Study shows the value of sleeping on a problem. MICHAEL HOPKIN "Sleep on it" is standard advice to anyone agonizing over a tricky puzzle. A study of mathematical problem-solving has now shown that a good night's rest really does give you a fresh perspective. The discovery lends credence to the popular maxim that sleep stimulates lateral thinking, says Jan Born of the University of Lübeck, Germany, who led the project. Born and his colleagues presented subjects with a series of numbers. They gave participants a simple rule with which to generate a second string of numbers from the first, and asked them to deduce the final digit in this sequence. However, they didn't tell them about a hidden shortcut that allowed the final digit to be calculated almost immediately. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2004

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 4846 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Three brain areas of panic disorder patients are lacking in a key component of a chemical messenger system that regulates emotion, researchers at the NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered. Brain scans revealed that a type of serotonin receptor is reduced by nearly a third in three structures straddling the center of the brain. The finding is the first in living humans to show that the receptor, which is pivotal to the action of widely prescribed anti-anxiety medications, may be abnormal in the disorder, and may help to explain how genes might influence vulnerability. Drs. Alexander Neumeister and Wayne Drevets, NIMH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, and colleagues, report on their findings in the January 21, 2004 Journal of Neuroscience. Each year, panic attacks strike about 2.4 million American adults “out of the blue,” with feelings of intense fear and physical symptoms sometimes confused with a heart attack. Unchecked, the disorder often sets in motion a debilitating psychological sequel syndrome of agoraphobia, avoiding public places. Panic disorder runs in families and researchers have long suspected that it has a genetic component. The new finding, combined with evidence from recent animal studies, suggests that genes might increase risk for the disorder by coding for decreased expression of the receptors, say the researchers.

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 4845 - Posted: 06.24.2010

WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press Writer Everybody feels refreshed following a good night's sleep. But can you wake up smarter? More artistic perhaps? German scientists say they have demonstrated for the first time that our sleeping brains continue working on problems that baffle us during the day, and the right answer may come more easily after 8 hours of rest. The German study is considered to be the first hard evidence supporting the common sense notion that creativity and problem solving appear to be directly linked to adequate sleep, scientists say. Other researchers who did not contribute to the experiment say it provides a valuable reminder for overtired workers and students that sleep is often the best medicine. ©2004 Associated Press

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 4844 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The only way for smokers to avoid exposure to significant levels of cancer-causing substances is to quit completely, research has found. A team from the University of Minnesota found that smokers who cut their cigarette consumption are exposed to lower amount of a potent carcinogen. However, the drop is not proportional to the reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked. The study is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Cigarette smoking is the cause of 90% of the world's lung cancer cases - but it is not known whether smokers who reduce the number of cigarettes smoked per day also decrease their risk of lung cancer. The Minnesota team set out to answer this question by measuring the metabolites of a specific tobacco carcinogen in the urine of smokers who were taking part in a programme to cut their consumption. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 4843 - Posted: 01.21.2004

by Gregory A. Leskin, Ph.D., and Javaid I. Sheikh, M.D., M.B.A., Psychiatric Times According to the DSM-IV, panic disorder is classified as an anxiety disorder consisting of repeated and unexpected panic attacks. Panic attacks are defined as discrete events characterized by the sudden onset of cardiorespiratory symptoms and physiological arousal, accompanied by catastrophic fears and the urge to flee. Typically, these symptoms include shortness of breath, tachycardia, nausea, sweating, and fears that the individual is losing control or going crazy. Such spontaneous panic attacks typically reach an apex of intensity within 10 minutes. Data from large scale epidemiological surveys suggest that panic disorder is more common in women than in men (Joyce et al., 1989; Katerndahl and Realini, 1993; Reed and Witchen, 1998). The National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) examined the presence of psychiatric morbidity, including depression, panic disorder and general anxiety, in a large national sample (Kessler et al., 1994). Based on NCS data, Eaton et al. (1994) found that panic disorder is 2.5 times more prevalent among women than men. In addition, the gender difference appears to increase according to age. For example, the prevalence rate of panic disorder for women ages 15 to 24 was 2.5%, compared to 1.3% of same-age men. For older women and men, the overall rates drop, but the difference between genders appears to grow. Among women ages 35 to 44, the rate of panic disorder was 2.1%, compared to the 0.6% rate among same-age men. © 2004 Psychiatric Times. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 4842 - Posted: 06.24.2010

by Victoria Hendrick, M.D., Psychiatric Times Estrogen and progesterone are believed to play a role in the regulation of mood and well-being. Several mechanisms have been proposed for this effect, including the hormones' influence on monoamine oxidase (MAO) metabolism. Estrogen inhibits MAO, thereby diminishing the degradation of norepinephrine and serotonin and thus increasing their activity, while progesterone has the reverse impact on MAO (Chakravorty and Halbreich, 1997; Luine and Rhodes, 1983). Allopregnanolone, a metabolite of progesterone, is a potent neuroactive steroid that modulates g-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors and may be anxiolytic (Majewska et al., 1986). Estrogen's influence on mood has been studied significantly more than that of progesterone. While estrogen's mood-elevating effect is generally acknowledged, the clinical magnitude of this effect remains unclear. Unfortunately, many studies examining this question have been uncontrolled or retrospective or have used populations with only mild levels of depression. A meta-analysis of research done between 1970 and 1995 (mostly involving conjugated equine estrogen [Premarin]) reported moderate-to-large mood-elevating effects from estrogen administration, which diminished following addition of a progestogen (Zweifel and O'Brien, 1997). Interestingly, in this meta-analysis, perimenopausal women appeared more likely to benefit than postmenopausal women. The authors, however, cautioned that methodological shortcomings limited the generalizability of several of the studies.

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Depression
Link ID: 4841 - Posted: 01.21.2004

by William Kanapaux, Psychiatric Times On any given day, it is estimated that about 70,000 inmates in U.S. prisons are psychotic. Anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 male and female prison inmates suffer from mental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression. Prisons hold three times more people with mental illness than do psychiatric hospitals, and U.S. prisoners have rates of mental illness that are up to four times greater than rates for the general population. These are the findings of a report by Human Rights Watch, released Oct. 22, 2003. Many of the statistics cited by the organization have been released by various organizations and agencies, but the 215-page report provides a more complete picture of the U.S. prison system as the nation's primary mental health care facilities. The complete report is available on their Web site at . "Ill Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness" resulted from two years of research and hundreds of interviews with mental health care experts, prisoners, correction officials and attorneys. It reported that few prisons offer adequate mental health care services and that the prison environment is dangerous and debilitating for prisoners who have mental illness. These prisoners are victimized by other inmates, punished by prison staff for behaviors associated with their illnesses and often placed in highly restrictive cells that exacerbate their symptoms. © 2004 Psychiatric Times. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 4840 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By REUTERS CHICAGO, — Two drugs that act differently on the brain's chemistry worked in tandem to help stave off the brain-robbing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, researchers said Tuesday. The patients in a yearlong study were afflicted with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's and had been taking the drug donepezil, which prevents the breakdown of an important chemical messenger in the brain, acetylcholine, which commonly occurs with Alzheimer's. But patients who also took the drug memantine scored better on tests for cognition and some quality-of-life measures than patients given a placebo along with donepezil. Memantine is a drug that counteracts the overproduction of the brain cell-killing chemical glutamate. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 4839 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Study shows that perception is tied to movement Our fingers run over surfaces; our eyes are in constant motion. This is all a part of "active sensing," key principles of which have now been uncovered by a Weizmann Institute study. "We intuitively understand that active sensing should provide the brain with information very different from that which is acquired by mere passive sensing, (e.g. feeling without finger movement)," says Prof. Ehud Ahissar of the Neurobiology Department, "yet current experiments nearly always keep the organs stationary." Much of his recent research focuses on discovering how the sensory nerves in these organs perform when in motion. Such research, he hopes, will deepen our understanding of perception, and help optimize the design of artificial sensory aids for the deaf and blind. Rats' whiskers, which sweep back and forth to locate and appraise objects in the immediate vicinity, are an ideal tool for studying the active aspects of perception. Working with doctoral student Marcin Szwed and Dr. Knarik Bagdasarian, Ahissar recorded the transmissions of neurons that connect whiskers to the brain. Tracking these cells' responses while whisker hairs actively swept over objects, they saw that two basic types of neurons came into play. The first, which they call whisking neurons, respond solely to the whisking motion itself, regardless of whether the whiskers touch an object or not.

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 4838 - Posted: 01.21.2004

The fear centre finds a role in arousal. HELEN PEARSON Researchers have suggested that size matters when it comes to sex - the size of part of the brain, that is1. According to David Reutens at the University of Melbourne, Australia, a person's sex drive may be proportional to the size of their amygdala, a small 'emotion' centre nestled at the base of the brain. The almond-sized nugget has been implicated in sex drive before; it is tickled by erotic movies and is vital for mating behaviour in many animals. But the effect of its size was unclear. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2004

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Emotions
Link ID: 4837 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Findings suggest that enzyme may be manipulated phamalogically to control brain receptor by Jessica Whiteside -- The discovery of a molecular "addiction switch" in the mammalian brain has the potential to control the addiction process in drug addicts, say U of T researchers. A study published Jan. 18 in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience finds that a region of the brain called the VTA contains receptors that, when exposed to a certain enzyme, can control the switch from an addicted to non-addicted state and back again. This goes against previous ideas that viewed drug addiction as a permanent change in the brain, says lead author Steven Laviolette who conducted the research while a PhD student at U of T's Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology with senior author Professor Derek van der Kooy. "Our findings suggest that instead of a permanent alteration in the brain, there's actually a switch that goes on between two separate systems (one that mediates the brain's response to drugs while not yet addicted and the other that mediates response once addicted)," says Laviolette. "They also suggest we may be able to manipulate that switch pharmacologically to take drug addicts back to a non-addicted state in a relatively short period of time so they do not crave the drug."

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 4836 - Posted: 01.21.2004

University Memory and Aging Center focuses on epilepsy drug The University Memory and Aging Center (UMAC) of University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University is one of 30 institutions participating in a $10 million National Institutes of Health study to determine if the medication valproate can reduce the occurrences of problem behaviors and affect the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease. Valproate has been successfully used for about 40 years to treat epilepsy, migraines and bipolar disorder, and may provide new hope for the more than four million Americans suffering with Alzheimer's disease. This study is the first of its kind to research a medication that may have the potential to block "tangles," one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease linked with memory loss and other symptoms of dementia. Tangles are abnormal brain tissue structures formed by unusual processing of a protein called "tau." Normally, tau is crucial for intracellular functioning and structure, but in Alzheimer's patients, a stringy cluster of tau and phosphate molecules form, leading to dysfunction that impairs the cell's ability to communicate with neighboring cells. This eventually leads to cell death, contributing to the confusion, disorientation and forgetfulness associated with Alzheimer's disease. The "Valproate in Dementia" study, led by the Alzheimer's research group at the University of Rochester Medical Center, will target 300 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's who are living at home and have not yet shown signs of agitation.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 4835 - Posted: 01.21.2004

ATLANTA -- The reward mechanism involved in addiction appears to regulate lifelong social or pair bonds between monogamous mating animals, according to a Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) study of prairie voles published in the January 19 edition of the Journal of Comparative Neurology. The finding could have implications for understanding the basis of romantic love and disorders of the ability to form social attachments, such as autism and schizophrenia. In their research, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Larry Young, PhD., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of Medicine and an affiliate scientist at Yerkes National Primate Research Center; graduate student Miranda Lim; and Anne Murphy, PhD., associate professor of biology at Georgia State University, examined the distribution of two brain receptors in the ventral forebrain of monogamous prairie voles that have been previously tied to pair bond formation: oxytocin (OTR) and vasopressin V1a receptor (V1aR). Using receptor audiographic techniques, the scientists found that these receptors are confined to two of the brain's reward centers, the nucleus accumbens and the ventral pallidum. V1aR receptors, which are thought to be activated in the male vole brain during pair bond formation, were confined largely to the ventral pallidum. OTR receptors, which play a crucial role in pair bond formation in females, were found mainly in the nucleus accumbens.

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 4834 - Posted: 01.21.2004

Asperger syndrome challenges experts to distinguish its symptoms and treatments By Jamie Talan, Staff Writer When Eric Schissel was a boy, ZIP codes fascinated him. And he had magnificent obsessions with mathematics, dictionaries, penguins and foreign languages. He was master of an amazing party trick: Pick any date in history, and he could tell you what day it landed on. But Eric Schissel wasn't invited to any parties. To all, he was a brilliant loner, inept at face-to-face exchanges. Early on, the Roslyn boy was put in special education classes because of his odd behavior, but his academic work would win him admittance to Princeton University. In graduate school at Cornell University in Ithaca, where he had to work closely with colleagues, his isolated world began to crumble. He seemed to have little idea how to build relationships. While his parents, teachers and doctors never had the right label for Schissel's behavior, early in the 1990s psychiatrists were putting together lists of behaviors that spelled out a new diagnosis in the lexicon of American psychiatry. It is now called Asperger syndrome, but it remains a controversial diagnosis because of disagreement over whether it's a version of a high-functioning form of autism or a condition unto itself. As the debate heats up, experts worry that people like Schissel may be either misdiagnosed or missed altogether. Copyright © Newsday, Inc.

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 4833 - Posted: 06.24.2010

They say laughter is good for the soul. But, as this ScienCentral News video reports, scientists have found out how the brain responds to a good joke. What's happening in your brain when you find something funny? Researchers at Stanford University have discovered that what makes us laugh also activates the reward mechanism in the brain. "For the first time we know that the reward centers of the brain are explicitly involved in perception of humor," says Allan Reiss, psychiatry professor at Stanford University, director of the Stanford Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory and co-director of the Center for Brain and Behavior at Packard Children's Hospital. © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 4832 - Posted: 06.24.2010

If you want to go from scrawny to brawny in 30 days, there is no shortage of miracle shape-up programs. But as impressive as beefy pecs and triceps may look, they won't help you cite the evidence for Einstein's special theory of relativity, rattle off pi to the 20th decimal place, or liberate yourself from the mass delusion that a penny dropped from the Empire State Building will gather enough speed to kill a hapless pedestrian. We at PopSci believe the body part most worth stretching and toning -- not to mention showing off -- is the brain. You need to ensure that yours is flexible enough for creative problem solving, strong enough to run the occasional intellectual mini-marathon, and most of all, free of pseudoscientific flab. You say the brain isn't really a muscle? Irrelevant. Recent studies indicate that it can bulk up: The hippocampus, a brain region responsible for thought and memory, produces new cells throughout a person's life, and some neuroscientists believe other parts of the brain also regenerate. The trick to keeping those new neurons? Use 'em or lose 'em. So take our scientific-aptitude quiz, learn the mental muscle groups, and get pumping. Copyright © 2004 Popular Science.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 4831 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service The blind mole rat continually monitors its direction using the Earth's magnetic field when it makes long underground journeys, new research has revealed. It is first animal discovered to have this talent. Blind mole rats have no eyes and spend most of their time burrowing in subterranean tunnels. They often have to make long journeys from their nests to find food and yet are able to find their way efficiently through complex mazes of tunnels. They use signals such as smell and balance to check their direction and progress over short distances. But scientists have now discovered that on longer routes they combine this information with constant reference checks of the Earth's magnetic field. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Animal Migration
Link ID: 4830 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Antioxidant vitamin supplements, particularly vitamins E and C, may protect the aging brain against damage associated with the pathological changes of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions. The researchers believe antioxidant vitamin supplements may be an ideal prevention strategy for our aging population as they are relatively nontoxic and are thought to have wide-ranging health benefits. The study, "Reduced Risk of Alzheimer's Disease in Users of Antioxidant Vitamin Supplements" is published in the January 2004, issue of the journal Archives of Neurology. Peter P. Zandi, PhD, lead author of the study and an assistant professor in the School's Department of Mental Health, said, "These results are extremely exciting. Our study suggests that the regular use of vitamin E in nutritional supplement doses, especially in combination with vitamin C, may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease."

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 4829 - Posted: 01.20.2004

By RANDI HUTTER EPSTEIN Bugs ruled Brandon Howard's life as long as he could remember. One glimpse of a beetle flitting by was enough to send Brandon racing away from his buddies to the safety of home. But no more. A single three-hour treatment session turned Brandon, who was 10 then, into a friend of beetles. In this intensive exposure session, a therapist helped Brandon bond with a red-striped beetle and conquer his fears. So far he's been phobia-free for nine months. Brandon, who is now 11 and lives in Dublin, Va., is one of 120 children participating in a trial sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health that is testing a speedy cure for childhood phobias. So far, investigators, from Virginia Tech and Stockholm University in Sweden, claim a 75 percent cure rate — with follow-up of about a year. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 4828 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By NICHOLAS WADE If you see the world with only two color-detecting pigments in your eye, as many monkeys do, your sense of smell is very important. But in higher primates, which see with three pigments, the sense of smell is less critical, evolutionary biologists have found — to the extent that people have lost the use of more than half their odor-detecting genes. The finding has emerged from analysis of odor-detecting genes in the primate tree, which includes people, monkeys and apes. A large proportion of the genes have become inactive in just those primate species that have developed full color vision, say Dr. Yoav Gilad and Dr. Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. The detection of smell begins with special receptors embedded in the surface of the nerve cells in the nose. Humans have more than 1,000 receptor-making genes. But analysis of the DNA sequence of these genes, made possible by the recent decoding of the human genome, shows that about 60 percent of the genes carry a mutation that would render useless the receptor protein they specify. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste); Evolution
Link ID: 4827 - Posted: 06.24.2010