After nearly 3 weeks, I think I've finally finalized the glucose regulation and brain analyses. These have been incredibly tricky. I have baseline, fasted measures of glucose and insulin, an indicator of non-enzymatic post-translational protein folding (i.e. bad shit), and several variables derived from a glucose tolerance test. It wasn't until today that I came to the simple but startling conclusion: when we get old and have pre-diabetes or full-blown type 2, there appear to be two different, brain region specific sets of mechanisms for not having our whole noggin-box rotting in our skulls. It's actually a rather neat process:

*Along the top of the head, there are areas related to feeling bodily sensations and initiating motor movement. These regions don't have a dense assembly of insulin receptors, so developing insulin resistance doesn't majorly change how they function.

*For an ancient brain structure involved in spatial navigation and autobiographical memory, called the hippocampus, it appears as though the very dense insulin binding sites that it has are ultimately beneficial for an organism that has a FUBARed glucose metabolism system. It ends up being--if I'm right after 3 straight weeks of this shit plus undergrad training--that you want as much insulin around as possible. Normally very high insulin levels are bad, because they can lead to vascular problems and make plaques in your brain, and that fucking blows. Thing is, in a few select brain regions, it seems like those monkeys that have a lot more insulin around and less efficient insulin clearance are much better off brain-wise. It's as if the hormone is protecting very sensitive brain regions from a fucked metabolism.

If your hippocampus gets overly fucked, you are in turn kinda screwed. It's one of the first brain structures to massively decay in Alzheimer's disease. It's why people with AD can't really form new memories well, and have trouble recalling events or finding their way around.

If I'm right, and I can convince Dr. Silver and others to give me a few grand to do some histology work on monkey brain tissue, this could be a big thing. Granted, this is all from statistical analysis, and I could be pulling it all from my ass, but I'm pretty well convinced by the picture that's emerged.

In other news, I've been watching a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I heard about this show all the time when I was younger. I was in college through to the beginning of grad school when it was running. That would roughly cover the 'I'm stressed and studying all the time, I'm stressed and studying for the GRE, I'm in a shitty lab with an imperious fuckhead professor (anti love you, Dr. Zivago!), I'm driving across the country to a new job yay, oh fuck I'm studing all the time again but I'm getting drunk regularly yay' time period.

That and I didn't own a TV.

Which works out perfectly, because my long-distance romantic partner digs the hell out of the show. We watch it together, second for second. We exchange commentary. It's cute. You'd think I'd get sick of it after a few episodes every day for 2 or so weeks. Oddly; no.

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