AFTER DEATH

An unusual study of drug addicts concludes that an addict's body continues to crave drugs even after the person dies. The persistent addictive cravings are caused by a protein from chemical dependency which continues to transmit signals to the brain.

The shortened protein, FosB,  in the reward center of the brain is altered in those suffering from a chemical dependency.  The protein is a transcription factor in the brain which, together with other molecules, is involved in so-called signal transduction (transmission of stimuli to the cells). It is said to convey genetic information between the cells and also determines whether certain genes are activated or not.

Following numerous autopsies, Austrian researchers found the modified protein in deceased heroin addicts - suggesting cravings for the stimulus continued after their death.

The evidence that the modified protein lingers after death was discovered by the Medical University of Vienna's Department of Forensic Medicine, which examined tissue samples from the nucleus accumbens (an area of the brain) of 15 deceased heroin addicts.

When someone abuses drugs, such as heroin, it turns into DeltaFosB, which is increasingly stimulated in cases of chronic use and even influences growth factors and structural changes (neuronal plasticity) in the brain.  Due to a constant supply of drugs, such as heroin, FosB turns into DeltaFosB, which is increasingly stimulated in cases of chronic use and even influences growth factors and structural changes (neuronal plasticity) in the brain - approximately in the region where memory is formed.

The team found the protein was still modified even after a heroin addict had died.

Researchers believe the period is much longer in the living who are trying to recover – and it can last for months.

FosB is part of the activating protein AP1, which is involved with regulating gene expression in response to a range of stimulus, including stress and bacterial infections.

If this protein still stimulates the brain's reward and memory centers, one could speculate that a person's memories can still be active even though the person had died. In other words, there may be a transitory state between life and death where the brain continues to function. Perhaps this is what happens to people who claim to have experienced "near death." They are clinically dead for a time, but their brain continues to function to create new memories.

There were numerous LOST theories about the show being merely a connected memory of a character or characters. But this science study sheds another potential basis for the show's unknown foundation element: if it was a memory, a dream or illusion of a person, was that person alive or dead?