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Neurochem: (n), Conversation, Speed Dating, and Round Table Chats

As a Cobber going into their senior year, needing their peak course, there were a lot of options of classes that I had to choose from. I had heard of the dreaded horrors of microbio, other classmates constantly complaining about embryology, and other laments about other capstone or PEAK classes. Then I heard from Brooke Maruska how great this class called neurochemistry was. And somehow, through the Grace of Concordia College, one of the best teachers on the planet also teaches it. All of those factors caused me to sign up for this class, even though I absolutely VOWED to never take another Chemistry class here again.

I stepped into syllabus day with a huge smile on my face as Dr. Mach strolled through the door and greeted us with her patented, “Hey, class”, and suddenly, I knew, that I had made the right choice. Some faces around me were familiar, others not so much, but by the end of the year, we came together through class-wide chats, where I can say I genuinely made new friends.

Through this year, we spent hours discussing every day pathology of diseases that we see that are prevalent around us, Alzheimer’s, autism, schizophrenia, CTE, and bipolar disorder, just to name a few. And through this class, we learned things about ourselves and the world that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. This class is the ideal Concordia capstone course.

What is a Capstone? Why do we have to take one?

A capstone is a class that carries 5 main values;

Instill a love for learning: Dr. Mach is literally one of the best teachers at Concordia in the fact that she makes you care about what you’re learning. This is the second class I’ve had the opportunity to take from her (Biochemistry being the first) and I can say that she has made learning so easy to do. These topics that we’ve covered this year will come up in every day life, affecting our loved ones and the ones around us, and it’s super important to understand what is exactly going on behind the scenes of these diseases.

Develop foundational skills and transferable intellectual capacities: Scientific Paper reading is an acquired skill. I like to make the joke that science is a language of itself, and reading scientific papers requires a level of skill that not a lot of people have. After this class, you will be able to read scientific papers with ease, and will be able to find the terms that you don’t understand so you can understand fully the concept of what is going on in the pathology. This is useful for any science class we will have to take in our post graduate schools.

Develop an understanding of disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and intercultural perspective and their connections: This class brings together majors of all sorts, we had neuroscience, biology, psychology, music, and chemistry majors all in one class, intermingling and getting to know each other all year long. The sit down chats and speed dating made a lot of this stuff feel personal, like you’re actually getting to know the person, instead of just the topic they covered that week.

Cultivate an unexamined cultural, ethical, physical, and spiritual self-understanding: This class will absolutely challenge you to think about mental health and other diseases in ways you have never thought of before. Understanding where the issues come from is the number one way to understand the root of the problem.

Encourage responsible participation in the world: BREW BREW BREW BREW. As part of this class, you are required to do a community action project with social work majors. NOW NOW NOW, I understand that sounds like so much work, but let me tell you, it ended up being my favorite part of the year. My group reached out into the community and worked with people with Alzheimer’s, and we tried to implement a personalized type of music therapy in our community, and let me tell you, was that the most rewarding thing seeing that all come together in the end.

I am SO glad I took this class, and I would recommend anyone in the world, regardless of your major, to at least consider Neurochemistry for their PEAK experience.

Just like the average American’s waistband, the prevalence of obesity is growing in America. Dr. Cynthia Ogden, a CDC epidemiologist, published the results of a study of weight in the United States concluding that 31% of adults are obese and 15% of children and teenagers age 6-19 are overweight. The proportion of obese people has been growing steadily for the last few decades.Obesity is a severe problem that every American faces due to the Western lifestyle. Our diets seem to consist of “fast food” cuisine and soda pop to wash down the processed foods. But, in reality, the “fast food” is actually slowing us down. However, you would think that most people would realize that this lifestyle is quite unhealthy. The answer to this question lies inside the brain.

“Severe obesity is not just about eating and activity, it really is a biological condition. It’s the obesity that’s driving the extra eating. It’s the obesity that’s driving limited physical activity, not the other way around.” said Dr. Claudia Fox, a doctor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical.

Obesity can cause insulin and leptin resistance, which under normal conditions balance energy expenditure and food intake. However, under obese conditions, the brain becomes resistant to insulin and leptin, causing one to over-eat. Saturated fatty acids are the molecules of which our fast foods and western diets primarily consist. These molecules can accumulate within the brain, which can lead to inflammatory pathways being activated. This inflammation is what causes insulin and leptin resistance that is characteristic of obesity.

Insulin resistance can then lead to inhibition of POMC neurons. POMC neurons are the set of neurons that tell our brain to stop eating. On the other hand, AgRP neurons are the other set of neurons that become activated under fasting conditions. Once these neurons are activated, they induce feeding, inhibit energy expenditure, and regulate glucose metabolism. Interestingly, POMC neurons become inhibited while AgRP neurons become activated under obese conditions. This leads to a detrimental cycle of eating, and not expending energy.

Fig 1. Correct signaling on the left. Obesity’s effect the signaling pathway on the right. Resistance occurs with obesity, leading to inactivation of POMC neurons and lack of inhibition of AgRP neurons. This promotes increased food intake and body weight gain.

So, what can be done to break this cycle? Dr. James O. Hill, chair of the department of nutrition and food studies at New York University believes that the lack of activity is the culprit behind our growing waist bands. Dr. Marion Nestle, chair of the department of nutrition and food studies

at New York University, agrees, but she lays more stress on eating habits. Both are correct. It is our western lifestyle of instant gratification that has led to us stuffing ourselves with instant, ready-made food. This very food, that is supposed to keep us going, has slowed us down. These two factors, increased food take and decreased energy expenditure, is a recipe for a country “diseased” with obesity. More focus should be placed on eating less and healthier, and also being more active. I know it is easier said than done, but I believe it all starts with awareness. Once more of America becomes aware of what our food is actually doing to their bodies, then, hopefully, they seek help or change their eating and exercising habits.

1. https://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/features/obesity-epidemic-astronomical#2
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28045396

Neurochemistry is required for the neuroscience major here, as well as a capstone, at Concordia and as I was registering for classes for my final year at Concordia this was the class I felt the most nervous about. I had not taken Biochemistry, a class that I knew would be heavily associated with the class so I knew that I would be behind the rest of the class in regards to that. I qualmed some of my fears about the class by learning that the classmates I would be surrounded with, some of the best people I had met at Concordia. But despite that, right before the first day of class I thought to myself, “I am not qualified to be taking this class.”

Going over the syllabus was helpful, I saw the amount of discussions that were involved in the class and felt a little better. Reading papers was something that I enjoyed doing and learning more about real life applications of science sounded like a lot of fun. Neurochem was the first class that related what we were learning to things that were troubling the world. The things we knew, the things we didn’t know and everything in between. All too often students and people of Concordia say “BREW” but do not actively engage in the meaning of it. Becoming responsive engaged in the world. There are many ways to do, through Concordia’s five goals of liberal learning, and then beyond that as well.

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1. Instill a love for learning: Being a neuroscience major I had no issues in engaging the that aspect of the class. I was much more shaky on the chemistry, but I learned to respect and value chemistry so much more. Discussion Fridays were the days that we were able to be in a less formal environment and talk about the neurochemistry in so many different ways, that I left always wanting to know more.  I attribute this class to my desire to attend graduate school for Biochemistry after graduation, there is so much about the body (and brain!) that we don’t know and I want to be there to discover it.
2. Develop foundational skills and transferable intellectual capacities: For our community action project we collaborated with the Concordia social media account to spread awareness about mental health during mental health awareness week. One of my tasks was talking with MarCom to set up the takeover and, well, to say the least I learned a lot about effective communication skills. I learned more about reading papers critically and taking important information away from them. From this important information we were assigned topics and dug through the vast internet to find answers. This contributed not only to our overall understanding of the subject matter, because learning independently tends to do that, locating the material yourself was sometimes difficult but always rewarding.
3. Develop an understanding of disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and intercultural perspective and their connections: Working with the social work students on the community action project was on one of the most rewarding Concordia experiences. Not only did we collaborate with the social work class, our group worked toward an understanding of mental health, a neurochemical topic, in many different areas. Psychology, apart of the interdisciplinary study that is neuroscience, and religion were the major focus of our videos but it involved so much more that is not directly mentioned. The sociology of understanding mental health at a large population and those demographics within that experience it to communication methods that can be used in therapies. A subject such as neuroscience at its core, is interdisciplinary. Combining biology, psychology, and chemistry gives rise to this subject and the experiences in Neurochem were nothing short of everything that neuroscience encapsulates.
4. Cultivate an unexamined cultural, ethical, physical, and spiritual self-understanding: One of the major stressors of the Friday discussions, that aren’t always explored in other classes because, are the ethics. Sometimes it is overlooked because it is so easy to focus on the cold, hard facts that it is disassociated from the people who are experience it. I’ll never forgetting talking about the devastating disease that is ALS and truly how little we have to treat it. This ethical understanding of science forced my to think more about my views on other things and why they are that way. There are so many other areas of life that are affected by neurochemistry, everything really, because it is molecularly who you are.
5. Encourage responsible participation in the world: I’ve always wanted to get engaged in research, partly for wanting to learn more but more recently because I know the more that is uncovered the more able we are to help those people who experience difficulties in that area. I finally feel like I BREWed! I am also compelled to teach the world more about neurochemistry, it bring such as vast and more holistic understanding to everything. I am excited to go into the world and do good things.

This culmination of experiences is truly why Neurochemistry is the best class that I’ve taken at Concordia.

The neurochemistry capstone course offered a wide range of new subjects for me. It featured an outstanding group of seniors and juniors that created many useful and applicable discussions about neurological diseases, as well as advice by about life. The core focus of this class being a capstone requires the active engagement with our liberal arts education in the Fargo-Moorhead communities. This resulted in working with the social work class, allowing for making new friends and connections at Concordia. I found the community action project(CAP) a beneficial and powerful experience, showing the potential for students to collaborate to serve a better cause and attempt to solve some of the challenges encountered during our in class discussions.

I found the design of this class very beneficial, since many of the topics covered feature no direct answers, only more questions this resulted in open ended discussions. The open ended discussions allowed us to take components from our previous classes, and apply that knowledge in our search to find out more information on the research of the material. By teaching the class this way, it allows students to provide feedback during the discussions to each other, by seeing how each component of the research builds up to the larger picture of the disease. The ideas developed by each person in the class contributed to a greater understanding of the subject at the end of the week with our final discussions. The blog and wiki pages offered a meaningful resource for us to look further into our personal opinions, and express our thoughts to share them with the rest of the world.

The diversity of the different majors that compose this class offer a well rounded and this created lots of new friendships during the discussion of the topics. As the personal component to each of the discussions, is what drives us to seek more information about the diseases that effect us in our personal lives. During the ASD topic I found that very interesting and personal too, as growing up with a severely autistic sibling changed my views on the world, and this class allowed me to reflect with others and share what I have encountered and learned. This is what makes the class interesting, it isn’t another lecture that has no implications to you besides the next exam. The material learned during the class and discussions bears a personal connections that will stick with you for the rest of your life. You may not remember the exact pathways or molecules involved, though the exposure to the reality of the neurological problems provide potential outlets for many of us in this class to apply our content learned from our majors in future careers. As a majority of the students taking this class further plan to enter into the medical, research, pharmaceutical, and scientific industry that will help contribute small components to hopefully eventually help end these conditions. As that is the goal of the application of science, it serves as a means of knowing more about the world, and by acquiring as much information on these diseases is the first steps to solving them.

The CAP offered a meaningful and productive way of applying our understanding of neurological diseases and disorders. My project with mental health allowed our group to provide a better exposure of support structures and treatment options to college students on Concordia’s campus. As having known several close friends who have suffered greatly at college with their depression and anxiety, this make the issue personal to me. The impact of our project, and the discussion of the topic with other students showcased the need for better support networks for college students, and help to reduce the stigma of mental health issues. The challenges faced by the project and overcoming them provided a great sense of pride for me and my group members. I wish more classes offered more interconnected projects, as by working with other students from another field, showed what their goals and applicability of their major in solving real world problems.

The completion of this course is decisively a peak for my college experience, the open ended classroom provides a great environment for students to flourish in. It provides us with the basis of the ability for students to seek more than just the superficial components to a problem. The exams provided a better and more applicable means of solving complex problems from many small portions out of context. This class provides a direct link with our major and the serious issues that affect many people around the world. I am going to really miss this class, and all of the great individuals that are a part of it.

Tommy Styrvoky, class of 2019

The implications of obesity have a rather large impact on our health system, as currently ≈40% of all Americans are obese, that results in 93 million people. This is brought about by our diets in America, as this results in a high fat diet and our sedentary habits only further make the problem worse. This results in a major cost issue for our medical system, as the current cost is estimated at around 147 billion dollars, and is estimated to increase another $48-$66 billion over the next two decades.

With the seen changes above, over the course of 16 years, a nearly 10% increase in obesity has occurred. There are many ideas as to why our body maintains an obese weight, however it is still dependent on your personal control of what you choose to ingest. As genetics plays a role in maintaining a set weight, but measures can be taken to adjust that weight. If done incorrectly, this results in a cycling of weight on and off around the set weight for an individual. The further implications of obesity can result in other serious health conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension.

As seen on the heat map above, the south eastern portion of the US is at major risk for the obesity epidemic. There are several solutions to this, the first and easiest would be to change the dietary intake of processed foods, and try to eat foods that are lower in fats, sugars, and salts. The approach to this problem should be a personal one, if you can keep track of weight, and attempt to maintain or reduce your weight to a healthier weight by making your own food from healthy ingredients and trying to include more physical activity in your daily schedule.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-obesity-2030-americans-obese_n_1893578

No path in life is straight and perfect. Not all answers are found in books or on the internet. The liberal arts education at Concordia College -Moorhead has allowed my shape of learning as “out of the box.” Various angles and approaches need to be taken when presented with a complex situation.

For all students grades create a very competitive and stressful environment. Grades are a very important part of any class because that is what is placed on the transcript. This class allowed for a non-stressful but well respected class. A majority of this class was participation, with two unique tests that challenged your thinking process and finally a project that took your own knowledge and present it in a form for others. Knowing that participation and willingness to learn allowed for less stress but with more want to become educated on these topics.

Articles that promoted learning

All the topics we had covered in Neurochemistry were more complex than I ever knew. We would start each week with an article that Dr. Mach had picked out. Each article was read by Monday along with a worksheet that asked for: main point in the article, a question to help explain a pathway or something super important that the article focused on, and finally, any questions you had. These papers all presented information that was new to all of us. Discussing the paper led to more questions than answers.

On Wednesday, we took all these questions and have posted our answers to the wiki page. Many times, I found that there was no new information. The question we had was said to be discovered but with an unknown function or was still being researched. We would either talk about our topic to the class or do this through “speed dating.” When conversing with classmates you started to see the connection between your topic and theirs.

Finally, on Friday all additional questions or comments that were talked about on Wednesday were discussed in groups. This day allowed for an open, no judgement discussion. Opinions were expressed and counter arguments peacefully.

Concordia’s five goals for liberal learning:

1. Instill a love for learning
   • Wednesday allowed students to address topics that they were interested in. The freedom of learning while being centered around the main topic allowed for me, as a student, to want to participate and research something that was of interest. Each Monday, I was left with the want to learn more about the topic to be able to put the picture together and be able to explain it to someone else. Many of these topics in the articles are presented in many individual’s lives that allowed for a better understanding of life.
2. Develop foundational skills and transferable intellectual capacities
   • A foundational skill that can be used in all situations is the ability to form an opinion, express it, and still be able to hear other’s points of views peacefully. Creating an effective form of communication through each variation of difficulty of science and to various groups was very helpful in the CAP project. Taking complex science information and being able to portray the important information to people with different backgrounds of knowledge was critical.
3. Develop an understanding of disciplinary, interdisciplinary and intercultural perspectives and their connections
   • Neurochemistry and Social Work came together to tackle a Community Action Project. This project allowed collaboration between two different fields that are very much interconnected. Autism, is the group I was placed in. In this group we held a workshop targeting individuals who are wanting to learn the complexity of the disease as well as a unique perspective from a mother. Both groups were able to bring their strengths that was later presented to various students who attended.
4. Cultivate an examined cultural, ethical, physical and spiritual self-understanding
   • Our gathering time on Friday’s allowed for everyone to self-reflect. Reflection on how each topic was related to the community and various cultures. After discussing each topic I was able to contribute personal experiences. Drug addiction has hit my family hard due to my cousin being a methamphetamine addict. Understanding how everything within me and the world around me connects to each other.
5. Encourage responsible participation in the world  ***BREW
   • Not only did this class allow for a unique interaction with the public but it gave me information that I can use towards voting. Many things such as drug addiction, obesity, and endocannabinoids are a few topics that impacting the community. Knowing the complexity of marijuana and its affects on various pathways in the body allows for a more informed voting. Marijuana is just one topic that has made it big on the ballot and community. Obesity is seen in the community that may have to be voted on for improved/healthier school lunches. Drug addiction is a disease that multiple laws affect these people. These laws are made by politicians that need to understand more of the chemistry of this disease.
   • This is a class that has allowed me to think more about my habits and the way it influences the world I live in as well as myself. I loved my time in this class and wish more people had the opportunity to have such a great experience in college.

The implications of ALS rase a lot of questions for many Americans about the ethics of physician assisted suicide. As there is currently a lack of any sort of treatment for ALS, so this usually results in methods to reduce the discomfort during the last few months to years of someone’s life.

The development of ALS result in procedural loss of function of motor neurons, this results from a lack of available energy for the cells to stimulate muscle cells. During my portion of research for the class, I looked at the energy consumption in motor neurons. This energy deficit can result from a lack of glucose uptake in motor neurons, and as someone with ALS gets older, the ability for cells to replenish their internal energy storage diminishes. This results in the inability to control those muscles because of the motor neurons.

having known someone who has suffered from ALS, it is a rather difficult process to see as a bystander, the slow loss of control that occurs over time. from seeing the individual that was once able to walk was wheelchair bound, after a couple years. The thought of slowly and conscientiously  being aware of these changes results in a rather depressing ending for one’s life. This raises many questions about the aforementioned physician assisted suicide, as with the current cellular changes that are undergoing in motor neurons, this results in a currently untreatable diagnosis.