DALLAS – - Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and the University of California, San Francisco have shown that feeding behavior in worms is controlled by neurons that detect adverse or stressful conditions. The findings are published in the Oct. 31 issue of Nature. The discovery of the gene that controls social feeding behavior in worms was made in 1998 by researchers at UCSF. The new findings build on the earlier research by identifying the nociceptive neurons – neurons that transmit pain signals - triggering group feeding. "The gene that controls this behavior in worms is like the one that controls feeding in humans," said Dr. Leon Avery, associate professor of molecular biology at UT Southwestern and an author of the study. "The epidemic of obesity in America makes [the findings on neurons] potentially relevant to health."

Keyword: Stress; Obesity
Link ID: 2907 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ST. PAUL, MN – Previous research has implicated oxidative damage (cell degradation) in the development of Parkinson’s disease. Because vitamins E, C and carotenoids are antioxidants, researchers recently studied the associations between their intake and risk of Parkinson’s disease. Their conclusions point not to supplements, but to dietary intake of vitamin E (from the foods we eat) as having a protective factor in the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. The study is reported in the October 22 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Using repeated and validated dietary assessments of two large study cohorts, researchers from Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School examined the associations between dietary intakes of vitamin E, C, and carotenoids, vitamin supplements, and risk of Parkinson’s disease. After exclusions, 76,890 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and 47,331 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) were included in the study analyses.

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 2906 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Different faces were chosen at different times of the cycle Women with steady partners may still be tempted to sleep around - but mainly on certain days of the month, say researchers. A BBC documentary to be broadcast on Wednesday explains how human sexual instincts are so strong that some women's preferences may alter significantly while they are ovulating. While her partner might be a better bet to bring up children and support her, another man might carry genes which mean healthier, stronger children. Morgan Wise, a train driver from Big Spring in Texas, found this out when his youngest son was found to have cystic fibrosis, a devastating lung disorder caused by a single faulty gene. Both mother and father must carry the gene to produce a cystic fibrosis child, and Morgan duly went for a gene test to confirm he was a carrier. The test proved negative - effectively proving that he was not the child's father. (C) BBC

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2905 - Posted: 10.30.2002

CJD progressively kills brain cells Twenty-four patients at a Teesside hospital are being told they may have been infected with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease after an "appalling" safety lapse. The patients are being informed by Middlesbrough General Hospital that they may have been exposed to "sporadic" CJD through instruments used on a woman diagnosed with the fatal brain disease. The equipment was not decontaminated properly after being used for a brain biopsy on 29 July. Despite the diagnosis of CJD following two weeks later it has taken until now for a decision to be made to start contacting those at risk. The hospital is in the process of contacting all the patients concerned and setting up a helpline. Officials are trying to establish if there is any risk of the patients contracting the disease from the instruments. South Tees NHS Trust medical director Dr Paul Lawler said the hospital had followed Department of Health guidelines, and warned: "It's possible it could happen again tomorrow." (C) BBC

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 2904 - Posted: 10.30.2002

By ADAM LIPTAK A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled yesterday that the federal government may not revoke the licenses of doctors who recommend marijuana to their patients. The ruling, by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, is the biggest legal victory yet for voter initiatives in nine states that legalized marijuana for medical purposes. It upholds a five-year-old lower-court decision that blocked the government's efforts to frustrate a 1996 initiative in California. There was no immediate word if the government would appeal yesterday's ruling. Spokesmen for the Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration said only that the government was reviewing the decision. Copyright The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2903 - Posted: 10.30.2002

By HENRY FOUNTAIN The left hand may not always know what the right hand is doing, as the saying goes, but what about a bit higher up on the body — the nose, for instance? Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have discovered that the left nostril does not always know what the right nostril is sniffing. But it can learn. The researchers studied the ability of test subjects to recognize the smell of androstenone, a pheromone and component of body odor. About 30 percent of adults cannot detect the odor (which some people say vaguely resembles sandalwood), although many will develop the ability if they are exposed to the chemical over time. Copyright The New York Times Company

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 2902 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Looking at Picasso's cubist portrait "Girl with a Mandolin" , one critic might see a jumble of lines and angles, while another perceives a delicate young musician. Such is the difference between two brain areas involved in perceiving visual shapes. Now researchers suggest that one area--the one that sees a musician--can shut down the one that sees only lines. When light hits the retina, the visual signal zips to a region of the brain called the primary visual cortex, or V1. Neurons here respond to specific elements of an image--a vertical line, for instance--and send that information on to higher brain areas, including one called the lateral occipital complex (LOC). The LOC processes shapes, so that when we see four lines at right angles, we understand it to be a square. Now researchers say that when the LOC detects a pattern, it tells V1 to stop reporting on the component pieces. Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 2901 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed computerized atlases and associated tools for visualizing and analyzing two major components of the brain, the cerebral cortex and the cerebellar cortex. "It is vital to have improved methods for analyzing and visualizing the torrent of information that is becoming available from neurobiologists so that we can better understand the brain in health and disease," says David C. Van Essen, Ph.D., Edison Professor of neurobiology and head of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology. The cerebral cortex and the cerebellar cortex form the convoluted surfaces of the brain. The cerebral cortex is the seat of thought, learning, emotion, perception, sensation and movement. The cerebellar cortex also is important for movement and in coordinating the flow of information related to many functions, including cognitive processes as well as movement. . Copyright ©2002 Washington University in St. Louis.

Keyword: Cerebral Cortex
Link ID: 2900 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are transplanting jellyfish genes into mice to watch how neural connections change in the brains of entire living animals. The development represents the merging of several technologies and enable researchers to watch changes inside living animals during normal development and during disease progression in a relatively non-invasive way. "This work represents a new approach to studying the biology of whole, living animals," says Jeff W. Lichtman, M.D., Ph.D., professor of anatomy and neurobiology. "I believe these methods will transform not only neurobiology, but also immunology and studies of organs such as the kidney, liver, and lung." Lichtman presented the work at the 40th annual New Horizons in Science Briefing, sponsored by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, held Oct. 27-30 at Washington University in St. Louis. Copyright ©2002 Washington University in St. Louis.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2899 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists have discovered a chemical in tobacco that may be partly responsible for causing diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's disease and accelerating the ageing process. The chemical - nornicotine - is naturally present in tobacco, and is also produced when nicotine is broken down in the body. A team from Scripps Research Institute in the US has discovered that it reacts with proteins in the body, damaging their ability to perform their proper function. The process is the chemical equivalent of cooking and is the same reaction that browns seared sugars and caused food to age and spoil. The researchers have also discovered that nornicotine can have a second damaging effect - it reacts with commonly prescribed steroids, like cortisone and prednisone, potentially making them unsafe to use. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2898 - Posted: 10.29.2002

By ERIC NAGOURNEY People hoping to stay sharp as they age often turn to crossword puzzles, math problems and other demanding intellectual pursuits. But is all that really necessary? A new set of studies suggests that it may be just part of the solution. Simply talking to people, the researchers say, appears to keep mental skills sharp. Copyright The New York Times Company

Keyword: Alzheimers; Intelligence
Link ID: 2897 - Posted: 10.29.2002

By DINITIA SMITH What maketh the man? Is it chromosomes? Or is it genitalia? Or, to borrow from Polonius, is it clothes? In her new book, "How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States," Dr. Joanne Meyerowitz, a professor of history at Indiana University and the editor of The Journal of American History, examines changing definitions of gender through the prism of transsexuality, that most mysterious of conditions in which a person is born with normal chromosomes and hormones for one sex but is convinced that he or she is a member of the other. Dr. Meyerowitz shows how mutable the words "male," "female," "sex" and "gender" have become, and how their meanings have evolved through time. Copyright The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2896 - Posted: 10.29.2002

By JAMES GORMAN In the dense conifer forests of northern Sweden, just below the Arctic Circle, the Siberian jay, its feathers the color of pine bark, hides its nests high in the tall pines and spruces. In the Southeastern United States, in fire-scoured piny woods, endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers take years to excavate very visible nest cavities. The cryptic jay is tracked with radio transmitters, the woodpecker simply by staking out its nest. But researchers say that the two birds have something in common. Given the choice, the young of each species often postpone independent life and all that comes with it — breeding, nests, the avian equivalent of mortgage payments — to hang around an extra year or longer with mom and dad. And they do not necessarily do it to be helpful. Copyright The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2895 - Posted: 06.24.2010

PITTSBURGH, A high school athlete with a history of three or more concussions who sustains a new concussion may be up to nine times more likely to experience common symptoms compared to high school athletes with no history of concussion, according to a University of Pittsburgh study, published in the November issue of the journal Neurosurgery. "The study is the first to actually demonstrate what have been the commonly assumed cumulative effects of multiple concussions in high school athletes," according to lead author Michael W. (Micky) Collins, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist and assistant director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Sports Medicine's Concussion Program. "The study indicates for the first time in the high school athlete population that prior concussions may indeed lower the threshold for subsequent concussion injury and increase symptom severity in even seemingly mild subsequent concussions," he said. For more information about Dr. Collins, go to: http://www.upmc.edu/NewsBureau/sportsmed/collins_bio.htm. "Our findings are significant because high school athletes in contact sports are at high risk for repeated concussions, yet it is a population that has been understudied regarding concussion management," Dr. Collins said.

Keyword: Brain Injury/Concussion
Link ID: 2894 - Posted: 10.29.2002

By Sue Vorenberg Tribune Reporter If Los Alamos National Laboratory has its way, squids will soon be common in hospitals, universities and psychology wards. No, not those squids. SQUIDs: superconducting quantum interference devices. The name is complex but the function is simple: The devices measure tiny magnetic fields in the human body, which are about a billionth the size of the one around the earth that prompts compasses to point north. © The Albuquerque Tribune.

Keyword: Brain imaging
Link ID: 2893 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Physicians at UC Davis Medical Center have identified a promising new treatment for epilepsy that reduces the number of seizures while helping patients lead more productive lives. The study is the first to show that Levetiracetam (LEV), an antiepileptic drug typically used in combination with other drugs, might be successful as a single drug. The results were published in the October issue of Epilepsy and Behavior and will be presented at the American Epilepsy Association conference in Seattle this December. “We found that LEV can be effective as a single drug, or monotherapy, in patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy, as well as in patients with difficult-to-control seizures,” said Taoufik M. Alsaadi, assistant professor of neurology and co-director of the UC Davis Comprehensive Epilepsy Program. “In addition, it is very well tolerated, with only a small number of patients discontinuing the drug due to side effects.”

Keyword: Epilepsy
Link ID: 2892 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Lauran Neergaard | The Associated Press WASHINGTON -- A toddler tumbles down stairs, a preschooler falls off a tricycle or a teen gets clobbered in football, and it's likely the emergency room will order a CT scan. But the majority of children with minor head injuries turn out to be fine, meaning too many kids are needlessly exposed to the scans' radiation, say specialists developing new guidelines that aim to cut by a third unnecessary CT scans of children's brains. CT scans -- computer-enhanced X-rays that can provide a better view of all parts of the body, not just the brain -- have revolutionized medicine. But the scans, more popularly known as CAT scans, emit significantly more radiation than a standard X-ray, and children are more sensitive to radiation than adults. Copyright © 2002, Orlando Sentinel

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Brain imaging
Link ID: 2891 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Some people may suffer from mysterious back pain because their brains are ultra-sensitive and wired up in a different way, say researchers. They have found that some people with lower back problems that appear to have no obvious physical cause seem to register pain much more easily than most people. A gentle squeeze so soft that it was not registered by healthy people was enough to trigger pain signals in their brains. A similar effect was also seen in patients with fibromyalgia, who suffer pain in the muscles, ligaments and tendons. But healthy people had to be squeezed a lot more sharply to feel the same level of pain - and it registered in different areas of the brain. The researchers, from the University of Michigan, say they do not know why this effect happens, but hope their work will help explain lower back pain. (C) BBC

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 2890 - Posted: 10.28.2002

Scientists have found that men are more likely than women to be telling the truth if they say: "Not tonight darling, I've got a headache". A team of German researchers has begun to investigate the phenomenon of sexual headaches - a condition known as Orgasmic Cephalgia. They have discovered that it is three times more likely to strike men. The headaches usually come on suddenly around the point of orgasm, and can be very severe. The researchers believe the condition affects around one in a 100 people at least once during a lifetime, but some people are afflicted on a regular basis. Although the precise causes are not yet understood, it is thought that the condition may be linked to the increased blood flow and dilation of blood vessels that occur during sex. (C) BBC

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Pain & Touch
Link ID: 2889 - Posted: 10.28.2002

Biochemical evidence may be the 'smoking gun,' but not all are convinced By Douglas Steinberg Many neuroscientists think that the master criminal behind Alzheimer disease is AB-secretase-42, the 42-amino-acid peptide that forms amyloid plaques in the brain. Two accomplices, the enzymes B-secretase-secretase and g-secretase, consecutively cleave AB-secretase from the much larger B-secretase-amyloid precursor protein (APP). What baffles investigators about g-secretase is that its substrate is a stretch of amino acids within APP's seemingly inaccessible transmembrane domain. Many genetic and cellular studies suggest that g-secretase's active site resides in the transmembrane protein presenilin-1 (PS1), which was first reported in 1995.1 Then in 2000, Merck & Co. labs in the United States and Great Britain provided compelling biochemical evidence in a Hot Paper2 favoring that hypothesis. Nevertheless, even Yue-Ming Li, who worked on this project and now heads the biochemistry and molecular pharmacology laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, acknowledges the need for much more data. "We don't have the final proof yet that PS1 is really the g-secretase." Indeed, some scientists argue that PS1 cannot be g-secretase. ©2002, The Scientist Inc.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 2888 - Posted: 06.24.2010