by William Kanapaux Psychiatric Times August 2002 Vol. XIX Issue 8 Few topics have generated as much public concern as the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, outpatient visits for ADHD jumped from 1.6 million to 4.2 million per year from 1990 to 1993. More than 70% of those patients walked away with a prescription for Ritalin (methylphenidate). During the past decade, a growing body of research has reported that stimulant medications such as dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine, Adderall) and methylphenidate (Concerta, Methylin, Metadate) are safe and effective for treating ADHD. And the number of patients with ADHD continued to grow in the waiting rooms of pediatricians and family practitioners. Still, negative perceptions about ADHD diagnosis and treatment have been slow to change. This may be partially due to media outlets that raised alarms throughout the 1990s and 2000s about overdiagnosis and the dangers of treating children and adolescents with stimulants, which are schedule II drugs. © 2002 Psychiatric Times. All rights reserved.

Keyword: ADHD; Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2566 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Experimental spine surgery has enabled a paraplegic woman to walk again, a doctor has claimed. However, spinal experts are concerned about the ethics of the procedure, which they view as untested and highly controversial. Dr Giorgio Brunelli, of the Universita di Brescia, Italy, revealed details of the nerve-graft surgery at a conference in California. The woman's spinal cord was severed in a road accident. But Dr Brunelli said that following surgery she has regained limited use of her legs. In a 14-hour surgery performed in July 2000, Dr Brunelli removed a portion of the 28-year-old's sciatic nerve and used it as a graft to connect the undamaged portion of her spine to muscles in her buttocks and thighs. (C) BBC

Keyword: Regeneration; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2565 - Posted: 08.31.2002

John Travis Since the mid-19th century, surgeons and their grateful patients have made use of ether and other general anesthetics. Yet exactly how these compounds produce a painfree, unconscious state remains mysterious. Now, scientists chipping away at the anatomical details have discovered that two of today's most common general anesthetics produce their sedative effects by triggering the brain's sleep circuits. Further research on the brain circuits affected by these anesthetics may lead to improved agents that generate an even more natural sleeplike state, say the biologists, who chronicle their research in an upcoming Nature Neuroscience. "The notion that anesthetics might somehow be recruiting a natural pathway that promotes sleep, as opposed to mucking up a pathway that keeps you awake," hasn't been considered seriously before, says study coauthor Nick P. Franks of the Imperial College School of Medicine in London. From Science News, Vol. 162, No. 9, Aug. 31, 2002, p. 132. Copyright ©2002 Science Service. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Sleep; Attention
Link ID: 2564 - Posted: 06.24.2010

If you want someone's attention, show them the money and you're more likely to get results, at least when it comes to their body's responses, a new study suggests. The study found that subjects showed different physical responses to loud noises when they were being paid to keep track of tones that were interrupted by those noises, says author Larry W. Hawk Jr., Ph.D., of the State University of New York at Buffalo, writing in the September issue of the journal Psychophysiology. The researchers recruited 43 college students, all of whom received college credit in exchange for participating in the study. But one group of 22 students received up to $5 each, depending on how well they performed on a task, while the other group of 21 students was simply told, "For the information that we collect from you to be useful, it's crucial that you try your best." Each participant was put into a soundproof booth and given headphones. Electrodes measured the size and strength of each subject's blinks as a response to a loud noise, giving an indication of how closely the student was paying attention. The subjects then listened to a series of tones and were asked to count the number of longer-than-usual tones that were played in a particular pitch, while ignoring tones in a different pitch.

Keyword: Attention; Hearing
Link ID: 2563 - Posted: 08.31.2002

Durham, N.C. -- People with severe mental illnesses are highly unlikely to become violent toward others unless they have additional risk factors combined with their psychiatric disorder, according to a new study led by researchers at Duke University Medical Center. Among people with severe mental illness, a combination of three risk factors -- having been a victim of violence during childhood, living in a neighborhood where violence is common, and having a substance abuse problem -- can increase the likelihood of violent behavior more than tenfold, the researchers found. Without any of these risk factors, those with severe mental illness were no more likely to engage in violent behaviors than people in the general population without a psychiatric disorder. “Acts of violence by people with mental illness are rare,” said Jeffrey Swanson, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, a sociologist at Duke and lead author of the study. “While the illness certainly plays a role, the risk factors we examined compound the illness in a way that makes violence more probable. Those risk factors should be a large part of the focus of treatment and services for persons with mental illness and a history of violence.” © 2001-2002 Duke University Medical Center. All Rights Reserved.

Keyword: Schizophrenia; Aggression
Link ID: 2562 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Copyright © 2002 AP Online By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP Science Writer LOS ANGELES - An experimental nerve-graft surgery allowed a paraplegic woman whose spinal cord was severed in an automobile accident to reacquire limited use of her legs, an Italian doctor reported this week at a conference in California. In a 14-hour surgery performed in July 2000, Dr. Giorgio Brunelli, of the Universita' di Brescia, Italy, removed a portion of the 28-year-old's sciatic nerve and used it as a graft to connect the undamaged portion of her spine to muscles in her buttocks and thighs. He said the graft allowed the regrowth of nerves connected to the central nervous system into the muscle tissue. The unidentified patient first showed movement in her legs in September and since has begun walking with assistance, Brunelli said. The woman had used a wheelchair for five years prior to the surgery. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Regeneration
Link ID: 2561 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Mark Baard Instead of counting sheep, insomniacs may find relief listening to the sounds of their own brain waves. Results of a University of Toronto study indicate that "brain music" -- EEG recordings converted into musical compositions in a computerized process -- sends sleepless patients to dreamland faster. A two-minute recording ( [audio] hear audio excerpt) of one insomniac's brain music sounds a bit like a Brian Eno composition. Copyright © 1994-2002 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 2560 - Posted: 06.24.2010

SHARON BEGLEY, The Wall Street Journal According to Plutarch, the inscription at the Delphic Oracle advised, "Know thyself." To which Timothy D. Wilson, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, responds, "Good luck." Dr. Wilson is one of a growing number of psychologists and neuroscientists whose research is showing the importance of the unconscious -- "mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but that influence judgments, feelings or behavior," as he puts it. But this isn't Freud's unconscious, that maelstrom of primitive emotions and repressed memories. Instead, the unconscious being excavated by scientists processes data, sets goals, judges people, detects danger, formulates stereotypes and infers causes, all outside our conscious awareness. ©2002 Associated Press

Keyword: Attention; Intelligence
Link ID: 2559 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Rats could hold the key to new treatments for men with sexual problems, scientists believe. Researchers in the United States said they have identified nerves in the spinal cords of rats which trigger ejaculations. They believe the findings may also apply to humans, prompting hopes of improved treatment for men who suffer from premature ejaculation and other sexual disorders. William Truitt and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio identified a group of nerve cells in the male rat's spinal cord that relay ejaculation signals from the reproductive organs to the brain. They then deactivated a small group of neurons in the spinal cords of male rats which were then placed in a cage with a "sexually receptive" female. (C) BBC

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2558 - Posted: 08.30.2002

Just a few minutes around a newborn is enough to get anyone babbling like, well, a baby. But just what drives an infant's babbles remains a matter of much debate. Some scientists posit that the sounds result from a baby's attempts to gain control over his mouth, tongue and lips and, therefore, are not related to language. A second hypothesis holds that babbling instead represents a key step on the way to speaking real words. New research published today in the journal Science further supports the latter theory--scientists say they have linked baby babbling to the brain's language-center. © 1996-2002 Scientific American, Inc.

Keyword: Language; Laterality
Link ID: 2557 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Rat study shows spinal-cord neurons control ejaculation. KENDALL POWELL Researchers have located the spinal-cord neurons that control ejaculation. The finding opens new avenues for treating premature ejaculation and problems with sexual function in paraplegic men. Injecting male rats with a toxin that kills only one group of nerves in the spinal cord disrupts the very last step of their otherwise normal sexual behaviour, report researchers at the University of Cincinnati1. Encountering a willing female rat, the males still "act interested, get erections, chase her, mount her, and penetrate - they just never climax," says neuroscientist Lique Coolen. Coolen targeted the lumbar spinothalamic neurons in the lower back because they are active only after a normal male rat ejaculates, and not simply at mounting or penetration. Truitt, W.A. & Coolen, L. Identification of a potential ejaculation generator in the spinal cord. Science, 297, 1566 - 1569, (2002). |Homepage| © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2556 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Whether baby babbling is fundamentally linguistic (absorbing the elements of language) or just exercising motor activity (practicing the mechanics of mouth movement) has never been effectively addressed. Until now. A team of researchers based at Dartmouth has discovered a strong link between baby babbling and the language processing centers in the brain. Laura Ann Petitto, Professor in Dartmouth's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Department of Education, and graduate student, Siobhan Holowka at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, report their findings in the August 30, 2002, issue of Science. "This discovery is the first to demonstrate left hemisphere cerebral specialization for babies' production of language, just like we see in adults," says Petitto. "This suggests that language functions specialize in the brain at a very early age." Copyright 2002 Trustees of Dartmouth College

Keyword: Language; Laterality
Link ID: 2555 - Posted: 08.30.2002

Forgetting useless information crucial for development, tests on mice show Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer A molecular "eraser" has been found in the brain, scientists report today, suggesting that without it our memory tracks would function about as well as a computer without a delete key. Reporting in the journal Nature, scientists describe the intricate workings of an enzyme of forgetting called PP1, shorthand for protein phosphatase 1. And if you find that name hardly worth recording and soon forget it, it might be because you have a healthy amount of the stuff. A series of experiments on genetically altered laboratory mice suggests that the newfound mental eraser is part of a healthy tension between learning and unlearning that keeps synaptic circuits from becoming saturated early in life with needless information. ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 2554 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Some children being treated in hospital might not be having their pain adequately controlled, research suggests. The problem is that many drugs are not tested on children before they are made available. Instead, standard doses are determined by testing drugs on adults, and doctors are left to estimate what dose would be effective for children. The study, led by Professor James McElnay, of Queen's University of Belfast, examined the use of 10 commonly prescribed drugs on nearly 500 children. It found that most doctors selected doses that were appropriate and safe. However, he did find evidence that in some cases doctors were giving children doses that were too low to control their symptoms - particularly when administering painkillers. (C) BBC

Keyword: Pain & Touch; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2553 - Posted: 08.29.2002

Children become addicted to cigarettes very quickly, and in some cases just one puff is enough to get them hooked. US researchers say teenagers appear to be more vulnerable than adults to the addictive effects of nicotine because their brains are still developing. Two other studies found children's smoking habits were heavily influenced by teachers and peers who smoked. Forty per cent of 332 children studied in the US research who had tried tobacco, even just once, reported symptoms of addiction. Just over half of the 237 who had inhaled reported addiction symptoms. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2552 - Posted: 08.29.2002

Scientists have found a molecule that may be too blame for loss of memory as we get older. It raises the tempting prospect of new therapies to restore memory. The enzyme helps the brain delete unwanted information. But a team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich believe it may become too active as we get older. The researchers carried out tests on mice that showed those animals with low levels of the enzyme, called protein phosphatase-1 (PP1), were less likely to forget what they had learned. It appears that PP1 actively suppresses memories in mice, both during and after a learning exercise. And as the mice get older, the level of PP1 increases. (C) BBC

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 2551 - Posted: 08.29.2002

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition Two men paralysed on one side of their body can walk again, thanks to an ingenious implant that uses signals from a healthy leg to control a paralysed one. Both men, aged 47 and 64, had been paralysed by strokes. Previously neither could walk unaided. But after sensors were placed over certain muscle groups on the healthy leg and stimulators implanted in the paralysed leg, they can now walk, stand and sit. The unique therapy allows a patient to move their paralysed leg in a natural way without being aware that they are doing it, says Wenwei Yu, who developed the technique at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. But it could be another five years or more before the technology becomes available, he says. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Regeneration
Link ID: 2550 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News — Humans took a genetic leap away from the apes more than 2 million years ago, an international team of researchers announced in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Using ancient fossils and advanced molecular techniques, the researchers determined that the gene mutation, when a gene fell out of the human genetic code, probably occurred 2.5 to 3 million years ago. It was after humans stood upright — about 6 to 7 million years ago — but before hominid brains began to expand about 2 million years ago. "It occurred after our last common ancestors with bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) and chimpanzees, and before the origin of present-day humans," wrote the study's senior author, Ajit Varki, director of the University of California San Diego's Glycobiology Research and Training Center. Copyright © 2002 Discovery Communications Inc.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 2549 - Posted: 06.24.2010

DALLAS – Every morning millions of Americans reach for the world's most popular drug to help them start their day. "That drug is caffeine," said Dr. James Bibb, assistant professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Bibb is one of the authors of a new report explaining how caffeine exerts its stimulatory effect by altering the biochemistry of the brain. The findings appear in an August issue of Nature. "Caffeine is the most frequently self-administered drug in recreational use worldwide today," Bibb said. "And yet we know little about how caffeine works in the brain, whether with the kick from a double espresso or small jolts from tea or cola. We do know it is rewarding, can enhance cognition and performance, and induce dependence at the same time."

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2548 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Enzyme could lead to treatments for forgetfulness ASSOCIATED PRESS — Scientists have boosted learning and memory in mice by blocking a brain enzyme, and they say the result could point to therapy for reducing forgetfulness in older people. THEY SAID the work implicates the enzyme, called PP1, as a key actor in the brain’s system for erasing memories. • MSNBC Terms, Conditions and Privacy © 2002

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 2547 - Posted: 06.24.2010