首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
How "Second Brain" Influences Mood and Weil-Being As Olympians go for the gold in Vancouver, even the steeliest are likely t
How "Second Brain" Influences Mood and Weil-Being As Olympians go for the gold in Vancouver, even the steeliest are likely t
admin
2013-09-26
19
问题
How "Second Brain" Influences Mood and Weil-Being
As Olympians go for the gold in Vancouver, even the steeliest are likely to experience that familiar feeling of "butterflies" in the stomach. Underlying this sensation is an often-overlooked network of neurons(神经元)lining our guts that is so extensive some scientists have nicknamed it our "second brain".
A deeper understanding of this mass of neural tissue is revealing that it does much more than merely handle digestion or inflict the occasional nervous pang. The little brain in our gut, in connection with the big one in our head, partly determines our mental state and plays key roles in certain diseases throughout the body.
Although its influence is far-reaching, the second brain is not the seat of any conscious thoughts or decision-making.
"The second brain doesn’t help with the great thought processes... religion, philosophy and poetry is left to the brain in the head," says Michael Gershon, chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, author of the 1998 book The Second Brain.
Technically known as the enteric(肠内的)nervous system, the second brain consists of covers of neurons embedded in the walls of the long tube of our gut, which measures about nine meters end to end. The second brain contains some 100 million neurons, Gershon says.
This multitude of neurons in the enteric nervous system enables us to "feel" the inner world of our gut and its contents. Much of this neural firepower comes to bear in the elaborate daily grind of digestion. Breaking down food, absorbing nutrients, and expelling of waste requires chemical processing, mechanical mixing and rhythmic muscle contractions that move everything on down the line.
Thus equipped with its own reactions and senses, the second brain can control gut behavior independently of the brain, Gershon says. We likely evolved this intricate web of nerves to perform digestion and ejection " on site," rather than remotely from our brains through the middleman of the spinal cord(脊髓). "The brain in the head doesn’t need to get its hands dirty with the messy business of digestion, which is delegated to the brain in the gut," Gershon says. He and other researchers explain, however, that the second brain’s complexity likely cannot be interpreted through this process alone.
" The system is way too complicated to have evolved only to make sure things move out of your bowel," says Emeran Mayer, professor of physiology, psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles(U. C. L. A.). For example, scientists were shocked to learn that about 90 percent of the fibers in the primary gut nerve, the vagus(迷走神经), carry information from the gut to the brain and not the other way around. " Some of that information is decidedly unpleasant," Gershon says.
The second brain informs our state of mind in other more obscure ways, as well. " A big part of our emotions are probably influenced by the nerves in our gut," Mayer says. Butterflies in the stomach— signaling in the gut as part of our physiological stress response, Gershon says—is but one example. Although gastrointestinal(肠胃)(GI)chaos can sour one’s moods, everyday emotional well-being may rely on messages from the brain below to the brain above. For example, electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve—a useful treatment for depression—may mimic these signals, Gershon says.
Given the two brains’ commonalities, other depression treatments that target the mind can unintentionally impact the gut. The enteric nervous system uses more than 30 neurotransmitters, just like the brain, and in fact 95 percent of the body’s serotonin(血清素)is found in the bowels. Because antidepressant medications called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors(选择性五羟色胺再摄取抑制剂)(SSRIs)increase serotonin levels, it’s little wonder that meds(椎间盘镜)meant to cause chemical changes in the mind often provoke GI issues as a side effect. Irritable bowel syndrome—which afflicts more than two million Americans—also arises in part from too much serotonin in our guts, and could perhaps be regarded as a "mental illness" of the second brain.
Scientists are learning that the serotonin made by the enteric nervous system might also play a role in more surprising diseases: In a new Nature Medicine study published online February 7, a drug that inhibited the release of serotonin from the gut counteracted the bone-deteriorating disease osteoporosis(骨质疏松症). "It was totally unexpected that the gut would regulate bone mass to the extent that one could use this regulation to cure osteoporosis," says Gerard Karsenty, lead author of the study and chair of the Department of Genetics and Development at Columbia University Medical Center.
Serotonin penetrating from the second brain might even play some part in autism(孤独症), the developmental disorder often first noticed in early childhood. Gershon has discovered that the same genes involved in synapse formation(突触形成)between neurons in the brain are involved in the digestive synapse formation. " If these genes are affected in autism," he says, " it could explain why so many kids with autism have GI motor abnormalities in addition to elevated levels of gut-produced serotonin in their blood. "
Down the road, the blossoming field of neurogastroenterology will likely offer some new insight into the workings of the second brain—and its impact on the body and mind. " We have never systematically looked at the enteric nervous system in relating damages in it to diseases like they have for the central nervous system" , Gershon says. One day, perhaps there will be well-known connections between diseases and damages in the gut’s nervous system as some in the brain and spinal cord today indicate multiple sclerosis(硬化症).
Cutting-edge research is currently investigating how the second brain mediates the body’s immune response; after all, at least 70 percent of our immune system is aimed at the gut to expel and kill foreign invaders.
U. C. L. A. ’s Mayer is doing work on how the trillions of bacteria in the gut "communicate" with enteric nervous system cells(which they greatly outnumber). His work with the enteric nervous system has led him to think that in coining years psychiatry will need to expand to treat the second brain in addition to the one above the shoulders.
So for those physically skilled and mentally strong enough to compete in the Olympic Games—as well as those watching at home—it may well necessary for us all to pay more heed to our so-called " gut feelings" in the future.
Emeran Mayer seems to believe that______.
选项
A、90% fibers in the second brain receive information from the brain
B、many of our emotions may be brought about by the second brain
C、butterflies in the stomach are part of our brain’s stress response
D、daily emotions rely on the messages from the brain to the gut
答案
B
解析
解题关键在于找到所定位句的同义改写,B)是第九段第二句的转述,将原文中的a big part of转换成many,将nerves in our gut转换成the second brain,由此可知,B)为答案。其余选项都对原文信息进行了歪曲或偷换概念,较容易排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/P627777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
A、Countoneachotherforhelp.B、Giveeachotheracoldshoulder.C、Keepafriendlydistance.D、Buildafencebetweenthem.CWh
PartⅡReadingComprehension(SkimmingandScanning)Directions:Inthispart,youwillhave15minutestogooverthepassageq
PartⅡReadingComprehension(SkimmingandScanning)Directions:Inthispart,youwillhave15minutestogooverthepassageq
Directions:Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteacompositiononthetopic:SalaryorInterest.Youshouldwrite
Mostpeoplewouldbe【C1】______bythehighqualityofmedicine【C2】______tomostAmericans.Thereisalotofspecialization,a
Accordingtothe"hygienehypothesis,"firstproposedin1989,exposuretoavarietyofbacteria,virusesandparasiticwormsea
A、Beingoutdoors.B、Thebadweather.C、Thedangerofdrivingatnight.D、Dealingwithdifferentpeople.C对话中男士问女士工作中有没有unpleasan
A、Theviolinwastooheavyforher.B、Shewastooyoungtoplaytheviolin.C、Theviolinwastooexpensive.D、Hermotherwanted
TheInternationalOlympicCommitteechoseadoctorfromBelgiumasits【B1】______JacquesRoggewillserveatleasteightyears.
随机试题
汤剂的优点是
慢性细菌性痢疾是指病程超过
A.医务人员在为病人服务过程中,处事慎重、严谨、周密、准确、无误B.医务人员在履行医德义务中所形成的道德意识C.医务人员心理性上自尊心的表现D.促使医务人员自觉履行医学道德义务E.医务人员在物质生活中和精神生活中,由于感受到或理解到职业目标和理想的
消除应力钢丝,是指钢丝在塑性变形下(轴应变)或通过矫直工序后,在适当温度下进行的短时()得到。
背景:A公司中标一城市主干道拓宽改造工程,道路基层结构为150mm石灰土和400mm水泥稳定碎石,面层为150mm沥青混凝土。总工期为7个月。开工前,项目部做好了施工交通准备工作,以减少施工对群众社会经济生活的影响;并根据有关资料,结合工程特点和自身施
在海运过程中,被保险货物被海盗劫持造成的损失属于()
如有两个以上申报价格符合集合竞价确定成交价原则的,深圳证券交易所取()为成交价。
已知某项目前5年的净现金流量如表7一2所示。注:19%的第1—5年的折现系数分别为0.8403、0.7062、0.5934、0.4987、0.4190。根据以上资料,回答下列问题。为了使负债水平不同和筹资成本不同的项目具有共同的比较基础,评估中需
①秋睡熟了一点便是冬,上帝不愿意把它忽然唤醒,所以做了个整人情,连带冬全部给了济南②上帝把夏天的艺术赐给瑞士,把春天的赐给西湖,秋和冬的全赐给了济南。秋和冬是不好分开的③请你在秋天来④可是,加上济南的秋色,济南便由古朴的画境转入静美的诗境中了⑤那城
Aftercompletingtheirmedical-historyforms,patientsattheHopeClinicforWomeninGraniteCity,111.areaskedanunusualq
最新回复
(
0
)