Two drugs used to treat hallucinations in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) can not only reduce hallucinations, but may also lead to long-term benefits in these patients, according to a group of Emory University researchers. The long-term benefits may include reduced mortality and a reduced risk of nursing home placement. The drugs studied were the atypical antipsychotics quetiapine (trade name Seroquel®) and clozapine (trade name Clozaril®). Jorge Juncos, M.D., associate professor of neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, and colleagues will present their findings at the American Academy of Neurology 54th Annual Meeting in Denver, Colo., on April 18. The research will also appear as an abstract in the April issue of the journal, Neurology. "Drug-induced psychotic symptoms, such as visual hallucinations, are seen in a significant number of patients with advanced PD," says Dr. Juncos. "Approximately 15 to 20 percent of PD patients may experience these hallucinations over time. They are due to a interaction between the progression of the illness and the drugs used to treat its symptoms," Dr. Juncos explains.

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 1916 - Posted: 06.24.2010

For at least one of North America’s most common birds, mating songs are more than just empty amorous enticement, according to a new study from The Johns Hopkins University. Scientists have found that male starlings’ singing ability is strong evidence of the health of their immune systems and, thus, their suitability as breeding partners. The new finding may explain why female starlings take singing talent into account when choosing their mates and is an important first step towards proving a decade-old theory that suggests evolution has found a way to stop male birds from engaging in false sexual advertising. “The theory, which is known as the Immunocompetence Handicap Hypothesis, or ICHH, proposes that males of lesser reproductive quality are prevented from cheating – producing a signal that falsely indicates high reproductive quality – by some cost associated with producing that signal,” explains Deborah Duffy, lead author on the new paper. Duffy, a recent Ph.D. graduate of Johns Hopkins, is now a postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University. She is co-author with Greg Ball , professor of psychological and brain sciences in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins, of a paper published in the April 22 issue of The Proceedings of the Royal Society of London.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 1915 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Larger Studies of Herbal Supplement Are Needed, Experts Say By Salynn Boyles WebMD Medical News -- Millions of people take the herbal supplement ginkgo biloba in the belief that it boosts brain power, and several studies suggest it improves mental function in some patients with Alzheimer's disease. New research now shows that it may do the same thing for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, report that small group of MS patients treated with ginkgo biloba had improved memory and mental function, compared with placebo-treated patients. The study was reported today at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Denver. "In fairness, this was a pilot study with only 23 patients enrolled," study co-author Christopher Kenney, MD, tells WebMD. "We wanted to address the question of whether a large study of ginkgo biloba is justified in patients with MS. I think the answer is an overwhelming yes." © 1996-2002 WebMD Corporation. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis
Link ID: 1914 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent AN EXPERIMENTAL treatment for Parkinson's disease has regenerated the brains of five people with the condition. One of the patients has learned to laugh again and has regained his sense of smell. Although the results are preliminary, and have yet to be published, doctors believe the procedure could offer hope to Britain's 120,000 sufferers. © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002.

Keyword: Parkinsons; Trophic Factors
Link ID: 1913 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientific evidence that the clubbers' drug ecstasy damages the brain is fundamentally flawed, a report says. New Scientist magazine says that while there is little doubt that the drug can be harmful, some studies suggesting a serious impact on the brain cannot be trusted. Central to the magazine's argument are question marks over the validity of brain scans which researchers have said show that ecstasy damages production of a vital brain chemical called serotonin. The scans purportedly provided evidence that the drug destroyed nerve cells that specialise in serotonin production. US researchers used a radioactive chemical to show up serotonin activity in the brain. Scans showed that the brains of ecstasy users glowed less - suggesting that the drug had reduced serotonin production. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1912 - Posted: 04.18.2002

Drinking coffee late in the afternoon could ruin the chance of a good night's sleep, say scientists. Coffee is not just a stimulant, it interrupts the flow of melatonin, the brain hormone that sends people to sleep. Melatonin levels start to rise about two hours before bed time and peak between 0200 and 0400. However, researchers in Israel have found that caffeinated coffee halves the body's levels of the sleep hormone. Lotan Shilo and a team at the Sapir Medical Center at Tel Aviv University, found that six volunteers slept less well after a cup of caffeinated coffee than after drinking the same amount of decaffeinated. (C) BBC

Keyword: Sleep; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 1911 - Posted: 04.18.2002

NewScientist.com news service Single mums are better at raising their kids than two parents - at least in the bird world. Mother zebra finches have to work harder and raise fewer chicks on their own, but they also produce sexier sons who are more likely to get a mate. The finding shows that family conflict is as important an evolutionary driving force as ecological factors such as predation and food supply. With two parents around, there is always a conflict of interests, which can have a detrimental effect on the quality of the offspring. In evolutionary terms, the best strategy for any parent in the animal world is to find someone else to care for their offspring, so they can concentrate on breeding again. So it is normal for parents to try to pass the buck to each other. But Ian Hartley from the University of Lancaster and his team wondered how families resolve this conflict, and how the conflict itself affects the offspring. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 1910 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By DENISE GRADY A new report by a panel of international experts casts doubt on longstanding claims that hormone replacement can prevent or treat a variety of ills in postmenopausal women, including heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, severe depression, urinary incontinence and broken bones caused by osteoporosis. While hormone therapy is the most effective way to relieve menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats, there is not enough scientific evidence to support its use for the other problems, says the report, which is to be published in June. The hormone treatments have well-documented drawbacks, including an increased risk of blood clots and gall bladder disease and breast cancer with prolonged use. More than 40 million American women are 50 or older, and 20 million more will reach menopause within the next decade. About 20 percent of women who reach menopause naturally use hormone replacement at least temporarily, according to the North American Menopause Society. The figure is higher among women who reach menopause early because their ovaries have been surgically removed. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Alzheimers
Link ID: 1909 - Posted: 04.18.2002

Conflict between mates means uglier offspring. JOHN WHITFIELD Parental bickering damages young birds. Mother finches do less work when a father is around and their sons are less attractive to females as a consequence, researchers have discovered. Each mate plays a game of 'evolutionary poker', trying to invest as little as it can get away with. "Parents hold back a bit in the hope that the other will make up the shortfall," says ecologist Ian Hartley of Lancaster University, UK. This is the first time that such gambling has been shown to damage offspring. A female zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata ) raising two chicks alone does more work than a paired mother with a brood of four, Hartley and his colleagues found. Males reared in one- and two-parent families were of similar size and weight, but, given the choice, females plumped for single-parented males more often. * Royle, N.J., Hartley, I.R. & Parker, G.A. Sexual conflict reduces offspring fitness in zebra finches. Nature, 416, 733 - 736, (2002). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 1906 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Field Museum scientist challenges accepted theories, dating methods CHICAGO - New research that accounts for gaps in the fossil record challenges traditional methods of interpreting fossils and constructing evolutionary trees. Applying a new statistical approach to primates demonstrates that this group-from which humans developed-originated 85 million years ago (Mya) rather than 65 Mya, as is widely accepted. This revision has implications throughout the evolutionary tree of primates, including the time of origin of the human lineage. Key findings from the new approach to interpreting the fossil record include: * Primates originated while dinosaurs still roamed the earth. This challenges the widely accepted theory that primates could not establish a foothold until the end of the Cretaceous (65 Mya) when an asteroid cleared the way by hitting the earth and wiping out dinosaurs. * If times of divergence within the primate tree are revised accordingly, it is likely that the divergence of humans from chimps occurred about 8 Mya rather than 5 Mya.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 1905 - Posted: 04.18.2002

Emory researchers study the possibilities of a common, unrecognized comorbidity Emory University researchers may have found a common but heretofore unrecognized link between low testosterone levels and certain non-motor symptoms (fatigue, depression, anxiety or sexual dysfunction) in male Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. When given testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), the researchers report that patients with low levels of testosterone experienced significant improvement in these symptoms, which had not responded to other medications. But investigators caution they only looked at a small group of five patients and they did not compare those people to a placebo or control group. Michael Okun, M.D., and Mahlon DeLong, M.D., in the Department of Neurology, as well as William McDonald, M.D., in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences will present their findings at the American Academy of Neurology 54th Annual Meeting in Denver, Colo., on April 17. The researchers will also publish their work in an upcoming issue of the Archives of Neurology.

Keyword: Parkinsons; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 1904 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Julia Sommerfeld MSNBC DENVER, — Experimental transplants of cells from aborted fetuses and donated eyes are showing promise for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, according to two studies out Wednesday. Both types of cells were shown to survive in patients’ brains and improve some of the hallmark symptoms of the dreaded disease. PARKINSON’S, which affects an estimated 1 million people in the United States, is caused when the brain cells that produce a chemical known as dopamine die off. Colorado researchers reported follow-up results on a controversial experiment in which holes were drilled in the skull and dopamine cells from aborted fetuses were implanted in the brains of advanced Parkinson’s patients. Other doctors described the initial results of transplants of dopamine cells from the retinas of donated eyes. Both findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Denver. “It takes the loss of 80 percent to 90 percent of dopamine-producing neurons to lead to the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease,” said Dr. Robin Brey, a professor of medicine, division of neurology at University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio. “So you need fairly small amount of dopamine-producing neurons to remain normal. That tells us that even if a small number of transplanted cells were to take and produce dopamine, that could do a lot. So this is very promising.” MSNBC Terms, Conditions and Privacy © 2002

Keyword: Parkinsons; Stem Cells
Link ID: 1902 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The study is small but the results encouraging By Pallab Ghosh BBC science correspondent Doctors in Bristol, UK, have developed an experimental treatment which, they suspect, has regenerated the brains of five patients with Parkinson's disease. One patient has learned to laugh again and has regained his sense of smell. The doctors say it is too soon to tell whether the treatment is long lasting or could be used on all sufferers of Parkinson's. But they have been astonished at how effective the treatment has been so far. The treatment involves putting a drug called GDNF into a mechanical pump, which feeds it to the most damaged parts of the brain. (C) BBC

Keyword: Parkinsons; Trophic Factors
Link ID: 1901 - Posted: 04.18.2002

Being Social Is A Key Component To Creating An Enriched Environment That Stimulates Cognitive Development WASHINGTON - Toddlers who physically explore their environment, engage socially with other children and verbally interact with adults are likely to have better scholastic and reading abilities as teenagers compared to less engaging toddlers. The reason, suggest the researchers who study predictors of intelligence, is that these children create their own stimulating environment thus facilitating their own cognitive ability. These findings are reported on in the April issue of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. To determine this relationship between toddler's stimulation seeking behavior and later intelligence, psychologist Adrian Raine, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California and co-authors collected intelligence, cognitive and sociability measures on 1,795 children at age three. At age 11, the children's school achievement, reading ability and neuropsychological tests were evaluated and compared to the early measures. Those three-year-olds that exhibited high stimulation behaviors at age three scored 12 points higher on total IQ at age 11 compared with low stimulation seekers. The high stimulation seekers also had superior scholastic and reading abilities at age 11. Gender, ethnic group and parents' education or occupation was ruled out as influences on a child's approach to new stimuli, according to the authors. © PsycNET 2002 American Psychological Association

Keyword: Intelligence; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1900 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Patients with severe cases of multiple sclerosis could be helped by stem cell transplants, research suggests. A small study in the US showed the treatment appeared to stabilise MS patients, whose condition had previously been deteriorating. Stem cells are the body's "master cells" and can develop into a wide variety of different cell types. About 85,000 people in the UK have MS, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. The researchers' findings were presented to the American Academy of Neurology's 54th Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado. (C) BBC

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis; Stem Cells
Link ID: 1899 - Posted: 04.17.2002

Helen Briggs Australian scientists say they have created a "thinking cap" that will stimulate creative powers. The invention raises the possibility of being able to unlock one's inner genius by reawakening dormant parts of the brain. It is based on the idea that we all have the sorts of extraordinary abilities usually associated with savants. According to scientists at the Centre for the Mind in Sydney, these hidden talents can be stimulated using magnetism. The news has been given a cautious welcome by experts in the UK. Professor Allan Snyder and colleague Elaine Mulcahy say tests on 17 volunteers show their device can improve drawing skills within 15 minutes. They intend to submit their work for publication in a scientific journal. (C) BBC

Keyword: Intelligence
Link ID: 1898 - Posted: 04.17.2002

Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer A widely used herbicide has been linked for the first time to developmental defects in a species of aquatic frog, scientists report today, raising the possibility of a hidden toxic hazard in the environment. Laboratory experiments at the University of California at Berkeley suggest that even at very low levels, exposure to the common farm chemical atrazine can disrupt hormones and alter the sexual development of male African clawed frogs. "We saw a loss of male characteristics," said UC Berkeley biologist Tyrone B. Hayes, lead author of the study, which appears today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "As somebody who's concerned about biodiversity and environmental health, I think it's very serious. Now, we need to explore the possibility that such effects are occurring in the wild." ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1897 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The muscle destruction associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the most common childhood form of muscular dystrophy, is halted in mice when supplemental amounts of a naturally occurring enzyme are added to the skeletal muscle. These results from researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine are published in the April 16, 2002 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Muscle wasting associated with DMD was inhibited after the UCSD team added an enzyme called CT GalNAc transferase to skeletal muscles in mice bred to develop DMD. Normally, CT GalNAc transferase is expressed in another area of the muscle, the neuromuscular junction, where nerves send impulses to muscle fiber. The UCSD team was able to re-position the enzyme so that it was available in the DMD-vulnerable skeletal muscle, which is the structural tissue that supports body movement. Copyright ©2001 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Movement Disorders; Muscles
Link ID: 1896 - Posted: 06.24.2010

As a young brain develops, or as an older one learns new tricks, some connections between neurons flourish while others fade away. This crucial tuning is guided by the so-called NMDA receptor. But this same receptor unleashes deadly havoc during a stroke. A new study explains why: These Jekyll and Hyde-like properties depend on the receptor's location on nerve cells--a finding that could help the fight against brain damage resulting from stroke. One prominent feature of nerve communication is the spread of glutamate from one neuron to another. After this neurotransmitter crosses the gap--called a synapse--it stimulates receptors that pass the signal along. Yet at the same time, NMDA receptors are shaping the communication. They help nerve cells fiddle with the sensitivity of the synapse, a process known as synaptic plasticity. On a broader scale, NMDA receptors coordinate the construction of new synapses and the survival of nerve cells in the developing nervous system. Paradoxically, NMDA receptors can also convey the kiss of death: During a stroke, glutamate leaks from distressed brain cells and binds to NMDA receptors, triggering the neurons to kill themselves. That in turn leads to irreversible brain damage. --CHRISTIAN HEUSS Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 1895 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A new study suggests that neither tamoxifen nor estrogen has a negative impact on brain chemistry in elderly women. These findings may quell concerns about the safety of using tamoxifen to reduce breast cancer risk in elderly women, say Thomas Ernst, Ph.D., of Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, and coworkers from the Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute in Torrance, Calif., in the April 17 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Past studies have suggested that estrogens may improve brain functioning, possibly by blocking neural cell death caused by oxidation. However, some studies have suggested that tamoxifen, which blocks estrogen’s stimulatory effects in breast cancer, may block estrogen’s beneficial effects on the brain and possibly contribute to cognitive decline. The researchers found that women who had been treated with tamoxifen had lower levels of myo-inositol in the brain than the untreated women. Women who took estrogen also had lower levels of the chemical. Myo-inositol levels were lowest among women who had been treated with tamoxifen for longer periods of time.

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 1894 - Posted: 06.24.2010