In a discovery with implications for treatment of anxiety disorders, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute investigators have identified a distinct molecular process in the brain involved in overcoming fear. The findings will be published in the Oct. 15 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience. The study of how mice acquire, express and extinguish conditional fear shows for the first time that L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (LVGCCs) -- one of hundreds of varieties of electrical switches found in brain cells -- are required to overcome fear but play no role in becoming fearful or expressing fear. The findings suggest that it may be possible to identify the cells, synapses and molecular pathways specific to extinguishing fear, and to the treatment of human anxiety disorders. "Brain plasticity, or the ability of the central nervous system to modify cellular connections, has long been recognized as a key component to learning and memory," said Dr. Mark Barad, the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute's Tennenbaum Family Center faculty scholar and an assistant professor in-residence of psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Keyword: Emotions; Stress
Link ID: 2800 - Posted: 10.15.2002

CHICAGO (AP) -- A small but promising study found that an over-the-counter dietary supplement may slow the progression of Parkinson's disease. Existing treatments may ease symptoms of the degenerative brain disorder but are not believed to affect the underlying disease process. The new study found evidence that a naturally occurring compound called coenzyme Q-10, or CoQ10, may help stop the nerve cell death that characterizes Parkinson's. "This is really sort of the Holy Grail of what we're trying to do in Parkinson's disease," said Dr. Tim Greenamyre, a Parkinson's scientist at Emory University who was not involved in the research. "They're on the right track." © 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 2799 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Michelle Delio NEW YORK -- An intricate society populated by billions of demanding neurons exists inside every brain. Each of those neurons has a complicated life with desires that must be met in order to stave off stupidity, according to research presented at the American Neurological Association's (ANA) annual meeting. The needs of neurons were the central topic Monday afternoon at the symposium on the "Plastic Brain." Brain plasticity doesn't refer to the texture of one's gray matter, but instead indicates how the 100 billion or so neurons in a brain communicate with each other. A plastic brain is a learning brain. © Copyright 2002, Lycos, Inc.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 2798 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Shankar Vedantam Washington Post Staff Writer Joanne Innis was around 5 years old when she asked her mother, "How come if you and Aunt Pat are sisters, you're red and she's brown?" When Glenda Larcombe hears a truck backing up, making a beep-beep-beep sound, she "sees" the beeps as a series of red dots. And when psychologist Thomas Palmeri gives one of his test subjects a difficult test -- to spot a tiny "2" on a computer screen scattered with tiny "5s" -- the man finds it instantly: To him, the "2" shows up bathed in a different color. © 2002 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Cerebral Cortex
Link ID: 2797 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists have developed a new form of gene therapy that appears to be less risky than current techniques. It is hoped the technique will lead to new ways to treat diseases in several different human organs including skin, retina, blood, muscle and lung. The breakthrough follows news that a gene therapy trial in France was stopped after a child developed a leukaemia-type illness. The new technique is able to introduce genetic material into a host in a more precise way. It also does away with the need to use a virus to transport genetic material into the body. Lead researcher Dr Michele Calos, of the University of Stanford, said: "Our approach provides an alternative that didn't exist before." The goal of gene therapy is to insert a healthy copy of a gene into a cell where it can take over for a faulty version. (C) BBC

Keyword: Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 2796 - Posted: 10.14.2002

The vision of thousands of people a year could be saved if a leading cause of blindness was detected in its early stages, say researchers. Glaucoma occurs when the optic nerve is damaged and can be picked up during a routine eye examination. It causes loss of peripheral (side) vision and eventually blindness. But many people are unaware they have it until it is too late. In most cases, increased pressure inside the eye is a risk factor. According to a study of 255 patients followed for six years, lowering pressure inside the eye can slow glaucoma damage and subsequent vision loss. All had open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of the condition, which can be treated with medicines or lasers. (C) BBC

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 2795 - Posted: 10.14.2002

Attention Disorders Vary Depending on the Problem's Location WASHINGTON - Neuropsychologists have mapped different aspects of attention to different parts of the brain's frontal lobes. In particular, problems in screening out irrelevant information seem to be based in the frontal lobes' right side. This research joins mounting scientific evidence that attention is a complex, multi-faceted brain-based process. A report on these findings appears in the October issue of Neuropsychology, a scientific journal published by the American Psychological Association (APA). Psychologists from Harvard Medical School, the University of Toronto, and the Rotman Research Institute at Toronto's Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care compared the tested reaction times of 36 patients with specific lesions in the frontal lobes and other parts of the brain (caused by trauma, hemorrhage, surgery for benign tumors, and other acute disorders) with the reaction times of 12 control participants. In doing so, they were able to break down the once-monolithic concept of "attention" into at least three distinct processes that appear to be functionally and anatomically different.

Keyword: Attention
Link ID: 2794 - Posted: 10.14.2002

Modifications could eliminate unwanted side effects By Randolph E. Schmid ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, — Modifications to an experimental vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease that was discontinued because of side effects might make it safe, a study suggests. Researchers in Canada and Germany found that a more refined form of the vaccine worked in mice, which raised the chance that it might not produce in humans the inflammation that ended clinical trials. THAT REMAINS only a possibility and requires more research, said JoAnne McLaurin of the Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Toronto. She is the first author of the study being published Tuesday in the online edition of the journal Nature Medicine. In January, the Irish drug company Elan Corp. suspended a 360-patient experiment with the vaccine after 15 patients suffered serious brain inflammation. Elan announced in March it was abandoning the vaccine, although the company said it plans to continue exploring ways to slow the worsening of Alzheimer’s. • MSNBC Terms, Conditions and Privacy © 2002

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 2793 - Posted: 06.24.2010

James Meek, science correspondent The Guardian The chances of combat veterans, civilian victims of war and disaster survivors experiencing psychological damage may be determined by the shape of their brains before the trauma hits them, scientists have found. Researchers in the US looked at 40 pairs of identical twins where one twin had seen combat in Vietnam and the other had stayed at home. More than 40% of the Vietnam veterans suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and a clear link was found between the size of a region of their brains, the hippocampus, and which veterans were affected. © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

Keyword: Stress
Link ID: 2792 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The internet could help thousands of people who suffer from ringing ears to cope with their condition. Doctors in Sweden have found offering psychological advice over the web can help some patients to deal better with the symptoms of tinnitus. While psychological exercises cannot eliminate the ringing associated with the condition, it can reduce annoyance levels. At least one in 10 adults have tinnitus. Most patients have mild symptoms but it can lead to depression, anxiety and insomnia in others. Previous studies have found the cognitive behaviour therapy can help patients with the condition. It enables patients to unlearn negative reactions to certain events, in this case the constant ringing in their ears. (C) BBC

Keyword: Hearing
Link ID: 2791 - Posted: 10.13.2002

By HENRY FOUNTAIN IN the fast-food industry, cleanliness may be next to godliness, but portion control is not far behind. To maintain financial health, a restaurant has to know precisely how much food it is giving to each customer. So McDonald's chicken nuggets, for example, are bits of meat, pressed and formed into shapes of standard weight, rather than actual pieces of chicken. Left alone, nature is just too variable for the bottom line. Restaurants may understand the concept of portion control, but clearly, many of their customers do not. For as two reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pointed out last week, Americans are getting fatter and fatter. Say what you want about the impact of high-fat diets and lack of exercise, but the basic facts remain: Americans eat too much, and they're not doing much about it. The reports, based on health surveys conducted in 1999 and 2000, showed that nearly two-thirds of adults 20 to 74 years old are classified as overweight (using a common height-to-weight index) — as are about one in six young people ages 6 to 19. The surveys also found that about 3 in 10 adults are obese, and about 1 in 20 extremely so. Copyright The New York Times Company

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 2790 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Facts about the disease and support services for those who suffer from it. ABOUT AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER Autism spectrum disorder is the third most common neurological disorder affecting children. It includes autism, pervasive development disorder and Asperger's disorder. It appears in one out of every 150 to 170 children, according to the most recent research. Children typically show symptoms before their second birthdays. It is incurable. The Autism Society of America estimates that 500,000 to 1.5 million people suffer from autism spectrum disorder and believes cases grow at a rate of 10 to 17 percent annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are working with several states to improve or develop programs tracking childhood autism. As of the 2000-01 school year, more than 15,000 American children between 3 and 5 years old and more than 78,000 children ages 6 to 21 were classified as autistic, according to the CDC.

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 2789 - Posted: 10.13.2002

By JO CIAVAGLIA Courier Times Sean Bolno and Michael Clark never tire of playgrounds, jumping in their bedrooms or Mister Rogers' reruns. They always crave mommy's kisses and cuddles and bedtime stories. They don't get bored with stuffed animals or fast food meals or car rides. In their world, people don't get older. In their world nothing changes. Until now. This year they graduate from Council Rock High School. Which has turned their mothers into nervous wrecks. Holly Druckman and Evy Clark worry because graduation means Sean and Michael, both 20 and autistic, will leave a familiar world of routine and enter a new unknown one of adulthood.

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 2788 - Posted: 10.13.2002

Dozens of autistic children and teenagers will soon reach the age of 21. Who will provide support for them then? By JO CIAVAGLIA Courier Times The numbers are amazing, startling even. Seventeen Bucks County children received special education services for autism, a mysterious incurable developmental disorder, in 1991. Ten years later, there were 277 - and more are identified every day. In 10 years, the county has experienced a nearly 16-fold increase in the number of school-age children with autism. That has created a new worry: What happens when they grow up and lose the state help they were eligible for as children? It's a fact of life that educators, state and county officials and parents will deal with in unprecedented numbers over the next five to 10 years.

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 2787 - Posted: 10.13.2002

Bruce Bower Youngsters diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) lack concentration, patience, and organizational skills. A new study reveals that the brains of these children are slightly smaller than those of their peers who are free of psychiatric disorders. This disparity is most pronounced for the children and teenagers with ADHD who have never taken a stimulant medication, such as Ritalin, say psychiatrist F. Xavier Castellanos of New York University and his colleagues. Overall, kids with ADHD had total brain volumes about 3 percent less than those of unaffected youngsters. Brain development followed parallel paths for participants with and without ADHD, but the 3 percent disparity in brain volume stayed constant. From Science News, Vol. 162, No. 15, Oct. 12, 2002, p. 227. Copyright ©2002 Science Service. All rights reserved.

Keyword: ADHD; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2786 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By MARC LACEY NAIROBI, Kenya, — Having been nurtured on nature shows, tourists to Africa typically relish a good kill: a cheetah chasing down a gazelle, a jackal devouring the carcass of a wildebeest, a lion pouncing on a squirming oryx. But Africa's most popular wildlife star in recent months has been a lonely lioness from Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya that cuddles up to baby antelopes that she should be dismembering for lunch. The sight of a full-grown lion at the side of a newborn antelope — she has adopted five antelopes this year — attracted hordes of tourists. Copyright The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2785 - Posted: 06.24.2010

'The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature' by Steven Pinker According to the blank slate theory of human nature, we don't have any. We are entirely the product of environmental influences, with no original endowment. All the genes do is manufacture empty mental sheets, which then receive imprints from outside. This doctrine is often taken to support progressive egalitarian social values, for if we are all initially equally blank, there can be no grounds in our human nature for such inequalities as racism, sexism and economic disparities. All we need is the right social engineering, and we shall achieve universal parity. By contrast, theories that claim substantial genetic differences among people are often thought to support discrimination of one kind or another. Thus what seems to be a scientific question becomes charged with political meaning. Steven Pinker, a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, is all against the blank slate as a piece of science. Assembling a wealth of empirical research, he argues that a great many aspects of the human mind are owed to heredity: "This book is based on the estimation that whatever the exact picture turns out to be, a universal complex human nature will be part of it. I think we can say with some confidence that the mind is equipped with a battery of emotions, drives, and faculties of reasoning and communicating, and that they have a common logic across cultures, are difficult to erase or redesign from scratch, were shaped by natural selection acting over the course of human evolution, and owe their basic design (and some of their variation) to information in the genome." © 2002 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 2784 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Utah, Japanese Biologists Discover Gene That Keeps Brain in Flatworm's Head Scientists at the University of Utah and in Japan have discovered a gene that ensures the flatworm's brain develops within its head. When the "brains everywhere" gene is silenced, brain material develops throughout the body, including the worm's tail. The human version of the gene probably is not involved in keeping the human brain inside the skull, but likely plays some other role in nervous system development in human embryos, says Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado, a developmental biologist at the University of Utah School of Medicine. "We have identified a gene in flatworms that is present in humans and for which no function was known," Sanchez Alvarado says. "The gene plays a role in making the brain develop in the right part of the worm: the head. When this gene is silenced, brain material was detected in regions of the flatworm other than the head."

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 2783 - Posted: 10.11.2002

First-ever clinical trials using gene therapy for Parkinson's disease anticipated to begin by end of year – Auckland, New Zealand and New York, NY: In a study published today in the journal Science, scientists from the University of Auckland and Weill Cornell Medical College reported on the effectiveness of a new gene therapy approach to Parkinson's Disease, and the potential for this therapy to affect the overall progression of the disease itself. Based on this study and other data, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given its approval to begin testing this therapy in a small Phase I clinical trial. This will be the first time in the world that gene therapy will be used in patients with Parkinson's Disease. The Science publication is authored by lead investigator, Dr. Matthew J. During, Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Auckland, first author Dr. Jia Luo, and co-investigator Dr. Michael G. Kaplitt, Director of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and Asst. Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. During and Dr. Kaplitt are also co-principal investigators on the upcoming clinical trial of this therapy. "We are using gene therapy to "re-set" a specific group of cells that have become overactive in an affected part of the brain, causing the impaired movement and other symptoms associated with Parkinson's Disease," said Dr. During. "We are very encouraged that in addition to the affect this therapy has on quieting symptoms, we present evidence that suggests it may arrest or delay disease progression."

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 2782 - Posted: 06.24.2010

International team of scientists finds that birds are more likely to be unfaithful if they are genetically similar to their mate, a strategy that helps to avoid the price of inbreeding. Matings between relatives have negative consequences for the offspring, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. But what if you end up with a related partner? Initiated by a scientist at the Max Planck Research Centre for Ornithology, a study by an international team of scientists showed that social mates that are genetically similar use alternative reproductive behaviors to avoid paying the price of inbreeding. Combining field observations on free-living populations of three shorebirds with molecular methods to determine parentage and relatedness between the partners they found that extra-pair parentage occurred when mates were more closely related (Nature, Oct. 10th, 2002). Over the past decade, the use of molecular techniques to determine parentage has led to the realization that monogamy is rare in nature. Although most bird species are socially monogamous, broods often contain young that are not related to one of the parents tending the nest. This can be the result of two alternative reproductive behaviors. Extra-pair paternity occurs when females copulate with males other than their social partner, and these copulations lead to fertilizations. Extra-pair paternity is common in songbirds, but much less common in other birds. Quasi-parasitism occurs when a male copulates with another female, who then lays one or more eggs that he fathered in his nest. This is a rare and little understood phenomenon. The reasons why birds are unfaithful to their social partner, with whom they raise the offspring, has been the focus of much debate. A scientist at the Max Planck Research Centre for Ornithology initiated a study on parentage in shorebirds, and in collaboration with researchers at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Ethology in Vienna, combined data on three species from three continents. An international team of scientists studied populations of marked individuals in the field and closely monitored their breeding behavior. Based on blood samples from parents and offspring, and using DNA-fingerprinting techniques, they found that extra-pair paternity and quasi-parasitism occurred at low frequencies. More importantly, however, in each of the three species, extra-pair parentage occurred when the parents were more related to each other.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 2781 - Posted: 10.11.2002