.gif)
Most Recent Links
Follow us on Facebook or subscribe to our mailing list, to receive news updates. Learn more.
DALLAS, – Moderate elevations of homocysteine are associated with a more than five-fold increase in the risk for stroke and almost triple the risk for Alzheimer's disease, according to research in the October issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Homocysteine is an amino acid believed to be toxic to blood vessels. Several studies have linked high blood levels of it to increased heart attack risk. This study found that homocysteine levels in patients with stroke, Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia were consistently higher than homocysteine levels in age-matched healthy volunteers. "Since B vitamins and foods fortified with folate can reduce homocysteine levels, this study suggests that B vitamin supplementation may be appropriate for most adults. It warrants a large placebo-controlled study of folate, and vitamins B6 and B12 in people at risk from dementia and stroke," says lead author Stephen P. McIlroy, Ph.D., a lecturer in geriatric medicine at Queen's University in Belfast, Ireland. Copyright © 1995-2002 ScienceDaily Magazine
Keyword: Alzheimers; Stroke
Link ID: 2760 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Researchers examine direct protein-to-protein communication in brain by Jessica Whiteside - Researchers at the University of Toronto and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have discovered a communication link between proteins in the brain that could lead to improved treatments for psychiatric disorders and stroke. The study, published in the Oct. 4 issue of the journal Cell, examined the interaction between two proteins known as dopamine D1 and NMDA receptors. The research group, led by Fang Liu, an assistant professor in U of T's Department of Psychiatry and CAMH's Section of Molecular Neurobiology, Neuroscience Research Department, found that two parts of the D1 receptor interact directly with two subunits of the NMDA receptor. These interactions modulate two separate NMDA functions in the brain - cell death and normal cell-to-cell communication. This study is the first to show that the interaction between D1 and the NMDA receptor also regulates - and, in fact, prevents - cell death.
Keyword: Stroke; Schizophrenia
Link ID: 2759 - Posted: 10.07.2002
When it comes to schizophrenia, Albertans have proven to be among the most accepting & supportive in the world, says a University of Alberta researcher. Dr. Gus Thompson, from the Departments of Psychiatry and Public Health Sciences at the U of A, compared medical students, advocates of a local schizophrenic society and the general public. Participants answered questions about symptoms of schizophrenia, perceived dangerousness of schizophrenics, increasing taxes for better services and more. He found that Canadians--Albertans in particular--think schizophrenia is caused mainly by genetic factors and biochemical imbalances in the brain. No other country of those studied was like that--the others attributed schizophrenia to social factors and stress.
Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 2758 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Scientific study of soy milk finds behavior problems from high manganese levels Irvine, Calif. -- Does soy-based infant formula lead to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? There's much speculation -- but little science -- on this association. Shedding some light on this problem, a UC Irvine-led study discovered that a mineral found in high levels in soy milk appears to be linked to behavioral problems. The study in rats, one of the first scientific inquiries into soy milk and ADHD, indicates that the mineral manganese may cause behavioral problems if consumed in high doses. The study appears in the August issue of NeuroToxicology. Francis Crinella, professor of pediatrics, and his colleagues at UCI and UC Davis found that giving rats increasing levels of manganese during infancy resulted in behavioral changes at higher doses. The researchers also found that manganese exposure resulted in lowered levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which plays a key role in inhibiting behavior seen in cases of ADHD.
Keyword: ADHD; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2757 - Posted: 10.07.2002
Copyright © 2002 AP Online By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Two Britons and an American won this year's Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries concerning how genes regulate organ development and a process of programmed cell suicide. British citizens Sydney Brenner and John E. Sulston and American H. Robert Horvitz shared the prize, worth about $1 million. Brenner, of the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, Calif., and Sulston, of the Sanger Center at England's Cambridge University will split the prize with Horvitz, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media
Keyword: Apoptosis
Link ID: 2756 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Nasal pheromones turn sexual arousal on and off. KENDALL POWELL A protein in a male elephant's trunk may shut down elephant erections. The finding could give breeders better control of mating by putting animals in the mood for love. Researchers in Utah and Oregon have found that the mucus protein quells the horny beasts by soaking up the sex pheromone that triggers an erection1. Scentless pheromones are part of animals' chemical communications system. Male elephants constantly monitor the urine of their female harem to find out which ones are in heat, explains biological chemist Glenn Prestwich of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. "If a female's urine has the pheromone, it stimulates a mating response and, well, the rest is history." © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002
Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste); Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2755 - Posted: 06.24.2010
By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor US scientists are developing a light-sensitive chip that will be implanted into the eyes of blind people to restore some of their vision. The goal is to allow people suffering from certain forms of blindness, such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, to see 1,000 points of light through 1,000 tiny electrodes positioned on their retinas. These diseases damage the rod and cone cells that convert light into electrical impulses, but leave intact the neural paths to the brain that relay those signals. By stimulating those cells, scientists hope that patients will be able to perceive some light and have some useful vision. "Our aim is to bring a blind person to the point where he or she can read, move around objects in the house, and do basic household chores," said project leader Kurt Wessendorf, of the Sandia National Laboratories in the US. "They won't be able to drive cars, at least in the near future, because instead of millions of pixels like normally sighted people, they'll see approximately a thousand. The images will come a little slowly and appear yellow. But people who are blind will see." (C) BBC
Current drug treatments of brainstem tumors are largely unsuccessful, because the drugs often fail to bypass the blood vessel lining protecting the brainstem. Now, an NIH study shows that researchers can effectively deliver drugs to the primate brainstem and monitor how the drugs spread inside the brain. The study provides hope for improving treatment of brainstem tumors and other brain diseases. In the new study, researchers at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) used a technique called convection-enhanced delivery (CED), which was developed at the National Institutes of Health, to deliver a tracer molecule to the primate brainstem. They then used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to track the the tracer's movement throughout the brain. The study appears in the October 2002 issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery.* "It's difficult to safely treat the brainstem with available techniques because it's so intricate and complex, and because of the blood-brainstem barrier," says NINDS neurosurgeon and researcher Russell Lonser, M.D.
Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 2753 - Posted: 10.03.2002
Visual stimulation triggers nerve cell branching Many studies have shown that sensory deprivation, such as a lack of visual stimulation soon after birth, can lead to developmental abnormalities in the brain. This is why parents are counseled to take their newborns on frequent outings to new environments, and why strollers, cribs, and bassinets are outfitted with objects sharply patterned in black and white or contrasting primary colors. Far fewer studies have investigated precisely how visual stimulation drives the formation of new neuronal structures in the brain. Now, researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have demonstrated that visual stimulation causes particular neurons in the brains of tadpoles to sprout new branches, and that such branching requires increased activity of some proteins (for instance, receptors for the neurotransmitter, glutamate) plus decreased activities of other proteins. The study--published this week in Nature (October 3)--provides one of the first comprehensive views of how visual stimulation guides the development of normal brain architecture. The study focused on a region of the tadpole brain called the optic tectum, which corresponds to a structure called the superior colliculus in the brains of humans. This part of the brain coordinates visually guided movements, such as playing sports or eating a meal.
Keyword: Development of the Brain; Vision
Link ID: 2752 - Posted: 10.03.2002
A super-bold lab mouse could lead to a new generation of anti-anxiety drugs. By altering the genes of rodents, US scientists have shown that blocking a key enzyme in the brain reduces anxiety. It also avoids the sedating effects often associated with anti-anxiety drugs, says a team at the University of California at San Francisco. The researchers hope to develop new treatments for anxiety, which affects an estimated 183 million people worldwide. The mice lack the gene for an enzyme known as protein kinase C epsilon (PKC). It is present in many neurons of the brain, but its function is unclear. (C) BBC
By ANDREW POLLACK SAN FRANCISCO, — Experimental drugs show preliminary signs of improving eyesight in some elderly people who suffer from a disease that causes blindness, scientists said at a conference here today. The drugs, still in clinical trials, are intended to treat age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. In a 64-patient trial, 26 percent of the patients treated with one drug, rhuFab V2, had improved vision of at least three lines on an eye chart after three months, doctors reported at Retina Congress 2002. Such a gain can allow people to resume reading or driving, ophthalmologists said. Copyright The New York Times Company
Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 2750 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Transplants in Animal Models Could Translate Into Therapy for Humans PHILADELPHIA, (AScribe Newswire) -- Neural stem cells, transplanted into injured brains, survive, proliferate, and improve brain function in laboratory models according to research based at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The findings, published in the October edition of the journal Neurosurgery, suggest that stem cells could provide the first clinical therapy to treat traumatic brain injuries. Traumatic brain injuries occur in two million Americans each year and are the leading cause of long-term neurological disability in children and young adults. "Transplantation of neural stem cells in mice three days after brain injury promotes the improvement of specific components of motor function," said Tracy K. McIntosh, PhD, professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, Director of Penn's Head Injury Center, and senior author of the study. "More importantly, these stem cells respond to signals and create replacement cells: both neurons, which transmit nerve signals, and glial cells, which serve many essential supportive roles in the nervous system." If stem cells are blank slates, able to become any type of body cells, then neural stem cells (NSCs) are slates with the basics of neurology already written on them, waiting for signals in the nervous system to fill in the blanks. The NSCs used by McIntosh and his colleagues were cloned from mouse progenitor cells and grown in culture. The advantage of NSCs exists in their ability to easily incorporate themselves into their new environment in ways other types of transplants could not.
Keyword: Stem Cells; Stroke
Link ID: 2749 - Posted: 10.02.2002
(Embargoed) CHAPEL HILL -- Anxiety, a natural response to real or potential threats, affects all higher creatures, including humans, sometime in their lives. Under normal conditions, that protective emotion spurs action to avoid such threats. But when anxiety grows excessive -- as it does in an estimated 25 percent of U.S. residents sooner or later -- it can significantly reduce one's quality of life, and in the cases of some 20 million Americans at any given time, it reaches levels that may require treatment. "We have effective compounds already for treating anxiety that are some of the most commonly prescribed medications worldwide," said Dr. Clyde W. Hodge, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. "Among these are benzodiazepines, such as Valium. The problem with them, however, is that they act as sedatives, which often prevent people from functioning normally. And people can become addicted to them." As a result, he said, a worldwide search is on for less disruptive alternatives. Working with colleagues at the University of California at San Francisco, Hodge now may have good news about that search.
In multiple sclerosis, new drugs and new insights are giving rise to new hopes BY KATHERINE HOBSON Lawrence Vail knew something was terribly wrong. More than a year ago, he was walking across a busy street in Boston when his leg went numb. Then came double vision and a mental fog that was so bad the 44-year-old thought he'd have to quit his job. But almost as quickly as he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, his doctor at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital put him on Avonex, one of several MS drugs approved over the past decade. After the disease changed his life, the medicine has changed it back. He can talk and express himself again. "The drug meant you go from the edge of the cliff to about 30 feet before the edge," he says. Tanya Pugliano, another MS patient at Brigham, also tried Avonex. But it didn't stop her legs from giving out or her hands from going numb. Neither did another MS drug, Copaxone. Now the 29-year-old is undergoing monthly chemotherapy treatments, like a cancer patient, trying yet another way of fighting back against the disease. Had either patient developed MS 15 years ago, even doctors at renowned medical centers like Brigham would have had little to offer them. They would have been powerless to stop the basic disaster of MS: a patient's immune system that savagely assaults the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Now, thanks to a handful of recently developed drugs–one just approved a few months ago–physicians can blunt this attack. "It's not a cure, but it's a far cry from what we had before," says neurologist Fred Lublin, director of the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Copyright © 2002 U.S. News & World Report, L.P.
Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis; Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 2747 - Posted: 06.24.2010
LARA JAKES JORDAN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Scientists are hopeful that the discovery of a fatal gene mutation, now found only in Amish newborns, could be a major step toward preventing brain defects in babies worldwide. The genetic disorder, known as Amish microcephaly, is specific to the Old Order Amish community in Lancaster County, Pa. It amounts to a breakdown in DNA creation that causes abnormally small heads and brains in fetuses and, eventually, death. The 2 1/2-year study by the National Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Md., is the first of its kind to link problems with DNA production to fetal brain development, said Dr. Leslie Biesecker, the report's lead author. It was first reported in the September issue of Nature Genetics.
Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2746 - Posted: 10.02.2002
Fears are growing for the safety of a rare bird of prey which got lost at sea while making a record migration from Scotland to Africa. The young honey buzzard, which only learned to fly a month ago, went off course after it was caught in difficult weather conditions over the Atlantic. A satellite tracking system estimates that it has made the longest flight ever recorded by a bird of prey and was in the air for more than 100 hours during a journey in excess of 5,000 kilometres. However, concern about the fate of the bird is growing among conservationists and enthusiasts who have been following its progress over the internet. Two honey buzzards were being tracked as part of an attempt to learn the mysteries of their migration south. The Forestry Commission and the Highland Foundation for Wildlife teamed up to follow their journey. (C) BBC
Keyword: Animal Migration
Link ID: 2745 - Posted: 10.01.2002
By CLAUDIA DREIFUS CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Among the high-flying lawyers who roam the halls of Harvard Law School, Steven M. Wise, 51, is an oddity. Instead of devoting himself to the fine points of torts or contracts, he teaches the school's first ever course in animal rights law. Moreover, Mr. Wise, who runs a small law firm that litigates for the interests of animals, has written two well-reviewed books on the subject, "Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals" and the recently released "Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights." Mr. Wise spends much of his time trying to develop legal theories to advance his cause. "Almost all my work is directed toward breaching the legal wall that separates humans from nonhumans," he said over coffee at the Charles Hotel. "I'm interested in getting the first nonhuman animals their rights because I think once that happens the paradigm will shift. I'm very practical about this. It's going to take a while." Copyright The New York Times Company
Keyword: ADHD
Link ID: 2744 - Posted: 06.24.2010
By MARY DUENWALD An 11-month-old baby, her face spattered with food and her lips wet with drool, pushes her chin toward the camera and says, "Da da da da da" in a soft singsong voice. A few seconds later, though, the picture freezes and a small grid appears, superimposed over the baby's mouth. Look carefully and the lines enable you to see that as the baby babbles, her mouth opens wider on the right side than on the left. Suddenly, what was merely cute becomes scientifically interesting. If the baby babbles mainly on the right, the researchers say, it means that babbling is a form of language. Copyright The New York Times Company
Keyword: Development of the Brain; Language
Link ID: 2743 - Posted: 10.01.2002
Bethesda, Maryland —The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today the award of a contract to Chimp Haven, Inc., a private, non-profit organization, to establish and operate a chimpanzee sanctuary. The sanctuary will provide lifetime care for Federally owned or supported chimpanzees that are no longer needed for biomedical research. The contractor will maintain high standards for quality care and ensure state-of-the-art treatment of the chimpanzees. The ten-year, cost-sharing contract was awarded by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of NIH. Over the term of the contract, NCRR will provide approximately $19 million in total costs, and Chimp Haven will contribute approximately $4 million toward direct costs. Chimp Haven was selected for the contract through a competitive, technical review process conducted by a group of outside experts in the fields of nonhuman primate management, behavioral sciences, and veterinary medical care. “NCRR takes very seriously its responsibility for the health and welfare of research animals,” said Dr. Judith Vaitukaitis, director of NCRR. “With this contract, our goal is to ensure that the highest level of humane care is provided to these animals, which have contributed to biomedical research. We are pleased that a contractor such as Chimp Haven has undertaken this important task and know from our interactions with them that they will show compassion for these chimpanzees and will ensure that the animals receive quality care and treatment.”
Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 2742 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Two independent research groups, led by Drs. Haruhiko Siomi (Institute for Genome Research, University of Tokushima, Japan) and Gregory Hannon (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA) have discovered that the Drosophila version of the human fragile X mental retardation protein associates with components of the RNAi pathway, suggesting that the molecular mechanism underlying fragile X syndrome may involve an RNAi-related process. "It has been our feeling since we became involved in the field several years ago that only through an understanding of the mechanism of RNAi would we be able to understand the biological implications of this process," states Dr. Hannon. Fragile X syndrome is the most common form of hereditary mental retardation, affecting 1 in 4000 males and 1 in 8000 females. Fragile X syndrome is the result of a genetic mutation at one end of the fragile X mental retardation 1 gene (FMR1) that causes the abnormal inactivation of the gene. It is known that the protein encoded by FMR1 -- the so-called fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) -- binds to RNA and is thought to regulate the expression of specific genes during neural development, but the mode of FMRP action in cells is yet to be defined.
Keyword: Development of the Brain; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 2741 - Posted: 10.01.2002