Bryan William Brickner
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Johnny Reb and Gus Yank On Our Way: Truckin’

3/1/2019

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PictureJohnny Reb and Gus Yank OOW: Truckin'







​Part X of XIII
 
“… Still playing Gus.”
“Folksy tune.”
“Grateful as well.”
“An intersection.”
“It is.”
“What do you call those things?”
“Horse-less carriages.”
“The crows call’em trucks.”
“Right.”
“Yup.”
“The crows are correct.”
“In the song Reb.”
“Yeah.”
“Why they getting their doors kicked-in?”
“Another war Gus.”
“Sounds like ‘Mericans, you know, in all them cities.”
“True.”
“Lightin’ issues, travelin’ tired, tryin’ souls …”
“… Sounds like kin.”
“Does.”

PictureJohnny Reb and Gus Yank OOW: Trippin'







“Look at George Gus.”
“What?”
“That’s older George.”
“Not Winchester George.”
“Right.”
“George had a strange trip.”
“Kept on truckin’ though.”
“Doubt he knew in the beginning what kind of trip it would be.”
“Just like us.”
“Just like We the People.”
“Agreed.”
“That song sings about gettin’ goin’.”
“‘Out the door and down the street.’”
“When did George get to Winchester?”
"Gus, there’s young George over there.”
“Don’t George joke Reb.”
“I ain’t.”
“Well …”
 
Next Up: 8 March 2019 and part XI of the winter series Johnny Reb and Gus Yank On Our Way: Survey.
 
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Serotonin, tryptophan metabolism and the brain-gut-microbiome axis

12/31/2017

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​Something for 2018 ~ Gut instinct is bidirectional
 
Serotonin, tryptophan metabolism and the brain-gut-microbiome axis
Behavioural Brain Research
15 January 2015: Pages 32-48
S.M. O’Mahony, et al
 
The Abstract as Poem
(Or, A Microbiota Ode to the Brain-Gut Axis)
 
The brain-gut axis is
 a bidirectional communication system
 between the central nervous system
 and the gastrointestinal tract.
 
Serotonin functions as a key neurotransmitter
 at both terminals of this network.
 
Accumulating evidence points to a critical role
 for the gut microbiome
 in regulating normal functioning of this axis.
 
In particular,
 it is becoming clear
 that the microbial influence on tryptophan metabolism
 and the serotonergic system
 may be an important node in such regulation.
 
There is also substantial overlap
 between behaviours influenced by the gut microbiota
 and those which rely on intact serotonergic neurotransmission.
 
The developing serotonergic system may be vulnerable
 to differential microbial colonisation patterns
 prior to the emergence of a stable adult-like gut microbiota.
 
At the other extreme of life,
 the decreased diversity and stability of the gut microbiota
 may dictate serotonin-related health problems in the elderly.
 
The mechanisms underpinning this crosstalk
 require further elaboration
 but may be related to the ability of the gut microbiota
 to control host tryptophan metabolism along the kynurenine pathway,
 thereby simultaneously
 reducing the fraction available for serotonin synthesis
 and increasing the production of neuroactive metabolites.
 
The enzymes of this pathway are immune and stress-responsive,
 both systems which buttress the brain-gut axis.
 
In addition,
 there are neural processes in the gastrointestinal tract
 which can be influenced
 by local alterations in serotonin concentrations
 with subsequent relay of signals
 along the scaffolding of the brain-gut axis
 to influence CNS neurotransmission.
 
Therapeutic targeting
 of the gut microbiota
 might be a viable treatment strategy
 for serotonin-related brain-gut axis disorders.
 
Here’s to Buttressed Happy Guts in 2018!
 
*Next Up: 1 February 2018 and a 2020 Update.
 
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner
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New Pamphlet Announcement: Three Liminal Dialogues on Serotonin, Mosby and Luther

11/5/2017

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PictureThree Liminal Dialogues (2017)






Three Liminal Dialogues on Serotonin, Mosby and Luther
 
This dialogue pamphlet is about three events: one took place 40 years ago, the second 100 years, and the third 500.

In the first dialogue, FAKE News correspondent Molly Role interviews Sarah Tonin about electricity and the 1977 book, The Ion Effect.

In the second dialogue, the spirits Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb discuss Mosby’s Memoirs (1917) and a certain fact regarding Robert E. Lee, Jeb Stuart and Gettysburg.

In the third dialogue, ex-communicant Martin Luther meets with a mediator, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, moments before their meeting with the Pope to settle an argument from the year 1517.

Liminal relates to a transitional or initial stage of a process; something liminal occupies a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.

*Next Up: Sunday 12 November and Thereat part VII, Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb On Our Way Mosby.
 
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Life Serotonin Supplementation (LSS): Shivitti, Healing and Psychedelic Physiodelia

5/3/2017

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Picture





​Shivitti: the eighth verse from the sixteenth Psalm,
“I have set the Lord always before me.”
 
Our example today for “psychedelic physiodelia” is from Shivitti: A Vision, the story of five journeys with LSD to heal Auschwitz nightmares.
 
A survivor of Auschwitz is living in Israel in the 1970s and hears of other sufferers of concentration camp symptoms finding relief at a clinic in Europe; the treatment uses injections of LSD to heal traumas.
 
Ka-Tzetnik 135633, Mr. De-Nur, the survivor and author, writes of his healing experiences that are based on the activation of his serotonin system via LSD.
 
De-Nur’s serotonin-induced visions are psychedelic in both meanings of the word; they happen in his mind and embrace his soul.
 
De-Nur’s serotonin-induced visions are physiodelia as well; the LSD-injected journey concludes when the doctor (guide) simply touches the patient’s arm – which ends the trip and creates space for healing.
 
De-Nur reported hearing the Creative Voice in a session and was able to heal his Auschwitz nightmares after five LSD treatments.
 
Shivitti: A Vision
Ka-Tzetnik 135633
Translated from the Hebrew by Eliyah Nike De-Nur and Lisa Herman (1989/98)
 
Press Release for Shivitti: A Review of Ka-Tzetnik 135633’s Vision
Bryan W. Brickner (2015)
 
*Next Up: 24 May with Progesterone and Cannabinoid Systems.
 
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Life Serotonin Supplementation (LSS): Psychedelia and Physiodelia

4/26/2017

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PictureSomething Psychedelic












​
​That the word “psychedelia” is on the Wikipedia page for serotonin science is intriguing: it’s a word of culture on a science page. Psychedelia the noun is music, culture or art based on the experiences of psychedelic drugs; yet the serotonin system is independent of 20th century culture – so there must be more. Psychedelia is derived from the Greek word for psyche (breath, life, soul) and delos (clear, manifest). Breathing, life and soul made clear and manifest is something someone on LSD might experience; an example of such an experience is found in Shivitti: A Vision by Ka-Tzetnik 135633.

PictureSomething Physiodelic











​​Physio- is a prefix from the Greek word phusis, nature. Serotonin is in nature and is mostly made in our guts (with hunger being an instinct). In the “breath, life, soul” elements of psyche we see the physical aspect of psychedelia; this points to the older meaning of psyche though and not the 20th century version. To make space for “physiodelia” is to highlight the other parts of our bodies. A psychedelic experience is often more than a mind event: it can be “physiodelic” when done in accord with other natural phenomena – such as dancing, loving, and sunrising.
 






*Next Up: 3 May and a Life Serotonin Supplementation (LSS), Shivitti as Psychedelic Physiodelia.
 
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Life Serotonin Supplementation Update: UK Microdosing LSD and Serotonin Receptors

4/19/2017

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PictureSerotonin Receptor by S Jahnichen



A 10 April 2017 BBC story, Microdosing: The people taking LSD with their breakfast, reports individuals regularly taking small amounts of LSD for health.
​
A look at “serotonin” on Wikipedia reveals why people would be supplementing their serotonin systems for health:
 
Serotonin Receptor Actions/Modulations
  • Memory
  • Learning
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Schizophrenia
  • Regulating the release of serotonin
  • Analgesia
  • Aggression
  • Dopamine release in prefrontal cortex
  • Vasoconstriction
  • Bone mass
  • Psychedelia [note: “Physiodelia” is often a better word]
  • Norepinephrine release
  • Glutamate release in prefrontal cortex
  • Urinary bladder contractions
  • Cardiovascular functioning
  • Empathy (via the spindle neurons)
  • Dopamine release into the mesocorticolimbic pathway
  • Acetylcholine [nicotinic] release in prefrontal cortex
  • Appetite
  • Anti-psychotic
  • Emesis
  • Anxiolysis [calming]
  • Movement of food across the GI tract
  • Memory consolidation
  • Cognition
One could easily add laughter, dreams (day and night), prayer and meditation to things our serotonin receptors modulate.
 
*Next Up: 26 April and a Life Serotonin Supplementation (LSS) on Physiodelia.
 
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Mental Pictures: Spring and Summer 2017 

4/4/2017

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PictureMental Pictures 2017









​

Here is a blogging mental picture for spring and summer 2017. Three pamphlets: electricity and serotonin, another on Mosby’s Gettysburg, and then one on Martin Luther and popes. We’ll revisit PubMed for cannabinoid and serotonin news and continue with our 2020 visualizations … and more footnotes from Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition.
 
Thanks all and ever higher!
 
Next Up: Sunday 9 April, Usurpation Day 2017, and an Arendt Footnotes on Beginnings.
 
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Narrative Cluster Headache: A Journeying Pamphlet by Stephen Young

3/22/2016

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Picture



Available:
 
Suicide Headaches, Short Trips and Saved Lives
By Stephen Young
 
From 2006 PubMed
Neurology. 2006 Jun 27;66(12):1920-2.
Response of cluster headache to psilocybin and LSD.
Sewell RA1, Halpern JH, Pope HG Jr.
Author information
Abstract
The authors interviewed 53 cluster headache patients who had used psilocybin or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to treat their condition. Twenty-two of 26 psilocybin users reported that psilocybin aborted attacks; 25 of 48 psilocybin users and 7 of 8 LSD users reported cluster period termination; 18 of 19 psilocybin users and 4 of 5 LSD users reported remission period extension. Research on the effects of psilocybin and LSD on cluster headache may be warranted.
 
*Next Up: 2 April.
 
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Pregnancy: Tryptophan Serotonin Autumnal Equinox News

9/23/2015

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PictureSerotonin Life Signaling


This autumnal equinox PubMed science comes with a teaching abstract: it outlines the “several-fold” entouraging pathways of tryptophan, serotonin and kynurenine in creating a baby.

Tryptophan metabolism and dispositions and utilisation in pregnancy.
Badawy AA.
Biosci Rep. 2015 Sep 17. pii: BSR20150197. [Epub ahead of print] Review.
PMID: 26381576
Similar articles

Abstract
Tryptophan (Trp) requirements in pregnancy are several-fold:

(1) the need for increased protein synthesis by mother and for fetal growth and development;

(2) serotonin for signaling pathways;

(3) kynurenic acid for neuronal protection;

(4) quinolinic acid for NAD+ synthesis

(5) other kynurenines for suppressing fetal rejection.

These goals could not be achieved if maternal plasma [Trp] is depleted. Although plasma total (free + albumin-bound) Trp is decreased in pregnancy, free Trp is elevated. The above requirements are best expressed in terms of a Trp utilisation concept. Briefly, Trp is utilised as follows:

(1) In early and mid- pregnancy, emphasis is on increased maternal Trp availability to meet the demand for protein synthesis and fetal development, most likely mediated by maternal liver Trp 2,3-dioxygenase inhibition by progesterone and oestrogens.

(2) In mid- and late pregnancy, Trp availability is maintained and enhanced by the release of albumin-bound Trp by albumin depletion and non- esterified fatty acid (NEFA) elevation, leading to increased flux of Trp down the kynurenine pathway to elevate immunosuppressive kynurenines. An excessive release of free Trp could undermine pregnancy by abolishing T-cell suppression by kynurenines.

Detailed assessment of parameters of Trp metabolism and disposition and related measures (free and total Trp, albumin, NEFA, kynurenine and its metabolites and pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in maternal blood and, where appropriate, placental and fetal material) in normal and abnormal pregnancies may establish missing gaps in our knowledge of the Trp status in pregnancy and help identify appropriate intervention strategies.

Next Up: Tomorrow, 24 September, a Jonathan Magbie remembrance with some endocannabinoid pregnancy science.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Serotonin (5-HT) System, Obesity and Energy Homeostasis

8/13/2015

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PictureSerotonin Receptor (by S Janhichen)





We have a homeostatic serotonin update today from PubMed (June 2015) with the starring principal receptor, 5-HT2CR, in energy action:


Abstract
The central 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; serotonin) system represents a fundamental component of the brain's control of energy homeostasis.

Medications targeting the 5-HT pathway have been at the forefront of obesity treatment for the past 15 years.

Pharmacological agents targeting 5-HT receptors (5-HTR), in combination with genetic models of 5-HTR manipulation, have uncovered a role for specific 5-HTRs in energy balance and reveal the 5-HT2 C R as the principal 5-HTR mediating this homeostatic process.

Capitalising on this neurophysiological machinery, 5-HT2 C R agonists improve obesity and glycaemic control in patient populations.

The underlying therapeutic mechanism has been probed using model systems and appears to be achieved primarily through 5-HT2 C R modulation of the brain melanocortin circuit via activation of pro-opiomelanocortin neurones signalling at melanocortin4 receptors.

Thus, 5-HT2 C R agonists offer a means to improve obesity and type 2 diabetes, which are conditions that now represent global challenges to human health.

5-hydroxytryptamine medications for the treatment of obesity.
Burke LK, Heisler LK.
J Neuroendocrinol. 2015 Jun;27(6):389-98. doi: 10.1111/jne.12287.
PMID: 25925636
Similar articles

Next Up: A Hannah Arendt Footnote on Tuesday 18 August.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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    Brickner has a 1997 political science doctorate from Purdue University, cofounded Illinois NORML in 2001, and was a 2007 National NORML Cannabis Advocate Awardee. He is also publisher and coauthor of the 2011 book banned by the Illinois Department of Corrections – The Cannabis Papers: A Citizen’s Guide to Cannabinoids.

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