Extreme climate change has been linked to humanity's giant mental leap forward Robin McKie The Observer Scientists believe climate catastrophes that triggered droughts and forest fires in mankind's African homeland two million years ago were responsible for the evolution of our large brains. Faced with massive, rapid changes to their woodland homes, early humans had rapidly to learn to live in a changing landscape. Only those with the most flexible, adaptive minds survived. 'Climate change is the engine of evolutionary change, and it drove the development of our brains,' said US brain expert William Calvin, of the University of Washington School of Medicine. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 1871 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Trials of cannabis-based medicines are to be extended to see if the drug is effective at reducing pain in a wider range of conditions. GW Pharmaceuticals, based in Salisbury, Wiltshire, is already looking at whether cannabis-based medicines reduce three types of pain, including general pain associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Four new trials will be established to look at how effective the medicines are in treating:- * pain in spinal cord injury * sleep disrupted by pain in multiple sclerosis (MS)sufferers * nerve-damage pain in MS * General nerve-damage pain, specifically allodynia, a condition where people feel pain from something which does not normally hurt, such as clothes brushing across skin The three existing trials look at the medicines' effects on cancer pain and brachial plexus injury - a severe form of nerve-damage pain, as well as general MS pain. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Pain & Touch
Link ID: 1870 - Posted: 04.13.2002

Patient groups are urging the NHS drugs watchdog to recommend a new anti-blindness therapy is made available on the NHS. The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) said up to 20,000 people in the UK could be left to go blind over the next few years if the treatment is not made widely available. Verteporfin is a form of photodynamic therapy designed to treat people with a condition called wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). It causes the retina to wear out, leaving sufferers with only peripheral vision. It affects two million people in the UK alone, including 40% of people over the age of 75. (C) BBC

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 1869 - Posted: 04.13.2002

Proteins, kinase are involved in clock regulation By Karen Young Kreeger Two papers published nearly back-to-back in 2000 pushed the study of mammalian chronobiology light years ahead. The first paper, from the lab of Joseph S. Takahashi, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and the Walter and Mary E. Glass Professor, department of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University, was published April 21st. The second, from the lab of Steven Reppert , chairman of neurobiology and Higgins Family professor of Neuroscience at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, hit the scientific world May 12. Reppert, at Massachusetts General Hospital at the time, and his team showed that the murine circadian clock is orchestrated by positive and negative transcription and post-translation feedback loops. Using mutant mice, they found that the Period2 protein positively regulates the Bmal1 gene loop, and that cryptochrome proteins negatively regulate the Period and Cryptochrome loops. The Takahashi lab paper showed that a mutation of a specific kinase that modifies circadian clock proteins has a clear effect on the mammalian circadian clock. Two previous papers from Reppert's group provided a backdrop for the circadian clock model proposed in their Hot Paper. The first posed the existence of a negative feedback loop in the mouse circadian clock;1 the second provided evidence that the cryptochrome proteins were the negative regulators of such a feedback loop.2 The Scientist 16[8]:32, Apr. 15, 2002 © Copyright 2002, The Scientist, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Biological Rhythms
Link ID: 1868 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Arlene Judith Klotzko Colin Blakemore's boundless energy—physical and intellectual—is quite fitting in a man who has run 18 marathons. His preference to be addressed as Colin (no honorifics please!) is in keeping with his quiet and unassuming manner, which is all the more impressive in a man who has created the equivalent of two parallel careers—one in neuroscience and the other in science communication. Blakemore got off to an exceptionally early and impressive start in both vocations—he completed his PhD in less than 30 months—and he achieved great success while still in his 30s. In 1976, he delivered the Reith Lectures for the BBC, and in 1979, he accepted the Waynflete chair of physiology at Oxford University—both the sorts of honors given to those 20 years his senior. He directs the Medical Research Council Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience. Currently, Blakemore is chairman of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (he was its president, 1997-1998,) and president of the Physiological Society. A long line of broadcasting appearances, along with his books and articles for the general public, have earned him a description by the Royal Society as "one of Britain's most influential communicators of science." For this role, The society presented Blakemore with its Michael Faraday award in 1989. The Scientist 16[8]:51, Apr. 15, 2002 © Copyright 2002, The Scientist, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 1867 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Myasthenia gravis finding may lead to cure and shine light on other autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis GALVESTON, Texas-Researchers here have identified a critical element in the molecular process responsible for the neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis. The discovery could lead to a possible cure for the muscle-weakening disease and to important insights into other autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, lupus and multiple sclerosis. Myasthenia gravis, which afflicts about 36,000 Americans, causes a loss of muscle strength, which at worst can make even the smallest movements difficult. It occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks molecules called acetylcholine receptors that muscle cells use to receive chemical signals from nerves. In an article appearing April 15 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, scientists Premkumar Christadoss, Huan Yang, Elzbieta Goluszko, Teh-Sheng Chan and Mathilde Poussin, all of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), pinpoint the specific part of the human acetylcholine receptor that evokes the strongest response from the human immune cells initiating such "friendly fire" attacks. Copyright © 2001, 2002 The University of Texas Medical Branch.

Keyword: Movement Disorders; Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 1865 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By NICHOLAS WADE Philosophers and theologians may speculate about the essence of human nature, but biologists have a kick-the-tires test that should, in principle, deliver an exact definition. By comparing humans and their close cousin, the chimpanzee, at the finest level possible, they believe, they can find the special ingredient that must be mixed into animal clay to make it human. Pursuing this goal with a sophisticated tool called a gene expression chip, researchers have now compared the genetic activity of the chimp and human brain, the organ that presumably holds the vital difference. Despite reports from anatomists that the two species' brains seemed to differ only in size — the human brain has more than three times the volume — the gene chip has brought to light numerous differences in how the brain cells of the species operate at the genetic level. The finding is reported today in the journal Science by Dr. Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and colleagues in Germany, the Netherlands and the University of California at San Diego. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Evolution; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 1864 - Posted: 06.24.2010

"Married" and "settled down" are two different concepts for some birds. Female collared flycatchers settle their nests with one mate but often lay eggs fathered by a studlier male. Now, researchers maintain that females are in charge of these extra-nest dalliances and time them for when they're most fertile. To the casual observer, most songbirds appear monogamous; DNA testing, however, reveals that anywhere from 10% to 75% of females cheat on their nestmates, depending on the species. Researchers studying the collared flycatcher know that about 40% of females have affairs, typically with males sporting a larger-than-average white spot on their foreheads. These males tend to father plumper offspring. Although previous work suggested that the female picks her paramours, researchers couldn't tell how she arranged the trysts to get the most reproductive bang for her, well, bang. --MARY BECKMAN Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1863 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Discovery Helps Resolve Debate, Could Lead to New Anti-Anxiety Medications BELMONT, Mass., (AScribe Newswire) -- McLean Hospital researchers report in the April 11 Neuron a discovery that could help resolve one of the liveliest controversies in contemporary neuroscience - how the brain changes during learning and memory. In addition, the discovery could lead to a better understanding of a class of psychiatric disorders that affects millions of Americans - namely, anxiety disorders. Researchers have argued that for memory and learning to occur, neurons must become more responsive to one another - so responsive that they will communicate at a high level even when they are no longer being stimulated by an external source, such as input from the senses or other neurons. But so far no one has been able to show that this enduring responsiveness, or long-term potentiation, actually occurs during learning and memory, leading some to doubt a causal link between learning and this physiological change in the brain. McLean Hospital researchers Vadim Bolshakov, PhD, and William Carlezon, PhD, working with Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel, PhD, and other McLean Hospital colleagues, report that they have found clear evidence of a causal link between long-term potentiation and learning - in this case, learned fear - in the brains of rats.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1862 - Posted: 04.12.2002

Bespoke bacteria tackle poisonous organophosphates. HELEN PEARSON Bacteria could digest chemical-weapons stockpiles, say Californian chemists. Their genetically engineered bacteria might also scrub pesticides from farm equipment. A bin full of bugs could make a cheap, green bioreactor to break down residues left in agricultural aircraft, tractors or animal dips, says Ashok Mulchandani of the University of California in Riverside. Mulchandani and his colleagues have given Escherichia coli bacteria the power to break down organophosphates. Developed - but now banned - as chemical-warfare agents, the use of mild forms of these compounds as insecticides has led to concern that they may harm farm workers or contaminate food. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Neurotoxins
Link ID: 1861 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The human brain shows strikingly different patterns of gene expression compared to the chimpanzee brain, a difference that isn't seen in other parts of the body like the liver and white blood cells, an international research team reports. Their study in the 12 April issue of the journal Science , published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, may shed light on why chimps and humans are so genetically similar--humans and chimpanzees share 98.7 percent of their DNA sequences--yet so mentally and physically different. Zeroing in on these differences could also help scientists learn more about the genetics underlying medical traits such as susceptibility to AIDS, malaria, and Alzheimer's disease, say the Science researchers, led by Svante Pääbo of the Max-Planck-Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Keyword: Evolution; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 1860 - Posted: 04.12.2002

COLUMBUS, Ohio - After a little more than three years' effort, psychologists at Ohio State University have taught a pair of young chimpanzees to "read" the names of nearly a dozen objects, to recognize the animals' own printed names and the names of tools they need to acquire their favorite foods. In three more years, they hope to teach the animals to communicate in simple sentences. That may seem a modest accomplishment -- giving a chimp a dozen-word vocabulary. But it is really a major step forward in a 20-year study of how these great apes learn, communicate and handle information. And at the end of this process, these animals may be able to use it to tell us - in their own words - about chimpanzee culture and society.

Keyword: Language; Evolution
Link ID: 1859 - Posted: 04.12.2002

Copyright © 2002 AP Online By ERIN McCLAM, Associated Press ATLANTA - The government said Thursday that each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States costs the nation $7 in medical care and lost productivity. The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the nation's total cost of smoking at $3,391 a year for every smoker, or $157.7 billion. Health experts had previously estimated $96 billion. Americans buy about 22 billion packs of cigarettes annually. The CDC study is the first to establish a per-pack cost to the nation. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1858 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A probabilistic strategy based on past experience explains the remarkable difference between what we see and physical reality Dale Purves, R. Beau Lotto and Surajit Nundy Abstract: The visual information that reaches the eye cannot uniquely describe the physical world. Because light arising from different physical objects can stimulate the retina in the same way, the source of a light stimulus is inevitably ambiguous. For example, a large object far away and a small one closer by can generate exactly the same retinal image. The visual port of the brain resolves this ambiguity by assigning appropriate values of brightness, color and geometry to the things we see. Purves, Lotto and Nundy argue that this assignment is made on a wholly probabilistic basis: What observers see in any circumstance is simply what the stimulus has typically signified in the past, indicated by behavioral success or failure.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 1857 - Posted: 04.12.2002

By Ben Hirschler, European Pharmaceuticals Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - A pill to stop you getting fat is an enticing prospect for couch potatoes and drug companies alike. With more than 300 million people around the world affected, obesity is the Western world's fastest-growing health problem and one of the hottest areas of pharmaceutical research. But despite the multi-billion-dollar prize, producing effective treatments for a condition that can cause diabetes and heart disease is proving a long, difficult and risky business. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Copyright © 2002 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 1856 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Doctors believe that the abuse of anabolic steroids by gym users amounts to a public health risk. A report from the British Medical Association to be published on Thursday is expected to say that up to a third of GPs encounter patients who have used steroids but who have little knowledge of the damage they may be doing to their health. Anabolic steroids have been used to cheat in professional sport for years and they now appear to be widespread in gyms for amateur fitness fanatics and bodybuilders. One survey found that one in 10 gym enthusiasts admitted taking steroids to boost their training capacity and body appearance. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 1855 - Posted: 04.11.2002

By Eric Haseltine It's hard to be a productive member of the human race unless you can recognize faces and facial expressions, so our brains have evolved special circuits for processing facial information. These facial image processors are so aggressive that they often report the presence of faces where none are present. Examine these slabs of marble for a moment and you'll probably perceive several visages in both front and side views. Click on the "Play" button to see an area where a face suggested itself to me, then click on the button again to see the exact facial contours my brain perceived. You might see a different face. Usually, the people we are looking at are rightside up; when they're not, our face processing neurons struggle to do their job. © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 1854 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Some parts of your brain get along better than others By Eric Haseltine Just as countries often have better relations with distant nations than with those on their borders, local regions of the brain coexist more peacefully with far-off patches of neural tissue than they do with those right next door. For example, performing a difficult verbal task, such as memorizing poetry, will impair motor coordination more on your right side more than your left, because language is almost always processed in the left cerebral hemisphere, which also controls movement on the right side of the body. It is as if the closer two regions of the brain are, the more they compete for limited computational resources. Below is a test designed to engender competition between certain parts of your brain that process visual information. In order to avoid biasing the results, I won’t explain exactly which regions are competing with which until you'redone with the experiment. © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company.

Keyword: Pain & Touch; Laterality
Link ID: 1853 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Kathy A. Svitil "I felt like a dog on a leash," says Franklin Audis, 39, who remained tethered to electroencephalograph monitors throughout a seven-day stay at an epilepsy ward in Phoenix. Audis awaits the day when a chip implant could provide advance warning of a seizure: "It would be great to have medication automatically kick in." For 50 million epileptics in the world, daily life can be sheer terror. Will I seize when I'm driving? Will I collapse while I'm bathing my baby? Some epileptics are lucky enough to get a warning, such as seeing a weird light or tasting something funny or hearing something odd. These auras allow them to prepare for a firestorm in the brain that can cause convulsions, muscle spasms, and loss of consciousness. Others say their dogs can sense an attack on the way. For the vast majority of epileptics, however, there is no warning—ever. And for more than 12 1/2 million epileptics, even heavy daily doses of antiseizure medication will not keep the disease at bay. The day when epileptics will be able to fend off the frenzied neural discharges is fast approaching, say researchers at a special observation ward at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. Most of the patients in this ward suffer seizures every day. Signs posted at the nurses' stations ask visitors not to stare. Each person has wires sprouting from his or her head. Each is constantly connected to electroencephalograph (EEG) monitors. There is a general atmosphere of dread here as each person waits for the next seizure. Nevertheless, their seizures have added to a growing body of important data. © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company.

Keyword: Epilepsy
Link ID: 1852 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Bacterial enzyme chews through nerve growth barrier. HELEN PEARSON An enzyme that clears a path for growing nerves can help damaged spinal cord to repair itself, researchers have found. The enzyme could one day help to treat paralysing injuries, in conjunction with other therapies. Damaged nerves in the spinal cord do not normally recover. The surrounding cells multiply to form a dense scar, and secrete a thicket of barrier molecules that nerves cannot cross. Like a miniature lawnmower, the bacterial enzyme chondroitinase ABC trims back these obstructing molecules, Elizabeth Bradbury of King's College London and her team have shown1. Rats with damaged spinal cords injected with the enzyme partly recover from their injury. * Bradbury, E. J. Chondrotinase ABC promotes functional recovery after spinal cord injury. Nature, 416, 636, (2002). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Regeneration; Brain Injury/Concussion
Link ID: 1851 - Posted: 06.24.2010