Once called manic depression, the disorder afflicted adults. Now it's striking kids. Why? By JEFF KLUGER AND SORA SONG It wasn't every day that Patricia Torres raced down the streets of Miami at 70 m.p.h. But then it wasn't every day that her daughter Nicole Cabezas hallucinated wildly, trying to jump out of the car, pulling off her clothes and ranting that people were following her, so this seemed like a pretty good time to hurry. Nicole, 16, had been having problems for a while now—ever since she was 14 and began closeting herself in her bedroom, incapable of socializing or doing her schoolwork, and contemplating suicide. The past few months had been different, though, with the depression lifting and an odd state of high energy taking its place. Nicole's thoughts raced; her speech was fragmented. She went without sleep for days at a time and felt none the worse for it. She began to suspect that her friends were using her, but that was understandable, she guessed, since they no doubt envied her profound gifts. "I was the center of the universe," she says quietly today. "I was the chosen one." Finally, when the chosen one was struck by violent delusions—the belief that she had telekinetic powers, that she could change the colors of objects at will—Torres decided it was time to take Nicole to the hospital. Emergency-room doctors took one look at the thrashing teenager, strapped her to a gurney and began administering sedatives. She spent two weeks in the hospital as the doctors monitored her shifting moods, adjusted her meds and talked to her and her parents about her descent into madness. Finally, she was released with a therapy plan and a cocktail of drugs. Six months later, doctors at last reached a diagnosis: she was suffering from bipolar disorder. Copyright © 2002 Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Depression; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2459 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Brain diseases are a black-and-white issue for research psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, MD, who stakes out polemic positions on causes and treatments. By Stephanie Stapleton, AMNews staff. Aug. 19, 2002. E. Fuller Torrey, MD, is a psychiatrist who collects brains. He has lots of them -- 474 at last count. They're the Stanley Foundation brain collection, a tissue bank that is among the world's best brain research resources. He also has lots of money. About $33 million worth. All in the form of scientific grants he oversees to advance research regarding schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. As director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute, he has a pocketbook for this specific research dwarfed only by that of the National Institute of Mental Health. And he has lots of ideas -- ideas about the mysterious etiology of schizophrenia, the soundness of NIMH's brain research priorities and the necessity of treating people with severe brain diseases, especially those who are homeless. Copyright 2002 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 2458 - Posted: 08.12.2002

Fatherly amphibians give piggy-backs to young. MICHAEL HOPKIN Father frogs give their kids a head start in life, say researchers. The males of two species from New Guinea give their young a piggy-back to the best place to survive adolescence1. The young of Liophryne shlaginhaufeni and Sphenophryne cornuta grow directly from eggs into tiny versions of adults, with no intervening tadpole stage. These 'froglets' cling onto their father for up to nine nights as he embarks on nocturnal rambles. Males can carry as many as 28 young, estimates David Bickford of the University of Miami, who observed the behaviour. "It's chocker," says Bickford. "They're plastered on both sides." © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2457 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Lorraine Fraser Stroke victims who are left paralysed can be helped greatly by injections of Botox, the remedy more popularly known as a cure for wrinkles, new research has shown. Strokes, caused by a blood clot or haemorrhage in the brain, are a significant cause of disability in Britain, affecting 300,000 families. Among the 100,000 new cases annually a fifth are left with paralysis of the arm or hand because their muscles receive the wrong nerve impulses from the brain. At present, there is no remedy. © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002.

Keyword: Stroke; Regeneration
Link ID: 2455 - Posted: 06.24.2010

National Geographic News Scientists have long known that some "endocrine-disrupting" chemicals in the environment disturb normal sexual reproduction and development in animals. A new study shows the impact appears to be greater in fish, which are susceptible to damage from many more common household pollutants than previously thought. Researchers from the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and its Center of Marine Biotechnology said the increased vulnerability is related to unique physiological mechanisms in the hormone production system of fish. As a result, harmful compounds in human pollutants interact directly with sex genes in the brain of fish rather than with estrogen receptors in other tissues, the researchers explained. © 2002 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2454 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists say schizophrenia could be caused be a defective kind of nerve cell. Researchers have looked at glial cells, which are important in the early development of the brain. But a UK expert has cast doubt on the theory, suggesting defective glial cells would cause general damage such as dementia, rather than the more specific effects of schizophrenia. In adults, glial cells help support nerve cells and fight infection. The researchers say this makes them a "prime suspect" for being involved in schizophrenia. Researchers in Germany and Iceland reviewed previous studies and in areas of the human genome which had been associated with schizophrenia. (C) BBC

Keyword: Schizophrenia; Glia
Link ID: 2453 - Posted: 08.10.2002

Bigger babies do better in tests, even as adults, but being born into a higher social class is also linked to improved mental ability. But researchers from the Institute of Child Health found although both factors influenced test scores, social class had more of an effect. This evidence of the importance of social background meant the problem of childhood deprivation had to be addressed, they said. The team studied 10,845 men and women born in early March,1958, in England, Scotland, and Wales. They examined the combined effect of birth weight and social class, based on the father's occupation. (C) BBC

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Intelligence
Link ID: 2452 - Posted: 08.10.2002

By HOWARD W. FRENCH TOKYO — When Eiko Imai thinks back to the dim and blurry stretch of years when she silently suffered from depression, she often wonders how she survived. "I couldn't do housework, read a newspaper or even watch television," said the part-time office worker, who is 50. "On my days off, I would just sit on a stool in the kitchen. I would often think of throwing myself in front of a train." Ms. Imai's health took a turn for the better four years ago, when she finally saw a doctor who diagnosed her depression and began prescribing medicines. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 2451 - Posted: 06.24.2010

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Charlton Heston revealed Friday that doctors have told him he has symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease. "I'm neither giving up nor giving in," the 78-year-old actor said in a taped statement played at a news conference at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Heston recorded the message Wednesday. "My dear friends, colleagues and fans, my physicians have recently told me I may have a neurological disorder whose symptoms are consistent with Alzheimer's disease," he said. "I wanted to prepare a few words for you now because when the time comes I may not be able to." Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 2450 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Some of the secrets behind the development of one of the most common forms of muscular dystrophy have been unlocked by scientists. Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) mainly affects the face, shoulders and arms, but can progress to the lower limbs as well. The muscles deteriorate in these areas, weakening them and making movement difficult. It is the third most common form of the condition, but scientists still do not fully understand its genetic roots. Scientists had previously located a section on one of the cell chromosomes which appeared to be different in many sufferers. (C) BBC

Keyword: Movement Disorders; Muscles
Link ID: 2449 - Posted: 08.09.2002

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition A particular type of nerve cell, known as a glial cell, has been fingered as a cause of schizophrenia. The theory could help explain an abundance of disparate evidence for what triggers the disease. Glial cells play a crucial role in the early development of the brain, and in adults they help support neurons, as well as fight infection. That makes them a prime suspect for involvement in schizophrenia, which affects one in 100 people, says Irving Gottesman at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Gottesman's team in Germany and Iceland started their search by combing through the medical literature. In regions associated with schizophrenia they found 41 genes thought to code in some way for growth factors, such as insulin and glutamate, which affect the development of glial cells with varying degrees of significance (see graphic). © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Schizophrenia; Glia
Link ID: 2448 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Birds have rare talent for tool-making. KENDALL POWELL Crows may be some of the most innovative toolmakers in the animal kingdom, say researchers. A team at Oxford University, UK, observed Betty, a New Caledonian crow, shaping a hook from a straight piece of wire - and using it to retrieve food1. The bird had never used wire before, or observed others using wire, and had not been trained. Previously, only humans were thought to make tools out of objects without prior experience. "This is solving a problem which is new in the experience of the animal," says team leader Alex Kacelnik. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Intelligence; Evolution
Link ID: 2447 - Posted: 06.24.2010

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A peptide that blocks interactions between cells critical to the immune response can inhibit and suppress a disease used for the study of multiple sclerosis in humans. The finding reported in mice suggests a possible new approach for treating this chronic human disease. "There's a straightforward message from this: This peptide treatment stops the assault of autoimmune disease by preventing immune-cell interactions," said Caroline C. Whitacre, professor and chair of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health. The study appears in the Aug. 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology.

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis; Glia
Link ID: 2446 - Posted: 08.09.2002

Study hypothesizes that adolescent steroid exposure may permanently alter the production of the 'feel good' receptor BOSTON, Mass. " With more than one in ten boys admitting to using steroids, muscle- and strength-enhancing drug use among teenagers has caused considerable concern among parents and researchers over the past decade, but until now, the longer-term physiological and neurological effects of its use on the developing brain have not been fully examined. Now, new research from Northeastern University, published in the latest issue of the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, documents the link between adolescent anabolic steroid use and aggression and partly associates the increases in aggression with deficits in the brain"s serotonin system. The study will examine longer-term deficiencies of serotonin levels in the brain as a result of damage from steroid use, suggesting that a tendency toward aggression and impulsiveness may actually linger long after both the steroid use and the muscles and strength developed have waned. With funding from the National Institute of Health, Northeastern University psychology professor Richard Melloni and graduate student Jill Grimes examined the phenomenon of long-term steroid use through a series of experiments on groups of adolescent male Syrian hamsters.

Keyword: ADHD; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 2445 - Posted: 08.09.2002

Copyright © 2002 AP Online By BARRY BROWN, Associated Press TORONTO - A Canadian man has died in the country's first confirmed case of the human brain condition linked to "mad cow" disease, officials said Thursday. The unidentified man, said to be under 50 years old, contracted the "new variant" form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease while in Britain, which has faced several outbreaks of the disease, said Dr. Antonio Giulivi, an official with the Canadian government agency, Health Canada. "There is no evidence that mad cow disease has entered the Canadian food supply, and therefore we can reassure the Canadian public the person did not acquire the disease in Canada," Giulivi said. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 2444 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Sarah Boseley, health editor The Guardian New research which suggests a link between MMR vaccination and autism is likely to fuel the debate over the jab after it was published yesterday in the United States. The paper, published in the Journal of Biomedical Science, is from Vijendra Singh, a scientist at Utah University, who holds the view that measles vaccine could cause autism and has published a number of papers on his hypothesis. In his new study he says he has found an unusual MMR antibody in 75 children with autism which was not present in children who do not have the disorder. Dr Singh has postulated that autism could be caused by insults to the protective myelin sheath that covers nerve fibres in the brain. He believes autism is an autoimmune disorder which can be triggered when the immune system is attacked by an infectious. © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 2443 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Tim Friend, USA TODAY Humans may have to eat crow next time they use bird brain as an insult. It appears that New Caledonian crows have a knack for using tools that may be exceeded in nature only by us hairless apes. Experts are describing this tool-using behavior, reported in today's Science, as one of the most stunning examples of animal intelligence and problem-solving behavior observed so far. Crows, ravens and jays, known as corvids, are an especially clever family of birds - so smart that they're considered pests by many people in cities and suburbs, where they raid garbage cans and create all manner of mischief. New Caledonian crows of the South Pacific are known as avid tool users and frequently use leaves, twigs and feathers to catch prey. Today's fuss is over a crow named Betty, who lives at the Behavioral Ecology Research Group laboratory at Oxford University in England. A team of Oxford researchers arranged an experiment to find out whether Betty and an older bully crow named Abel could pick the right tool for a job if given a choice. The job: to snag a piece of meat from a tube using a wire. The crows had a choice between a straight and a hooked wire. (Related audio: Crows the smartest of the bird world) © Copyright 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Keyword: Intelligence; Evolution
Link ID: 2442 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Electric shock is the latest method of curbing hunger and helping people lose weight. An implantable gastric stimulator device slows down peristalsis - the process of muscle contractions which forces food along the digestive tract. This means a person does not feel hungry again as quickly as they normally would. Training people to eat smaller quantities is an important part of helping the obese lose weight. In the UK, 20% of adults are classified as obese. The electric shock treatment is an alternative to stomach stapling, where the stomach or intestines are sewed or stapled together. (C) BBC

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 2441 - Posted: 08.08.2002

TUCSON, ARIZONA--Paper wasps show behavior that bears many earmarks of sleep, a study has found. The findings help challenge the notion that insects and other invertebrates do not sleep. Scientists who study sleep have focused on humans and sometimes other mammals, and they have defined sleep in terms of neural patterns from electroencephalograms (EEGs). Because most invertebrates have neural architecture that doesn’t allow for an EEG, many sleep specialists don’t consider invertebrates to truly sleep. But a handful of researchers have marshaled evidence for apparent sleep in fruit flies, scorpions, cockroaches, and honeybees. Now paper wasps have joined the club, after University of Arizona graduate student Barrett Klein took a close look at their behavior. Raising groups of the paper wasp Polistes flavus in the lab, Klein discovered that they fell quiet for most of the night, every night. During this time, the wasps breathed less frequently and their metabolism fell. Infrared imaging showed that their thoraxes, warmed by muscle movement when the wasps are active, turned cold when quiescent. And the quiescence was reversible; that is, Klein could wake the wasps up, showing they were not hibernating or in a coma. During times of quiescence, the wasps always slung their bodies low and drooped their antennas. Klein found similar behaviors in three other species of Polistes, and he says the sleeplike behavior "could be a ubiquitous phenomenon across many groups of insects." He presented his results here yesterday at the meeting of the Ecological Society of America and the Society for Ecological Restoration. Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Sleep; Evolution
Link ID: 2440 - Posted: 06.24.2010

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Complex physical learning may help children overcome some mental disabilities that result from prenatal alcohol consumption by their mothers, say researchers whose experiments led to increased wiring in the brains of young rats. In their study, infant rats were exposed to alcohol during a period of brain development (especially in the cerebellum) that is similar to that of the human third trimester of pregnancy. In adulthood, the rats improved their learning skills during a 20-day regimen of complex motor training, and generated new synapses in their cerebellum. About 0.1 percent of U.S. births involve newborns with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, characterized by a variety of physical, mental and neurological defects that often lead to behavioral, learning and mobility problems. Ten times that many children, also exposed to alcohol before birth, may not meet the diagnostic criteria for FAS but still have behavioral and brain defects that are now classified as alcohol-related developmental disorders.

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2438 - Posted: 06.24.2010