Concerns Linger, but British Study No Smoking Gun By Daniel DeNoon WebMD Medical News -- A British study widely reported to link Prozac to cancer does no such thing. The study appears in the April 1 issue of the journal Blood. News headlines immediately heralded the findings as evidence that the antidepressants Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and Celexa can cause cancer. This came as a complete surprise to study leader John Gordon, PhD, immunologist at England's University of Birmingham. © 1996-2002 WebMD Corporation. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 1785 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Increase Reflects Delay of Symptoms, Not New Cases, British Expert Says By David Brown Washington Post Staff Writer ATLANTA, March 27 -- The number of British cases of the rare and fatal human equivalent of "mad cow disease" is doubling every three years, even though measures to protect meat, the presumed source of the infecting agent, have been in place for nearly a decade. The continued growth of the epidemic of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) almost certainly reflects the long delay between infection and the appearance of symptoms, rather than representing new infections, a British scientist told a gathering of infectious disease specialists here. "The trend is continuing upward," said Robert Will, of Western General Hospital, in Edinburgh, Scotland. "The central issue is, how long is this going to go on? We don't know, because we simply don't know what the incubation period is." © 2002 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 1784 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service Genes linked to depression differ between men and women, according to the first systematic search for chromosomal regions linked to severe depression. The new work suggests that there are important differences in the molecular basis of clinical depression in men and women, or sex-specific differences that determine resistance to stressful events, says George Zubenko of the University of Pittsburgh, who led the research. Further studies based on these findings could have huge implications for scientists' understanding of the various biochemical causes of depression - and for treatments. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Depression; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1783 - Posted: 06.24.2010

David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor Stanford University sleep researchers say they have learned to treat a rare medical disorder that causes patients to commit sexual acts -- sometimes extremely violent ones -- even while they are fast asleep. Some of the patients may often moan or cry out in sexual excitement that merely disrupts their partners, according to Dr. Christian Guilleminault, a psychiatrist at Stanford's sleep disorders clinic, while others have been known to assault their bedmates sexually or masturbate so violently they may damage themselves. The disorder is most often called "sleep sex" by the patients who have come to the Stanford center and is distinguished from other types of sleep activity, such as flailing arms or running while asleep. It is highly unusual behavior, but researchers have found it may be more common than they first thought, according to Guilleminault and his colleagues. ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle

Keyword: Sleep; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1782 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By ANNE EISENBERG THIS is a case of monkey think, monkey do. A rhesus macaque monkey at a Brown University laboratory can move a cursor on a computer screen just by thinking about it — playing a pinball game in which every time a red target dot pops up, the monkey moves a cursor to meet the target quickly and accurately. The monkey doesn't do this trick with a mouse or a joystick. It plays the game mentally, controlling where it wants the cursor to go by thinking. (The simple pinball video game the monkey played can be viewed at donoghue.neuro.brown.edu/multimedia.php.) Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Robotics
Link ID: 1781 - Posted: 06.24.2010

An international research team has identified the specific genes that control the growth and development of brain cells in fruit flies. The discovery could have applications well beyond the insect world, providing new insights into human nerve cell development and the treatment of neurological diseases in people. Scientists from Stanford and the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna, Austria, report their findings in the March 28 issue of the journal Nature. In a companion paper, the authors demonstrate how the same genes that control nerve cell growth also affect embryo development in fruit flies. The Nature studies focus on Rac genes, which are found in the DNA of all animals as well as people. In fact, Rac genes produce a class of proteins called Rac GTPases, whose molecular structure is virtually identical in a wide range of organisms -- from fruit flies to humans.

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Evolution
Link ID: 1780 - Posted: 03.28.2002

A signaling protein suspected of malfunctioning in anxiety and mood disorders plays a key role in the development of emotional behavior, report researchers funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Mice lacking it in frontal brain circuits during an early critical period fail to develop normal reactions in anxiety-producing situations. Rene Hen, Ph.D., Columbia University, and colleagues created mice that lacked the protein, which brain cells use to receive signals from the chemical messenger serotonin, by knocking-out the gene that codes for it. As adults, these "knockout" mice were slow to venture into -- or eat in -- unfamiliar environments. By selectively restoring, or "rescuing" certain populations of the receptor proteins, the researchers have now pinpointed when and where they enable the brain to cope with anxiety. Hen, Cornelius Gross, Ph.D., Xiaoxi Zhuang, Ph.D, and colleagues report on their discovery in the March 28, 2002 Nature. Brain neurons communicate with each other by secreting messenger chemicals, such as serotonin, which cross the synaptic gulf between cells and bind to receptors on neighboring cell membranes. Medications that enhance such binding of serotonin to its receptor (serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs) are widely prescribed to treat anxiety and depression, suggesting that the receptor plays an important role in regulating these emotions.

Keyword: Emotions; Stress
Link ID: 1779 - Posted: 03.28.2002

Source: Tufts University Heart-health conscious consumers have likely heard about homocysteine -an amino-acid that, at higher-than-normal levels in the bloodstream, can damage blood vessels. New research published in The New England Journal of Medicine speculates that high homocysteine can also damage the delicate blood vessels in the brain, setting the stage for the development of dementia. Boston researchers analyzed information gathered on more than a thousand older participants of the long-running Framingham Study. They looked for a link between blood homocysteine measurements collected in 1990 and the development of dementia in the decade that followed. The researchers found that the risk of dementia rose with increasing homocysteine levels. Copyright © 2002 Novartis Foundation for Gerontology. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 1778 - Posted: 06.24.2010

MARGIE MASON Associated Press Writer If the mice appeared anxious - New research suggests that serotonin, an all-purpose neurotransmitter already known to play a vital role in many behaviors and emotions, appears to be implicated in regulating anxiety as well. In experiments with bioengineered mice, researchers showed that animals lacking serotonin early in life when their brains were rapidly developing displayed anxious behaviors as adults. This suggests there is an early window during which serotonin is necessary to establish the proper brain circuitry that is essential for normal emotional behavior throughout life, they said. Researchers said these findings in mice may be relevant to anxiety disorders in people. Serotonin levels already have been linked to depression, migraine headaches and irritable bowel syndrome.

Keyword: Emotions; Stress
Link ID: 1777 - Posted: 03.28.2002

Scientists have succeeded in boosting the memory of fruit flies in a laboratory. The discovery could provide clues about the way the human brain works as the fundamental mechanism of memory appears to be common to most animals. It is widely believed that memories are stored as changes in the number and strength of the connections between brain cells (neurons). A typical neuron makes thousands of these connections - called synapses - with other neurons. However, only a proportion of these synapses play a role in a particular memory. Neuroscientists are investigating chemicals that appear to strengthen synapses. The latest research suggests that one such chemical is a protein called PKM. (C) BBC

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1776 - Posted: 03.27.2002

Researchers have found that they can enhance memory in fruit flies by boosting the level of a protein called PKM. The scientists could trigger memory enhancement in the flies by using either a fly or a mouse version of PKM. The study, published in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience, provides an important new clue about a fundamental mechanism of memory common to flies, humans, and most other animals. It is widely believed that memories are stored as changes in the number and strength of the connections between brain neurons, called synapses. A typical brain neuron makes thousands of synapses with other neurons. However, only a subset of those synapses is involved in a particular memory or learned skill. Neuroscientists are interested in determining how molecules that strengthen synapses are targeted to some synapses but not to others.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1775 - Posted: 03.27.2002

The adipose-derived hormone leptin is well known for its influence on feeding behavior. Animals with genetic defects in leptin signaling become obese when supplied unlimited food. However, even when food supply is limited to prevent obesity, leptin still exerts profound effects on various organs, including the bones. These effects are mediated by the central nervous system, specifically hypothalamic neurons that respond to signals from neuropeptide Y (NPY), and, as Baldock and colleagues now show, they can be mimicked by defects in the NPY receptor Y2. The accelerated bone deposition in animals lacking leptin signaling might be thought to occur as a consequence of hormonal imbalance, possibly mediated by changes in corticosteroids or plasma calcium levels. However, Baldock et al. find no evidence for such a mechanism, and they suggest instead that rapid bone deposition and high trabecular bone volume result from direct neural control of bone growth.

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 1774 - Posted: 03.27.2002

STANFORD, Calif. - In a new study, Stanford researchers describe a treatable medical condition which causes people to commit violent sexual acts in their sleep. Referred to as "sleep sex," the nocturnal activities cited in the study range from disruptive moaning to rape-like behavior toward bed partners. The researchers believe this condition stems from glitches in brain waves during sleep. By bringing attention to the disorder, they hope the health-care community will recognize the problem as medical in origin rather than psychological. "Now doctors might know to ask patients about how they're sleeping," said Christian Guilleminault, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford School of Medicine. Guilleminault's study, released in the March/April issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, outlined 11 patients with symptoms that included loud, disruptive moaning on one end of the scale and sexual assault on the other. Regardless of how unusual or violent the behavior, patients had no memory of the events the next morning.

Keyword: Sleep; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1773 - Posted: 03.27.2002

BY BEN HIRSCHLER, EUROPEAN PHARMACEUTICALS CORRESPONDENT LONDON - (Reuters) - Prozac and related antidepressants could in theory pose a cancer threat by blocking the body's innate ability to kill tumor cells, British scientists said on Tuesday. But Professor John Gordon of the University of Birmingham, who led the research, said patients should keep taking their drugs since there was no evidence of any link in practice. Working in the test-tube, Gordon and others found that the brain's mood-regulating chemical serotonin caused some cancer cells to self-destruct.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 1771 - Posted: 03.27.2002

Pheromones Enhance Females' Sexual Attractiveness to Males By Melinda T. Willis [ABCNEWS.com] — When it comes to sexual attraction, new research provides evidence that the nose knows. Women who wore perfume with synthesized female pheromone were more attractive to their male partners, conclude scientists at San Francisco State University. Pheromones are odorless chemicals excreted from the body that affect reproductive interactions among both animals and humans. They are picked up by a special organs or tissues in the nose, and then conveyed to regions higher up in the brain. Copyright © 2002 ABCNEWS Internet Ventures.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste); Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1770 - Posted: 06.24.2010

An "exceptional" RAF cadet who suffered massive and irreversible brain damage during surgery has won £4.4m damages. Christopher Lynham, 27, was admitted to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary after a motorcycle accident in May 1998. But in the operating theatre he suffered a cardiac arrest. On Monday the High Court judge Mr Justice Garland said there was a better than 95% chance the cadet would have made a complete recovery if he had received appropriate treatment. Mr Lynham, of Westfield Road, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, was left with almost complete amnesia and now lives "largely in the moment", say experts. He can still speak, and read and write, but is said to be easily frustrated. He is totally incapable of looking after himself and will require 24-hour care for the remainder of his life. (C) BBC

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1768 - Posted: 03.26.2002

Arsenic poisoning through contaminated drinking water can lead to diseased arteries, which in turn can cause heart attacks and strokes, research shows. Scientists say they have identified a link between long-term exposure to arsenic and the accelerated development of atherosclerosis or progressive narrowing and hardening of the arteries leading to the brain. The findings, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, strongly point to arsenic and possibly other pollutants, as risk factors for blood vessel disease throughout the body. Arsenic is naturally occurring in rocks in many parts of the world, including Bangladesh and China, and contaminates underground artesian well water.

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 1767 - Posted: 03.26.2002

Scientists have found strong evidence that mental stress can be deadly for people who suffer from heart disease. They found that the death rate was nearly three times higher for heart patients who suffered from mental stress. Although stress is essentially a mental condition, it does have a profound impact on the body too. It constricts blood vessels and raises blood pressure and heart beat rate, increasing the heart's demand for oxygen. The result is that the heart muscle may not get enough blood - a condition known as ischaemia. (C) BBC

Keyword: Stress
Link ID: 1766 - Posted: 03.26.2002

By ERICA GOODE Psychologists are adept at diagnosing and treating mental illness. But unlike psychiatrists, who are medically trained, they have never been able to prescribe drugs for their suffering patients. As of July 1, however, psychologists in one state, New Mexico, will be authorized to pull out the prescription pad. A new law will grant prescribing privileges to licensed, doctoral-level psychologists who have completed an additional training and certification program. And though the specifics of the plan remain to be worked out, the law is already the focus of a bitter national debate. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 1763 - Posted: 03.26.2002

The personality of railroad foreman Phineas Gage took a turn for the worse when an accidental explosion shot a tamping iron through the frontal lobe of his brain. Once a model of responsibility, Gage became so rude and impulsive that he never worked as a foreman again. Now researchers report that damage to a brain region called the orbital prefrontal cortex (OPFC) brings out impulsive behavior in rats as well, causing impulsive behavior. The study suggests the OPFC contributes to decision-making by evaluating the trade-off between small, immediate rewards and large, delayed rewards. Previous studies in humans and a variety of animals have shown that the OPFC is part of a network of brain regions that respond to food, sex, and other rewards. In brain imaging studies, the OPFC is highly active when people deliberate between actions with uncertain risks and rewards, and clinical reports describe patients, such as Gage, whose inability to consider long-term consequences can lead to tragic outcomes. But no one knew exactly what role the OPFC played in decision-making. S. MOBINI ET AL., PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY 160, 290 (2002) Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Emotions; Attention
Link ID: 1762 - Posted: 06.24.2010