The debate about a possible link between autism and the MMR jab has hampered research into the disorder, a leading expert has said. Christopher Gillberg, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at St George's Medical School, London, told the BBC there is little to suggest that MMR has anything to do with autism. And the intense focus on the effect of the triple vaccine has stymied potentially far more fruitful avenues of research into a condition which is still little understood. His comments come as the Department of Health launches a website to provide information to parents about MMR. A 1998 study showed one in 1,000 children were affected by autism. Experts say the figure is set to rise. But Professor Gillberg, who will present a review of 40 major studies of the causes of autism to the annual conference of the National Autistic Society (NAS) in London on Friday, said that was because diagnosis and awareness had improved, not because there were more cases. (C) BBC

Keyword: Autism; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2599 - Posted: 09.06.2002

A Surrey scientist claims to have an answer to what is often considered to be the hardest problem in science (sometimes just known as the “Hard Problem”): why we are aware. Johnjoe McFadden, Professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Surrey, has previously proposed that consciousness is generated by the brain’s electromagnetic field, the cemi field. The cemi field theory – that our thoughts are electric fields in the brain – has generated a lot of interest both in the UK and across the world. In McFadden’s theory nerve signals – the wires of the brain – are responsible for driving our unconscious actions (like walking or driving to work every day, when our conscious mind seems to be elsewhere) but our conscious thoughts are the electric fields that ebb and flow through the brain. Nerves and wires can only encode (know) ones and zeros but fields can encode the complexity of our thoughts. Now, in a paper published in the latest issue of Journal of Consciousness Studies (Johnjoe McFadden, 2002 “The Conscious Electromagnetic Information (Cemi) Field Theory: The Hard Problem Made Easy?”) McFadden proposes an answer to the hard problem, claiming that awareness is electromagnetic field information, viewed from the inside. J. J. McFadden. The Conscious Electromagnetic Information (Cemi) Field Theory: The Hard Problem Made Easy? Journal of Consciousness Studies 9, 2002 (current issue: http://www.imprint.co.uk/jcs_9_8.html). © AlphaGalileo 2002

Keyword: Attention; Intelligence
Link ID: 2598 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Monkey neurons can recognize numbers. JOHN WHITFIELD When a monkey looks at two dots, apples or other monkeys, single nerve cells recognize the groups' 'twoness', researchers have found1. The discovery shows that the brain's ability to deal with abstract concepts can be traced right down to individual cells. Some neurons respond to one item, others to two, or three, and so on, say Earl Miller and his colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. The discovery "decodes the brain's code for number", says neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene of Frédéric Joliot Hospital in Orsay, France. The neurons respond to numbers in the same way that whole monkeys - or people - do. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Intelligence; Vision
Link ID: 2597 - Posted: 06.24.2010

STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers at Stanford University Medical Center report that they have tried - and failed - to coax adult blood-forming stem cells in mice into forming tissues other than blood and immune cells. This research, published in the Sept. 5 issue of Science Express, an advance online publication of the journal Science, strikes another blow at the idea that stem cells taken from adults have the same developmental potential as those taken from embryos. This work contributes to a growing debate over the fate of embryonic stem cell research. Several researchers have claimed that stem cells taken from adult bone marrow have the same potential to form all adult tissues as do embryonic stem cells. With that in mind, some policy-makers want to ban embryonic stem cell research in favor of similar research using less controversial adult stem cells. Irving Weissman, MD, the Karel and Avice Beekhuis Professor of Cancer Biology at Stanford and lead author of the current study, has long argued that only embryonic stem cells have the ability to form all adult tissues. The latest paper reinforces that view.

Keyword: Stem Cells; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2596 - Posted: 09.06.2002

For years, doctors who work in maternal and fetal medicine have had no way to detect brain activity in unborn children. Now, for the first time, researchers using a unique scanning device have shown that they can detect fetal brain activity in response to flashes of light transmitted through the mother's abdomen. With refinement, this technique may help physicians detect and prevent fetal brain damage resulting from maternal hypertension, diabetes, and other conditions. The work was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and appears in the September 7, 2002, issue of The Lancet.* The study is one of the first tests of a new device designed to study maternal and fetal physiology, including fetal brain activity, using magnetoencephalography (MEG) of the womb. It also is the first MEG study to use light, rather than pulses of sound, to stimulate the fetus. "Though this work is preliminary, it is a promising indication of how MEG may help researchers understand the fetal brain," says Giovanna Spinella, M.D., a pediatric neurologist at NINDS.

Keyword: Brain imaging; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2595 - Posted: 09.06.2002

'A thousand points of light' no longer a metaphor ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Enabling the blind to see - a task once thought the province of miracles - is the goal of a technical team that includes Sandia National Laboratories, four other national labs, a private company, and two universities. The idea, funded by a $9 million, three-year grant from the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research, is to create 1,000 points of light through 1,000 tiny MEMs [microelectromechanical systems] electrodes. The electrodes will be positioned on the retinas of those blinded by diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. These diseases damage rods and cones in the eye that normally convert light to electrical impulses, but leave intact the neural paths to the brain that transport electrical signals. Eventually the input from rods and cones ceases, but 70 to 90 percent of nerve structures set up to receive those inputs remain intact. "The 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," says Sandia project leader Kurt Wessendorf. "They won't be able to drive cars, at least in the near future, because instead of millions of pixels, they'll see approximately a thousand. The images will come a little slowly and appear yellow. But people who are blind will see."

Keyword: Vision; Robotics
Link ID: 2594 - Posted: 09.06.2002

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Children's Center report that adults born with ambiguous genitalia - or malformations that make it difficult to determine sex of rearing - were generally content with the gender assigned to them at birth by their parents and doctors. A companion study showed that almost half of adult intersex patients knew little about their condition, and would like to know more. The studies, which appear in the online version of the September issue of Pediatrics, could help families and doctors make better therapeutic and counseling decisions about gender assignment, says lead researcher Claude Migeon, M.D., a pediatric endocrinologist at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Migeon and his colleagues recruited their study subjects from the archives of the pediatric endocrinology clinic at Johns Hopkins, where their subspecialty was founded in the mid-1940s. Because many of the clinic's patients have reached adulthood, researchers are now able to gauge the outcome of gender assignment choices made decades ago among what may be the world's largest cohort of intersex patients. Researchers judged success or of gender assignment on a variety of psychological, physical and sociological factors.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2593 - Posted: 09.06.2002

WEDNESDAY, (HealthScoutNews) -- Medicine that mimics increased levels of the brain chemical dopamine could help extinguish a smoker's desire for cigarettes. That's the finding of a study, appearing in the September issue of Nicotine and Tobacco Research , that focused on 20 heavy smokers. They were given drugs that either increased or decreased their brain's dopamine levels. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that affects motor function and is believed to affect emotion. Animal studies show nicotine causes dopamine release in brain areas linked to feelings of pleasure. Copyright © 2002 ABCNEWS Internet Ventures.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2592 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Many ethical and political issues could be averted if adult stem cells prove to be as successful at differentiating into all tissue types in the human body as their embryonic counterparts are. Numerous studies have so far reported success at coaxing adult stem cells into various cell types under different conditions. But a report published online today by the journal Science suggests otherwise. The findings indicate that stem cells cultivated from adult blood may resist change more strongly than previously thought.

Keyword: Stem Cells
Link ID: 2591 - Posted: 09.06.2002

A vaccine that interferes with inflammation inside blood vessels greatly reduces the frequency and severity of strokes in spontaneously hypertensive, genetically stroke-prone rats, according to a new study from the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). If the vaccine works in humans, it could prevent many of the strokes that occur each year. In the study, researchers used a nasal spray to deliver a protein that, under normal circumstances, contributes to inflammation of the cells that line the inner walls of blood vessels. Exposing rats to this substance, called E-selectin, programs blood cells called lymphocytes to monitor the blood vessel lining for the inflammatory protein. When these lymphocytes detect E-selectin, they produce substances that suppress inflammation. The vaccine is the first treatment to target inflammation in blood vessels as a possible means of preventing stroke, says senior author John M. Hallenbeck, M.D., chief of the Stroke Branch at NINDS. "Clinically, stroke is hard to treat. If we can prevent it from happening, that's clearly the way to go," he adds. The study appears in the September 2002 issue of the journal Stroke1.

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 2590 - Posted: 09.06.2002

At least a third of the communicating cells in a front part of the brain critical for reasoning and planning seem adept at keeping track of the number of things seen, report scientists funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. What’s more, they even pick favorite quantities. Activity of neurons in the prefrontal cortex of monkeys trained to judge the number of dots on a computer screen reflected changes in quantity — peaking for a preferred number and then dropping off progressively as the discrepancy between numbers of dots increased, the researchers found. The study adds to mounting evidence showing how the prefrontal cortex categorizes information from the senses. Drs. Andreas Nieder, David Freeman and Earl Miller, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, report on their findings in the September 6 2002 Science. “Judging the difference between the number of items we see is one way of categorizing and making sense of them,” explained Miller. “This capacity to quickly glean concepts and meaning from experience underlies the “executive” functions of the prefrontal cortex, which are disturbed in disorders like schizophrenia and autism.”

Keyword: Intelligence; Cerebral Cortex
Link ID: 2589 - Posted: 06.24.2010

National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older. It is conducted by SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies (OAS). Occasionally OAS produces methodology reports, detailed tables, and other NHSDA reports that are available only on the web. SAMHSA's Latest Household Survey: 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (HTML format) * Full Report (HTML format) * Volume 1: Results (PDF format) * Volume 2: Data Tables (PDF format) * Press Release * Highlights

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2588 - Posted: 09.06.2002

By THE NEW YORK TIMES CHICAGO, — A 10-year-old who was the only girl in her suburban Chicago football league collapsed on the field on Friday after complaining of a headache and died at a hospital three days later. The Cook County medical examiner's office said the girl, Taylor Davison, of Bartlett, Ill., died from subdural hematoma, a blood clot caused by blunt trauma to the head. The death was ruled an accident. Taylor collapsed in a noncontact practice of the Bartlett Raiders Athletic Association, a league with about 400 players from dozens of schools. Her mother, Susan Davison, who was present, said Taylor had not been hit in the head at the practice. Copyright The New York Times Company

Keyword: Brain Injury/Concussion
Link ID: 2587 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Although a summertime chorus of frogs may sound like rhythmic cacophony, the nerve cells in each amphibian are decoding important messages. According to a new study, frogs can count the number of times a burst of sound is repeated in a call, an ability that researchers say helps them recognize friends and foes. The results, published in the 3 September online issue of Nature Neuroscience, also might help elucidate how humans understand speech. In many frog species, males communicate using sound bites interspersed with regular pauses, such as the brief silence between "rih" and "bit." The length of the pause is full of meaning; male Pacific tree frogs, for example, use a slow call to intimidate other males and a fast trilling to attract females. Several years ago, researchers discovered individual nerve cells in the frogs that would fire in response to simulated frog calls of different lengths. In the current study, neuroethologist Gary Rose of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and colleagues wanted to determine what components of the sound the neurons were paying attention to. Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Hearing; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2586 - Posted: 06.24.2010

DALLAS –– Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have identified one of the key proteins involved in the establishment of the central nervous system. The researchers found that the protein, SynCAM, plays a major role in the formation of synapses, which are specialized junctions at which a neuron communicates with a target nerve cell. Neurons receive and send electrical signals over long distances within the body. The process of synaptic transmission drives communication between neurons in the brain and underlies all brain function. This is only the second study that cites the initial events leading to the formation of synapses in the central nervous system, said Dr. Thomas Biederer, a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Basic Neuroscience and lead author of the study, reported in the Aug. 30 issue of Science. © 2002 The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 2585 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Fossil infant skeleton could shed light on hominid development. TOM CLARKE A skeleton of a newborn Neanderthal, lost for almost 90 years, has turned up in a museum in France. The beautifully preserved fossil could lead to new insights into the evolution of human development and the relationship between modern humans and our long-extinct cousins. The fossil - of a baby just four months old - is called 'Le Moustier 2' after the town in southwestern France where it was discovered in 1914. The infant's short life ended around 40,000 years ago. "It's a very important fossil," says Bruno Maureille of the University of Bordeaux in France. Remains of only five other infant Neanderthals have ever been found. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 2584 - Posted: 06.24.2010

That spontaneous serenade from the zebra finch is not only more rehearsed than cellist Yo-Yo Ma's chamber music, but the bird even keeps its "finger" on its mental sheet music both day and night. In a National Science Foundation (NSF) supported study at Lucent Technology's Bell Laboratories, researchers have discovered that signals serving as "mental pointers" are produced in the brains of zebra finches while they sing, and also while they dream about, or "rehearse," their song during sleep. This long-term, fundamental neural research is helping scientists understand brain mechanisms and, specifically, how the brain produces signals for motor control and learning. By studying how songbirds learn their songs, scientists hope to understand how humans learn to speak. The finch's brain "circuits" are similar to the parts of the human brain that handle motor control and learning despite the obvious size difference.

Keyword: Hearing; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 2583 - Posted: 09.05.2002

Pheromones - chemical signals that influence social and reproductive behaviors - have been studied since the 1950s, but the molecules in the mammalian nervous system that actually detect pheromones have remained elusive. Now, a team of researchers, led by The Rockefeller University's Peter Mombaerts, M.D., Ph.D., provides the first functional evidence for molecular receptors for pheromones in mammals. Their findings contribute to our understanding of the functioning of the brain in orchestrating social and reproductive behavior. They also may help explain why sexual reproduction typically occurs only within a species and, ultimately, how species form. In the Sept. 5 issue of the journal Nature, Mombaerts and colleagues at Rockefeller, University of Maryland School of Medicine and Monell Chemical Senses Center report significantly less aggressive and sexual behavior in laboratory mice who were engineered to lack a particular cluster of genes that previous research from the Rockefeller lab had linked to pheromone detection. They also show that the nerve cells of mutant mice are unable to detect certain pheromones. These pheromone receptors are found in the lining of the animals' vomeronasal organ (VNO), a part of the olfactory system thought to be specialized in the detection of pheromones.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 2582 - Posted: 09.05.2002

By Amy Raisin, Staff Writer VALENCIA -- The X-ray looks like a hoax image found on some Internet site, but the 3 1/4-inch nail lodged in Jorge Hernandez's brain was no laughing matter. One look at the entry wound just below Hernandez's right nostril and the massive incision on his forehead held together by fresh sutures shows just how close a call he had. "I am very lucky. I'm just thankful that everybody was here to help me so much," Hernandez said Wednesday as he was being released from the hospital five days after surgery. Dr. Rafael Quinonez, the neurosurgeon at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital who removed the nail, said Hernandez was a lucky man indeed. Copyright © 2002 Los Angeles Daily News

Keyword: Brain Injury/Concussion
Link ID: 2581 - Posted: 06.24.2010

When the dust settles after a traumatic event, some people experience a condition marked by intense anxiety, known today as post-traumatic stress disorder. Researchers have recently started to look at the ailment on a biological level and found evidence that it's rooted in the brain, arising from a complex interaction of several chemical and brain area changes. The findings highlight the seriousness of the condition and may lead to new treatments that could help the more than 5 million Americans estimated to have the disorder during the course of a given year. A plane crashes. Fires erupt. Walls tumble down. You escape the chaos physically unscathed, but how's your brain? For years, many doctors believed that people who experienced an extraordinarily traumatic or life-threatening event such as a terrorist attack, war or natural disaster should be able to tough it out and move on. Some individuals, however, found that these events stuck with them. They relived the experience through nightmares and flashbacks; had trouble sleeping; and felt detached, depressed and anxious. Today, increasing research indicates that the effects, now collectively referred to as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are not some sign of a weak personality, but the result of troubles in the brain. Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience

Keyword: Stress; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 2580 - Posted: 06.24.2010