A long-term study of people over age 65 suggests that severity of depressive symptoms is related to risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The study is published in the August 13 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. More than 650 elderly people took part in the seven-year study which included annual neurological evaluations and testing of cognitive function. Baseline testing showed about half of the participants had no depressive symptoms and the remainder had from one to eight. Only 1 percent had symptoms severe enough to warrant a diagnosis of major depression. During annual follow-ups, 108 of 651 participants developed Alzheimer's disease. Those with the greatest number of depressive symptoms at the start of the study were more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and also showed more rapid cognitive decline.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Depression
Link ID: 2466 - Posted: 08.13.2002

"Healing music" customized to match patient's brain wave patterns by Jessica Whiteside -- Sleep scientists at the University of Toronto are pursuing research that's music to insomniacs' ears. Researchers in the sleep clinic of U of T's psychiatry department and the University Health Network's Toronto Western Hospital are studying the ability of "brain music" to help people relax and improve the quality of their sleep. To create this music, researchers study a person's brain waves to determine which rhythmic and tonal sound patterns create a meditative condition in that individual. A special computer program developed by the researchers or a music therapist who is a member of the research team then selects unique "healing" music that will create those same brain wave patterns when the individual is trying to sleep.

Keyword: Sleep; Hearing
Link ID: 2465 - Posted: 08.13.2002

WASHINGTON (AP) - Get a good night's sleep after piano practice: It may prove crucial to learning new skills such as tickling the ivories. Scientists have long known that adequate sleep is important for forming different types of memories. People can do better on a test with proper rest than by pulling an all-nighter, for example. But learning motor skills involves a different part of the brain, and often a lot more practice, than memorizing facts. Is sleep important for that, too? Very, German scientists report. © 2001 ledgerenquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

Keyword: Sleep; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 2464 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service Part of the human brain is dedicated to detecting cheats, say evolutionary psychologists, after a study with a brain-damaged man. "We think it develops in all normal individuals, and that it develops in part because our brains were selected to develop this competence," says John Tooby at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Tooby and his colleagues studied a man who suffered accidental damage to the limbic system, a brain region involved in processing emotional and social information. RM, as he is referred to, performed as well as other people on one set of reasoning problems, did much worse on problems specifically designed to test reasoning about social exchanges. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 2463 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service It is what every advertiser would have dreamed of - brand names have a unique impact on our brains. Brand names engage the "emotional", right-hand side of the brain more than other words, new experiments suggest. And they are more easily recognised when they are in capital letters. "It is surprising," says Eran Zaidel, head of the University of California in Los Angeles laboratory where the research was conducted. "The rules that apply to word recognition in general do not necessarily apply here." © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Language; Emotions
Link ID: 2462 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Doctors are to study a radical treatment for pelvic pain. Under keyhole surgery, a nerve which sends pain messages to the brain is severed. But the procedure is controversial because doctors are divided over whether or not it works. Many women suffer pain in the lower abdomen and pelvis, caused by periods, endometriosis, internal scarring or infection. But in about half of cases, the cause of the pain can not be identified and how to treat the problem may not be obvious. One study has estimated pelvic pain affects as many women as migraine, back pain or asthma. (C) BBC

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 2461 - Posted: 08.12.2002

A global report has failed to rule out risks to humans and wildlife from "endocrine disrupting" chemicals in the environment. Experts at the World Health Organisation's International Programme on Chemical Safety say that research linking this type of pollution to health problems is patchy. However, it says that the known effects on wildlife are "extensive", and that more studies are needed to pinpoint the danger to humans. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) often have the same properties as hormones that the body uses to control a wide variety of functions, including reproduction. People may be widely exposed to them through pesticide residues remaining on food, plastics, household products and industrial chemicals. Many experts are worried that exposure may be interfering with fertility - or even accelerating the growth of certain cancers. (C) BBC

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2460 - Posted: 08.12.2002

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