Leprosy is infamous for disfiguring its victims with boils and decaying flesh, but underlying the disease are degenerating nerves. Now researchers investigating a region of DNA that can render some people more susceptible to the scourge have found a potential link between leprosy and another neurodegenerative disease. The region includes part of two genes that have been linked to Parkinson's disease, suggesting the two disorders may share some biochemical pathways. About 700,000 people in India, Brazil, and at least 16 other countries have leprosy. A microbe called Mycobacterium leprae causes the disease when it infects immune system cells known as Schwann cells and macrophages. Schwann cells insulate the nerves, and as the cells take ill, conduction through the nervous system falters. (Among other things, this degeneration blunts the pain caused by skin lesions making it more likely they will go untreated.) Some people seem to have a genetic susceptibility to the disease, and geneticists have homed in on a stretch of chromosome 6 that contains about 30 genes. Copyright © 2004 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 4878 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Sy Montgomery Sam Marshall doesn’t waste much time. Seconds after stepping into the steaming rain forest of French Guiana, he announces his agenda: “Let’s divide and search for holes with big, hairy legs.” After all, he hasn’t come to French Guiana for the beaches (muddy and shark infested), the food (cheese, bread, and sardines), or the shopping (none, but credit cards can be used to dig out ticks). He has come for the tarantulas—tarantulas that are big enough to eat birds. When threatened, the Usambara orange tarantula can get very aggressive. It rears up, slaps the ground, hisses loudly, and even drips venom from its fangs. “They don’t try to bite very much,” says arachnologist Sam Marshall. “It’s really just a display.” © 2003 The Walt Disney Company. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Neurotoxins
Link ID: 4877 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Older men with lower levels of free, or unbound, testosterone circulating in their bloodstreams could be at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) than their peers, according to research conducted by investigators at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), one of the National Institutes of Health, and others*. This prospective observational study is believed to be the first to associate low circulating blood levels of free testosterone with AD years before diagnosis. The study appears in the January 27, 2004 issue of the journal Neurology. “Our finding that low free testosterone might be associated with an increased risk of developing of AD is a step forward in helping to understand the possible effects of sex hormones on the aging brain and other parts of the body,” said Susan Resnick, Ph.D., an investigator in the NIA’s Laboratory of Personality and Cognition and corresponding author of the study.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 4876 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service Cambridge University has axed plans for a controversial primate centre to conduct animal research into brain diseases. However, the centre could still be built elsewhere, possibly at a location more protected from action by anti-vivisectionists. The UK Prime Minister Tony Blair had backed the plan as being "of national importance". The university blames "escalating costs" caused by years of delays and security concerns for its decision to axe the centre. But it is being accused by many of having buckled under a sustained campaign from animal-rights activists who opposed the centre from the outset. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Animal Rights
Link ID: 4875 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service A newly discovered neurodegenerative disease could be affecting tens of thousands of men around the world, say researchers. The disease closely resembles Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and senile dementia, but appears to be caused by a genetic defect linked to fragile X syndrome. Until now carrying the defect was not thought to be harmful. Researchers believe the new disease, named FXTAS (fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome), may affect up to one in 3000 men, with most sufferers being over 50 years old. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Genes & Behavior; Movement Disorders
Link ID: 4874 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---When someone's spinal cord is completely severed, brain signals can no longer reach the legs to tell the legs to walk. A study in this month's journal Spinal Cord shows that those who have suffered a spinal cord injury can generate muscle activity independent of brain signals. Dan Ferris, now an assistant professor of kinesiology at U-M, led the research as part of his post-doctorate work with Susan Harkema at University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine. While many studies have shown that locomotor training, such as working with patients on treadmills, is a viable therapy for helping those who have suffered a spinal cord injury learn to walk again, Ferris and his UCLA colleagues added further evidence that adding weight to the limbs during therapy can provide an important sensory cue to help regain walking.

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 4873 - Posted: 01.28.2004

Cuddling linked to how the brain processes emotion. HELEN R. PILCHER Women are more likely to cradle babies on their left-hand side because it activates bonding-related brain regions, research suggests. Previous studies have shown that up to 85% of women instinctively clasp infants to their left breast - irrespective of age and maternal status. Some think mothers do this to keep the baby's head close to their hearts, naturally soothing the child. Others rationalize the bias in terms of handedness. Left-handed women say they prefer to hold their infant in their stronger left arm. Right-handers argue it keeps their dominant hand free to attend to the child. But neither argument fully explains the phenomenon, argue Victoria Bourne and Brenda Todd from the University of Sussex. Instead, it may come down to differences in the brain. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2004

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Emotions
Link ID: 4872 - Posted: 06.24.2010

SACRAMENTO, Calif.) – A team of researchers, led by physicians at the UC Davis M.I.N.D Institute, have discovered a new, progressive neurodegenerative disorder that predominantly affects men over age 50 and results in tremors, balance problems and dementia that become increasingly more severe with age. A significant but currently unknown number of adults with these tremor and balance problems are being diagnosed as normal aging, Parkinson's disease, senile dementia and Alzheimer's disease when their condition may be accurately and easily identified with a standard DNA blood test ordered by their doctor. The discovery is published in the Jan. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Known as fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome, or FXTAS (pronounced fax-tass), the disorder affects older men who are carriers of a small mutation (premutation) in the same gene that causes fragile X syndrome, the most common cause of inherited mental retardation. Nearly 1 in 800 men in the general population carries this premutation in the fragile X gene, and UC Davis research suggests that as many as 30 percent of carriers -- roughly 1 in 3,000 men -- may develop FXTAS later in life.

Keyword: Genes & Behavior; Movement Disorders
Link ID: 4871 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Carey Goldberg, Globe Staff A decade ago, any researcher who dared to suggest that Down syndrome could one day be "cured" was heading straight for the scientific fringe. Mainstream consensus went: Down syndrome, the leading genetic cause of mental retardation, was too complex a problem even to approach. Now, although that goal remains beyond the horizon, a growing number of reputable researchers at universities such as Stanford and Columbia say they can foresee a time when they'll be able to break the link between Down syndrome and retardation. Armed with an array of new tools -- from genome mapping and stem cells to genetically engineered mice and a deepening understanding of Alzheimer's disease -- they are trying to pinpoint just how the extra chromosome of Down syndrome leads to retardation and a host of other problems. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 4870 - Posted: 06.24.2010

RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer A study of the skulls of Neanderthals, comparing them with early and modern humans, concludes that that ancient group is unlikely to have been the ancestor of people today. Scientists have long debated whether modern people are related to Neanderthals, the squat, powerful hunters who dominated Europe for 100,000 years before dying out on the arrival of modern humans. The new study, led by anthropologist Katerina Harvati of New York University, measured 15 standard landmarks on the face and skull of Neanderthals, early modern humans, current humans as well as other primate species. The results are published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ©2004 Associated Press

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 4869 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Low levels of a particular chemical during the night may be important in the formation of new memories. Researchers from a German University found that volunteers with boosted levels of acetylcholine performed less well in night-time memory tests. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is intriguing for experts interested in Alzheimer's disease. A lack of the chemical is currently thought to play a role in the illness. The small study at the University of Lubeck focuses on healthy young men - rather than older subjects or Alzheimer's patients. The researchers wanted to test the relationship between levels of the brain chemical to their ability to lay down new memories during the night.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 4868 - Posted: 01.27.2004

Plans to build a controversial centre for experiments on monkeys have been shelved by Cambridge University. It has decided the costs, including measures needed to protect the facility from animal rights militants, would make the laboratory uneconomic. The announcement will be a blow to Prime Minister Tony Blair who gave personal support to the project. The centre had become a focus of the growing battle between medical researchers and anti-vivisectionists. The news had been expected next week, but was brought forward. Patients' groups who believe the research is essential to find cures for many brain diseases will be dismayed. (C)BBC

Keyword: Animal Rights
Link ID: 4867 - Posted: 01.27.2004

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR Sudden heart-pounding panic attacks are most likely caused by abnormalities in the brain, new evidence suggests, reinforcing earlier research on animals. People with panic disorder, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health, have drastic reductions of a type of serotonin receptor, called 5-HT1A, in three areas of the brain. The findings, reported last week in The Journal of Neuroscience, lend credence to the suspicion that serotonin dysfunction plays a role in the disorder. "This provides evidence for what we've been telling patients all along," said Dr. Dennis S. Charney, chief of the mood and anxiety disorders research program at the institutes and an author of the paper. "Panic disorder is due to a specific abnormality in the brain, not a weakness in character." Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Emotions; Stress
Link ID: 4866 - Posted: 01.27.2004

By SANDRA BLAKESLEE — If Americans develop a disease like the human form of mad cow that worries millions of Europeans, Dr. Pierluigi Gambetti may be the man to find it. Dr. Gambetti, an Italian neuropathologist whose mild manner and penchant for cardigan sweaters make him look a bit like Mr. Rogers, is director of the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University here. For the last five years, he and his staff have been collecting brain tissue from people all over the country who die from mysterious, rapidly progressive neurological disease. Now that the first case of a cow infected with mad cow disease has been discovered in the United States, Dr. Gambetti's work has taken on new urgency. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 4865 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Assisted reproduction may affect behaviour. HELEN R. PILCHER Mice that are born from assisted reproductive technologies behave differently when adult, research reveals. Test-tube rodents are more confident than their naturally conceived counterparts, but have a poorer memory. It is extremely difficult to extrapolate from mouse behaviour studies to humans, cautions study leader Richard Schultz from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. But it raises intriguing questions. Studies are needed to see if test-tube humans are similarly affected, he says. In the Western world, around 1% of children are conceived through assisted reproductive technologies. In one common method known as in vitro fertilization, eggs are fertilized in a test tube, cultured for a short while and then returned to the womb. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2004

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 4864 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists have identified two proteins that may help prevent the brain plaques that are linked to Alzheimer's disease. The proteins appear to work in tandem to orchestrate removal of potentially hazardous molecules from the brain. However, unless the two are in the correct balance they actually seem to promote deposition of the amyloid protein which forms the plaques. The research, by Washington University of Medicine, St Louis, is published in the journal Neuron. The key proteins are called apoliprotein E (apoE) and clusterin. Lead researcher Professor David Holtzman said: "This is one of the first demonstrations in living animals that these proteins affect amyloid clearance. (C) BBC

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 4863 - Posted: 01.25.2004

Things were not going well for me in the summer of 1999. I was 32 years old, and while I was starting to find my feet in my new career as a photojournalist, I was living in the wake of two bad relationship break-ups and I had recently gone into therapy to help me deal with feelings of low self-esteem and a general lack of confidence. The one thing I thought I had, though, was my physical health. In my twenties I'd been a heavy drinker and smoker, but I'd long since cut back on both of these. I was eating well and exercising. I had just cancelled my private health insurance because it seemed to be a bit of a waste of money. Then, on the morning of 7 July, I got a headache. This was not a normal headache. It was the pounding, throbbing, mother of all headaches, with an intense pain behind my eyes. It was unlike anything I'd had before. Nothing could shift it. And something strange was happening to my vision. I'd look at the floor and it was as if bubbles were rising from it. I'd have the same mini-hallucination over and over again whenever I looked at a flat surface. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 4862 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By NICHOLAS WADE IF you hit the weights at the gym with iron regularity, your arms may get to look a little more impressive. The right kind of training, it now appears, can do much the same for the brain, though unfortunately the enlargement can be shown off only to observers with magnetic resonance imaging machines. In a study conducted by Dr. Arne May and colleagues at the University of Regensburg in Germany, people who spent three months learning to juggle showed enlargement of certain areas in the cerebral cortex, the thin sheet of nerve cells on the brain's surface where most higher thought processes seem to be handled. They were then asked to quit juggling completely, and three months later the enlarged areas of the cortex had started to shrink. The finding, which was reported in the current issue of the journal Nature, is similar to one in a study of London cab drivers four years ago. Unlike their colleagues in New York, London cabbies must memorize the entirety of their city's streets. If some Sunday morning in London you should see a group of men on bicycles, maps balanced on the handlebars, those are apprentice cabbies, acquiring "the knowledge," as the two-year memorization of London's many small, winding streets is called. The 2000 study, also done with M.R.I. scanners, found a change in the shape of the cabbies' hippocampus, the brain module where new memories of place are stored. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 4861 - Posted: 01.25.2004

A judge has given the go-ahead for a mother-of-two to receive experimental drug treatment for vCJD. The 40-year-old woman is believed to be the only current sufferer of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Scotland. Her husband was at the Court of Session in Edinburgh to hear Lord Nimmo Smith grant authority for doctors to carry out the treatment. A neurosurgeon will now operate to install a catheter to allow the drug PPS to be released into her brain. The family involved in the case wish to remain anonymous. The judge said: "I am satisfied that the condition involves progressive deterioration and unless arrested is fatal within a relatively short time." (C) BBC

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 4860 - Posted: 01.24.2004

In the midst of a flu epidemic, some good news—researchers think they've solved the age-old medical mystery of why shy, sensitive people are more vulnerable to infectious disease. From the common cold to life-threatening infections, researchers have known for a while that shy people—whom ancient Greek physicians described as having a "melancholic temperament"—are more vulnerable to infectious diseases than their more outgoing counterparts. "We knew that these shy, sensitive introverted people were more vulnerable to infectious diseases," says Steve Cole, assistant professor of hematology-oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine and a member of the UCLA AIDS Institute. "But we didn't know why that was. What physical biology leaves them more vulnerable to these kinds of diseases?" © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 4859 - Posted: 06.24.2010