âLoss of mental agility may be less due to loss of brain cells than to the cellsâ failure to communicate effectively.â. Joseph heads the Neuroscience Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University in Boston. There, researchers are looking at the beneficial effects of certain dietary plant compounds to learn how they affect brain function.
A barrel is one of several units of volume applied in various contexts; there are dry barrels, fluid barrels (such as the UK beer barrel and US beer barrel), oil barrels and so on.
To have someone over the barrel means to have someone totally at your mercy. It is a nautical term, which derives from the practice of hanging a drowned, usually unconscious person over a barrel to clear their lungs of water. The fate of the patient was determined solely by the actions of those administering the treatment. In other words, he was at their mercy.