By CLIVE THOMPSON When he isn't pondering the inner workings of the mind, Read Montague, a 43-year-old neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, has been known to contemplate the other mysteries of life: for instance, the Pepsi Challenge. In the series of TV commercials from the 70's and 80's that pitted Coke against Pepsi in a blind taste test, Pepsi was usually the winner. So why, Montague asked himself not long ago, did Coke appeal so strongly to so many people if it didn't taste any better? Over several months this past summer, Montague set to work looking for a scientifically convincing answer. He assembled a group of test subjects and, while monitoring their brain activity with an M.R.I. machine, recreated the Pepsi Challenge. His results confirmed those of the TV campaign: Pepsi tended to produce a stronger response than Coke in the brain's ventral putamen, a region thought to process feelings of reward. (Monkeys, for instance, exhibit activity in the ventral putamen when they receive food for completing a task.) Indeed, in people who preferred Pepsi, the ventral putamen was five times as active when drinking Pepsi than that of Coke fans when drinking Coke. In the real world, of course, taste is not everything. So Montague tried to gauge the appeal of Coke's image, its ''brand influence,'' by repeating the experiment with a small variation: this time, he announced which of the sample tastes were Coke. The outcome was remarkable: almost all the subjects said they preferred Coke. What's more, the brain activity of the subjects was now different. There was also activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that scientists say governs high-level cognitive powers. Apparently, the subjects were meditating in a more sophisticated way on the taste of Coke, allowing memories and other impressions of the drink -- in a word, its brand -- to shape their preference. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Emotions; Brain imaging
Link ID: 4423 - Posted: 10.26.2003

How the same enzyme helps protect brain cells from the destruction of Alzheimer's yet contributes to the blood vessel disease of diabetics is a puzzle Dr. Mario B. Marrero wants to solve. "I call JAK2 the good, the bad and the ugly because its function depends on the cell type and where it acts," says the biochemist at the Medical College of Georgia who wants to eliminate – or at least control – the "bad" and "ugly." JAK2, or janus kinase 2, is an enzyme found in all cells that plays an important role in development and growth; mice lacking this enzyme die in utero, Dr. Marrero says. After birth, the enzyme becomes a two-edged sword that activates or deactivates other proteins and plays a role in Alzheimer's, diabetes, hypertension and kidney failure.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 4422 - Posted: 06.24.2010

John Travis An unlikely partnership between AIDS researchers seeking new antiviral therapies and developmental biologists exploring how the brain forms has produced a promising new drug for the fight against deadly brain tumors. In cell and animal studies, the drug, originally developed as an anti-HIV medication, has slowed the growth of several kinds of brain cancers. "I hope and would like to think that this will end up being useful in human disease," says Rosalind A. Segal of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, who headed the work. Several years ago, researchers discovered that for the AIDS virus to infect an immune cell, HIV must grab on to a cell-surface protein called a chemokine receptor. Chemokines are chemicals that guide immune cells around a body, and receptors allow the cells to detect the compounds. Copyright ©2003 Science Service.

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 4421 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Bruce Bower Since average scores on particular IQ tests rise a few points every 3 or 4 years, those tests become obsolete after a couple of decades. In order to reset the average score to 100, harder IQ tests are devised every 15 to 20 years. Trickier tests have no practical impact on people who score within the normal IQ range of 90 to 110. But so-called renormed IQ tests create a yo-yo effect in the number of mental retardation placements in U.S. schools, a new study finds. Rates of mental retardation among children appear to bottom out near the end of a particular test's run, followed by a sharp rebound with the introduction of a tougher test, say Tomoe Kanaya, a graduate student at Cornell University, and her colleagues. Scores on the new test then increase over time, pulling many children from just below to just above the score of 70, which stands as the rough cutoff for mental retardation. That trend continues until the next test revision comes along. Copyright ©2003 Science Service.

Keyword: Intelligence
Link ID: 4420 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Sex changes are hardly talk-show material in the sea. In fact, they're common in many marine animals, and now scientists believe they've made an important observation about how critters know the time for a change has come. Across a wide variety of species, the researchers found that sex changes occur almost exclusively in animals that have reached a particular size. The results may shed light on the evolutionary forces behind this curious phenomenon. Animals convert from one sex to the other for a multitude of reasons. A common one is to balance out the genders in their population. For example, some female fish will transform to males if the school has too few males. The newly minted males are in great demand, and thus pass on more of their genes than if they'd stayed female. Slugs, starfish, and other creatures also switch gender when it works to their advantage. However, the cues that trigger the change vary from species to species. Copyright © 2003 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 4419 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Some people say we should settle gay rights disputes on the basis of the Old Testament. I say we should rely on blinking patterns. In case you've misplaced your latest copy of Behavioral Neuroscience, there's a fascinating article about how people blink. It turns out that when males and females are exposed to a loud noise, they blink in somewhat different ways — except that lesbians appear to blink like men, not like women. The study (peer-reviewed but based on a small sample) is the latest in a growing scientific literature suggesting that sexual preferences may be not simply a matter of personal preference but part of our ingrained biology. Indeed, some geneticists believe that sexual orientation in men (though not women) may be determined in part by markers in the Xq28 chromosomal region. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 4418 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Analysis of DNA samples from patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and related illnesses suggests that these neuropsychiatric disorders affecting mood and behavior are associated with an uncommon mutant, malfunctioning gene that leads to faulty transporter function and regulation. Norio Ozaki, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues in the collaborative study explain their findings in the October 23 Molecular Psychiatry. Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found a mutation in the human serotonin transporter gene, hSERT, in unrelated families with OCD. A second variant in the same gene of some patients with this mutation suggests a genetic "double hit," resulting in greater biochemical effects and more severe symptoms. Among the 10 leading causes of disability worldwide, OCD is a mental illness characterized by repetitive unwanted thoughts and behaviors that impair daily life. "In all of molecular medicine, there are few known instances where two variants within one gene have been found to alter the expression and regulation of the gene in a way that appears associated with symptoms of a disorder," said co-author Dennis Murphy, M.D., National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Laboratory of Clinical Science. "This step forward gives us a glimpse of the complications ahead in studying the genetic complexity of neuropsychiatric disorders."

Keyword: OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 4417 - Posted: 10.24.2003

A common drug administered in the first hours following trauma to patients deemed to be at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reduced the occurrence of PTSD, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Lille, France. While the study involved a small number of subjects, its results are encouraging, says its senior author, Charles Marmar, MD, associate chief of staff for mental health at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and professor and vice chair of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco. "The study is based on the new theory that PTSD is most likely to occur in patients who experience a particularly severe and prolonged response to trauma. If this model proves accurate after five or ten replications of studies like this one, it could have very profound ramifications. From a public health perspective, if you could identify the subgroup of people who are susceptible to PTSD, giving them this course of medication -- which is brief, very well tolerated and inexpensive -- could be very effective prevention [following major trauma] and may have great social relevance." The study appears in the November 1 issue of Biological Psychiatry.

Keyword: Stress
Link ID: 4416 - Posted: 10.24.2003

The University of Vermont will lead the first study ever to examine the efficacy and safety of using nicotine patches to treat Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a state of memory impairment recently identified by the American Academy of Neurology that may be a precursor of Alzheimer’s disease. Often difficult to diagnose because of the mild nature of memory changes, MCI is characterized by symptoms such as increased forgetfulness, but is not accompanied by the disorientation, confusion and impaired judgment typical of Alzheimer’s disease. Studies suggest that if left untreated, 12 percent of MCI patients will convert to Alzheimer’s disease each year. “Just like heart disease doesn’t start with a heart attack – it starts with years of cholesterol build-up – Mild Cognitive Impairment may represent the early stages of memory loss prior to the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Paul Newhouse, M.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and research director of The Memory Center at Fletcher Allen Health Care. Contact Us © 2003 The University of Vermont

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Alzheimers
Link ID: 4415 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The mysterious cause of a young Australian man's meningitis was finally found to be a dinner of raw slugs. He had eaten two slugs for a dare five weeks before falling ill. But slugs harbour Angiostrongylus cantonensis - also known as the rat lungworm - which can cause the potentially fatal brain inflammation. Experts writing in the Medical Journal of Australia say that if people do want to eat slugs, they should cook them first, in order to kill the parasite. The young man was admitted to hospital after experiencing headaches, nausea, vomiting, neck stiffness and sensitivity to light. A series of tests were carried out by doctors, but the cause of his illness could not be determined, and he was discharged after 12 days. (C) BBC

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 4414 - Posted: 10.23.2003

If only there were a drug that could make you feel full while eating less. As this ScienCentral News video reports, researchers think a natural hormone could do just that. Being overweight causes a whole host of health problems, from advanced risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, to joint aches and arthritis. In fact, according to the Surgeon General’s office, obesity may soon overtake smoking as the number one cause of preventable deaths. But now researchers at London’s Hammersmith Hospital have discovered a hormone that they hope will help obese people manage their weight. The hormone, called PYY3-36 and dubbed “the fullness hormone” by scientists, tells the brain when to stop eating. Steve Bloom, a researcher at Hammersmith Hospital and professor at Imperial College London says what’s new about this discovery is that it offers a natural way to help control appetite. Bloom says current obesity drug treatments don’t work very well and have unpleasant side effects. “With the complete absence of any very effective treatments other then major surgery,” he says, “the pressure's on to try and find something that’s both safe and effective. And indeed that’s what we think we’ve found. © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 4413 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Trigger for sex and strops may lead to fertility treatments. HELEN R. PILCHER The discovery of a gene that initiates puberty could speed the production of new fertility treatments. The gene is called GPR54. It may trigger the hormonal onslaught that makes teenagers stroppy, spotty and sexually mature. Mutations in the gene prevent humans and mice from developing into adults, research reveals1. "It's a wonderful surprise," says Stephanie Seminara of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who helped to determine the gene's function. Drugs that alter the gene's activity could stifle or boost fertility, she says. This could help those who experience puberty abnormally early or late. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 4412 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Walruses are 'right-flippered', according to research published this week in BMC Ecology. The first study of walrus feeding behaviour in the wild showed that the animals preferentially use their right flipper to remove sediment from buried food. This is the first time that any aquatic animal has been shown to prefer using one flipper to the other when foraging. Direct observations of the underwater behaviour of free-living marine mammals are rare, especially if the animals are dangerous, like the walrus. This means that our understanding of these creatures is remarkably limited. The scuba-diving researchers from Denmark, Greenland and Sweden went to Northeast Greenland to film male Atlantic walruses while they ate. Walruses eat invertebrate animals that live on the seabed. They are particularly fond of clams. Walruses suck out the soft part of the clam, and discard the empty shells. As clams can be buried up to 40 cm deep, the walruses must remove sediment to find them.

Keyword: Laterality
Link ID: 4411 - Posted: 10.23.2003

By WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - In what may be an important step toward preventing blindness in old age, scientists have identified a gene believed to be responsible for a degenerative eye disease that could strike millions of baby boomers as they grow older. The gene is suspected of being the main cause of some cases of age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, a complex disease triggered by various factors. It typically affects people 65 and older. Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University were able to pinpoint the gene by tracking it through a large extended family with a history of the disease. Copyright © The Sacramento Bee

Keyword: Vision; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 4410 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Hypnotherapy seems to be an effective long term treatment for irritable bowel syndrome, research finds. IBS is a very common disorder affecting up to 15% of the population at any one time, but is difficult to treat. Researchers from Withington Hospital, Manchester, found hypnotherapy helped 71% of patients - and its effect lasted up to five years after treatment. The research, based on 200 patients, is published in the journal Gut. They were asked to assess their symptoms, quality of life and levels of anxiety and depression before and after treatment - and for up to six years after completing the course. (C) BBC

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 4409 - Posted: 10.22.2003

A New York zookeeper tells all about his life with animals By David Conrads Some careers are launched in the most unlikely ways. Take the case of Peter Brazaitis: A working-class kid growing up in Brooklyn in the 1940s and '50s, young Peter was a hostile, rebellious student with a bleak future but a love for animals, "particularly if it had scales and everyone else was afraid of it." He was 18 years old when his stepmother, at the end of her tether, declared: "You are an animal, and you should be in a zoo." Taking her words literally, as teenagers are wont to do, Brazaitis applied for a job at the Reptile House at the Bronx Zoo. Although he had read numerous books on the subject, he had no real experience caring for reptiles, other than those he had kept as pets. But to the surprise of both himself and his stepmother, Brazaitis got the job. "I would begin working life at the very bottom of a profession that few people can even imagine," he writes in "You Belong in a Zoo!" "as a broom-pushing, turtle-feeding, glass- cleaning, often terrified reptile keeper at one of the most prestigious zoos in the world." Brazaitis stayed at the Bronx Zoo for over 30 years, rising to the position of superintendent of reptiles. In 1988 he moved to the newly renovated Central Park Zoo. He retired 10 years later as curator of animals. Copyright © 2003 The Christian Science Monitor.

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 4408 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By FOX BUTTERFIELD As many as one in five of the 2.1 million Americans in jail and prison are seriously mentally ill, far outnumbering the number of mentally ill who are in mental hospitals, according to a comprehensive study released Tuesday. The study, by Human Rights Watch, concludes that jails and prisons have become the nation's default mental health system, as more state hospitals have closed and as the country's prison system has quadrupled over the past 30 years. There are now fewer than 80,000 people in mental hospitals, and the number is continuing to fall. The report also found that the level of illness among the mentally ill being admitted to jail and prison has been growing more severe in the past few years. And it suggests that the percentage of female inmates who are mentally ill is considerably higher than that of male inmates. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Aggression
Link ID: 4407 - Posted: 10.22.2003

Results further implicate iron deposits in brain in MS impairments BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The mental impairment and problems with walking experienced by patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are linked to damage in the brain's gray matter, with MRI findings suggesting the damage is due to toxic deposits of iron, researchers from the University at Buffalo have shown for the first time. Previous breakthrough work by the team had linked deep gray matter iron deposits to the disease course of MS, brain atrophy and overall disability, but not to cognition or ambulation. Results of these latest studies were presented today (Oct. 21, 2003) at the annual meeting of the American Neurological Association in San Francisco. The researchers, affiliated with the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC) and Jacobs Neurological Institute, use specialized, computer-assisted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology to focus on hypointensity, or unnatural darkness, of gray matter structures as seen on so-called T2-weighted images. This condition is referred to as T2 hypointensity. Using this approach, they were able to show that structures in the brain's deep gray matter of MS patients contained T2 hypointensity compared with normal individuals, suggesting higher-than-normal levels of iron deposits, and confirmed the relationship of T2 hypointensity to MS symptoms.

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis
Link ID: 4406 - Posted: 10.22.2003

DURHAM, N.C. - By applying a new technique that combines independent lines of genomic evidence, Duke University Medical Center researchers and colleagues have identified a single gene that influences the age at which individuals first show symptoms of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Such genes that can impact patients' age at onset for the two very prevalent neurological disorders are of particular interest as alternative targets for treatment, said Margaret Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center for Human Genetics . Drugs that delay the onset of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases beyond the normal human lifespan would effectively prevent them in patients at risk for the disorders, she added. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia among people over the age of 65, affecting up to 4 million Americans. Parkinson's disease -- characterized by tremors, stiffness of the limbs and trunk, slow movements and a lack of balance -- afflicts approximately 50,000 Americans each year. Both are complex disorders involving multiple genes. © 2001-2003 Duke University Medical Center.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 4405 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By MIKE FREEMAN Don Catlin, the scientist who identified a previously undetected steroid and oversaw tests indicating that as many as a half-dozen athletes in track and field had used the drug, said yesterday that he thought athletes were probably using similar unidentified drugs. Catlin, a molecular pharmacologist at U.C.L.A.'s Olympic Analytical Laboratory, led an eight-man team that identified the steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG. The drug is at the center of an investigation that started in track and field but appears likely to involve dozens of other professional athletes. Forty have been called before a federal grand jury in San Francisco to investigate a sports nutrition company accused of creating the drug. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 4404 - Posted: 10.21.2003