Imagine not being able to enjoy the sweet smell of fresh-baked bread or taste your favorite food. Nearly half of people between the ages of 65 to 80 and three-quarters of those over the age of 80 experience some degree of smell loss, and even 1-2% of the North American population below the age of 65 years experience smell loss to a significant degree. Now, some scientifically enhanced mice might be able to help researchers solve this problem. Debra Fadool, a biology professor, and her team at Florida State University wanted to understand the involvement of certain nervous system protein called Kv1.3 in nerve cell communication in the brain. Kv1.3 is an ion channel that affects the area of the brain that's wired for smell, called the olfactory bulb. The scientists genetically altered mice to lack Kv1.3 and expected them to smell less well, because typically when an animal loses a gene that affects the nervous system, a deficit in sensation usually follows. The smelling abilities of the mice were tested by hiding a smelly object (a peanut butter cracker) and a scent-less object (a marble). Fadool was surprised to find that the genetically modified mice could find the peanut butter crackers twice as fast as the normal control mice. "Instead of them having smell deficiency, they were 'super smellers'," says Fadool. © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 5046 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Faced with a potential threat to the hive, some honeybees take on the suicidal mission of attacking the intruder. These guard bees aren’t just angry, they may be insane: Scientists have proposed that their brains are infected with a virus that causes their deranged behavior. In the brains of honeybees, organs known as mushroom bodies are enlarged relative to most other insects. These cerebellum-like structures play a role in a multitude of tasks related to memory and learning, and changes in gene activity in the mushroom bodies have been linked to behavioral changes (Science, 26 April 2002, p. 741). While combing the mushroom bodies for evidence of aggression genes, a team of researchers at the University of Tokyo and Tamagawa University in Japan found a weird chunk of RNA that wasn’t encoded by the honeybee genome. The RNA was present only in the brains of the bees that went into attack mode when a hornet was dangled in front of the hive, not in the brains of the hive's nurses or foragers. Copyright © 2004 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Aggression
Link ID: 5045 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Adolescents show less activity than adults in brain regions that motivate behavior to obtain rewards, according to results from the first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study to examine real-time adolescent response to incentives. The study also shows that adolescents and adults exhibit similar brain responses to having obtained rewards. Researchers in the Laboratory of Clinical Studies of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), one of the National Institutes of Health, conducted the study, which appears in the February 25 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience (Volume 24, Number 7). "Understanding adolescent motivation is critical for understanding why so many young people drink alcohol and engage in associated behaviors such as drinking and driving and sexual risk-taking. That understanding also will be critical for shaping prevention messages that deter such behaviors," said Ting-Kai Li, M.D., Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "With today's report, researchers in NIAAA's Laboratory of Clinical Studies provide an important part of the picture." In the MRI study, James Bjork, Ph.D., and others in the laboratory of Daniel Hommer, M.D., scanned the brains of twelve adolescents aged 12 to 17 years and twelve young adults aged 22 to 28 years. While being scanned, the subjects participated in a game-like scenario risking monetary gain or loss. The participants responded to targets on a screen by pressing a button to win or avoid losing 20 cents, $1, or $5.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 5044 - Posted: 02.26.2004

MADISON AVENUE was challenged again yesterday over the way it markets food to children, as a new report was released suggesting that advertising contributes to childhood obesity. The report, by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, summarized existing studies on obesity and the media like television, video games and movies that capture children's attention. Although it endorsed no solutions, it did discuss possible policy changes, like regulating or reducing food advertising aimed at children. And it is far from the first examination of ads focusing on children; just on Monday, the American Psychological Association recommended that the government put restrictions on marketing to those younger than 7 or 8 because they are unable "to recognize advertising's persuasive intent.'' Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 5043 - Posted: 02.25.2004

Interested in continuing education? Here's some good news. As this ScienCentral News video reports, brain researchers have uncovered one mechanism that controls how our brains make new connections. Our ability to learn new things depends on the expansive network of "wires" inside our brains. Luckily, that network keeps growing throughout our adult lives. "The brain is very dynamic," says Bonnie Firestein, professor of cell biology and neuroscience at Rutgers University. "You have billions of nerve cells. And while you're an adult, your brain doesn't just stop growing, it actually forms new connections all the time. We know that when you're learning something you have new connections made. So, the brain is constantly growing and constantly changing." © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Alzheimers
Link ID: 5042 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Multiple sclerosis (MS) has long been thought of as an autoimmune disease. But new research suggests that it's not immune cells that strip the insulation off neurons and cause neurological symptoms. Rather, the insulation may be disrupted when the cells that build it self-destruct. In MS, the insulating layer of myelin around neurons degrades, leading to loss of muscle control, numbness, or cognitive problems. Most researchers have thought this happens when the victim's own immune cells move in on the myelin and chew it up, leaving plaquelike scars behind. Now, neurologists Michael Barnett and John Prineas of the University of Sydney, Australia, have found evidence to the contrary. They autopsied 12 patients who died from MS shortly after suffering a bout of neurological symptoms. All of the patients had the plaquelike scars typical of MS. But contrary to all expectations, seven of them had intact myelin and little inflammation, the researchers reported online this week in Annals of Neurology. Copyright © 2004 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis
Link ID: 5041 - Posted: 06.24.2010

U of MN doctors receive NIH grant to test promising new bulimia treatment that aims to stop involuntary binge-eating and vomiting MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL -- The University of Minnesota's Neuroscience Research Group received nearly $300,000 from the National Institutes of Health to study the effectiveness of a common epilepsy therapy in treating bulimia nervosa. This is the first study of Vagus Nerve Stimulation Therapy (VNS) for this disorder. VNS Therapy aims to reverse the physiological changes that have occurred in the function of the vagus nerve from repeated binge eating and vomiting. By controlling vagus nerve activity through electrical stimulation, doctors hope to reduce the frequency of vomiting in bulimics. VNS Therapy is expected to dampen activity in the vagus nerve, the main "information highway" from the stomach to the brain. A pacemaker-like pulse generator is implanted directly below the skin of a patient's chest to deliver intermittent pulses of electrical stimulation to the brain via the vagus nerve in the neck. Using an external programming system, doctors can adjust the timing and amount of stimulation the patient receives. This stimulation is expected to control vagus nerve activity and reduce the urges to binge eat and vomit. "Most people don't realize that women with bulimia only self-induce vomiting at the early stages of the disorder. Later on, this behavior becomes involuntary as a result of changes in the activity level of the vagus nerve" says Patricia Faris, Ph.D., associate professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School's Department of Psychiatry and principal investigator of the VNS Therapy trial. "Bulimia is both a psychological and physiological disorder. The social pressure to be thin is probably the reason for an individual to start binge eating and vomiting, but after a while these behaviors induce changes in the activity of the vagus nerve. The goals of our research are to reverse the physiological changes that have occurred thereby reducing, or eliminating, the urges to vomit and to address the psychological components which originally led to the initiation of the disorder and which, if not re-structured, may result in future relapses."

Keyword: Anorexia & Bulimia
Link ID: 5040 - Posted: 02.25.2004

Treatment prevents later-stage tissue loss contributing to long-term injury Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Children's Hospital Boston (CHB) have found that a commonly prescribed antibiotic could be used to help prevent paralysis and other long-term functional deficits associated with a partial spinal cord injury (SCI). Researchers in the field have known that a significant proportion of paralysis and long-term functional disorders associated with SCI are triggered by post-trauma tissue loss. Administering the antibiotic, minocycline, to rats within the first hour after a paralyzing injury has been shown to reduce this tissue loss and ultimately enable more hind-leg function, the ability to walk with more coordination, better foot posture and stepping, and better support of body weight than untreated controls. The findings are published in the March 2, 2004 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The BWH/CHB researchers found that minocycline reduces later-stage tissue loss by blocking release of a protein known as mitochondrial cytochrome c. Yang D. Teng, MD, PhD, of the joint BWH/CHB neurosurgery program and co-lead author of the study, notes that other experimental agents can prevent later-stage tissue loss, but must be given immediately after or even before SCI to be effective. "The field has badly needed to develop a drug that could be used in a practical manner," said Teng.

Keyword: Regeneration
Link ID: 5039 - Posted: 02.25.2004

NewScientist.com news service Post-menopausal women who receive hormone replacement therapy may risk diminished hearing, suggest the results of a new study. Tests on 64 women over the age of 60 - half of whom were on HRT - showed that those taking HRT had 10 to 30 per cent worse hearing than those not taking HRT. But the HRT group did not just perform badly on tests that measure how well the ear actually detects a sound - tests on how well the brain processes that information showed that those on HRT had their processing ability reduced by an average of 30 per cent. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Hearing
Link ID: 5038 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Parents who smoke outdoors still expose homes and kids to nicotine. HELEN R. PILCHER Parents who chose not to smoke inside the family home may still be subjecting their children to the effects of passive smoking, a study suggests. Nicotine, a major ingredient of secondhand smoke, can be detected in the dust and air inside the homes of smokers who deliberately go outside for a puff. Children in such homes have up to eight times more nicotine in their bodies than the offspring of non-smokers1. The levels of nicotine are still quite low, says Georg Matt from San Diego State University, California, who led the study. But they could build over time, potentially making the children more prone to smoking-related problems, such as asthma and sudden infant death syndrome. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2004

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 5037 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Size an indication of sexual behaviours Jacob Berkowitz OTTAWA - The next time you're nibbling your lover's fingers, or scoping hands for wedding bands, you might want to pay more attention to length. A McMaster University evolutionary psychologist has found the length ratio of a woman's ring to index finger points to her sexual behaviour -- from fantasies to the number of partners she might have. It's the latest discovery in the fascinating study of how finger-length ratio is a sign of the mix of male and female hormones that directed our prenatal development, shaping everything from finger length, to sexual behaviour and sports ability. © Copyright 2004 Edmonton Journal

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 5036 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By JANE E. BRODY Hormone replacement for women past their childbearing years was originally popularized with the promise that taking estrogen could keep women "feminine forever" — preserving their health, skin, bones, muscles, brains and, especially, their sexual pleasure. Now our youth-oriented culture has spawned another rush to fountain of youth drugs, this time testosterone for men. As with estrogen, testosterone — the hormone that surges in puberty to turn boys into men — is known to act on myriad tissues in the body, either directly or through its derivatives. Various studies have documented the influences of testosterone on bones, muscles, strength, stamina, abdominal fat, hair, mood, cognitive functions like memory and, of course, libido and potency. Also documented is the gradual decline in testosterone production that occurs as men age. After 30, blood levels of both total testosterone and biologically active free testosterone decline by 1 to 2 percent a year, so that by 70 a man's testosterone production may have dropped by a third. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 5035 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By ERICA GOODE He is blond and 3 years old, 33 pounds of compressed energy wrapped in OshKosh overalls. In an evaluation room at Yale's Child Study Center, he ignores Big Bird, pauses to watch the bubbles that a social worker blows through a wand, jumps up and down. But it is the two-way mirror that fascinates him, drawing him back to stare into the glass, to touch it, to lick it with his tongue. At 17 months, after several ear infections and a bout of the flu, the toddler's budding language skills began to deteriorate, his parents tell the evaluators. In the playroom, he seems intent on his own activities and largely oblivious to the adults in the room. Only when the therapist bends down to tickle him does he give a blinding smile and meet her gaze with startling blue eyes. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 5034 - Posted: 02.24.2004

by Maher Karam-Hage, M.D., Psychiatric Times Despite the fact that about 30% of our life is spent sleeping and decades of research have been spent on sleep, we still do not know its real function. What we do know is lack of sleep can have serious implications, such as increased risk of depressive disorders, impaired breathing and heart disease. On the other hand, nighttime sleep disturbance is usually followed by excessive daytime sleepiness that is associated with delayed problems like memory deficits and impaired social and occupational function, and immediate consequences such as car accidents (Kupfer and Reynolds, 1997; Roehrs and Roth, 1995). People who abuse alcohol and other substances are at high risk for sleep disturbances due to the direct effect of the substance or its withdrawal on their sleep architecture and their sleep-wake cycle or its effect on their behavior and daily functioning, which in turn impacts their daily need for sleep. Two states of sleep alternate throughout the night, characterized in part by different types of brain electrical activity (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA], 1998). There is slow wave sleep (SWS), during which the brain waves are very slow (commonly referred to as Stage III and IV), and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, in which the eyes undergo rapid movements although we remain asleep. Restful SWS has the lion's share of sleep time, while REM sleep occurs periodically, resulting in about 25% of sleep time in the young adult. Normally present every 90 minutes, the REM stage lasts five to 30 minutes and is associated with dreaming, but no clear function is known for it. There are about four occurrences of REM in total, the first is shortest and the last is usually longest (NIAAA, 1998). © 2004 Psychiatric Times. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Sleep
Link ID: 5033 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Knowing whether a pregnancy will produce a boy or girl is not left up to chance for some mammals - UK biologists claim they have conclusive proof that zebras, bison and certain other mammals actively adjust the sex of their offspring. It has long been known that many insects, birds and fish are capable of influencing the sex of their offspring, but the idea of gender adjustment in mammals has been controversial. American biologist Robert Trivers first suggested that female red deer alter the sex of their offspring according to their physical condition at the time of conception, and the idea has been debated for the 30 years since. "We looked at all 73 of the different studies carried out into sex adjustment in ungulates - herbivorous mammals with hoofed feet - and found a consistent pattern across the different species. Sons were produced in higher numbers by mothers who were in good condition and daughters were preferentially produced by mothers in poor condition," explains Stuart West at the University of Edinburgh, who carried out the study with Ben Sheldon from Oxford University. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 5032 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Medical journal says it regrets publishing Wakefield's research on MMR. NICOLA JONES A series of allegations have been brought against Andrew Wakefield, the physician whose research and press statements first brought into the public eye a possible link between the combined measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. One allegation points out that Wakefield had been given £55,000 (US$103,000) for a legal-aid project to investigate a possible link between MMR and autism, after several parents suspected the vaccine had negatively affected their children. Wakefield did not declare the existence of this project when he published a paper on a similar topic in The Lancet in February 1998. Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, says this is in violation of his journal's policy regarding conflict of interest. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2004

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 5031 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists learning adolescent brain develops more slowly than previously believed By SONYA PADGETT It happened to your grandparents. Then it happened to your parents. And, if you have adolescents, it's happening to you. That once achingly sweet toddler who became a winsome child charming strangers in checkout lines is torturing you, his parents, with teenaged apathy and angst. The kid you were convinced was the next Albert Einstein has been replaced by what looks like an underage adult but acts like a mumbling ogre whose brain seems to have short-circuited. He drives a car and holds a job, plans to vote soon and maybe join the military. But he sleeps in class -- when he goes -- drag races on city streets, rides grocery carts down embankments or re-enacts other stunts from MTV's "Jackass." He's moody, makes decisions a 9-year-old might find questionable and sometimes acts like he should be wearing Pampers instead of Paper jeans. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2003

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 5030 - Posted: 06.24.2010

If you think those side effects you're feeling are a result of your medication ... you may be wrong BY EARL LANE SEATTLE -- While researchers have tried to understand why some patients feel better after receiving a sham pill, a placebo, rather than an active drug, relatively little attention has been paid to the placebo's evil twin: the nocebo. Dr. Arthur Barsky, a professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, said recently the nocebo effect occurs when patients experience negative symptoms, such as headache, fatigue and dizziness, after taking an inert substance they believe is an active drug. A placebo, Latin for "I will please," is often given to one group of subjects in a clinical trial as a way to judge the true benefit of the active medication being given to a second group of patients. The sham pill itself can sometimes produce improvement in symptoms for reasons that are still largely a mystery. Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 5029 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The government's top doctor has criticised the man at the centre of the MMR controversy. Sir Liam Donaldson, England's chief medical officer, accused Dr Andrew Wakefield of peddling "poor science". He said the 1998 study has never been replicated and was criticised by "independent experts around the world". His comments came as the General Medical Council prepared to open an investigation into the way Dr Wakefield carried out his study. On Friday, the medical journal The Lancet said it should never have published Dr Wakefield's study. Dr Richard Horton, the journal's editor, said the work was "flawed" because Dr Wakefield had "a fatal conflict of interest". (C) BBC

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 5028 - Posted: 02.23.2004

By FOX BUTTERFIELD BOONE, N.C.,— Sandra Rupert, a counselor at an elementary school in this town tucked high up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, wondered last year about two sisters who were second and third graders. They had headaches, colds and coughs virtually every day. Sheriff Mark Shook found the explanation when he raided the children's home and discovered their mother and her boyfriend were cooking methamphetamine in the attic, next to where the girls slept. The girls were suffering from the toxic fumes emitted by the methamphetamine cooking, said Chad Slagle, a social worker with the Watauga County Child Protective Services Unit. They were removed immediately from the house and taken away from their mother. They had to leave without taking any of their clothes or toys, Mr. Slagle said, for fear of further contamination. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Neurotoxins
Link ID: 5027 - Posted: 06.24.2010