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

Trained research assistants, unaware of a child's history, cannot tell the difference between a 4-year-old who was exposed to cocaine before birth and one who was not, according to new research. "Adults may interpret normal infant or child behavior as abnormal if adults have preconceived negative beliefs about the consequences of prenatal drug exposure," says lead author Ruth Rose-Jacobs, Sc.D., of Boston University School of Medicine. Recent research suggests that most maladaptive behavior and developmental delay in children from urban and impoverished areas is not uniquely due to prenatal cocaine exposure, and, conversely, that such exposure does not necessarily lead to developmental delay or behavioral problems.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2780 - Posted: 10.11.2002

By Paul Recer | The Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Genes that make a vital neurochemical will be injected into the brains of 12 Parkinson's disease patients in the first use of gene therapy to treat the devastating brain disorder. Researchers say the treatment may calm tremors and slow progression of the disease. The Food and Drug Administration approved a Phase 1 clinical trial based in part on the results of a laboratory study to be published today in the journal Science, according to researchers, who said the trial could start before the end of the year. Dr. Michael G. Kaplitt, a Parkinson's researcher at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, said the experiment will involve patients who have exhausted standard therapy and are in a late stage of the disease. Copyright © 2002, Orlando Sentinel

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 2779 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition Men who want to become fathers adjust their testosterone levels to make conception more likely, according to new research. Katharina Hirschenhauser, an expert in sex hormones, and her team at the Institute of Applied Psychology in Lisbon, Portugal, set out to see if there was any link between men's testosterone levels and their sexual behaviour. They asked 27 volunteers to measure the testosterone in their saliva every morning for 90 days. Over the same period, the men also recorded their sex lives in intimate detail, documenting the "intensity" of each encounter, whether with their regular partner or not. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2778 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Rivals argue over whether the fossilized skull is more ape than human. HELEN PEARSON Toumaļ, this summer's celebrity skull, has drawn a bitter accusation - that the human-like creature was actually a female gorilla. When the 6-7-million-year-old fossil was unveiled earlier this year, its face glowered from cover pages worldwide. Toumaļ was proclaimed as the oldest fossil from a member of the human family - a desperately sought lead into the murky dawn of human evolution. But Milford Wolpoff and his colleagues dispute the claim that Toumaļ is human-like, or hominid. They argue that the skull's features are more like those of an ancestral gorilla1. The case that Toumaļ's discoverers make for it being hominid is "unconvincing", says Wolpoff, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 2777 - Posted: 06.24.2010

HOUSTON--A new study at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston helps explain why practice makes perfect. Baylor researchers found that neurons in the visual cortex, the part of the brain responsible for vision, were more active when study monkeys anticipated the occurrence of predictable events. The results of the study were published in the Oct. 10 issue of Nature. "We really don't have a great understanding of what changes in the brain when we practice things," said Dr. Geoffrey M. Ghose, first author of the paper and an assistant professor of neuroscience at Baylor. "These results show that as we practice and anticipate which events are going to happen, the brain is also preparing itself." Dr. John H. R. Maunsell, a professor of neuroscience at Baylor and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, is the study's lead author. Researchers at Baylor trained two macaque monkeys to pay attention to changes at a specific location of a display screen. They were rewarded with juice if they pulled a lever when the change occurred. The activity of neurons in the visual cortex was measured during the experiment.

Keyword: Vision; Attention
Link ID: 2776 - Posted: 10.10.2002

Buprenorphine, a new medication developed through more than a decade of research supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), will now become available to treat heroin and other opioid dependence through certification and training of physicians to use the medication by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Buprenorphine will be able to be used by physicians in office-based treatment, as long as physicians have the minimum eight hours of training mandated by Congress and obtain a waiver that allows them to prescribe certain controlled substances . Buprenorphine was approved last night for treatment of opioid dependence by the Food and Drug Administration. This medication will not replace methadone therapy, provided through special methadone treatment facilities, but will provide the office-based physician an opportunity to treat patients for addiction to heroin or other opioids, including prescription pain-killers. Physicians will be required to refer patients to full-spectrum care for their social and psychological needs. "This is a major step forward toward improving and broadening treatment options for individuals addicted to opioids," said Dr. Glen Hanson, Acting NIDA Director.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2775 - Posted: 10.10.2002

A controversial abortion pill may have a use as an anti-depressant, say researchers in the United States and France. The pill, known as RU486 or mifepristone, is available in both countries. It has met with opposition from anti-abortion campaigners, particularly in America where it was authorised only in September 2000. A study published in a US journal, Biological Psychiatry, suggests it may be a potential therapy for psychotic depression, a severe form of the illness. Patients with psychotic depression suffer from hallucinations and delusions as well as the typical symptoms of depression, such as feeling hopeless and low. The treatment is different from other major depressive illnesses and the risk of suicide is greater. (C) BBC

Keyword: Depression; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 2774 - Posted: 10.09.2002

By WILLIAM J. BROAD In a report to the government, a panel of leading scientists said today that polygraph testing is too flawed to use for security screening. The panel said lie detector tests do a poor job of identifying spies or other national-security risks and are likely to produce false accusations of innocent people. The 245-page report, by experts convened by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, said the scientific basis for polygraph testing is weak and much of the research supporting its use lacks scientific rigor. The report is not the first time experts have questioned the reliability of lie detector testing, which is known to have limitations and whose admissibility in court, for example, is sharply limited. But it is the first by the academy, and private security experts said its findings could erode support for polygraph testing inside the federal government. Defense and intelligence agencies use it tens of thousands of times each year to screen prospective and current employees for espionage. Copyright The New York Times Company

Keyword: Stress
Link ID: 2773 - Posted: 10.09.2002

Study doubles epidemic size. HELEN PEARSON The UK's BSE epidemic was twice as big as was thought, researchers have revealed. But they claim that the likely scale of the future human outbreak remains unchanged. Scientists at Imperial College London calculated a new estimate of the number of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or 'mad cow disease') infections during the 1980-90s outbreak. They based it on new biochemical testing of some 14,000 cattle slaughtered between 1999-2000. The new calculation doubles the total case number to over two million, says research leader Christl Donnelly1. Previous estimates counted the number of cows showing symptoms of the disease - which take several years to show - and extrapolated backwards to take into account those already killed. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 2772 - Posted: 06.24.2010

BY MICHAEL KILIAN Chicago Tribune WASHINGTON - (KRT) - The National Academy of Sciences declared Tuesday that polygraph examinations are dangerously unreliable and the federal government should cease depending on them to screen for security risks. The academy's 18-month, federally-funded study found that the so-called lie detector not only incorrectly deems large numbers of people who are telling the truth to be liars, but may have allowed spies and others posing security risks into sensitive positions because they were able to pass polygraph tests. This makes the devices themselves a security problem because so many agencies like the FBI and the Energy Department rely on them, the report said. © 2002, Chicago Tribune.

Keyword: Stress
Link ID: 2771 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A 10-year study by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) scientists has found that brains of children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are 3-4 percent smaller than those of children who don't have the disorder — and that medication treatment is not the cause. Indeed, in this first major study to scan previously never-medicated patients, they found "strikingly smaller" white matter volumes in children who had not taken stimulant drugs. Still, the course of brain development in the ADHD patients paralleled that of normal subjects, suggesting that whatever caused the disorder happened earlier. Drs. Xavier Castellanos, Judith Rapoport, NIMH Child Psychiatry Branch, and colleagues, report on their magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of 152 boys and girls with ADHD in the October 9, 2002 Journal of the American Medical Association. Affecting 3-5 percent of school-age children, ADHD is characterized by over-activity, distractibility and impulsiveness. The disorder affects two to three times as many boys as girls, with as many as 20 percent of boys taking stimulant medication in some school systems. The new study strengthens the validity of the diagnosis by helping to put to rest criticism that structural brain abnormalities seen in ADHD might be drug-induced.

Keyword: ADHD; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2770 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists are hoping to discover more about eye diseases by "lighting up the brain". The team from the University of Leicester hope that using a special scanning technique will allow them to see exactly what happens in the brains of patients suffering from such diseases. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is already used to detect abnormalities in the brain such as tumours. But the Leicester team are using a technique called functional MRI (fMRI), rarely used to study eye diseases, to examine what happens in the brain when we see, and when there are problems with sight. fMRI allows researchers to see changes in blood flow in the brain that accompany brain activity. This means scientists can see which parts of the brain become active, or "light up", as people look at different pictures and patterns. (C) BBC

Keyword: Vision; Brain imaging
Link ID: 2769 - Posted: 10.08.2002

Clearly, experimentation with alcohol during youth is bad news. But now research shows it's even worse than you think. Recent studies suggest that drinking harms the developing brains of adolescents and teens possibly even more than it does adults. The repercussions may include learning and memory problems, among others. If confirmed, the results provide additional evidence that young people should avoid alcohol. Acting like a fool, vomiting and a day-after headache are a few common side effects. More seriously, it may lead to an arrest or, in excess amounts, spur an accidental injury, even death. Yet many young people consume alcohol. Approximately 9.7 million Americans aged 12 to 20 reported drinking alcohol in the month prior to a recent survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2768 - Posted: 06.24.2010