By Ross Grant TUESDAY, (HealthScoutNews) -- The essential fats found in fish and nuts help more than your heart. They can also reduce memory loss and strokes, claims a new study. "When we don't have enough omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in our system, it can lead to a heart attack or a stroke. You're not getting enough oxygen to your brain, and you are overloading your heart," explains study author Vallie Holloway, a researcher at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill. Copyright © 2002 ABCNEWS Internet Ventures.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2546 - Posted: 06.24.2010

St. Paul, MN – Using transplants of bone marrow cells improved the recovery from stroke in rat experiments, according to a study published in the August 27 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The rats treated with an intravenous transplant of adult human stromal cells (mature cells from bone marrow) had significant improvements in their ability to function 14 days after the stroke, compared to rats that did not receive transplants after a stroke. "These are smart cells that selectively migrate to the site of injury and become little factories producing an array of helpful molecules to repair the tissue," said study author Michael Chopp, PhD, of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Mich., and Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. "We believe this therapy shows promise in treating stroke, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury."

Keyword: Stroke; Stem Cells
Link ID: 2545 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Only one in four cases of postnatal depression are diagnosed and treated by doctors, despite the common nature of the condition, research suggests. Independent market analysts Datamonitor say that the postnatal condition is "under-treated" in the UK. They call for hospitals to make more effort to screen new mothers for the condition. It is thought that full postnatal depression affects as many as 15% of women shortly after birth. Many more have a short period of feeling low after the birth, often described as the "baby blues". However, postnatal depression may emerge, either as a worsening of these feelings, or several weeks after the birth, and require anti-depressant treatment or counselling to resolve it. (C) BBC

Keyword: Depression; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 2544 - Posted: 08.28.2002

Plans for Britain's first stem cell bank are to be given the final go ahead next month, it is reported. The bank, run by the Medical Research Council (MRC), would collect stem cells from human embryos for medical research. Supporters say the resource could one day be used to treat conditions like Alzheimer's and diabetes. But there are fears that couples undergoing IVF treatment could be put under pressure to donate spare embryos. This has been denied by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates embryo research. HFEA head Suzi Leather told the BBC that strict guidelines were in place to stop that happening. (C) BBC

Keyword: Stem Cells; Parkinsons
Link ID: 2543 - Posted: 08.28.2002

Rush is one of only two sites in nation testing the drug that may provide new treatment option Physicians at Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center have begun to recruit patients as part of a clinical research study that will evaluate the effectiveness of a new drug as a potential treatment for fragile X syndrome and autism. "Currently there are no therapies on the market to treat cognitive deficits associated with fragile X syndrome or autism," said Berry-Kravis. "However, in the past five years, basic research has led to an improved understanding of these diseases and a number of scientists have suggested that the use of a drug to enhance glutamate transmission could be beneficial." The study will evaluate CX516 (Ampalex®), an Ampakine® compound, which has been proven to enhance glutamate transmission in the brain through activation of AMPA receptors. Ampalex® is made by Cortex Pharmaceuticals which will provide the study medication. The research is funded by the FRAXA Research Foundation.

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Autism
Link ID: 2542 - Posted: 08.28.2002

Tampa, FL — Marijuana may alter immune function in people — but the jury is still out on whether it hurts or helps the body's ability to fight infection or other diseases, report researchers at the University of South Florida College of Medicine and the UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles. "The bottom line is you cannot routinely smoke marijuana without it affecting your immune system," said Thomas Klein, PhD, professor of medical microbiology and immunology at USF. "However, because of the complexity of the immune system, we can't say yet whether the effect we've observed in humans is good or bad." A study by USF and UCLA is the first to show that healthy humans who smoke marijuana appear to alter the expression of marijuana receptors, or molecules, on immune cells in their blood. The findings were reported in the June issue of the Journal of Neuroimmunology.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 2541 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Role of environment, genes to be probed by 3 teams, overseen from Sunnyvale David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor Twenty years after Dr. William J. Langston first linked the devastating symptoms of Parkinson's disease to a toxic exposure, federal health officials are creating a consortium of researchers to investigate the role of the environment and genes in a disorder that normally strikes only the elderly. Scientists from three major teams of researchers plan to conduct independent investigations into the influences of the environment and genetics on the disorder. Dr. Kenneth Olden, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a part of the National Institutes of Health, announced Monday that his agency is financing the consortium with a $20 million grant. ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle.

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 2540 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Cell transplants could help stroke patients recover Bone marrow cell transplants could aid recovery from stroke, research in rats has shown. The rats given the cell transplants showed "significant improvements" in their ability to function two weeks after a stroke compared to those who did not have a transplant. Stroke experts say the work could one day lead to better treatment for patients. Researchers from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, US gave rats adult human stromal cells - mature cells from bone marrow which have already been used in cancer patients. Dr Michael Chopp of Oakland University, who led the research, published in the journal Neurology, said: "These are smart cells that selectively migrate to the site of injury and become little factories producing an array of helpful molecules to repair the tissue. "We believe this therapy shows promise in treating stroke, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury." (C) BBC

Keyword: Stroke; Stem Cells
Link ID: 2539 - Posted: 08.27.2002

By CLAUDIA DREIFUS When Dr. J. Allan Hobson, 69, a Harvard psychiatrist and dream researcher, arrived for an interview, he had a notebook filled with his writings, photographs of his extended family and renderings of his summer house in Italy. "This will help introduce me," Dr. Hobson said. "I believe you need to get to know about me quickly," he added, demonstrating an easy informality and perhaps belying the stereotypes about uptight psychiatrists. But then, Dr. Hobson, director of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, is known as a convention-defying psychiatry rebel. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Schizophrenia; Depression
Link ID: 2538 - Posted: 08.27.2002

By RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN, M.D. After six years of twice-weekly psychotherapy sessions, Eric had plenty of insight. But his anxiety level had barely changed. He was still bedeviled by a ceaseless urge to wash his hands and shameful and repetitive violent thoughts. Out of desperation and against the wishes of his therapist, he visited my office to discuss the possibility of medication. "I thought I could understand my way out of my obsessive compulsive disorder," he recalled recently. "I wanted to be able to do it on my own, without medication." What he did not remember was his vehement opposition to psychotropic medication on the ground that it was not natural and would change his brain chemistry. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Depression; Schizophrenia
Link ID: 2537 - Posted: 08.27.2002

By MARY DUENWALD Child abduction by strangers, the experts continue to say, is not a growing menace. The number of cases — 115 or so a year, according to the most recent federal statistics — has remained steady. Yet, the crime has been prominent this summer because of a few startling cases. In one, Elizabeth Smart, 14, was reportedly led from her bedroom in Salt Lake City on June 5 and has not been found. On July 15, Samantha Runnion, 5, was pulled screaming from a courtyard near her town home in Stanton, Calif., and abused and murdered. Two 10-year-old friends in Soham, England, disappeared on Aug. 4 and were found dead in the woods two weeks later. Similar atrocities have occurred in recent months in Missouri, Texas, Virginia, Oregon and Wisconsin. What kind of person does such a thing? After studying hundreds of cases, scientists can provide at least a partial answer. The broad population of child molesters, most of whom do not abduct their victims, is too diverse to fit a single psychological profile, but the far smaller group of those who abduct and keep children for sexual abuse share common traits. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Aggression; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2536 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Undergoing anaesthesia may be more like falling asleep than we once thought, according to new research from Imperial College London and Harvard Medical School, USA. Researchers report today in the journal Nature Neuroscience how two of the most widely used anaesthetics, pentobarbital and propofol induce sleep by mimicking the natural process of falling into a deep sleep. Using behavioural studies and molecular imaging techniques in rats, the team of basic scientists and clinicians found that the sleep-inducing action of anaesthetics is localised to a small area of the brain, the tuberomammillary nucleus (TMN), part of the hypothalamic region that controls other fundamental processes such as breathing and temperature regulation.

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 2535 - Posted: 08.27.2002

ANN ARBOR, MI – In a powerful demonstration of how animal research can help humans, a pair of scientific teams is reporting the discovery of defects in a deafness gene in mice that led to the identification of similar genetic defects in people with hearing loss. The findings, published in two new papers, may eventually lead to a screening test and therapy for families affected by one type of inherited hearing loss. The discoveries also bring scientists closer to understanding the intricate choreography of genes and proteins involved in the normal development of human hearing -- and the tiny missteps that can destroy hearing even before a baby is born.

Keyword: Hearing
Link ID: 2534 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A pretty good trick developed by terrestrial adapted toads; blood circulation in the belly’s skin is not solely responsible for absorbing water San Diego, CA -- Most terrestrial amphibians acquire water by absorption across their skin rather than by oral drinking. During periods of rehydration, frogs and toads adopt a posture termed "water absorption response" (WR), thrusting their hindlimbs backwards and pressing the belly surface on to any surface containing water. In many frog and toad species, such as the Bufo breed, a specific area of the belly skin (the seat patch), is used for absorbing water. Even though the seat patch skin only constitutes about ten percent of the total skin area, it is responsible for over 70 percent of the total water uptake by dehydrated toads. The seat patch skin is equipped with an elaborate capillary network. Interrupting capillary perfusion of isolated skin and in living animals results in a washout of salts from the interstitial fluid of the skin, thereby decreasing the osmotic gradient and the osmotic water flow across the skin.

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 2533 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Copyright © 2002 AP Online By DREW BENSON, Associated Press LIMA, Peru - Pointing to one of the four natural holes we all carry in our brains, Dr. Diana Rivas explained why some of her patients get headaches only when they move their heads to one side. She suggests the reason is that parasites camped out in the ventricles bump up against the gray matter only some of the time. The brain Rivas showed is one of 2,786 at the Neurological Sciences Institute's brain museum, a resource for generations of Peruvian medical students and a popular stop for foreign physicians since brain collecting began in 1947. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 2532 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Copyright © 2002 AP Online The Associated Press WASHINGTON ) - Starting next week, psychiatrists will be able to prescribe an eagerly awaited new anti-depressant called Lexapro. It's being promoted as more potent and possibly safer than older competitors - but there's little evidence that it's much better. Still, Lexapro promises to be a big player in the $12 billion anti-depressant market. So how do patients and doctors choose whether to try it or another of the bewildering array of depression drugs? "You're playing the odds," is the blunt way Dr. Philip Ninan of Emory University puts it: Each anti-depressant comes with a different set of pros and cons, and there's little way to know in advance which will work best for which patient. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 2531 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Complaints Surface About Stopping Drug By Brian Reid Special to The Washington Post Paxil, the world's best-selling antidepressant, has become the target of growing complaints that stopping the drug causes severe side effects ranging from flu-like symptoms to electric-shock-like sensations in the brain that patients have labeled the "zaps." This marks the first time that one of the new generation of antidepressant medications, often described as non-habit-forming, has been accused of being addictive. The patient complaints, which previously circulated chiefly on electronic bulletin boards and specialized Web sites, became more public last week when a federal judge in California ordered the drug's maker, GlaxoSmithKline, to pull TV ads that boast the drug is "not habit-forming." The judge later put that ruling, which said the ads may have underplayed the drug's possible role in causing withdrawal symptoms, on hold. Both Glaxo and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have challenged the decision, part of a California court case brought on behalf of Paxil users. © 2002 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 2530 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a component of the National Institutes of Health, today announced five-year grants totaling $20 million for three centers to conduct research on the relationship between exposures to environmental agents and subsequent Parkinson's disease. The announcement was made this morning at the Parkinson's Institute, in Sunnyvale, Calif., where one of the centers will be located. The other centers will be at Emory University, Atlanta, Ga., and the University of California at Los Angeles. NIEHS Director Kenneth Olden, Ph.D., said in announcing the new funding, "Our best chance for finding successful treatments for persons suffering with Parkinson's disease is to understand more about what triggers the disease. Even better, this research may lead to ways to prevent Parkinson's disease in the first place."

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 2529 - Posted: 08.27.2002

By THE NEW YORK TIMES LENOX, Mass., — Brad Kaus, a piano teacher, watched in awe as Michael Ibbotson performed a sonata he had composed effortlessly in a one-hour lesson at the Belvoir Terrace music camp here. Even more astounding than the speed of the composition was the musical score in front of him: a series of curly scribbles and drawings but not a single note. Like all of his fellow campers, Mr. Ibbotson, 24, of Hudson Falls, N.Y., has Williams syndrome, and like most, he is unusually musical but mentally disabled. Most of the campers still in school are in special education classes. "These amazing kids seem to absorb music, and teaching them is a whole new experience every time," Mr. Kaus said. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Language
Link ID: 2528 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Weight loss drugs could play a role in protecting obese people from the onset of diabetes, according to a study. It said that those using the drugs alongside diet changes and exercise were 37% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those losing weight through lifestyle changes alone. The four-year trial, involving the drug Xenical, included 3,304 patients at 22 centres in Sweden. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease, with 80% of sufferers overweight. The study, called Xendos (Xenical in the prevention of diabetes in obese subjects), was the first to look at the role of weight loss drugs in controlling diabetes. Government experts, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), have previously recommended that extremely obese adults who have already lost at least 2.5 kg by dieting should be prescribed Xenical. (C) BBC

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 2527 - Posted: 08.26.2002