Emotional Memories Of Traumatic Life, child porn war

[Guest guest]



 

- smartnews

SNETNEWS

Friday, May 16, 2008 2:23 PM

SNET: Emotional Memories Of Traumatic Life, child porn war

 

 

Why Emotional Memories Of Traumatic Life Events Are So Persistent ScienceDaily (May 11, 2008) — Emotional memories of traumatic life events such as accidents, war experiences or serious illnesses are stored in a particularly robust way by the brain. This renders effective treatment very difficult. Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have now successfully tracked down the molecular bases of these strong, very persistent memories. The expression “post-traumatic stress disorder†is once again constantly on everyone’s lips in relation to those returning from the Iraq war or survivors of catastrophes such as the tsunami. This is not a new development, since it always occurs when people experience extreme situations. It is known that emotional memories of both a positive and a negative kind are stored by our brain in a particularly robust way. Consequently they have a very large effect on our behaviour and, in the case of adverse memories, they can place considerable restrictions on the way we go about our lives. As a result, we avoid places, smells or objects that remind us of the traumatic experience, because they may trigger severe anxieties. Isabelle Mansuy, Professor of Cellular Neurobiology at ETH Zurich and of Molecular and Cognitive Neurosciences at the University of Zurich, and her research group have now shown that the enzyme calcineurin and the gene regulation factor Zif268 decisively determine the intensity of emotional memories. For the first time, this has enabled the regulatory processes at the synapse, which are important for emotional memories, to be linked to the processes in the cell nucleus....JHowever, their aversion can be overcome slowly through intensive training. Mansuy explains that “Emotional memories are not simply erased. Oppressive negative memories need to be actively replaced by positive memories.†She says it is important at the same time to understand that the negative memories do not disappear, they merely slide down in a kind of priority list and are outweighed by the newly learned positive memories....Journal reference: Karsten Baumgärtel, David Genoux, Hans Welzl, Ry Y Tweedie-Cullen, Kyoko Koshibu, Magdalena Livingstone-Zatchej, Céline Mamie & Isabelle M Mansuy: Control of the establishment of aversive memory by calcineurin and Zif268. Nature Neuroscience 2008 May;11(5):572-8. Published on-line on 20 April 2008. doi: 10.1038/nn.2113 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509152307.htm

 

Mueller: 'We're Losing' the Child Porn War FBI Director Says Task Forces, More Record Retention Could Help Combat the Problem By JASON RYANWASHINGTON, 4/23/08 U.S. law enforcement is losing the battle to combat child pornography and child exploitation on the Internet, FBI Director Robert Mueller said today during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III told members of Congress that, in the battle against the spread of child pornography, "We're losing."...."It is growing on the Internet, exponentially is probably too strong a term, but just about every crime there is has gravitated to the Internet, and in certain cases, the Internet has provided the vehicle for expansion that otherwise would not be there, and that's certainly true with child pornography," Mueller told Franks and the rest of the committee. Due to the growing use of the Internet, digital photography and encryption software, the problem has become more pervasive in recent years....According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), child pornography is a $20 billion-a-year black market industry that has been proliferating on the Internet....Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., questioned the FBI's allocation of resources on the issue and told the Director, "I don't think that the FBI is doing enough to pursue online child predators… There are about 500,000 known online child pornographers, people trading these images -- these are depictions of sexual acts that are actually happening, crime scene photographs." http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/FedCrimes/Story?id=4712725 & page=1

 

 

Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food.