objectify’ improvement by questionnaires designed specifically for some of the diagnostic groups, but there are none that would encompass all the diagnostic groups in this study. The outcomes according to diagnosis are represented in Table 2.
Clinical Notes:

"There was a marked reduction in hospital admissions during the 1st year of treatment as compared with the year prior to nutrient treatment.

"There was a reduction in doses of prescription medication in 22.3% of the patient group. Antidepressants and anxiolitics were occasionally withdrawn but antipsychotics were not.

"Most patients with the best results used a combination of both pharmacological and nutritional interventions.

"The relative percentages of improvement and non-improvement were remarkably similar in each of the three groups."


All of the nutrients supplemented in this study used to be common in our diet thousands of years ago when we hunted and gathered. The rapid transformation of society through farming and later industrialisation has resulted in a modern diet that is inadequate in providing the nutrients we need for health.

It is no coincidence that the artificial and highly processed foods that fill our shelves have been associated with an increase in physical diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. It is now clear that the lack of nutrients in these foods may also be fuelling the mental illness epidemic now gripping the developed world.

Finally, we are starting to understand why - and it is all about the interaction of our environment with our DNA. And what's most exciting is that nutritional therapy can reverse the damage.

Food for thought?

Regards,

LIs


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Mystery Solved: How Genes Are Selectively Silenced
 
ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2010) — Our genetic material is often compared to a book. However, it is not so much like a novel to be read in one piece, but rather like a cookbook. The cell reads only those recipes which are to be cooked at the moment. The recipes are the genes; 'reading' in the book of the cell means creating RNA copies of individual genes, which will then be translated into proteins.
 
The cell uses highly complex, sophisticated regulatory mechanisms to make sure that not all genes are read at the same time. Particular gene switches need to be activated and, in addition, there are particular chemical labels in the DNA determining which genes are transcribed into RNA and which others will be inaccessible, i.e. where the book literally remains closed. The biological term for this is epigenetic gene regulation.
 
Among the epigenetic mechanisms which are well studied is the silencing of genes by methyl groups. This is done by specialized enzymes called methyltransferases which attach methyl labels to particular 'letters' of a gene whereby access to the whole gene is blocked. "One of the great mysteries of modern molecular biology is: How do methyltransferases know where to attach their labels in order to selectively inactivate an individual gene?" says Professor Ingrid Grummt of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ).
 
Grummt has now come much closer towards unraveling this mystery. She has focused on studying those text passages in the genetic material which do not contain any recipes. Nevertheless, these texts are transcribed into RNA molecules in a controlled manner. "These so-called noncoding RNAs do not contain recipes for proteins. They are important regulators in the cell which we are just beginning to understand," says Ingrid Grummt.
 
In her most recent work, Grummt and her co-workers have shown for the first time that epigenetic regulation and regulation by noncoding RNAs interact. The scientists artificially introduced a noncoding RNA molecule called pRNA into cells. As a result, methyl labels are attached to a particular gene switch so that the genes behind it are not read. The trick is that pRNA exactly matches (is complementary to) the DNA sequence of this gene switch. The investigators found out that pRNA forms a kind of plait, or triple helix, with the two DNA strands in the area of this gene switch. Methyltransferases, in turn, are able to specifically dock to this 'plait' and are thus directed exactly to the place where a gene is to be blocked.
More than half of our genetic material is transcribed into noncoding RNA. This prompts Ingrid Grummt to speculate: "It is very well possible that there are exactly matching noncoding RNA molecules for all genes that are temporarily silenced. This would explain how such a large number of genes can be selectively turned on and off."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Why Some Genes Are Silenced: Researchers Find Clue as to How Notes Are Played on the 'Genetic Piano'
 
ScienceDaily (May 13, 2011) — Japanese and U.S. scientists in the young field of epigenetics have reported a rationale as to how specific genes are silenced and others are not. Because this effect can be reversed, it may be possible to devise therapies for cancer and other diseases using this information.

The NOVA U.S. public television program described epigenetics as "The Ghost In Your Genes." It is the study of changes in gene expression that occur without changes in DNA sequence. Like keys on a piano, DNA is the static blueprint for all the proteins that cells produce. Epigenetic information provides additional dynamic or flexible instructions as to how, where and when the blueprint will be used. "It corresponds to a pianist playing a piece of music," said Kohzoh Mitsuya, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio.
Article in Science
 
The study by Dr. Mitsuya and colleagues is outlined in the May 13 issue of the journal Science. The team found that a small RNA pathway is required to establish an epigenetic modification -- called DNA methylation -- at a gene that codes for mammalian proteins. DNA methylation adds chemical tags called methyl groups to specific genes, usually silencing their expression.
 
"DNA methylation marks are reversible, so there is great interest in devising therapeutic strategies, for instance in cancer biology, to epigenetically reactivate silenced tumor-suppressor genes or inactivate specific oncogenes in human cancer cells," Dr. Mitsuya, the Science paper's third author, said. The lead author is Toshiaki Watanabe, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Genetics in Japan and Yale University.
 
Environment and cancer
Beyond being reversible, DNA methylation is susceptible to environmental influences. Many cancer biologists now agree that changes in DNA methylation might be as important as genetic mutations in causing cancer. There are far more epigenetic changes than genetic changes found in the majority of cancers, and research into epigenetics is proving to be important to understanding cancer biology.
 
"It is critical to identify the entire complement of factors that affect gene silencing," Dr. Mitsuya said. "This was the rationale behind this study examining DNA methylation in mice that I began in 2004. The study adds information about one set of factors."
A finger on the piano
 
The researchers compared a group of normal mice with a group lacking the small RNA species. The team found that DNA methylation was markedly reduced at one of four genes tested in the small RNA-deficient mice. "This is the first demonstration that small RNAs can act in this way," Dr. Mitsuya said. "It shows how one note is played on the piano."
Epigenetic activity is a previously unseen dimension of biology that may enable clearer detection of disease, monitoring of progression and improved treatment, and may provide entirely new biomarkers of disease susceptibility. "The symphony has only just come into view," Dr. Mitsuya said. "We can hear it, but we need to learn how all the parts are being played."
 
Dr. Mitsuya is a member of the Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio and is engaged in epigenetic studies of placental function.



Story Source:
The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.


Journal Reference:
    1.    T. Watanabe, S.-i. Tomizawa, K. Mitsuya, Y. Totoki, Y. Yamamoto, S. Kuramochi-Miyagawa, N. Iida, Y. Hoki, P. J. Murphy, A. Toyoda, K. Gotoh, H. Hiura, T. Arima, A. Fujiyama, T. Sado, T. Shibata, T. Nakano, H. Lin, K. Ichiyanagi, P. D. Soloway, H. Sasaki. Role for piRNAs and Noncoding RNA in de Novo DNA Methylation of the Imprinted Mouse Rasgrf1 Locus. Science, 2011; 332 (6031): 848 DOI: 10.1126/science.1203919

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