Daily Lobo new mexico
wednesday November 19, 2014 | Vo l u m e 1 1 9 | Is s u e 6 6
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
Study: pot has impact on brain
Destination: Puerto Rico
By Tomas Lujan UNM researchers are looking into the science of getting high in their latest study analyzing the long-term effects of marijuana on the brain. While initial results cannot say whether the enduring effects of cannabis are positive or negative, one thing is certain — habitual use changes the structure of the brain. Distinguished professor Vince Calhoun, executive science officer at The Mind Research Network, said most of what he does is focused on developing ways to process complex brain imaging data. The main goal of this study is to evaluate brain volume, functional connectivity and the wiring of the brain, as a measure of overall function in the brains of people who habitually smoke marijuana versus people who don’t, he said. “We focused on the orbital frontal cortex, which is a frontal portion of the brain that is focused on decision making, inhibition and things like that,” Calhoun said. “One of the things we found is that the grey matter volume was decreased in the cannabis users compared to the healthy controls.” Grey matter is a region in the brain where the neuron bodies are held. It is essentially where the processing of information occurs and is very important, he said. Eswar Damaraju, a doctoral candidate in electrical engineering who was involved in the study, said in addition to decreased grey matter volume, they also found initial increases in the corresponding white matter tracts in cannabis users. White matter refers to regions of the brain that serves as connections between the hemispheres that allows them to communicate. While the study revealed initial increases in white matter, meaning increased connectivity, the effects dropped off over time, he said. “We used data that we collected from the MRI machine which allowed us to look at how the different regions of the brain communicate with each other,” Damaraju said. “Depending on the duration of marijuana use, we were able to determine the amount of change in the structure of the brain.” Calhoun said increased connectivity could be positive or negative. One interpretation of the results is that the increased connectivity in cannabis users may have resulted from a compensatory action by the brain to make up for the loss of grey matter volume, he said. “We thought that perhaps the grey matter regions are working harder to maintain a similar level of function given a decrease in volume,” Calhoun said. “That’s just one interpretation, but what it looks like is that marijuana changes your brain along multiple dimensions.” More than 100 habitual users of marijuana were matched with
see
Marijuana page 2
William Aranda / Daily Lobo / @_WilliamAranda
Lobo senior guard Hugh Greenwood, 3, attempts to run past Titan redshirt junior guard Alex Harris, 23, during the game against Cal State Fullerton at the Pit on Sunday night. The Lobos are playing three games at a tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico from Thursday to Sunday.
Lost and found houses unclaimed items By David Lynch
Students lose things every day from water bottles to Lobo ID cards, hats to keys. But what few Lobos have in the first place is an idea of where to go to find these things. That place is the lost and found office at the UNM Police Department, located at 2500 Campus Blvd. NE. Darlene Trujeque works at the office, which is the primary one on campus, and said she is skeptical about students’ awareness of the lost and found. “To tell you the truth, I don’t think most students even know where their lost stuff goes,” Trujeque said. In an informal survey conducted by the Daily Lobo, nine out of 10 students said they don’t know where the main lost and found is on campus. Three said they weren’t even aware the University had a lost and found. “We want students to know we’re here,” Trujeque said. “If they have lost something we encourage them to come by to see if we have it.” The lost and found is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., she said. When students do lose something, Trujeque said they only have a limited amount of time to claim it. The lost and found office holds on to an item for 90 days, after which it is either sent to recycling, or set aside to be auctioned off at a bicycle auction UNMPD holds every April. She said the most common things turned in are items students can’t do without. Some of the items can be costly to replace.
Kanan Mammadli / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
A wall full of keys hangs in the lost and found room at the University of New Mexico Police Department. The UNMPD office is located at 2500 Campus Blvd. NE and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We get lots of wallets, keys, books and IDs -- lots and lots of IDs,” Trujeque said. She said the office does whatever it can to get belongings back to students. They call various departments to get contact information, or email owners of lost driver’s licenses and passports. Trujeque said the problem is that many students don’t even bother calling back or stopping by. “Students aren’t too responsible with their valuables,” she said. At the same time, there are many students who come to claim lost keys and IDs, only to find that they haven’t been turned in. Trujeque said she thinks students should think twice before leaving their belongings alone. “People will take anything. They see what you have and they like it, so they will wait for you to leave or
make a mistake (and they take it),” Trujeque said. A collage of lost keys is displayed on a board that hangs on the wall in front of Trujeque’s desk. There are about 80, from individual keys to carabiners with a full assortment. The keys are organized by car make, if there is recognizable car key, and a label is placed with information about where they were found, as well as the date. Matt Rosetta, a senior chemistry major, is one student who did come by the lost and found on Monday. He said he came to see if they had some keys he lost about two weeks ago. “I lost them around the Daily Lobo building, which is kind of far from here, so this is my last resort,” Rosetta said. “I just hope someone was honest and turned them in, I
know that’s what I’d do.” Rosetta surveyed the array of hanging keys, but his wasn’t among them. He said he was surprised at how many had been lost. “It shows that people either don’t know where to go, or people don’t care,” Rosetta said. “I’d hope it’s not the second one.” He said the only reason he knew about the lost and found is because he used to work for UNM. Trujeque said in addition to the main lost and found at the Police Department, students can also check lost and found areas in most major campus locations, including Zimmerman, the SUB and Popejoy. Violet Fratzke, a sophomore biology major who works the information desk at the SUB, said students can check with them for only a short time before the item is moved. “We usually keep something for about two weeks before passing it on to the police department,” Fratzke said. Ashen Gutierrez, a sophomore nursing major, said she had to ask around to find out where the lost and found was when she lost her wallet in the spring. She said she ended up having to get a new one. “It would be helpful if all lost things could make it to one lost and found (immediately) instead of having to check every building that I was previously in,” Gutierrez said. “But I think it’s definitely foremost the student’s responsibility. They are the ones who lost it, so they need to go out and work to find it.” David Lynch is a staff reporter at The Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @RealDavidLynch.