How do you get a low-fat ice cream that tastes like a full-fat ice cream? This is the challenge facing a PhD student at the University of Missouri Columbia, US, who is using a mechanical "mouth" to help her find the perfect flavour. Ice cream sales are now in their summer boom months - but attempts to promote a low-fat variety to health-conscious consumers are struggling. While sales of full-fat ice cream are rising in the United States, the low-fat variety has seen a decline in sales. For those who see ice cream as a science rather than a pleasure, this is because the flavour is carried in the fat. And the university is receiving over $100,000 from the US Government to carry out research into finding a strawberry-flavoured low-fat ice cream that will taste more like the high-calorie variety. (C) BBC

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 2382 - Posted: 07.26.2002

Claire Bowles New Scientist WHETHER or not you believe in the paranormal may depend entirely on your brain chemistry. People with high levels of dopamine are more likely to find significance in coincidences, and pick out meaning and patterns where there are none. Peter Brugger, a neurologist from the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, has suggested before that people who believe in the paranormal often seem to be more willing to see patterns or relationships between events where sceptics perceive nothing. To find out what could be triggering these thoughts, Brugger persuaded 20 self-confessed believers and 20 sceptics to take part in an experiment. Brugger and his colleagues asked the two groups to distinguish real faces from scrambled faces as the images were flashed up briefly on a screen. The volunteers then did a similar task, this time identifying real words from made-up ones. copyright of Reed Business Information Limited

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 2381 - Posted: 07.26.2002

Questions raised over leg light resetting body clock. HELEN PEARSON A quirky cure for jet lag may have been shot down. Scientists have challenged the idea that light shone behind the knees can reset the body's clock. Four years ago, a pair of US researchers announced that exposing the backs of a person's knees to blue light can re-train their body's 24-hour clock, which times when they sleep and wake1. The idea caught media and public imagination, and skin-lighting treatments for sleep disorders were planned. But some scientists were sceptical. There is little evidence that light signals on the skin can travel through the blood to the central clock in the brain, says sleep researcher Kenneth Wright of Harvard Medical School in Boston: "It went against everything we knew". © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Biological Rhythms
Link ID: 2380 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A report in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry presents a new hypothesis that may explain the causes of the psychiatric disease, schizophrenia. The hypothesis hinges on glia, a special type of cell, which is important for the maintenance of the connections between brain cells. By re-examining previously published research the authors suggest that schizophrenia may be caused by a combination of defective genes, which result in deficiencies of a variety of growth factors in glia, and infection by viruses, which may further weaken the glia. They conclude that this "weakening" of glia may result in the breakdown of connections between different brain cells leading to the development of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a severe disabling psychiatric disease, which affects approximately 1 percent of the population. People with schizophrenia often suffer terrifying symptoms such as hearing internal voices, feelings of extreme paranoia and an inability to distinguish reality from fantasy. It is clear that schizophrenia has a strong genetic component, however analysis of individual genes alone will not give us a full understanding the causes of schizophrenia. rving Gottesman, one of the authors of this paper and originator of the now widely accepted polygenic model of schizophrenia explains, "The investigation of individual genes in isolation has its limitations since virtually all important biological phenomena, from normal brain functioning to schizophrenia, are the result of complex systems. What is needed is a systems approach for understanding the development of schizophrenia." © 1999-2002 BioMed Central Ltd

Keyword: Schizophrenia; Glia
Link ID: 2379 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Research conducted in animals has revealed that an appetite suppressant drug, D-fenfluramine (D-FEN), activates brain pathways that regulate food intake and body weight. The NIH-funded study suggests that drugs targeting central nervous system pathways affecting appetite, obesity, and anorexia may lead to selective, effective treatments for weight control. Results appear in the July 26, 2002, Science. A study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) found that anorexia induced by d-FEN in rodents activates melanocortin neurons in the central nervous system. The drug, once prescribed for losing weight and known as fen-phen when used with phentermine, was withdrawn by the Food and Drug Administration after reports of cardiac complications. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) supported the research. The scientists set out to identify ways that d-FEN, which increases the brain's release of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that relays nerve impulses and curbs appetite, boosts this effect. Using a dose of d-FEN that reduced feeding behavior, they correlated anorexic effects with activity patterns in a network of neurons in the brain. Researchers targeted the arcuate nucleus (ARC) region of the hypothalamus, where pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons receive serotonin directly and signal to regions associated with regulating energy.

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 2378 - Posted: 07.26.2002

Copyright © 2002 AP Online By ERIN McCLAM, Associated Press ATLANTA - Seven in 10 adult smokers in the United States say they want to quit - but their success in kicking the habit varies widely by race and education, the government said Thursday. A study of more than 32,000 adults in 2000 found that about 23.3 percent were current smokers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. That was down slightly from 25 percent in 1993. Among those defined as current smokers - people who had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lives and still smoke regularly - 70 percent said they would like to quit. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2377 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Copyright © 2002 Scripps Howard News Service By DEBRA MELANI, Scripps Howard News Service - Every day, Matthew Connor woke up sluggish, never feeling refreshed. In the evening after work, the couch would beckon him. Once he hit the cushions he was out. It was a life of exhaustion. Six weeks ago, Connor, 49, accepted an unsightly mask from his doctor, with the understanding that he would wear it every night to halt snoring and sleep apnea, an increasingly common sleep disorder that robs people of oxygen and restful slumber. The mask turned his and his wife's lives around. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 2376 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By GWEN ACKERMAN Pharmos Corporation, which sold its ophthalmic business to eye care giant Bausch & Lomb last year, is off and running with a whole new set of compounds derived from a cannabis–like compound. The chemical compound, that imitates marijuana without inducing the same physiological effects, has already led to a treatment for severe traumatic brain injury, is called dexanabinol, which is in an international Phase III trial. The drug stops the inflammation of the brain, blocks the toxic release of dying cells, and has already saved the lives of young Israeli traffic accident victims. Thursday Pharmos received approval from the Health Ministry to clinically test dexanabinol as a preventive agent against the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) that can follow coronary surgery. The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial is due to be carried out at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center on a group of up to 200 patients. Copyright 2002 The Jerusalem Post

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Pain & Touch
Link ID: 2375 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Vaccination Urged for Patients With Cochlear Implants By Daniel DeNoon WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Gary Vogin, MD -- Nine people have died from a deadly infection linked to hearing devices called cochlear implants, the FDA warns. At least 25 children and adults worldwide have developed bacterial meningitis after receiving the implants. Three companies manufacture the devices. So far, two of these companies have reported cases among patients who received their brands of the device. The FDA says that an ongoing, urgent survey of cochlear implant centers suggests that "there are additional, unreported cases of meningitis in the cochlear implant population." About 60,000 people worldwide have cochlear implants. © 2002 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Hearing
Link ID: 2373 - Posted: 06.24.2010

JUDY LIN, Associated Press Writer A group of scientists who set out to build a robot with human social skills may have actually improved on humanity: Their creation courteously steps aside for people, smiles during conversation and politely asks directions. The 6-foot robot, named GRACE, for Graduate Robot Attending Conference, will wander a symposium on artificial intelligence that begins this weekend, where it will demonstrate its good manners. It will try to sign in at the registration desk, find a conference room, give a speech and answer questions. GRACE, a drum-shaped contraption with a digitally animated face that appears on a computer display, is the work of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and elsewhere. ©2002 Associated Press

Keyword: Robotics
Link ID: 2372 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service Animals should be scored for pain and suffering during scientific experiments, says an influential UK parliamentary committee. "Information on the levels of suffering and purpose of each project would enable the public to make informed judgements about the justification of animal research," says Lord Smith of Clifton, chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on Animals in Scientific Procedures. "Moreover, the information would highlight where there was greatest suffering, and hence where the need to develop replacements, reductions and refinements was greatest," he says. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 2371 - Posted: 06.24.2010

When an adult brain suffers an injury, its neurons must struggle harder to rewire than those of young brains. But old tricks can apparently recapture some of the resilience of youth, a new study suggests. After a stroke-like injury, adult rat brains pulse with synchronized electrical waves, more commonly seen in early development, as they try to fix damaged neural circuits. Neurons in the developing brain readily sprout new branches, or axons, that hook up with other cells. This is one way the developing brain sets up its neural pathways. Although less common in adults, axonal sprouting does occur in the cerebral cortex, the brain’s main information processing center, after stroke-like lesions. Researchers suspect that this sprouting may help the brain recover. However, the trigger for sprouting has remained elusive. Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Stroke; Cerebral Cortex
Link ID: 2370 - Posted: 06.24.2010

— Subtle defects in the processing of a single protein that provides structural integrity to muscle cells can lead to several devastating forms of muscular dystrophy, according to studies by Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers and their colleagues at the University of Iowa. The scientists reported in two papers published in the July 25, 2002, issue of the journal Nature that defects in enzymes responsible for the processing of the structural protein dystroglycan are the underlying cause of several rare forms of muscular dystrophy that affect muscles and cause additional developmental brain abnormalities including mental retardation. The new findings will immediately help doctors in providing accurate diagnosis and appropriate genetic counseling to patients and their families. In the longer term, knowing the underlying cause of the muscular dystrophies will help researchers tailor their interventions, according to Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Kevin Campbell . The disorder also disrupts an important component of learning and memory, so Campbell is hopeful that his team’s studies will improve understanding of possible links between muscle physiology and neurobiology. ©2002 Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Keyword: Muscles; Movement Disorders
Link ID: 2369 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ST. PAUL, MN -- Children with autism exhibit abnormal brain development during the very early years of life, according to two separate studies published in the current issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Both studies used MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanning technology to analyze brain volume in those with autism, and age-matched control groups. In the first study, which set out to explore anatomical differences in the brains of very young autistic children, the brain volume measurements of 45 autistic children, ages 3 and 4, were compared with those of 26 children with typical development and 14 children with developmental delay. "We found that the autistic children had significantly increased cerebral volumes compared to typically developing children and developmentally delayed children," according to study author Stephen R. Dager, MD, with the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, WA. The average cerebral volume -- including measures of the cerebrum, cerebellum, amygdala, and hippocamus -- was 10 percent larger in autistic children than in typically developing children. The difference was 12.5 percent between autistic and developmentally delayed children. He said the study shows that abnormal brain development processes occur very early in autistic children.

Keyword: Autism; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2368 - Posted: 07.24.2002

Two decades ago there was little hope when a child was diagnosed with autism. Parents were often told their child couldn't succeed in school and would have to be institutionalized. Much has changed in the intervening years, particularly in how science understands what today is considered to be a spectrum of autism disorders and how well many children respond to treatment. However, it still can be a numbing and confusing experience for parents who receive a diagnosis that their child has autism and then must sort through the wide variety of treatment approaches available. Helping parents deal with this experience is why two leading researchers, Sally Ozonoff and Geraldine Dawson, have written "A Parent's Guide to Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism," which has just been published. Ozonoff is an associate professor of psychiatry at the M.I.N.D. Institute at the University of California, Davis, and Dawson is a psychology professor and founding director of the University of Washington's Autism Center. Co-author of the book is James McPartland, a UW doctoral student working with Dawson.

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 2366 - Posted: 07.24.2002

Researchers have long known that women remember emotional events far better than men do, but exactly why this should be so has proved difficult to pin down. Some scientists posit that women experience life events more intensely, leading to better memory encoding, while others speculate that the neural basis of memory formation differs between the sexes. Research published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers support the latter model. According to the report, women use more and different brain regions than men do when experiencing or remembering intense emotional experiences, resulting in more vivid recollections. Turhan Canli of Stanford University and colleagues connected 12 men and 12 women to a functional magnetic resonance imager (fMRI) to examine their brain activity on a moment-to-moment basis. © 1996-2002 Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Emotions; Brain imaging
Link ID: 2365 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The scientists say dyslexic children struggle with rhythm A poor sense of rhythm could be to blame for dyslexia, scientists believe. Researchers from University College London (UCL) found dyslexic children were less able to detect beats in sounds with a strong rhythm. But children who read exceptionally well for their age were found to much better than most at spotting rhythms. The researchers conclude that an awareness of beats can influence the way young children assimilate speech patterns, which may in turn affect their reading and writing abilities. Up to 100 children, 24 of whom were certified dyslexic, were tested as part of the UCL study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (C) BBC

Keyword: Dyslexia
Link ID: 2364 - Posted: 07.24.2002

By JANE E. BRODY If you think you have trouble controlling your caloric intake when food seems to be everywhere you turn, think what it must be like for children born constantly hungry, unable to feel full or satisfied and, as a result, constantly obsessed with food and eating. Think, too, what it must be like for their parents, who must keep every edible locked away and severely restrict the daily diets of their children lest they balloon to 400 unhealthy pounds. About one in 12,000 to 15,000 children is born with a complex genetic mistake known as Prader-Willi syndrome that discombobulates the hypothalamus, a section of the brain responsible for a wide variety of functions, including appetite control. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Obesity; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 2363 - Posted: 07.24.2002

By NATALIE ANGIER What feels as good as chocolate on the tongue or money in the bank but won't make you fat or risk a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission? Hard as it may be to believe in these days of infectious greed and sabers unsheathed, scientists have discovered that the small, brave act of cooperating with another person, of choosing trust over cynicism, generosity over selfishness, makes the brain light up with quiet joy. Studying neural activity in young women who were playing a classic laboratory game called the Prisoner's Dilemma, in which participants can select from a number of greedy or cooperative strategies as they pursue financial gain, researchers found that when the women chose mutualism over "me-ism," the mental circuitry normally associated with reward-seeking behavior swelled to life. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Emotions; Evolution
Link ID: 2362 - Posted: 07.24.2002

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA--Could watching Lennox Lewis knock out Mike Tyson make you more likely to win a boxing match of your own? Don't count on it, but a study of aquarium action suggests that watching combat certainly pumps up fish. To examine the effect of watching fights on fight outcomes, behavioral ecologist Ethan Clotfelter of Providence College in Rhode Island set up fights between pairs of male Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). A third fish watched the fight and then entered the tank against a similarly sized opponent that hadn't seen a fight. Although the two were evenly matched physically, the fish that had watched a fight triumphed 80% of the time. There was no effect if spectators had watched two males separated by a barrier that kept the peace. Previous research has shown that watching fish clash raises levels of hormones such as testosterone, and other studies have shown that higher levels of testosterone make fish more likely to fight. But Clotfelter's study, presented here 16 July at the annual meeting of the Animal Behavior Society, is the first to show that watching aggression makes fish more likely to win their next fight.

Keyword: Aggression; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 2361 - Posted: 07.24.2002