NBB Summer Program in Paris

Compasses, calculators, and robots, oh my! Today, we attended the Musée des Arts et Métiers to learn all about scientific instruments throughout the ages.  One of my favorite things in the museum was a device from the late 18^th century used to ferment wine. Wine fermentation is truly an art form and has taken centuries to perfect into modern wine we drink from a bottle today and getting to see an original fermentation device was such an intriguing experience.

We also got to view a magnetic drum device, a precursor to the modern calculator we use today. It strangely resembled a typewriter. We also viewed different communication devices from years (and even centuries) past, including the first press-cylinder printer and an original Nokia from the early 2000s. Additionally, we saw a Russian extra-terrestrial rover that could communicate from outer space! Lastly, my favorite thing we got to see was a thermoscope from 1592 that once belonged to Galileo! In fact, with some further research after leaving the museum, I discovered that Galileo actually introduced the first thermoscope thermometry which would eventually evolve to the modern thermal imagery we see today!

Evidently, this invention sprung medicinal science forward towards modern Western biomedicine. Fever has always been one of the most common medical indicators of ailment, and it made me ponder how temperature correlates with neuroscience and potential brain injuries. I found a recent study that discussed the relationship between body and brain temperature in rodents with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Previous research had previously indicated that extreme temperature deficits or increases may affect the implications of brain injuries. Researchers decided to compared rats that had acquired traumatic brain injuries to uninjured rats both under general anesthesia and not under general anesthesia. When under anesthesia, there was no significant temperature difference between rats with TBIs and rats without TBIs. However, rats who were under anesthesia had significantly lower temperatures than rats not under anesthesia, suggesting that anesthesia alone caused a decrease in temperature. When rats had not been put under anesthesia temporalis muscle temperature correlated well with brain temperature, but rats with TBIs and rats without TBIs did not differ in temperature. This allowed the researchers to conclude that temporalis muscle temperature is a good indicator of brain temperature, however, brain temperature itself is not necessarily indicative of a TBI. After reading this article, it was very intriguing to consider how far the science of temperature in medicine has come since the days of Galileo.

References: 

Jiang, J. Y., Lyeth, B. G., Clifton, G. L., Jenkins, L. W., Hamm, R. J., & Hayes, R. L. (1991). Relationship between body and brain temperature in traumatically brain-injured rodents. Journal of Neurosurgery, 74(3), 492–496. https://doi.org/10.3171/jns.1991.74.3.0492

Ring, E. F. J. (2007). The historical development of temperature measurement in medicine. Infrared Physics & Technology, 49(3), 297–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infrared.2006.06.029

One of the best parts about coming to Paris has to be all of the delicious food I have been able to try. From a soft croissant or pain au chocolat from the local boulangerie in the morning, to fresh produce from stands and small markets dotting the streets, or a warm quiche from one of our lunch spots near Accent, I have been enjoying every tasty experience while here. The French also highly value time around meals, and so going to a cafe or restaurant is always a relaxing, serotonin-boosting time. One morning for brunch, I had a yummy plate with smoked salmon, eggs, and fresh bread. The contrasting crunch of the baguette’s crust to the warm, chewy interior was delectable. Thankfully the carbohydrates in the bread (in moderation) are as rewarding for our brain to provide it with energy as for our mouths when we taste it. 🙂

A few weeks ago when one of my friends was in town, we decided to check out the Musée Rodin. Auguste Rodin is one of my favorite sculptors, and so I was excited to visit a museum that was solely dedicated to his work. It was a wonderful experience, as it was an intimate way to explore a single artist. It is set in the Hôtel Biron, where Rodin lived toward the end of his life. Some of his sculptures are also displayed throughout the extensive garden. One of the rooms included his late sculptural experiments on dance movement studies. As a dance minor, I have always been fascinated by the link between dance and the brain. Dance demands both attention and memory skills, and significant neuronal growth seen in structures such as the insula and cingulate gyrus demonstrate the beneficial role dance can play in cognitive improvement.

This Tuesday, June 7th, we had the opportunity to visit the Musee de Moulages at the Hospital Saint-Louis. The museum houses “a unique collection of wax dermatological models”, as coined by the subtitle on the front cover of the museum pamphlet.

Reflecting upon my visit, I can concur that this museum has a unique collection indeed. With collections of wax models displaying pathologies such as syphilis, tuberculosis, eczema, acne, elephantiasis, tumors, and much more, the museum leaves a lasting impression. 

The first week of the program, we learned about the “gut-brain axis” with the first target article. Upon visiting the dermatology museum, I began to wonder if the same kind of connection exists between the brain and the skin, a “skin-brain axis”. Considering that the skin is the largest organ in the body, I postulated that this connection must exist in some form or another. Before diving into the current scientific literature, I speculated on different relationships that might exist between the brain and the skin: How do neurological variables such as stress manifest in the skin? How does skin pathology affect the brain? What kinds of information does the skin communicate to the brain and through what mechanisms?

I found that the “brain-skin” connection does exist, and lends itself to a great intersection of research involving different fields of study such as psychology, neurobiology, dermatology, immunology, etc. Stress and skin conditions have been known to be associated for centuries, and modern research has established the existence of a causal relationship as psychological stress can lead to the onset and/or aggravation of multiple skin diseases. Many studies also reveal that stress accelerates skin aging (Lee et al., 2020; Rinnerthaler et al., 2015) and exacerbates skin inflammation (Chen et al., 2014). Not surprisingly, anxiety has been proven to increase susceptibility to skin diseases which one study claims is due to the disruption of cutaneous homeostasis via prolonged sympathetic nervous system activation (Öksüz et al., 2020). In addition, the relationship between depression and chronic wounds has been investigated as these conditions often have a high comorbidity (Hadian et al., 2020). 

However, in my opinion, the most interesting finding of my literature review of the skin-brain axis concerned the affective function of the skin. The discriminative properties of the skin have been well identified, however, the discovery of a new class of nerve fiber, unmyelinated C-fiber afferents, has led to a new understanding of skin function as a coder of emotional touch. C-tactile mediated touch such as massage therapy has exciting implications for clinical treatments of both physical and psychological symptoms of chronic skin conditions like eczema. 

All in all, neuroscience is a wonderfully interdisciplinary subject that has interesting implications on nearly all areas of biology and different clinical practices – including dermatology!

Chen, Y., & Lyga, J. (2014). Brain-skin connection: stress, inflammation and skin aging. Inflammation & allergy drug targets, 13(3), 177–190. https://doi.org/10.2174/1871528113666140522104422

Hadian, Y., Fregoso, D., Nguyen, C., Bagood, M. D., Dahle, S. E., Gareau, M. G., & Isseroff, R. R. (2020). Microbiome-skin-brain axis: A novel paradigm for cutaneous wounds. Wound repair and regeneration : official publication of the Wound Healing Society [and] the European Tissue Repair Society, 28(3), 282–292. https://doi.org/10.1111/wrr.12800

Lee, C. M., Watson, R., & Kleyn, C. E. (2020). The impact of perceived stress on skin ageing. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV, 34(1), 54–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/jdv.15865

Lloyd, D. M., McGlone, F. P., & Yosipovitch, G. (2015). Somatosensory pleasure circuit: from skin to brain and back. Experimental dermatology, 24(5), 321–324. https://doi.org/10.1111/exd.12639 

Öksüz, Ö., Günver, G., Oba, M. Ç., & Arıkan, K. (2020). Psychiatry to dermatology; panic disorder. Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, 81, 316–320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocn.2020.09.071 

Rinnerthaler, M., Bischof, J., Streubel, M. K., Trost, A., & Richter, K. (2015). Oxidative stress in aging human skin. Biomolecules, 5(2), 545–589. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom5020545

One of my favorite places I have visited so far in Paris has to be The Sainte-Chapelle. It is a royal chapel in the Gothic style set within the Palais de Justice de Paris and was consecrated on April 26, 1248. It contains some of the most beautiful stained glass I have seen. The way the sun shines through the 15 large windows floods the chapel with a rainbow of color. This reminded me of learning about how the brain processes information from our eyes to perceive color. After light hits the rods and cones in the retina, the optic nerve connects to the thalamus to process those signals. The visual cortex helps us recognize what we see. I would recommend anyone visit the chapel for a highly stimulating experience!

By Duke McDaniels

Before Will Smith was known for causing head injuries, he was better known for their study. In his 2015 film “Concussion,” Smith portrayed Dr. Bennet Omalu, one of the most important scientists responsible for pioneering the study of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players. Dr. Omalu’s research is largely responsible for the current interest in the effects of constant concussions on players of contact sports, and when one is aware of and looking for these concussions in the midst of such sports, they cease to be mere accessories of the pastime and become impossible to overlook.

When I finally set off for the Stade de France after an intense internal debate about whether or not to attend the rugby game on the program schedule, this is the attitude I expected to have as a scientifically-inclined spectator. As someone with a generally low interest in professional sports, I had resolved to observe the rugby game to study the frequency of these head injuries in real time. So, when to my great surprise the players jogging onto the field were accompanied by a ball that was significantly more round and checkered than the rugby ball I had expected, I discovered in a shocking twist that what we were actually spectating was the France vs Denmark Nations League game. 

The distinction between rugby and soccer initially appeared to be night and day for me with regards to concussion frequency. 30 massive dudes charging at each other headfirst versus 22 dancing their way across the field with the slightest tap resulting in an Oscar-worthy performance? Come on. However, as I continued my mission of tracking head injuries, I realized they happened much more frequently than I expected. Despite the focus being on the lower parts of the player’s bodies, soccer is still very much a contact sport, and the neurology of the players supports this. A 2019 retrospective study by Mackay et al. found that among the nearly 8000 former professional soccer players they followed, the 15.4% which died across the length of the study were more likely to have a cause of death related to neurodegenerative disease than controls, and were also prescribed dementia medication more frequently (Mackay et al, 2019). While still not on the level of other sports, soccer players are just as much at risk of these types of injuries, as well as their long-term consequences. We as scientists and as fans (if you’re into that sort of thing) have a responsibility to make it known.

Mackay, D. F., Russell, E. R., Stewart, K., MacLean, J. A., Pell, J. P., & Stewart, W. (2019). Neurodegenerative disease mortality among former professional soccer players. New England Journal of Medicine, 381(19), 1801–1808. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa1908483