NEWS
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Mindlusion
- Beiträge: 207
- Registriert: 2. Nov 2014, 19:40
Re: NEWS
Deutscher Hanfverband
Thüringen erhöht "Geringe Menge" auf 10 Gramm Cannabis
https://hanfverband.de/nachrichten/news ... m-cannabis
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Herr von Böde
- Beiträge: 1813
- Registriert: 18. Apr 2016, 00:33
- Wohnort: Planet Earth (meist)
Re: NEWS
Lesenswert:
Der Trump-Putsch
Der Trump-Putsch
Die Präsidentschaft von Donald Trump ist ein Lehrstück für alle, die noch glauben, dass die USA eine lupenreine Demokratie mit Vorbildcharakter sind, nach dem Motto: „Von den USA lernen heißt siegen lernen."(...)
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"Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone!"
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moralische_Kompetenz
"Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone!"
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moralische_Kompetenz
Re: NEWS
52 Million-Year-Old Tomatillo Fossils Rewrite Veggie History
The nightshade family has some of the most economically important and useful crops on Earth. That includes, of course, deadly nightshade or belladonna, which produces the medicine atropine, as well as potatoes, tomatoes, chili and bell peppers, tobacco and eggplant.
Scientists thought the family came into existence about 40 million years ago based on genetic evidence from living plants and the fossil record, says Richard Olmstead, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Washington. But the discovery of two new nightshade fossils pushes the age of the family back considerably further.
The fossils are imprints of ancient tomatillos about the size of a pen cap. The tomatillo's papery husk is left behind as a network of fragile black lines on a slab of white rock. Based on atomic age dating, the fossils are about 52 million years old, at least a dozen million years older than when scientists thought the first nightshade plant emerged on Earth, says Peter Wilf, a paleobotanist at Penn State University and the lead author of a new paper published in Science.
Wilf and his team found the fossils in the Patagonia region of Argentina, at a site that was once an ancient lake bed. "The plants that generated these fossils were alive in a temperate rain forest next to a volcano," he says. "When it finally snapped together [that] we were looking at a fossil tomatillo, it was quite shocking. It was disbelief. It was joy coupled with disbelief."
The discovery changes the history of nightshades, says Olmstead, who was not involved with the work. There is no other nightshade fossil as well-preserved as these, which show details of the tomatillo's stem, husk and berry. "It's a tremendous find. It provides insight totally absent from the fossil record and our understanding of the family prior to this," says Olmstead, who was not involved with the work.
That the fossils were once tomatillos — think the tomato's green, tangy cousin — and the time the plant lived are both critical to understanding the nightshades' evolution, Wilf says. For one, tomatillos evolved relatively late compared to other nightshades. "So the great grandfather of the tomato and the tomatillo, the ancestor of all the nightshades, must be older than 52 million years. A lot older," he says. Maybe as far back as the age of the dinosaurs, Wilf thinks.
At the start of the geologic epoch when these particular plants lived, warm, tropical climates covered Earth from the equator to the poles. Antarctica was forested and still connected to South America and Australia in a supercontinent called Gondwana. But 52 million years ago, that was about to change. Gondwana would break up, and Earth was cooling into the ice-capped planet we know today. The species name Wilf and his crew gave the tomatillo fossils, infinemundi or "at the end of the world," is a reference to that changing Earth.
"It's a nod to the modern and ancient location," Wilf says. "It's at the edge of Argentina, so the end of the world that way. And it's at the end of this time in Earth history."
Two connections to the evolution of nightshades and this time period can become more apparent now. Organisms stuck in cooling regions of Earth had to adapt and evolve into new species that could tolerate the change, Olmstead says. "The contraction of warm tropical climates spanning the Earth left behind lineages that adapted to the cooler climates." Then about 25 million years ago, the Andes Mountains began rising quickly, creating many new habitats in the nightshade's native South America.
The discovery of the fossil tomatillos means nightshades had to live through all of these change in the last 50 million years. "That's absolutely true! The plants [are] evolving into diverse habitats that co-exist at the same time," Olmstead says. They're the right conditions for a family of plants to split into hundreds or thousands of new species that need to create new adaptations to their new homes.
And nightshades, it seems, thrived. There are the delicious array of foods in the family that we know, as well as other useful plants like petunias and Datura stramonium or jimsonweed, which produces a hallucinogenic fruit. In total, nightshades now have over 2,400 extant species.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/201 ... storyshare
The nightshade family has some of the most economically important and useful crops on Earth. That includes, of course, deadly nightshade or belladonna, which produces the medicine atropine, as well as potatoes, tomatoes, chili and bell peppers, tobacco and eggplant.
Scientists thought the family came into existence about 40 million years ago based on genetic evidence from living plants and the fossil record, says Richard Olmstead, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Washington. But the discovery of two new nightshade fossils pushes the age of the family back considerably further.
The fossils are imprints of ancient tomatillos about the size of a pen cap. The tomatillo's papery husk is left behind as a network of fragile black lines on a slab of white rock. Based on atomic age dating, the fossils are about 52 million years old, at least a dozen million years older than when scientists thought the first nightshade plant emerged on Earth, says Peter Wilf, a paleobotanist at Penn State University and the lead author of a new paper published in Science.
Wilf and his team found the fossils in the Patagonia region of Argentina, at a site that was once an ancient lake bed. "The plants that generated these fossils were alive in a temperate rain forest next to a volcano," he says. "When it finally snapped together [that] we were looking at a fossil tomatillo, it was quite shocking. It was disbelief. It was joy coupled with disbelief."
The discovery changes the history of nightshades, says Olmstead, who was not involved with the work. There is no other nightshade fossil as well-preserved as these, which show details of the tomatillo's stem, husk and berry. "It's a tremendous find. It provides insight totally absent from the fossil record and our understanding of the family prior to this," says Olmstead, who was not involved with the work.
That the fossils were once tomatillos — think the tomato's green, tangy cousin — and the time the plant lived are both critical to understanding the nightshades' evolution, Wilf says. For one, tomatillos evolved relatively late compared to other nightshades. "So the great grandfather of the tomato and the tomatillo, the ancestor of all the nightshades, must be older than 52 million years. A lot older," he says. Maybe as far back as the age of the dinosaurs, Wilf thinks.
At the start of the geologic epoch when these particular plants lived, warm, tropical climates covered Earth from the equator to the poles. Antarctica was forested and still connected to South America and Australia in a supercontinent called Gondwana. But 52 million years ago, that was about to change. Gondwana would break up, and Earth was cooling into the ice-capped planet we know today. The species name Wilf and his crew gave the tomatillo fossils, infinemundi or "at the end of the world," is a reference to that changing Earth.
"It's a nod to the modern and ancient location," Wilf says. "It's at the edge of Argentina, so the end of the world that way. And it's at the end of this time in Earth history."
Two connections to the evolution of nightshades and this time period can become more apparent now. Organisms stuck in cooling regions of Earth had to adapt and evolve into new species that could tolerate the change, Olmstead says. "The contraction of warm tropical climates spanning the Earth left behind lineages that adapted to the cooler climates." Then about 25 million years ago, the Andes Mountains began rising quickly, creating many new habitats in the nightshade's native South America.
The discovery of the fossil tomatillos means nightshades had to live through all of these change in the last 50 million years. "That's absolutely true! The plants [are] evolving into diverse habitats that co-exist at the same time," Olmstead says. They're the right conditions for a family of plants to split into hundreds or thousands of new species that need to create new adaptations to their new homes.
And nightshades, it seems, thrived. There are the delicious array of foods in the family that we know, as well as other useful plants like petunias and Datura stramonium or jimsonweed, which produces a hallucinogenic fruit. In total, nightshades now have over 2,400 extant species.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/201 ... storyshare
Re: NEWS
Earliest Fungus-Like Fossils Discovered in 2.4 Billion-Year-Old South African Bedrock
The fossils are 2 billion years older than previous finds and could dramatically alter the timeline of the emergence of life on Earth.
An international group of scientists says it has discovered 2.4 billion-year-old fungus-like fossils — approximately 2 billion years older than any previous fungal specimen and a billion or more years earlier than scientists currently think fungi first evolved. If accurate, the finding could reset the spacing of some of the earliest branches on the tree of life.
Birger Rasmussen, a professor at the Western Australian School of Mines, was looking for minerals to date ancient submarine lava collected from bedrock in Northern Cape Province, South Africa, when he found microfilaments in millimeter-sized gas bubbles.
“I was startled to find a dense mesh of tangled fossilized microbes,” Rasmussen said.
But gas bubbles in submarine lava can provide a habitat for microorganisms, and knowing that, “we were on the active lookout for fossils in the ancient deep biosphere,” said Stefan Bengtson, professor emeritus in paleobiology at the Swedish Museum. He is the lead author of a paper describing the findings, which is published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Rasmussen was not looking for the fungus-like structures, “but he had the right mindset to recognize them as fossils,” Bengtson said. “It was not accidental.”
The South African lava surrounding the fossils was dated at 2.4 billion years old. The structures were found in tiny bubbles and voids within the lava that generally fill with other minerals within 10 million years of forming, Bengtson said, meaning the fossils would be approximately the same age as the rock.
“Our organisms had only a limited time to thrive,” he said.
It is possible, according to Bengtson, that an organism other than fungi formed the structures.
“This is why we call the fossils ‘fungus-like’ rather than ‘fungal’,” he said. “We have been careful to point out that the filaments we see are very simple.”
He described the fossil samples as looking like jumbles of tangled threads that branch and rejoin and said what appear to be bumps along the threads may be spores. There are no known non-fungal equivalents to what was found, Bengtson said.
"[The fossils] are practically indistinguishable in habitus and habitat from the proven fungi in the much younger fossil record,” Bengtson said. “We were quite excited that the fossils were so fungus-like."
If the research holds, it would dramatically change “our sense of the timetable of evolutionary history,” said Andrew H. Knoll, Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University.
Knoll, however, remains cautious.
“Without actually having seen [the research], and giving them the benefit of the doubt, I wouldn't immediately rule out the idea that they are correct in their interpretation,” he said.
He is skeptical about the timeframe. A fungus is a eukaryote — an organism with a complex cell structure that needs oxygen. A 2.4 billion-year-old fungus-like eukaryote would have been using oxygen at nearly the same time scientists think oxygen first appeared in notable amounts on the planet.
Knoll said he thinks it’s likelier the earliest fungi emerged about 1.5 billion years later than the organisms the Swedish group found.
“I look forward to seeing [the research] when it comes out and we'll see what happens,” he said.
Doug Erwin, curator of Paleozoic invertebrates at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, said he is skeptical.
“[The discovery], if accurate, would be surprising as it would significantly precede fossil evidence and molecular clock analysis for the origin of eukaryotes, much less the origin of fungi,” he said.
This is the second major announcement in ancient evolutionary research from Bengtson and the Swedish Museum of Natural History in two months. In March, another group he led announced finding multi-cellular plant fossils in India that they claim pre-dated any other similar specimens by 400 million years.
“Luck,” Bengtson said, “favors the prepared mind.”
https://www.seeker.com/earth/earliest-f ... an-bedrock
The fossils are 2 billion years older than previous finds and could dramatically alter the timeline of the emergence of life on Earth.
An international group of scientists says it has discovered 2.4 billion-year-old fungus-like fossils — approximately 2 billion years older than any previous fungal specimen and a billion or more years earlier than scientists currently think fungi first evolved. If accurate, the finding could reset the spacing of some of the earliest branches on the tree of life.
Birger Rasmussen, a professor at the Western Australian School of Mines, was looking for minerals to date ancient submarine lava collected from bedrock in Northern Cape Province, South Africa, when he found microfilaments in millimeter-sized gas bubbles.
“I was startled to find a dense mesh of tangled fossilized microbes,” Rasmussen said.
But gas bubbles in submarine lava can provide a habitat for microorganisms, and knowing that, “we were on the active lookout for fossils in the ancient deep biosphere,” said Stefan Bengtson, professor emeritus in paleobiology at the Swedish Museum. He is the lead author of a paper describing the findings, which is published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Rasmussen was not looking for the fungus-like structures, “but he had the right mindset to recognize them as fossils,” Bengtson said. “It was not accidental.”
The South African lava surrounding the fossils was dated at 2.4 billion years old. The structures were found in tiny bubbles and voids within the lava that generally fill with other minerals within 10 million years of forming, Bengtson said, meaning the fossils would be approximately the same age as the rock.
“Our organisms had only a limited time to thrive,” he said.
It is possible, according to Bengtson, that an organism other than fungi formed the structures.
“This is why we call the fossils ‘fungus-like’ rather than ‘fungal’,” he said. “We have been careful to point out that the filaments we see are very simple.”
He described the fossil samples as looking like jumbles of tangled threads that branch and rejoin and said what appear to be bumps along the threads may be spores. There are no known non-fungal equivalents to what was found, Bengtson said.
"[The fossils] are practically indistinguishable in habitus and habitat from the proven fungi in the much younger fossil record,” Bengtson said. “We were quite excited that the fossils were so fungus-like."
If the research holds, it would dramatically change “our sense of the timetable of evolutionary history,” said Andrew H. Knoll, Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University.
Knoll, however, remains cautious.
“Without actually having seen [the research], and giving them the benefit of the doubt, I wouldn't immediately rule out the idea that they are correct in their interpretation,” he said.
He is skeptical about the timeframe. A fungus is a eukaryote — an organism with a complex cell structure that needs oxygen. A 2.4 billion-year-old fungus-like eukaryote would have been using oxygen at nearly the same time scientists think oxygen first appeared in notable amounts on the planet.
Knoll said he thinks it’s likelier the earliest fungi emerged about 1.5 billion years later than the organisms the Swedish group found.
“I look forward to seeing [the research] when it comes out and we'll see what happens,” he said.
Doug Erwin, curator of Paleozoic invertebrates at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, said he is skeptical.
“[The discovery], if accurate, would be surprising as it would significantly precede fossil evidence and molecular clock analysis for the origin of eukaryotes, much less the origin of fungi,” he said.
This is the second major announcement in ancient evolutionary research from Bengtson and the Swedish Museum of Natural History in two months. In March, another group he led announced finding multi-cellular plant fossils in India that they claim pre-dated any other similar specimens by 400 million years.
“Luck,” Bengtson said, “favors the prepared mind.”
https://www.seeker.com/earth/earliest-f ... an-bedrock
Re: NEWS
Is Connection the Cure?
There is increasing evidence that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy can provide something that conventional antidepressants and talking therapies cannot. Over the last few years, small numbers of patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression and chronic anxiety disorders have been given psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, ketamine or MDMA) in combination with psychotherapy in clinical trials.
The results have been nothing short of remarkable. So much so, that in the US, the FDA have recently approved phase 3 studies of MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder, and phase 3 psilocybin studies are not far behind. Phase 3 is the final stage of the drug approval process, which if successful, leads to the drug becoming a prescription medication.
Researchers, mental health professionals and participants involved in these pioneering trials recently gathered at the world’s largest psychedelic conference, Psychedelic Science 2017, co-hosted by the Beckley Foundation and MAPS. Sharing their results and experiences, study after study revealed a high percentage (40-80%) of participants being symptom free at the end of the trials. What’s more, the positive effects endure for several months, and in some cases years. These outcomes occurred with as few as one or two sessions of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, instead of the usual long courses of talking therapies, or daily dependency on antidepressant medications that can have unpleasant side effects.
Precisely how the psychedelic experience has such profound and long-lasting therapeutic effects was explored at great depth by scientists and thinkers from a wide variety of disciplines. A central theme that emerged was that of connection: the ability of psychedelics to create new connections or facilitate reconnection.
A feeling of disconnection is a common feature of mental health disorders. This includes disconnection from the world, disconnection from others, and disconnection from self. Gabor Maté, a keynote speaker at Psychedelic Science, discussed how childhood trauma can cause this. Unable to bear the pain/self loathing/shame etc that arises from trauma, the individual disconnects from themselves as a survival strategy. “Depression” he says, “means to push something down…..namely the emotions”. Modern medicine doesn’t attempt to reach these repressed emotions or disconnected parts of the self, but rather pathologizes the presenting symptoms and targets the condition with pharmaceutical drugs.
Carefully controlled psychedelic experiences, on the other hand, enable people to explore the underlying causes of their suffering, to reconnect with the injured self, and to re-integrate painful and repressed memories. This can facilitate increased self-acceptance, which then in turn promotes connections to others.
Dr Ros Watts (Beckley/Imperial Psilocybin for Depression Study) and Mary Cosimano (Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Studies) further supported this idea by sharing their observations in the trials, and recounting the experiences of numerous participants, who had been helped to connect with self, friends, family, the wider community and spirit.
Mary quoted a participant from the Johns Hopkins psilocybin study;
“My single strongest memory will be from the first session when I found myself chasing something that had been eluding me. When I caught it, I discovered that it was me. The subsequent rejoining seems to me to be the single most powerful event in my life. I feel whole for the first time and able to cope with anything. Apart, I was weak and directionless. Listless, really. But together, I am strong, capable of anything and just happier.”
Connections are also taking place within the brain, as demonstrated by the Beckley/Imperial Research Programme’s brain-imaging studies. Images show that psilocybin and LSD cause increased connectivity between brain regions that don’t usually communicate, leading to a more integrated whole brain.
The spiritual significance of the psychedelic experience was also something that was highlighted throughout the conference. From the Beckley/Imperial psilocybin research team, Leor Roseman explained how higher ratings of feelings of unity, spiritual experience, blissful state and insightfulness, all correlated with higher reductions in depressive symptoms. In the Johns Hopkins, Psilocybin for Smoking Cessation study, 60% of participants met the criteria for complete ‘mystical experience’, and smoking cessation outcomes were strongly correlated with this.
Amanda Fielding reported that, “Our research is repeatedly confirming what we had expected – that psychedelics can evoke powerful, often transcendent experiences, that can lead to positive changes in mood, well-being and personality traits, persisting for days, weeks or even years”.
In an era in which mental health disorders are reaching epidemic proportions, with 1 in 4 people globally experiencing a mental illness at some point in their lives, and 1 in 3 teenage girls in the UK suffering from depression or anxiety, contemporary psychiatry needs to find a way to address the underlying causes of mental health dysfunction, and expand the pharmacopeia to include substances that have the potential to cure these conditions, rather than simply treat them.
Stripped of the political baggage that psychedelics have accumulated over the years, there is growing consensus that they hold considerable potential for mental healthcare, and indeed for creating a shift in the way we view mental health and its treatment. Although psychedelic research is still in its infancy, we are gradually gaining a better understanding of how these compounds produce such enduring positive effects. The take-home message was that increased connectivity may pave the road away from addiction, depression and anxiety disorders, towards improved well-being and a healthier society.
http://beckleyfoundation.org/2017/05/05 ... ence-2017/
There is increasing evidence that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy can provide something that conventional antidepressants and talking therapies cannot. Over the last few years, small numbers of patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression and chronic anxiety disorders have been given psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, ketamine or MDMA) in combination with psychotherapy in clinical trials.
The results have been nothing short of remarkable. So much so, that in the US, the FDA have recently approved phase 3 studies of MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder, and phase 3 psilocybin studies are not far behind. Phase 3 is the final stage of the drug approval process, which if successful, leads to the drug becoming a prescription medication.
Researchers, mental health professionals and participants involved in these pioneering trials recently gathered at the world’s largest psychedelic conference, Psychedelic Science 2017, co-hosted by the Beckley Foundation and MAPS. Sharing their results and experiences, study after study revealed a high percentage (40-80%) of participants being symptom free at the end of the trials. What’s more, the positive effects endure for several months, and in some cases years. These outcomes occurred with as few as one or two sessions of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, instead of the usual long courses of talking therapies, or daily dependency on antidepressant medications that can have unpleasant side effects.
Precisely how the psychedelic experience has such profound and long-lasting therapeutic effects was explored at great depth by scientists and thinkers from a wide variety of disciplines. A central theme that emerged was that of connection: the ability of psychedelics to create new connections or facilitate reconnection.
A feeling of disconnection is a common feature of mental health disorders. This includes disconnection from the world, disconnection from others, and disconnection from self. Gabor Maté, a keynote speaker at Psychedelic Science, discussed how childhood trauma can cause this. Unable to bear the pain/self loathing/shame etc that arises from trauma, the individual disconnects from themselves as a survival strategy. “Depression” he says, “means to push something down…..namely the emotions”. Modern medicine doesn’t attempt to reach these repressed emotions or disconnected parts of the self, but rather pathologizes the presenting symptoms and targets the condition with pharmaceutical drugs.
Carefully controlled psychedelic experiences, on the other hand, enable people to explore the underlying causes of their suffering, to reconnect with the injured self, and to re-integrate painful and repressed memories. This can facilitate increased self-acceptance, which then in turn promotes connections to others.
Dr Ros Watts (Beckley/Imperial Psilocybin for Depression Study) and Mary Cosimano (Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Studies) further supported this idea by sharing their observations in the trials, and recounting the experiences of numerous participants, who had been helped to connect with self, friends, family, the wider community and spirit.
Mary quoted a participant from the Johns Hopkins psilocybin study;
“My single strongest memory will be from the first session when I found myself chasing something that had been eluding me. When I caught it, I discovered that it was me. The subsequent rejoining seems to me to be the single most powerful event in my life. I feel whole for the first time and able to cope with anything. Apart, I was weak and directionless. Listless, really. But together, I am strong, capable of anything and just happier.”
Connections are also taking place within the brain, as demonstrated by the Beckley/Imperial Research Programme’s brain-imaging studies. Images show that psilocybin and LSD cause increased connectivity between brain regions that don’t usually communicate, leading to a more integrated whole brain.
The spiritual significance of the psychedelic experience was also something that was highlighted throughout the conference. From the Beckley/Imperial psilocybin research team, Leor Roseman explained how higher ratings of feelings of unity, spiritual experience, blissful state and insightfulness, all correlated with higher reductions in depressive symptoms. In the Johns Hopkins, Psilocybin for Smoking Cessation study, 60% of participants met the criteria for complete ‘mystical experience’, and smoking cessation outcomes were strongly correlated with this.
Amanda Fielding reported that, “Our research is repeatedly confirming what we had expected – that psychedelics can evoke powerful, often transcendent experiences, that can lead to positive changes in mood, well-being and personality traits, persisting for days, weeks or even years”.
In an era in which mental health disorders are reaching epidemic proportions, with 1 in 4 people globally experiencing a mental illness at some point in their lives, and 1 in 3 teenage girls in the UK suffering from depression or anxiety, contemporary psychiatry needs to find a way to address the underlying causes of mental health dysfunction, and expand the pharmacopeia to include substances that have the potential to cure these conditions, rather than simply treat them.
Stripped of the political baggage that psychedelics have accumulated over the years, there is growing consensus that they hold considerable potential for mental healthcare, and indeed for creating a shift in the way we view mental health and its treatment. Although psychedelic research is still in its infancy, we are gradually gaining a better understanding of how these compounds produce such enduring positive effects. The take-home message was that increased connectivity may pave the road away from addiction, depression and anxiety disorders, towards improved well-being and a healthier society.
http://beckleyfoundation.org/2017/05/05 ... ence-2017/
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pilzjockel33
- Beiträge: 505
- Registriert: 5. Okt 2015, 00:16
Re: NEWS
Cannabis verjüngt bei älteren Mäusen das Gehirn
Forscher wollen Medikament gegen Demenz entwickeln
In der Fachzeitschrift Nature Medicine haben deutsche und israelische Wissenschaftler die Ergebnisse einer gemeinsamen Studie unter Leitung des an der Universität Bonn beschäftigten Neurowissenschaftlers Andreas Zimmer veröffentlicht, die das Potenzial hat, den Ruf von Cannabis deutlich zu verbessern: Danach sorgt nämlich der Wirkstoff THC in regelmäßiger niedriger Dosierung bei älteren Mäusen für eine bessere Gedächtnisleistung.
Ein Ausgangspunkt der Studie war die Beobachtung, dass die THC-Rezeptoren im Gehirn, an denen die Cannabis-Wirkstoffmoleküle andocken können, im Alter weniger werden. Als die Forscher zwölf und 18 Monate alten Mäusen regelmäßig kleinere Dosen THC verabreichten, stellten sie fest, dass sie anschließend Erkennungsaufgaben wieder so gut bewältigen konnten wie zwei Monate junge Tiere. Da Mäuse nur eine Lebenserwartung zwischen eineinhalb und zwei Jahren haben, entspricht dieses Alter dem, in dem man am leistungsfähigsten ist. Nachdem die Forscher die Gehirne der mit THC "verjüngten" Mäuse untersuchten, stellten sie fest, dass die Zahl der Verbindungen zwischen den Nervenzellen zugenommen hatte. Bei einer Kontrollgruppe, der man ein Placebo verabreichte, zeigte sich weder dieser Effekt noch eine verbesserte Gedächtnis- und Lernfähigkeit.
Klinische Studie mit Patienten soll noch 2017 beginnen
Zimmer zufolge zeigten die bisherigen Forschungen, dass im Zusammenhang mit Cannabis "praktisch alles, was in der Maus funktioniert, auch im Menschen funktioniert". Er gibt sich daher "vorsichtig optimistisch, dass die Ergebnisse vielleicht übertragbar sind" und dass sich in einer klinischen Studie, die noch in diesem Jahr beginnen soll, Demenzerscheinungen bei Menschen mit THC mildern lassen. Darauf, dass dieser Effekt eintreten könnte, deuten auch die positiven Nebenwirkungen hin, die der 2014 verstorbene israelische Professor Itai Bab an alten Patienten beobachtete, deren Beschwerden er mit Cannabis zu lindern versuchte: Sie hatten nicht nur mehr Appetit und konnten besser schlafen, sondern wirkten auch geistig reger.
Bevor man nun, wie es Ruth Schuster in Ha'aretz formuliert, "Omas Tee aufmotzt", sollte man die Ergebnisse dieser klinischen Studie abwarten - sonst würde man das THC mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit falsch (und wahrscheinlich zu hoch) dosieren. Die Menge, mit denen die alten Mäuse ihre Gedächtnis- und Lernleistungen verbesserten, war den Angaben der Forscher nach so gering, dass sie zu keinem Rauschzustand führt, wurde dafür aber sehr regelmäßig verabreicht.
Großer Forschungsbedarf
In der Vergangenheit hatten sich Forscher vor allem auf mögliche negative Auswirkungen von Cannabis auf das Gehirn konzentriert. 2012 postulierten beispielsweise der an der University of Ottawa forschende Neurowissenschaftler Xia Zhang und Giovanni Marsicano von der Universität Bordeaux, dass sich THC bei Ratten über die Astrozyten-Gliazellen negativ auf synaptische Verbindungen im Hippocampus und damit auf das Gedächtnis auswirkt. Ihre Studien müssten nun mit unterschiedlichen Altersgruppen und stärker differenzierten Mengen wiederholt werden.
Ebenfalls Forschungsbedarf besteht bezüglich der Auswirkungen von THC auf Embryos: 2014 veröffentlichte ein Team um die Mediziner Giuseppe Tortoriello und Tibor Harkany eine Studie, die anhand von Modellsystemen zum Nervenwachstum mutmaßt, Cannabis könne über das Protein Stathmin-2 das Risiko für spätere neuropsychiatrische Erkrankungen eines Kindes erhöhen, wenn werdende Mütter es während der Schwangerschaft zu sich nehmen. Eine Kausalität dafür blieben die Wissenschaftler allerdings schuldig, wie sie selbst einräumten.
Im letzten Jahr widerlegte eine Zwillingsstudie unter Leitung des kalifornischen Forschers Nicholas J. Jackson die verbreitete Vorstellung, dass Marihuanakonsum den Intelligenzquotienten beim Menschen senkt: Die in vorhergehenden Studien errechnete Korrelation zwischen niedrigem Intelligenzquotienten und Marihuanakonsum liegt Jackson zufolge nicht an direkten Auswirkungen der Substanz, sondern muss andere Ursachen haben, weil sich die Intelligenz bei Zwillingen, von denen einer Marihuana konsumierte und der andere nicht, gleich entwickelte. In Frage dafür kommen zum Beispiel familiäre, soziale oder kulturelle Faktoren, die zu psychischen Problemen führen, gegen die Cannabis als Selbstmedikation eingesetzt wird.
Seit 2012 haben inzwischen sechs US-Bundesstaaten - unter ihnen der Bevölkerungsriese Kalifornien - Cannabis als Genussmittel legalisiert. In Kanada steht eine solche Legalisierung kurz bevor, in Uruguay wurde sie bereits durchgeführt. Zahlreiche weitere Staaten - darunter Portugal, Spanien, fast alle lateinamerikanischen Länder und Russland - haben den Besitz kleiner Mengen Cannabis entkriminalisiert. Als Arznei ist die Substanz inzwischen auch in Deutschland und Österreich zugelassen, wird aber streng reguliert.
https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Cannab ... 07021.html
Forscher wollen Medikament gegen Demenz entwickeln
In der Fachzeitschrift Nature Medicine haben deutsche und israelische Wissenschaftler die Ergebnisse einer gemeinsamen Studie unter Leitung des an der Universität Bonn beschäftigten Neurowissenschaftlers Andreas Zimmer veröffentlicht, die das Potenzial hat, den Ruf von Cannabis deutlich zu verbessern: Danach sorgt nämlich der Wirkstoff THC in regelmäßiger niedriger Dosierung bei älteren Mäusen für eine bessere Gedächtnisleistung.
Ein Ausgangspunkt der Studie war die Beobachtung, dass die THC-Rezeptoren im Gehirn, an denen die Cannabis-Wirkstoffmoleküle andocken können, im Alter weniger werden. Als die Forscher zwölf und 18 Monate alten Mäusen regelmäßig kleinere Dosen THC verabreichten, stellten sie fest, dass sie anschließend Erkennungsaufgaben wieder so gut bewältigen konnten wie zwei Monate junge Tiere. Da Mäuse nur eine Lebenserwartung zwischen eineinhalb und zwei Jahren haben, entspricht dieses Alter dem, in dem man am leistungsfähigsten ist. Nachdem die Forscher die Gehirne der mit THC "verjüngten" Mäuse untersuchten, stellten sie fest, dass die Zahl der Verbindungen zwischen den Nervenzellen zugenommen hatte. Bei einer Kontrollgruppe, der man ein Placebo verabreichte, zeigte sich weder dieser Effekt noch eine verbesserte Gedächtnis- und Lernfähigkeit.
Klinische Studie mit Patienten soll noch 2017 beginnen
Zimmer zufolge zeigten die bisherigen Forschungen, dass im Zusammenhang mit Cannabis "praktisch alles, was in der Maus funktioniert, auch im Menschen funktioniert". Er gibt sich daher "vorsichtig optimistisch, dass die Ergebnisse vielleicht übertragbar sind" und dass sich in einer klinischen Studie, die noch in diesem Jahr beginnen soll, Demenzerscheinungen bei Menschen mit THC mildern lassen. Darauf, dass dieser Effekt eintreten könnte, deuten auch die positiven Nebenwirkungen hin, die der 2014 verstorbene israelische Professor Itai Bab an alten Patienten beobachtete, deren Beschwerden er mit Cannabis zu lindern versuchte: Sie hatten nicht nur mehr Appetit und konnten besser schlafen, sondern wirkten auch geistig reger.
Bevor man nun, wie es Ruth Schuster in Ha'aretz formuliert, "Omas Tee aufmotzt", sollte man die Ergebnisse dieser klinischen Studie abwarten - sonst würde man das THC mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit falsch (und wahrscheinlich zu hoch) dosieren. Die Menge, mit denen die alten Mäuse ihre Gedächtnis- und Lernleistungen verbesserten, war den Angaben der Forscher nach so gering, dass sie zu keinem Rauschzustand führt, wurde dafür aber sehr regelmäßig verabreicht.
Großer Forschungsbedarf
In der Vergangenheit hatten sich Forscher vor allem auf mögliche negative Auswirkungen von Cannabis auf das Gehirn konzentriert. 2012 postulierten beispielsweise der an der University of Ottawa forschende Neurowissenschaftler Xia Zhang und Giovanni Marsicano von der Universität Bordeaux, dass sich THC bei Ratten über die Astrozyten-Gliazellen negativ auf synaptische Verbindungen im Hippocampus und damit auf das Gedächtnis auswirkt. Ihre Studien müssten nun mit unterschiedlichen Altersgruppen und stärker differenzierten Mengen wiederholt werden.
Ebenfalls Forschungsbedarf besteht bezüglich der Auswirkungen von THC auf Embryos: 2014 veröffentlichte ein Team um die Mediziner Giuseppe Tortoriello und Tibor Harkany eine Studie, die anhand von Modellsystemen zum Nervenwachstum mutmaßt, Cannabis könne über das Protein Stathmin-2 das Risiko für spätere neuropsychiatrische Erkrankungen eines Kindes erhöhen, wenn werdende Mütter es während der Schwangerschaft zu sich nehmen. Eine Kausalität dafür blieben die Wissenschaftler allerdings schuldig, wie sie selbst einräumten.
Im letzten Jahr widerlegte eine Zwillingsstudie unter Leitung des kalifornischen Forschers Nicholas J. Jackson die verbreitete Vorstellung, dass Marihuanakonsum den Intelligenzquotienten beim Menschen senkt: Die in vorhergehenden Studien errechnete Korrelation zwischen niedrigem Intelligenzquotienten und Marihuanakonsum liegt Jackson zufolge nicht an direkten Auswirkungen der Substanz, sondern muss andere Ursachen haben, weil sich die Intelligenz bei Zwillingen, von denen einer Marihuana konsumierte und der andere nicht, gleich entwickelte. In Frage dafür kommen zum Beispiel familiäre, soziale oder kulturelle Faktoren, die zu psychischen Problemen führen, gegen die Cannabis als Selbstmedikation eingesetzt wird.
Seit 2012 haben inzwischen sechs US-Bundesstaaten - unter ihnen der Bevölkerungsriese Kalifornien - Cannabis als Genussmittel legalisiert. In Kanada steht eine solche Legalisierung kurz bevor, in Uruguay wurde sie bereits durchgeführt. Zahlreiche weitere Staaten - darunter Portugal, Spanien, fast alle lateinamerikanischen Länder und Russland - haben den Besitz kleiner Mengen Cannabis entkriminalisiert. Als Arznei ist die Substanz inzwischen auch in Deutschland und Österreich zugelassen, wird aber streng reguliert.
https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Cannab ... 07021.html
Re: NEWS
Danke für den Link, hört sich prima an!
Das Körper-Geist-Problem wird unzulänglich bedacht
https://www.nzz.ch/wissenschaft/medizin ... 1.18284675Kritik an Hirnforschern:
«Das Körper-Geist-Problem wird unzulänglich bedacht»
Zehn Jahre nach der Publikation eines «Manifests» von Hirnforschern nimmt eine Gruppe von Wissenschaftern die damaligen Prophezeiungen unter die Lupe. Ein Interview mit dem Initiator der Gruppe, Felix Tretter.
(...)
"Schläft ein Lied in allen Dingen / Die da träumen fort und fort / Und die Welt hebt an zu singen / Triffst du nur das Zauberwort."
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Marijuana on Religious Grounds? A Cannabis Church Opens in Denver
For the International Church of Cannabis in Denver, there were three reasons to celebrate on Thursday.
First, it was opening day. The church, a more than century-old building recently adorned with brightly colored paintings by the artists Kenny Scharf and Okuda San Miguel, welcomed the public early in the afternoon, at which time no cannabis consumption was allowed inside.
“It seemed to be a nice steady flow of people,” said Lee Molloy, a founder of the church and a member, who estimated that a couple of hundred people had come by.
Second, it was April 20, an unofficial holiday of sorts for marijuana users. There have been disagreements as to why the number 420 has taken on significance in the cannabis community, but Steve Berke, the church’s media relations director, did not want to worry about that.
“It’s a number that everybody’s adopted, and we’re adopting it too,” he said. The church closed its doors to the public after 2 p.m. local time, leaving only invited visitors, who were allowed to light up for a private 4:20 ceremony.
And third: A challenge to the church’s legality, in the form of an amendment proposed in the state’s House of Representatives, was shut down almost as quickly as it arose on Thursday morning.
All told, it was a good day for the church’s membership, which ballooned to more than 200 people from around 50 this week after increased media attention.
Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2012 and has been fine-tuning its regulations ever since. It is still illegal to smoke in Denver’s public spaces. And some decisions on legal usage are still left up to cities, creating a patchwork of laws that legislators are still working to consolidate.
Mr. Berke and Mr. Molloy are founding members of Elevation Ministries, the religious nonprofit behind the church. “We thought we could do something different, something unique,” Mr. Berke said, explaining that the church adheres to no specific dogma.
“We’re building a community of volunteers, and the common thread is that they use cannabis to positively influence their lives, and they use cannabis for spiritual purposes,” he said.
Not everyone was happy to hear about the new church. Dan Pabon, a Democrat in the state’s House of Representatives, had a bill on marijuana regulation making its way through the legislature. On Thursday morning, he tried to add an amendment banning cannabis consumption in churches.
It was, he said, a move inspired by the International Church of Cannabis.
Elevation Ministries “is basically leveraging and capitalizing on the usage laws that we have in Colorado,” he said. “I think it offends both religious beliefs everywhere, as well as the voters’ intent on allowing legalization of marijuana in Colorado.”
But some of Mr. Pabon’s fellow representatives did not buy it.
“I thought that this was engaging in a nanny state,” said Joe Salazar, a Democrat. “I completely disagree with saying that a person can worship in one particular way or the other, and that that’s going to be regulated by the state.”
In the end, the amendment was not formally introduced. Still, Mr. Pabon hopes the Senate will consider bringing it up again in the coming weeks.
Mr. Berke saw Mr. Pabon’s amendment as a clear example of religious persecution. “And for those who accuse us of creating a church as an excuse to smoke weed, we’re in Denver,” Mr. Berke said. “We can smoke anywhere. I think he should be embarrassed.”
Mr. Salazar acknowledged the unpredictable nature of cannabis legislation. “This is fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, blazing-the-trail kind of policy-making,” he said. “And Colorado is a leader on it.”
Mr. Molloy said that while church members have done — and will do — their due diligence abiding by existing laws and meeting with city officials, it would be a constant challenge to stay abreast of changing regulations. “We’re jumping through all the hoops the state and city require us to jump through,” he said.
But he added that he was proud to see the church open its doors. “It’s a world-class piece of art,” he said of the renovated building. “It’s a masterpiece. And I think the city of Denver is lucky to have it.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/us/i ... nabis.html
For the International Church of Cannabis in Denver, there were three reasons to celebrate on Thursday.
First, it was opening day. The church, a more than century-old building recently adorned with brightly colored paintings by the artists Kenny Scharf and Okuda San Miguel, welcomed the public early in the afternoon, at which time no cannabis consumption was allowed inside.
“It seemed to be a nice steady flow of people,” said Lee Molloy, a founder of the church and a member, who estimated that a couple of hundred people had come by.
Second, it was April 20, an unofficial holiday of sorts for marijuana users. There have been disagreements as to why the number 420 has taken on significance in the cannabis community, but Steve Berke, the church’s media relations director, did not want to worry about that.
“It’s a number that everybody’s adopted, and we’re adopting it too,” he said. The church closed its doors to the public after 2 p.m. local time, leaving only invited visitors, who were allowed to light up for a private 4:20 ceremony.
And third: A challenge to the church’s legality, in the form of an amendment proposed in the state’s House of Representatives, was shut down almost as quickly as it arose on Thursday morning.
All told, it was a good day for the church’s membership, which ballooned to more than 200 people from around 50 this week after increased media attention.
Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2012 and has been fine-tuning its regulations ever since. It is still illegal to smoke in Denver’s public spaces. And some decisions on legal usage are still left up to cities, creating a patchwork of laws that legislators are still working to consolidate.
Mr. Berke and Mr. Molloy are founding members of Elevation Ministries, the religious nonprofit behind the church. “We thought we could do something different, something unique,” Mr. Berke said, explaining that the church adheres to no specific dogma.
“We’re building a community of volunteers, and the common thread is that they use cannabis to positively influence their lives, and they use cannabis for spiritual purposes,” he said.
Not everyone was happy to hear about the new church. Dan Pabon, a Democrat in the state’s House of Representatives, had a bill on marijuana regulation making its way through the legislature. On Thursday morning, he tried to add an amendment banning cannabis consumption in churches.
It was, he said, a move inspired by the International Church of Cannabis.
Elevation Ministries “is basically leveraging and capitalizing on the usage laws that we have in Colorado,” he said. “I think it offends both religious beliefs everywhere, as well as the voters’ intent on allowing legalization of marijuana in Colorado.”
But some of Mr. Pabon’s fellow representatives did not buy it.
“I thought that this was engaging in a nanny state,” said Joe Salazar, a Democrat. “I completely disagree with saying that a person can worship in one particular way or the other, and that that’s going to be regulated by the state.”
In the end, the amendment was not formally introduced. Still, Mr. Pabon hopes the Senate will consider bringing it up again in the coming weeks.
Mr. Berke saw Mr. Pabon’s amendment as a clear example of religious persecution. “And for those who accuse us of creating a church as an excuse to smoke weed, we’re in Denver,” Mr. Berke said. “We can smoke anywhere. I think he should be embarrassed.”
Mr. Salazar acknowledged the unpredictable nature of cannabis legislation. “This is fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, blazing-the-trail kind of policy-making,” he said. “And Colorado is a leader on it.”
Mr. Molloy said that while church members have done — and will do — their due diligence abiding by existing laws and meeting with city officials, it would be a constant challenge to stay abreast of changing regulations. “We’re jumping through all the hoops the state and city require us to jump through,” he said.
But he added that he was proud to see the church open its doors. “It’s a world-class piece of art,” he said of the renovated building. “It’s a masterpiece. And I think the city of Denver is lucky to have it.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/us/i ... nabis.html
Re: NEWS
"Krachend gescheitert": Cem Özdemir schreibt Wutbrief an Drogenbeauftragte
http://www.huffingtonpost.de/2017/06/01 ... 10430.html
Weg mit der alten. Taugt nichts wenn man so an den Leuten vorbei regiert.
http://www.huffingtonpost.de/2017/06/01 ... 10430.html
Weg mit der alten. Taugt nichts wenn man so an den Leuten vorbei regiert.
Unsere Feinde können alle Blumen abschneiden, aber nie den Frühling abschaffen. Pablo Neruda