These findings are consistent with reports showing that BB dietary supplementation enhances BDNF-mediated plasticity with improved spatial and object recognition memory. Moreover, the significant positive correlation between levels of BDNF and CREB indicates that BDNF and CREB are co-regulated in our paradigm. In addition, evidence indicates an association between BDNF and CREB, and this interaction is important for regulation of learning and memory. The latter possibility can also be inferred from our results showing a negative correlation between CREB signaling and latency in the Barnes maze. We also found that BB supplementation preserves levels of hippocampal CaMKII phosphorylation after TBI, and changes in CaMKII correlated negatively with latency to locate the escape hole in the Barnes maze memory test. CaMKII, the main protein of the postsynaptic density and key BDNF signaling element, upon autophosphorylation increases synaptic efficacy and long-term synaptic memory. In fact, CaMKII dysregulation has been associated with several neuropsychiatric diseases. It is possible that the effects of BB on the BDNF levels results in autophosphorylation of tyrosine residues that rise intracellular Ca2+ levels leading to CaMKII activation. Elevated levels of free radical formation are a common sequel of TBI pathology that can result in lipid peroxidation. In particular, lipid peroxidation has negative consequences for the function of the plasma membrane. It has been reported that optimal maintenance of membrane function is essential to support neuronal signaling that underlie synaptic plasticity,growing blackberries in containers and that membrane function loss following TBI may be associated with cognitive deficits.
Phospholipids are components of the plasma membrane that are particularly important for regulating cellular signaling and neuronal excitability. The fatty acids residues in phospholipids are sensitive targets to oxidative free radical attack to induce lipid peroxidation. Lipid peroxidation products can impair the barrier function, ion-channel activity and neurotransmitter release associated synaptic activity. Higher 4-HNE formation causes ionic disruption and membrane disturbance which contributes to additional reactive oxygen species production. We presently found that TBI caused a marked increase in 4-HNE levels indicative of decreased neuronal excitability. Elevated levels of 4- HNE can form adducts with proteins, promotes oxidative stress and contributes to membrane damage following TBI. BB is considered to have strong antioxidant capacity, important in its ability to attenuate oxidative stress. The fact that BB reduced the levels of 4-HNE supports the notion that BB attenuated TBI-related oxidative damage with positive consequences for neuronal excitability and plasma membrane function. Further, our reported positive correlation of spatial memory performance with 4-HNE levels suggest that a reduction of 4-HNE is important for behavioural outcome, in agreement with behavioural impact of 4-HNE on spatial memory performance. Interestingly, BB powder supplementation showed a positive effect on various aspects of brain function and plasticity in spite of the fact that the powder contains several components with recognized unhealthy effects. For example, the BB powder has high contents of sugars, particularly fructose, which upon consumption reduced levels of the same plasticity markers being decreased by BB supplementation in our study. It is important to note that in the present study, we matched the two diets for sugars and vitamin C.
Therefore, it is likely that the flavonoid components are largely responsible for the observed positive effects of the BB powder possessing anti-oxidant property. These results seem to indicate that the combination of fructose with flavonoids in natural foods has an overall healthy action, which further suggests the importance of consuming natural foods. Also, the protective effects of BB against TBI pathology may be attributed to the presence of other bio-active compounds present in the powder such as β-carotenes and anthocyanins. Anthocyanins, the important class of flavonoids has reported to be effective in promoting cognitive performance in animals through changes in synaptic plasticity via protein kinase signaling components such as c-Jun N-terminal kinase /Akt and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase /Akt. Similarly, human intervention studies with anthocyanins have shown to promote a range of cognitive domains that include attention, visuospatial memory and executive function. Additionally, previous reports with anthocyanins have also reported hippocampal localization of glycosylated derivatives. In turn, β-carotenes and vitamins have strong potential to promote neuronal plasticity as reviewed by and to delay cognitive decline. You have been preparing and voting for a new constitution. But so far Althingi has not taken action. The time has come to discuss whether and to what extent Althingi has a duty to enact a new constitution, according to the project that you, citizen, prepared through the Constitutional Council. You may have questions about this. First and foremost, has the time of the 2008 crisis come and gone? Some may say, since the crisis has passed, the need to enact a new constitution faded with it.
Not so. We will show that the need still exists for a new constitution, and that Althingi has a duty to approve the constitution you wrote. Law is required to maintain basic social order and to permit society to attain specific values, which are important for our own existence. When a specific law fails to attain the aims for which it has been designed, that law should be amended, and, in particular cases, changed in its entirety. The same applies to a constitution. The aim of a constitution is to guarantee basic values. Among them, a life in peace, with a sufficient degree of freedom and equality, enjoying at the same time sufficient economic resources and possibilities of development. It is also very important that a constitutional framework does not create problems and burdens in the international sphere; that means a constitution must not endanger the achievement of basic values by other communities. Whenever a constitution fails to promote those values, the objective conditions that justify the necessity of enacting a completely new constitution are then met. For example, in Iceland’s case the financial crisis of 2008 showed that the government and the political parties were unable to ensure economic order. Freedom and security were in danger, and serious repercussions affected countries like the United Kingdom, which has strong ties with the Icelandic economy. The society perceived that this state of affairs was the result of an unequal distribution of power: small elites were controlling the government. Banks could develop uncontrolledly, and the fishing companies could enjoy of the rich natural resources of Icelandic sea, without the need to pay an equitable sum for it. The unequal distribution of power also caused a lack of respect for some basic rights of people: security, freedom, respect for individual property,square pot and the national economic resources. In this case the objective conditions for a completely new constitution have been met. Speaking more generally, the existence of objective conditions to enact a new constitution may stem not only from serious shortcomings of the previous constitutional framework. Approving a new constitution may permit a state to enjoy a higher level of internal organization and improved international relations, with a consequent advantage for the entire nation. For example, in the second half of the 1970s Greece, Spain, and Portugal changed their constitutions, not only due to their internal political changes, but to be admitted to the European Economic Community. In the 1990s, following the end of socialist rule the countries of central Europe approved new constitutions to become members of the European Union. This illustrates how an opportunity, which could affect the achievement of the basic constitutional values, may objectively justify the need for approving a new constitution. But the existence of an objective need to approve a new constitution is not by itself a sufficient condition. We still must determine whether the society is subjectively ready to apply new principles, which are reasonably better at responding to the requirement of protecting the basic values. Sometimes, the political circumstances require making a new constitution: the nation may be in the aftermath of a war, of a transition, or of an economic default, and there may be compelling reasons to adopt a new constitution. Yet the test for whether the political forces, the society at large, and the cultural leaders are able to imagine, to propose, and thus to share a new conception of the life in common, which is the condition to better deal with the issues that caused the crisis of the former constitution, is not idle. A new constitution should be enacted only where, apart from the need for a new constitution, we can justify that the new constitutional order is significantly better than the previous alternative.
In this case we may say that the subjective conditions to enact a constitution are met: namely that the new constitution may reasonably be considered as significantly better than the previous one. This is the reason used in The Federalist to justify the new union and explain its utility to the citizen’s political prosperity: “The insufficiency of the present Confederation to preserve that Union” and the necessity of a government that is “energetic” and conforms to “the true principles of Republican government.” And that “The additional security which its adoption will afford to the preservation of [the republican] government, to liberty, and to property.” By that standard, the new constitutional frame is significantly better than the previous. “This Convention,” it continues, “composed by persons who “possessed the confidence of the people, and many of whom had become highly distinguished for their patriotism, virtue and wisdom” did not, however, impose its will. It only recommended the result of its work to the people for their “sedate and candid consideration,” to ponder on the base of the “great and weighty reasons” on which “their universal and uniform attachment to the cause of the Union rests.”This is the second part of the test of reasonability, to affirm that the conditions to enact a constitution exist in the people’s understanding, so the constitution may properly display its effects. This second part of the test affirms that the constitution can be well understood and shared by the people. As we said, in Iceland the objective conditions to approve a new constitution have been met. But we must consider the presence of subjective conditions. This is so because while the objective conditions may exist, we may not be able to develop a new conception of life in common, which is reasonable, useful, makes an improvement, and at the same time is understood and shared. Two examples are instructive here. First, Poland in 1989 started its constitutional transition on the base of the awareness, shared both by government and the opposition, that Poland was in a critical political and economic situation, and that a change was needed. The government and opposition held a round table, which resulted in many reforms and new elections, which government forces lost. Not until 1997 did Poland have a completely new constitution, due to the lack of a shared conception within the political forces. To such a lack we owe the roots of the present constitutional difficulties in Poland. Next, the European Union. In 2001, the success of the internal market, the introduction of the common currency, and the application by the former socialist countries for membership seemed to suggest the need for further integration. The EU convened a convention. But France and Holland failed to ratify the treaty establishing a European constitution. Among other reasons for this failure is the constant lack of a genuine attention to the internal political forces of European member states as they impact European integration. Another is the distinction between the sovereignty interests of the former socialist states, versus the western states and their interest in protecting their standard of life and social achievements. This shows that notwithstanding the importance of the opportunity to have a European constitution, social and political awareness of its importance was clearly absent. It follows that it is important to show that in Iceland the subjective conditions necessary to approve a new constitution are actually met. Indeed, only when the objective and subjective conditions to approve a new constitution are present is it appropriate to consider the question of the political duty to give a definitive vote of assent. The people of Iceland responded to the 2008 crisis in phases. First they went to the streets, banging pots and pans in front of Althingi—as if they were drums. This is a form of protest, especially known in Latin America, where it is called “cazerolazo.” In the next phase Icelandic society organized itself and demanded that a new constitution be approved.