By Theresa Agovino, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK - The success of Viagra has companies racing to achieve a female equivalent, and one herbal product's claims of effectiveness are stirring debate on whether any one drug can be the answer for women. "They have Viagra. Now we have Avlimil," its makers boast in magazine and television advertisements. As an herbal treatment, Avlimil didn't require the extensive study and tests necessary for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. But that does not prevent it, and others like it, from promoting themselves as giving women what Viagra offers men. Since the 1998 launch of Viagra, which racked up $1.7 billion in sales last year for New York-based Pfizer Inc. as a treatment for male sexual disfunction, at least 10 pharmaceutical companies have undertaken development of a similar drug for women, according to market research firm Decision Resources.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 3506 - Posted: 03.04.2003

By ELISSA GOOTMAN As soon as Tamara Rabi arrived at Hofstra University, she noticed the bizarre behavior. People she had never laid eyes on would smile, wave and greet her as an intimate. Then, met by Tamara's blank stare, they would walk away. A few friends claimed to have spotted someone who looked just like her. Someone else from Mexico, she figured. So when a friend of a friend showed up at her 20th birthday party and could not stop gawking, insisting that Tamara looked just like his friend Adriana Scott, it was mildly annoying but not a surprise. As the other guests dug into ice cream cake, the friend's friend persisted. Adriana had also been born in Mexico, he said. Like Tamara, she was also adopted. And the two young women shared a birthday. Thus began the real-life unfolding of a fairy-tale story line, a paradigm that has inspired psychological studies (nature vs. nurture), movies ("The Parent Trap") and at least one sitcom ("Sister, Sister"). Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 3505 - Posted: 03.04.2003

By BRIAN LAVERY DUBLIN, — Despite its famous brands of whiskey and stout and its 10,000 pubs, Ireland's relationship with alcohol is not as historic or indulgent as the stereotypical hard-drinking Irishman might suggest. Until recently, Ireland's per capita alcohol consumption was far behind countries where a drink is part of the daily routine, like a glass of wine in France, Italy or Greece. "For a long time we were actually quite abstemious compared to other European cultures," said Liz McManus, health spokeswoman for the Labor Party. "Very heavy drinking was confined to very heavy drinkers." But over the last decade, the Irish have caught up to their European counterparts with astonishing speed. Annual consumption per Irish adult rose gradually to 10.6 quarts of pure alcohol in 1985 from 4.2 quarts in 1960. It jumped to nearly 15.8 quarts in 2000. The European Union average is about 9.5 quarts. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3504 - Posted: 06.24.2010

What's smell got to do with modern art? How does a fragrance set the scene for memory? Why are humans losing their sense of smell? Neuroscientist Upinder Bhalla believes that our smell system could prove an easier route to understanding the human brain than more conventional means. He has even built a smell machine to find out which groups of people have retained or lost their olfactory skills. And, as he told Seema Singh in Bangalore recently, you may get a chance to leave your own smell on the project when it comes to the UK in June - all in the name of art What's art got to do with smell? What are you trying to do here? Two artists Leslie Hill and Helen Paris approached me with their Wellcome-sponsored "On the Scent" project, which is an installation/performance project to investigate the potential of smell to trigger memories and emotions. I thought it all sounded good fun so I got involved. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 3503 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Sour taste preferences are more intense during childhood. HANNAH HOAG Children are suckers for tart sweets such as sherbet and cola bottles because sour taste preferences are more intense during childhood, a new study finds1. Of the five taste sensations - sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and savoury or umami - sour is the least understood. The preference for salty and sweet foods appears early in life, increases and then peters out during late adolescence. "Sour seems to go along with that story," says Julie Mennella of the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in Philadelphia. More than a third of the 35 children that Mennella studied favoured the taste of super-sour gelatin - flavoured with more citric acid than is present in concentrated lemon juice - relative to weaker-tasting stuff. None of the children's mothers enjoyed the extra-sharp jelly. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste); Development of the Brain
Link ID: 3502 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Infants accustomed to sleeping on their backs who are then placed to sleep on their stomachs or sides are at an increased risk for SIDS — greater than the increased SIDS risk of infants always placed on their stomachs or sides. The study, conducted by Kaiser Permanente in Northern and Southern California and supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIDCD), appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. The study also shows that infants sleeping on their sides are at an increased risk of SIDS. The researchers think that a large part of the risk may be due to the instability of the side sleeping position and the tendency for infants sleeping in this position to turn onto their stomachs. The study, which was conducted in 11 counties in Northern and Southern California, is the first to examine the relationship between infant sleeping position and SIDS in a racially diverse U.S. population. The incidence of SIDS has declined over 50 percent since 1992, when the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that infants be placed on their backs to sleep. Before the current study, evidence of the link between stomach sleeping and SIDS risk was based largely on overseas studies, where populations and cultural practices are different from those in the United States.

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 3501 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Enthusiasts for genomics have corrupted scientific endeavour and undermined hopes of medical progress David Horrobin, The Guardian Triumphalism about molecular biology, genomics and the human genome project is an increasingly pervasive theme in biomedical science. Beginning soon after Watson and Crick deciphered the structure of DNA, it has become progressively more dominant, reaching a crescendo over the past five years. Popular science magazines and the general media have united in a chorus of praise concerning the supposedly dramatic effects this is going to have on human health. But genomics enthusiasts have corrupted scientific endeavour and destroyed real hope of progress. From the 1930s to the 1960s, biomedical science bore some resemblance to an integrated whole. There were researchers working at every level of biological organisation - from sub-cellular biochemistry, to whole cells, to organs, to animals, tohumans. This was a golden age. Anyone receiving the best medical care in 1965 was incomparably better off than anyone in 1930. But starting in the 1960s, molecular biologists and genomics specialists took over biomedical science. Everything was to be understood completely at the molecular genomic level. Everything was to be reduced to the genome. Journals and grant-giving bodies came to be dominated by reductionists who were scathing about the complexity of whole-organ, whole-animal and especially whole-human studies which were seen as too full of uncontrolled variability to be interpretable. Clinical and physiological studies lost out and progressively their research communities were destroyed. Now we have an almost wholly reductionist biomedical community which repeatedly makes exaggerated claims about how it is going to revolutionise medical treatment - and which repeatedly fails to achieve anything. © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

Keyword: Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 3500 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By GALEN STRAWSON In the last several years the philosopher Daniel C. Dennett has published two very large, interesting and influential books. The first, ''Consciousness Explained'' (1991), aimed to account for all the phenomena of consciousness within the general theoretical framework set by current physics. It failed, of course, and came to be affectionately known as ''Consciousness Ignored.'' But it was a very fertile and valuable piece of work. The second, ''Darwin's Dangerous Idea'' (1995), set out to make the case for the theory of evolution even more irresistible than it already is, and it was right on target: vivid, ingenious and illuminating, if sometimes huffy and overpolemical. Now Dennett is advancing on free will. In ''Freedom Evolves,'' he wants to show how evolution can get us ''all the way from senseless atoms to freely chosen actions.'' And he succeeds in his aim, given what he means by freedom. But he doesn't establish the kind of absolute free will and moral responsibility that most people want to believe in and do believe in. That can't be done, and he knows it. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 3499 - Posted: 03.02.2003

By Laura Diamond, Times-Union staff writer For the first time, the Lucas family all went out to dinner at a restaurant. Kim Lucas was nervous her 10-year-old son would grow impatient waiting for his food or be uncomfortable with the new sounds and smells. When this happens, J.D. tends to scream or run back and forth. Big sister Crystal was concerned about how other people would react. "I don't like it when people stare at my brother," said 11-year-old Crystal. "I don't care about it for me, but he is my little brother. I don't want people making fun of him because he is autistic." © The Florida Times-Union

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 3498 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Put a 2-month-old in your lap and inevitably you’ll find yourself uttering a few coochie-coos or bah-bah-boos. It seems natural, since that’s about all the 2-month-old is going to be able to say to you. But recent research suggests once again that it’s easy to underestimate babies. Neurobiologist Stanislas Dehaene and his colleagues at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research in France, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record the brain activity of healthy 2- and 3-month-old infants. fMRI is a safe way to see which areas of the brain are active at certain times by detecting increased blood flow to those areas. “In this way we could see what areas of the brain are active at this very young age, and compare them with areas that are normally active in adults,” says Dehaene. © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Language; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 3497 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Bomb-sniffing dogs at airports are living proof that the human species is olfactorily challenged. Even our fellow primates seem to have keener noses than we do. New genetic evidence shows why this is: Humans are losing so-called olfactory receptor genes at much higher rates than monkeys and apes. Like all mammals, the human genome has about 1000 genes for proteins that detect smells, or olfactory receptors. But more than half of those genes don't work. In other mammals, such as mice, that proportion is only 20%. To check whether this is a general primate problem, geneticist Yoav Gilad and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, compared our olfactory receptor genes with those of our evolutionary brethren, the monkeys and apes. Copyright © 2003 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 3496 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Irvine, Calif. -- Medical advice rarely supports a high-fat diet, but a team of UC Irvine researchers has found that such a diet protects newborn brain cells from damage caused by prolonged seizures. New findings from a study on infant rats suggest that the high-fat diet of newborns, and the related increased production of a specific protein, protects their brain cells from damage that otherwise may accompany prolonged seizures. The finding may lead to new strategies to prevent brain injury in adults. Seizures affect one in every 25 infants and children and over one percent of all adults, where they may be associated with progressive loss of brain volume. Therefore, understanding how the immature brain prevents seizure-induced cell injury or death could point the way for researchers to develop new strategies aimed at preventing such damage in the mature brain.

Keyword: Epilepsy; Obesity
Link ID: 3495 - Posted: 03.01.2003

Researchers have identified a genetic factor that appears to influence anxiety in women. Combining DNA analysis, recordings of brain activity, and psychological tests, investigators at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) found that Caucasian and American Indian women with the same gene variant had similarly high scores on tests that measure anxiety. These women also had similar electroencephelograms (EEG) -- recordings of brain electrical activity as unique as an individual's fingerprints -- that showed characteristics of anxious temperament, further strengthening the association of this shared genetic factor with anxiety. The study appears in the current issue of the journal Psychiatric Genetics. "These results shed more light on the genetic origins of anxiety, which can sometimes be a warning sign for developing alcoholism," says NIAAA Director T.K. Li, M.D. "Such multidimensional studies that integrate neurogenetics, behavioral science, and the study of the brain are vital to increasing our fundamental knowledge of the genes related to complex psychiatric disorders."

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 3494 - Posted: 03.01.2003

By P. Douglas Filaroski, Times-Union staff writer Local researchers have patented a genetic bullet -- a type of man-made molecule that targets, then shoots down, proteins needed for disease. Mayo Clinic, led by a Jacksonville researcher, was the first to use a technology known as PNA to halt protein production in rats blamed for an array of diseases. The institute patented its use on animals but the technology is years from use on humans, Mayo neuropharmacologist Elliott Richelson said. "We were the first lab in the world to show these compounds worked in live animals," Richelson said. "The potential for these molecules is unlimited." © The Florida Times-Union

Keyword: Alzheimers; Huntingtons
Link ID: 3493 - Posted: 06.24.2010

John Travis A person's blood could someday provide replacement cells for that individual's damaged brain or liver, a provocative study suggests. Human blood contains so-called stem cells that can be transformed outside the body into a variety of cell types, according to the report. This unexpected, and accidental, discovery may add a new element to the politicized debate over whether stem cells that persist in adults can match the therapeutic potential of stem cells derived from human embryos. The possible new source of adult stem cells came to light when a coworker became ill and couldn't attend to petri dishes containing human blood cells called monocytes, says Eliezer Huberman of Argonne (Ill.) National Laboratory. In the body, these white blood cells migrate into tissues and mature into specialized immune cells, such as macrophages. Huberman's team has been studying the cellular signals behind this maturation. Left without nutrients, some of the unattended monocytes morphed into cells that didn't look like immune cells, Huberman's team noticed. Following up on this chance observation, the researchers identified a subgroup of monocytes that they could convert into various kinds of cells. Copyright ©2003 Science Service. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Stem Cells
Link ID: 3492 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Every night before I fall asleep I develop an unpleasant wriggly sort of sensation in my legs. Massaging my legs sometimes helps it go away, but otherwise I have to get up and walk around. It can go on for ages and is now regularly disturbing my sleep so that I feel tired all day. What's causing this and, what can I do about it? Mary Dr Trisha Macnair responds You are describing what is known as 'restless legs syndrome', a very common condition which affects up to 1 in 12 of the population. For most people, it is mild and improves with simple measures, although for a few, more intensive medical therapy is needed. There are 4 characteristic features in restless legs syndrome. These include: (C) BBC

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 3491 - Posted: 02.28.2003

The worst of human BSE infection may be over, according to scientists monitoring vCJD. The National CJD Surveillance Unit said the number of people dying from the human form of mad cow disease each year is falling. But in a study published in medical journal The Lancet, the team warned that it is too early to conclude that vCJD is in permanent decline. Later on Friday a report will be published into an incident in which 24 patients at Middlesbrough General Hospital were exposed to surgical instruments used on a patient later found to have vCJD. (C) BBC

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 3490 - Posted: 02.28.2003

Elizabeth Fernandez, Chronicle Staff Writer A small monkey that escaped from a research lab at UC Davis two weeks ago is now believed to have died in the drain system, university officials said. "Her fate wasn't a pleasant one," said UC Davis spokeswoman Lisa Lapin on Wednesday. "It makes a lot of us sick, frankly. We want to take good care of our animals. A lot of the people at the primate center have been in tears." The 4-pound gray and tan rhesus monkey slipped from her cage during a cleaning at the California National Primate Research Center on Feb. 13. She had been spotted darting into a 4-inch drain. ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle

Keyword: Animal Rights
Link ID: 3489 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Betterhumans Staff It's produced by exploding stars, composes less than 1% of the atmosphere and could save you from brain damage. Researchers from Duke University Medical Center and Imperial College London have found evidence that the rare, inert gas xenon -- which is produced by supernovas and composes 0.00009% of the atmosphere -- can protect the brain from damage associated with heart-lung machines used during coronary artery bypass surgery. "Worldwide, there are more than one million heart operations and previous Duke studies have shown that up to five years after surgery, 40% of these patients suffer measurable cognitive decline," says Duke anesthesiologist Hilary Grocott, who led the research. "There is a great need for an effective neuroprotectant to be used in conjunction with bypass surgery." Copyright © 2002-2003 Betterhumans

Keyword: Stroke; Pain & Touch
Link ID: 3488 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A Rutgers-Newark researcher is using magnetic imaging to paint a revealing and groundbreaking picture of the brain’s activities as it reacts to real-world events. “By looking at these brain signals in real time, as things occur, we may be able to extract the underlying grammar that occurs as one area [of the brain] talks to another,” said Stephen Hanson, chair of the psychology department at Rutgers-Newark. “We are one of only a handful of groups of cognitive researchers probing into this area of brain dynamics by employing EEG and fMRI.” Scientists hope this research will likely lead to new approaches to cognitive malfunctions such as attention deficit disorder (ADD) and schizophrenia.

Keyword: ADHD; Schizophrenia
Link ID: 3487 - Posted: 06.24.2010