Nerve-cell activity when eyes are shut reveals internal views of the world. TANGUY CHOUARD People's tendency to see what they expect to see may be caused by their brain constantly generating virtual sensations. So suggests a new study of sleeping cats1. When the animals' eyes were closed, researchers recorded spontaneous patterns of neuronal activity similar to those evoked by real scenes. Strikingly, this happened in the primary visual cortex - a region thought to record visual stimuli passively. Like a detuned television screen flashing up occasional pictures, the resting cortex spontaneously produces clear maps of the outside world. It is as if the eyes were actually looking at objects. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Vision; Sleep
Link ID: 4446 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ATHENS, Ohio – Pterosaurs, which emerged as the first flying vertebrates during the age of dinosaurs, could grow as large as an airplane but soared through the skies with ease. New research suggests that a specialized brain and inner ear structure helped these ancient reptiles to fly and target their prey, a finding that could give scientists insight into the evolution of the brain and visual system. Compared to modern reptiles such as alligators and lizards, pterosaurs -- commonly known as pterodactyls -- had a complicated neural system that allowed them to make deft use of massive wings and adapt to an airborne lifestyle, said Lawrence Witmer, an associate professor of anatomy in Ohio University's College of Osteopathic Medicine and lead author of the study, which will be published in the Oct. 30 issue of the journal Nature. "These comparisons generally inform us about the rigors of flight and how animals make it work," said Witmer, whose research is funded by the National Science Foundation. Fossils of pterosaurs, which lived during the Mesozoic Era, are rare and often badly crushed. But Witmer's colleagues recently obtained nearly intact skulls of Rhamphorhynchus, a small species with a 3-foot wingspan and 4-inch-long skull that lived 150 million years ago in what is now Germany, and Anhanguera, a larger creature with a 14-foot wingspan and a 20-inch skull that lived 115 million years ago in what is now Brazil.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 4445 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Mentally stimulating leisure activities in early and middle adulthood may lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease, a USC-led study says. Reading, going to museums and engaging in social activities with friends can contribute to an active mind - now and later. Reading books, going to museums and even socializing with friends during early and middle adulthood is related to lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a USC team of researchers and their colleagues. The group’s study – published in a recent issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences – is the first to examine the relationship between leisure activities and the loss of mental function using data on twin pairs who differed in cognitive status. “While we have not proved the adage ‘use it or lose it,’ it certainly makes sense that keeping an active mind contributes to positive aging,” said lead author Michael Crowe, a doctoral student in psychology in USC’s College of Letters, Arts & Sciences.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 4444 - Posted: 06.24.2010

— Using a technique to insert fluorescently labeled genes into live mice, researchers have created a new atlas that will quite literally light the way for neuroscientists to explore the maze of connections between cells in the central nervous system (CNS). The researchers who developed the atlas said it would enable scientists to determine when and where specific genes are switched on in the CNS. Researchers can use such clues to explore the molecular machinery that coordinates neural development and to chart the functional circuitry of the brain and spinal cord. All data from the Gene Expression Nervous System Atlas (GENSAT) BAC Transgenic Project, will be available online to researchers worldwide at http://www.gensat.org. Data derived from the project could have a have major impact on the understanding of neurological disorders, according to the project's leaders, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator Nathaniel Heintz and Mary E. Hatten at The Rockefeller University. The researchers reported the first results from the project in an article published in the October 30, 2003, issue of the journal Nature. ©2003 Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Keyword: Genes & Behavior; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 4443 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer A government document naming 157 scientists who study AIDS and human sexuality is alarming university researchers, who call it a Republican "hit list'' that may be used to target prevention programs that some members of Congress find offensive. National Institutes of Health program officers, who are responsible for overseeing research funded by the federal agency, have been asking members on the list for thumbnail descriptions about the "public benefit" of their projects, which in most cases have already been approved and funded, according to several scientists familiar with the list. Named on the list are researchers from some of the most prestigious universities in the country, including Johns Hopkins University, Harvard and UCSF. ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 4442 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR When Ellen Goldstein of Brooklyn gave birth last November to her only child, Owen, medical tests offered no clues that five months later he would be crippled by a deadly and irreversible genetic disease. Tests shortly before Owen was born revealed no abnormalities, and a physical evaluation right after his birth showed he was in perfect health. So when Owen, once a lively and playful baby, began showing signs of low muscle tone and lost the ability to move his left arm only two months into his life, doctors were mystified. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Movement Disorders; ALS-Lou Gehrig's Disease
Link ID: 4441 - Posted: 10.29.2003

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. The Food and Drug Administration banned the sale and use of a newly detected steroid yesterday and said it would help prosecute any companies making or selling it. The new steroid, tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, is not a dietary supplement, the federal agency said, but a "purely synthetic designer steroid" derived from another banned drug. Although its safety is untested, it is so closely related to known steroids that the F.D.A. "believes that its use may pose considerable risk to health." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 4440 - Posted: 10.29.2003

BUFFALO, N.Y. - University at Buffalo researchers using the latest computer-assisted technologies of genetic analysis have shown for the first time how a widely used drug for treating multiple sclerosis -- interferon beta (IFN-beta-1a) -- can modulate the expression of particular genes in patients being treated for the disease. Their results show that IFN-beta-1a initiates different patterns of genetic expression in different MS patients, information that could lead to better, and potentially individualized, treatments. Results of the study were presented Oct. 21 at the annual meeting of the American Neurological Association in San Francisco by Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, M.D., UB assistant professor of neurology and director of the Baird MS Center at The Jacobs Neurological Institute, the research arm of the UB Department of Neurology. The study also appeared in the September issue of The Journal of Immunology.

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis
Link ID: 4439 - Posted: 10.29.2003

Your nose could provide the first reliable diagnostic tool for predicting a person’s likelihood of developing psychosis, new research has found. A University of Melbourne team examined a group of people deemed to be at ultra high risk of developing psychosis and found those that went on to develop schizophrenia, rather than other forms of psychosis, all displayed the inability to identify smells. This deficit was present before the onset of any significant clinical symptoms of psychosis. The study, the first of its kind, is published in the October 2003 American Journal of Psychiatry. The research has also reignited the academic debate regarding the influence of genetics versus social factors on the development of various forms of psychosis. © The University of Melbourne 1994-2003

Keyword: Schizophrenia; Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 4438 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Maggie Shiels An artist has put his brain up for sale. But this is more than a mere stunt - investors could see a big payout. He just has to die first. Art and commerce have always been regarded as an unholy alliance, but conceptual artist Jonathon Keats has brought the two together in the most intriguing union ever by offering futures contracts on his brain. Up for sale are six billion neurons. His aim is immortality. The idea is that Keats, 32, sells the rights to his brain, and with it his original thoughts, for perpetuity. This relies on new technology - not yet invented - which will keep his brain alive and functioning, even after he has died. Unfortunately, copyright laws have watered down his plan for eternal life. Copyright in the US lasts for the life of its creator, plus 70 years. (C)BBC

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 4437 - Posted: 10.28.2003

NewScientist.com news service The sound-detecting hair cells of the inner ear can be grown in the lab from embryonic stem cells, US scientists have shown. The work raises another possible alternative to cochlear implants for treating deafness. Hair cells convert sound waves into electrical signals that go to the brain. In mammals including humans, these cells die off with age. The result is irreversible hearing loss. Stefan Heller's team at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston generated the hair cells by exposing mouse embryonic stem cells - which are capable of turning into any type of cell - to the chemical factors that a normal hair cell would encounter. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Hearing; Regeneration
Link ID: 4436 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By GARDINER HARRIS The Food and Drug Administration issued a public health advisory yesterday that makes clear that the agency has grown increasingly skeptical that there is any link between antidepressant use and the risk of suicide in teenagers and children. "I think probably that we have backed off a little bit from the advisory issued in June, which recommended against using Paxil," said Dr. Thomas Laughren, a psychiatrist and an F.D.A. official. "I believe our position now is that we just don't know." The F.D.A. plans to convene a panel on Feb. 2 to examine the relationship between suicide and antidepressant drug therapy. The panel will be asked to decide if the drugs should be prescribed to teenagers and children, if the drugs' warnings sections should be changed, and what studies should be done to determine if there is a link between antidepressant use and suicide in teenagers and children. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 4435 - Posted: 10.28.2003

By DAVID TULLER For doctors who want to discuss using medical marijuana with their patients, the line between advice and advocacy remains almost as blurred as it was before a recent court decision guaranteed a physician's right to address the issue openly. Some doctors are relieved that the United States Supreme Court let stand a lower-court decision two weeks ago that barred the federal government from punishing doctors who advised patients that marijuana might ease some symptoms. But some doctors are also perplexed, and even inhibited, by part of the underlying court decision at the center of the case. That decision essentially affirms the federal government's right to hold physicians accountable if they actually take steps to help patients obtain marijuana. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 4434 - Posted: 10.28.2003

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Sometimes familiarity does not breed contempt: A Cornell University behavioral scientist has found that female wolf spiders prefer mates that are comfortably familiar. However, the researcher has discovered, a male wolf spider unlucky enough to attempt to mate with an unfamiliar female probably is doomed to be killed and eaten by the female. "Finding this behavior is really surprising. Social experience influences mate choice," says Eileen Hebets, a Cornell postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, whose findings will be published in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS early edition, Oct. 27-31, 2003).

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 4433 - Posted: 10.28.2003

Cassowaries’ low-frequency sounds may give insight into dinosaur communications NEW YORK -- A family of huge forest birds living in the dense jungles of Papua New Guinea emit low-frequency calls deeper than virtually all other bird species, possibly to communicate through thick forest foliage, according to a study published by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society. Published in the recent issue of the scientific journal The Auk, the study says that three species of cassowaries – flightless birds that can weigh as much as 125 pounds – produce a "booming" call so low that humans may not be able to detect much of the sound. The researchers draw similarities between the birds' calls and the rumbling elephants make to communicate. "When close to the bird, these calls can be heard or felt as an unsettling sensation, similar to how observers describe elephant vocalizations," said WCS researcher Dr. Andrew Mack, the lead author of the study.

Keyword: Animal Communication; Hearing
Link ID: 4432 - Posted: 06.24.2010

St. Louis -- An international team of scientists led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that the enzyme largely responsible for the development of Alzheimer's disease may work in a different way than previously thought. "We're very excited to provide more insight into how this bizarre process takes place," says principal investigator Raphael Kopan, Ph.D., professor of medicine and of molecular biology and pharmacology. "The more we understand the way this enzyme works, the easier it will be to design better and more intelligent approaches to tweaking the enzyme to do what we want." The results are published online in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and will appear in the Oct. 28 print edition. The study was an international collaboration between researchers at the School of Medicine, Merck and Co. Inc., University of Tokyo, Harvard Medical School, University of Tennessee at Memphis, and the K.U. Leuven and Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology in Belgium.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 4431 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ST. PAUL, MN – Smokers are nearly twice as likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) as people who have never smoked, according to a study published in the October 28 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The risk was increased for people whether they were smokers at the time they developed MS or were past smokers. "This is one more reason for young people to avoid smoking," said study author Trond Riise, PhD, of the University of Bergen in Norway. "Hopefully, these results will help us learn more about what causes MS by looking at how smoking affects the onset of the disease."

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis; Drug Abuse
Link ID: 4430 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists call for boycott, launch open-access project Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer More than five centuries after Gutenberg's printing press revolutionized the transmission of scientific information, the multibillion- dollar scientific publishing industry is quaking to two Bay Area-led revolts. This month, a nonprofit venture founded by Nobel laureates with the help of a $9 million startup grant launched the first of two new scientific journals that will make all content freely available online. Print versions of the journals will be available for a subscription fee. The goal of the initiative, called the Public Library of Science, is to force a new standard of "open public access" to scientific research, which, after all, is largely funded by taxpayer dollars. As it is now, scientific journals demand a hefty subscriber fee and limit online access to only those who pay. In another move, two prominent UCSF scientists called last week for a global boycott of six molecular biology journals, accusing the publisher, Reed Elsevier, the Goliath of science publishing, of charging exorbitant new subscription fees for online access. ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 4429 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer With only a used syringe to go on, it took three months of extraordinary chemical detective work to unravel the mystery behind THG, the previously unknown designer steroid that is at the center of a widening sports doping scandal linked to a Bay Area nutritional supplement laboratory. In a story with a far-flung cast - including world-class athletes -- one of the more enterprising and anonymous characters is Dr. Don Catlin, head of UCLA's renowned Olympic Analytical Laboratory, the sole U.S. facility used to screen for chemical cheating at the Olympic level. Catlin, who founded the lab two years before the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, revealed to The Chronicle new details about how his team of eight chemists and 40 support staff joined together in a crash effort to find THG -- short for tetrahydrogestrinone -- and devise a practical way to find it in athlete urine samples. ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 4428 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By PAUL von ZIELBAUER Correction officers at the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, a state prison on Staten Island with about 900 inmates, say they collect at least 200 prescription pills every day that inmates who are considered psychotic, depressed or disruptive pretend to swallow in the presence of nurses but then throw out. Perhaps the inmates mistrust the people giving them the drugs, or are weary of the side effects or believe they are not sick. But the costly result, according to Arthur Kill correction officers and members of the nursing staff, is a constellation of expensive yellow, blue and white pills they pick up off the ground, collect in a bag and flush down the toilet each day. The most common type of pills found, officers said, are Thorazine, a powerful antipsychotic; lithium, an antidepressant; Paxil, an antianxiety medicine; and Neurontin, an anti-seizure mood-stabilizing medicine often prescribed for nervous or unruly prisoners. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Depression; Schizophrenia
Link ID: 4427 - Posted: 10.27.2003