Chewing gum may help to make people smarter by improving memory and brain performance, research suggests. In tests, scientists found the ability to recall remembered words improved by 35% among people who chewed gum. However, contrary to popular belief, they say it does not aid concentration. The scientists from the University of Northumbria, in Newcastle upon Tyne, cannot explain why memory is affected, but are working on two theories. One is that chewing raises the heart beat, which causes more oxygen and nutrients to be pumped into the brain. The other is that it triggers the production of insulin, which stimulates a part of the brain involved in memory. (C) BBC

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1689 - Posted: 03.14.2002

HELEN PEARSON Smokers who resolve to quit often feel the first painful pangs an hour after their last cigarette. Researchers have now identified the brain circuits that trigger this craving, which might offer new routes to beating addiction. One lungful of smoke swamps brain cells with nicotine, causing release of reward chemical dopamine. Within seconds, the same cells become desensitized to nicotine. So it is unclear why smokers enjoy a whole cigarette. Nicotine influences other brain circuits that fine-tune the dopamine release, Daniel McGehee and his team at the University of Chicago in Illinois have found. In particular, a hit of nicotine switches off one circuit for about an hour. This circuit normally stops cells releasing dopamine1. * Mansvelder, H.D., Keath, J.R. & McGehee, D.S. Synpatic mechanisms underlie nicotine-induced excitability of brain reward areas. Neuron, 33, 905 - 919, (2002). * Mansvelder, H.D. & McGehee, D.S. Long-term potentiation of excitatory inputs to brain reward areas by nicotine. Neuron, 27, 349 - 357, (2002). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1688 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Embryonic motor systems intrinsic to central nervous systems and not dependent on sensory cues by Janet Wong - An animal's ability to move - like the kicking of a developing baby or the crawling and walking of insects - is intrinsic, not dependent on sensory stimulation, says a U of T neurobiologist. "All animals, from worms to humans, have rhythmic movements that underlie locomotion," says Max Suster, a post-doctoral fellow at U of T at Mississauga and lead author of a paper in the March 14 issue of Nature. "The question is whether this ability is built into the neurons of central nervous systems or whether sensory input from the outside world helps organize those movements so that they are suitable to real life. Our research suggests that the development of embryonic motor systems is largely intrinsic to central nervous systems and not dependent on sensory cues like touch or smell." Suster and University of Cambridge professor Michael Bate examined the development of rhythmical movements in a type of fruit fly known as Drosophila. They compared fly embryos that received sensory input to those deprived of stimulation through methods of genetic engineering.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1687 - Posted: 03.14.2002

NEI study at Emory, elsewhere finds atropine drops work as well as standard treatment for amblyopia (ATLANTA) A National Eye Institute (NEI) study, conducted at more than 40 sites nationwide including Emory Eye Center, has found that atropine drops, given once a day to treat amblyopia or lazy eye -- the most common cause of visual impairment in children -- work as well as the standard treatment of patching one eye. This research finding in the Amblyopia Treatment Study may lead to better compliance with treatment and improved quality of life in children with this eye disorder. These results appear in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. After six months of treatment, researchers found that the drug atropine, when placed in the unaffected eye once a day, can work as well as eye patching and may encourage better compliance. Compliance is an important factor in the success of amblyopia therapy. Treatment should be started when the child is young, since amblyopia is more effectively treated in children under seven years of age. Timely and successful treatment for amblyopia in childhood can prevent lifelong visual impairment.

Keyword: Vision; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1685 - Posted: 03.14.2002

By Jeremy Laurance Health Editor The causes of autism, the fast-growing disorder that has struck fear into the middle classes and has been linked with the MMR vaccination, may be less mysterious than has been thought, scientists report today. The developmental disorder characterised by "extreme autistic loneliness" and "an obsessional desire for the maintenance of sameness" according to Leo Kanner, who first described it in 1943, has risen seven-fold in the UK in the last decade but no biological reason for the rise has been found. Now a new study has discovered that in up to a third of cases it may be possible to identify the cause of the condition. Researchers in the Netherlands who ran detailed tests on 25 adults with autism found definite or probable causes of the disorder in nine of them. © 2002 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 1683 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Rhonda Rowland CNN Medical Unit ROCHESTER, Minnesota (CNN) -- Children have at least a 7 1/2 percent chance of being diagnosed with ADHD some time between age 5 and high-school graduation, according to a new Mayo Clinic study. ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a brain disorder characterized by hyperactivity and inattention. ADHD is the medical term for what's widely referred to as ADD. "That's a large number of kids affected at some point during childhood," said Dr. William Barbaresi, developmental and behavioral pediatric specialist at the Mayo Clinic, who is lead author of the study published in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. "ADHD is without question a very common condition that affects a large number of children and we have to deal with it in a systematic fashion in school and in the medical system. We can't ignore a problem that affects such a large number of kids." © 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.

Keyword: ADHD
Link ID: 1682 - Posted: 06.24.2010

BY JIM WILSON We seriously doubt William Congreve would have said "music hath charms to soothe the savage breast" if his son's band had practiced in the basement. The point that Congreve so memorably made more than 300 years ago, however, still rings true. Music elicits unconscious reactions. Brahms reportedly puts cranky babies to sleep. Mozart supposedly helps kids score better on tests. Pleasant melodies of all sorts are said to lift depression, relieve anxiety and reduce pain associated with cancer. I've used a lot of weasel words here because psychiatrists are divided on whether the positive effects result from listening to music or the infamous placebo effect. But having expressed this reservation, they acknowledge that sounds can indeed provoke the nervous system. The most dramatic examples are two types of epileptic seizures. High-frequency sound waves can trigger "audiogenic seizures." The emotional reactions to music can cause "musicogenic seizures." Now there is one more thing die-hard scientific skeptics will have to accept about the effects of sounds: Practicing a musical instrument physically changes the structure of the brain.

Keyword: Hearing
Link ID: 1681 - Posted: 03.14.2002

By Paul Eng [ABCNEWS.com] March 13 — Tired of monkeying around with a mouse in order to work with your computer? The good news: One day, you may be able to control your PC just by thinking. Researchers have pursued such futuristic man-to-machine connections for years in the hopes they could allow paralyzed people to more easily control computers or other complex devices such as artificial limbs. And scientists at Brown University in Providence, R.I., say the results of their latest research, to be published in this week's Nature journal, may help bring such possibilities closer to reality. Copyright © 2002 ABCNEWS Internet Ventures.

Keyword: Robotics
Link ID: 1680 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Learning Associated With Increase in Transport Molecules in Brain HOUSTON, Can't remember where you put your keys, or how to retrieve your voicemail? Your brain's cleaning crew may be asleep on the job. Molecular "brooms" that whisk away excess amounts of the chemical glutamate in the brain may play a key role in learning and memory formation, suggest recent animal studies by scientists at the University of Houston. In the brain, several chemicals called neurotransmitters carry messages in the spaces connecting one nerve cell, or neuron, to the next, allowing the brain to function properly. Scientists believe that the strengthening of these connections by the neurotransmitter glutamate - a process called long-term potentiation - is one mechanism responsible for the storage of some memories. Now, for the first time, researchers at the University of Houston have determined that levels of transport molecules for glutamate - chemicals that latch on to and "sweep away" glutamate - increase during learning, suggesting that this molecular cleaning crew has an important role in the process.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1678 - Posted: 03.13.2002

PITTSBURGH, – A multi-center, international collaborative team of researchers is the first to identify a region on chromosome 1 that may contain genes that make an individual vulnerable to developing anorexia nervosa (AN). The findings add to a growing body of research supporting the belief that genetic transmission – in addition to psychosocial factors – contributes to a person’s vulnerability to develop AN. The study, in the March issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, is the first genome-wide linkage analysis of eating disorders and uses an affected relative pair research method that looks for genes that run in families where two or more people have a disorder. Results from a linkage study provide stronger evidence of a genetic basis for an illness than those from population-based association studies, where people with a disorder are compared with samples from the general population.

Keyword: Anorexia & Bulimia; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 1677 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Bernice Porjesz, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York, Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn, and others from six of the nine universities that comprise NIAAA's Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) report in today's online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (99[6]:3729-3733) significant linkage and linkage disequilibrium between beta brain wave (EEG) frequency and a cluster of gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor genes on human chromosome 4. Conducted in the laboratory of COGA Principal Investigator Dr. Henri Begleiter, the study is coauthored by Laura Almasy, Ph.D., Howard J. Edenberg, Ph.D., and Theodore Reich, Ph.D., among others. "Drs. Porjesz and Begleiter are the first to find a specific genetic locus associated with fundamental human brain oscillations. Their work contributes to understanding of brain neuroelectric activity and expedites our search for alcoholism risk and protective genes," said NIAAA Acting Director Raynard S. Kington, M.D., Ph.D.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 1676 - Posted: 03.13.2002

Artist and professor get inside view of their differing mindsets as images go on show in exhibition at Museum of Science Maev Kennedy, arts and heritage correspondent The Guardian An internationally renowned contemporary artist and a professor of neuropsychology peered into their own brains yesterday, to see if they could identify what made them different. Richard Wentworth, the artist, and Richard Gregory, emeritus professor of neuropsychology at Bristol University, discovered they had more in common than their first names. As boys they took carpentry classes on Saturdays: but if this was influenced by any part of their brains, neither could spot it, until yesterday. © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

Keyword: Brain imaging
Link ID: 1675 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism announces a 5-year initiative funded at approximately $50 million to define the brain circuits and mechanisms that underlie behavioral responses to chronic and excessive alcohol consumption. The multidisciplinary Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism (INIA) will integrate research knowledge from animal and human studies and multiple analytic approaches to understand the behavioral neuroadaptive process — changes in the brain that occur with chronic alcohol exposure that contribute to excessive drinking. "Neuroadaptation produces a variety of behavioral responses implicated in the disorders alcohol abuse (a harmful drinking pattern that does not entail addiction) and alcohol dependence or addiction, commonly known as alcoholism," said NIAAA Acting Director Raynard Kington, M.D., Ph.D. "In particular, INIA seeks to clarify the mechanisms of reinforcement, tolerance, and sensitization that drive compulsive drinking, and the withdrawal and relapse that complicate successful treatment. As with all alcohol research, INIA has as its ultimate goal improved treatment and preventive interventions

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1674 - Posted: 06.24.2010

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A hormone in pregnant women which prevents the immune system from attacking the fetus may hold the key to halting auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Australian researchers said on Tuesday. The researchers said they hoped to begin phase one clinical trials of a drug based on the hormone in about a year. An offshoot of Sydney's University of New South Wales and biotech firm CBio Ltd on Tuesday signed a deal to produce enough Early Pregnancy Factor -- a modified version of a naturally occurring protein -- to begin the toxicity tests. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 1673 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Doctors have begun to treat people who suffer from a compulsive need to shop with a drug originally designed to treat depression. For many shopping can provide an uplifting boost. But with consumer spending soaring, it is estimated that nearly one in five people has a problem keeping their shopping habits under control. Particularly among women. Easier credit, peer pressure and advertising have been blamed. US doctors have responded by prescribing the drug Cipramil for shopaholics who carry on buying despite running into huge debt. The drug is an anti-depressant from the same family as Prozac. (C) BBC

Keyword: Depression; OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Link ID: 1671 - Posted: 03.12.2002

By ERIC NAGOURNEY Some children who exhibit attention and hyperactivity problems may really be suffering from a sleep disorder, researchers suggest. A study found a significant link between problems like snoring at night and behavioral problems during the day. If the findings are confirmed, said the lead author, Dr. Ronald Chervin of the Michael S. Aldrich Sleep Disorders Laboratory at the University of Michigan, it may mean that simple fatigue causes the problem. "We wonder if the children are sleepy, and are expressing their sleepiness differently than adults do," said Dr. Chervin, who suggested that some children now being given drugs like Ritalin might benefit more from treatment for sleep disorders. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: ADHD; Sleep
Link ID: 1670 - Posted: 03.12.2002

By C. CLAIBORNE RAY [Q] . What is brown fat? How does it affect the human body? A. Brown fat, known to scientists as brown adipose tissue, is a kind of thermal insurance for infant mammals; the supply tends to shrink as mammals age. In human infants, it forms about 5 percent of body weight but is almost all gone by adulthood. White fat, which is more widely distributed and persistent, is a storage depot for energy, usually as single drops of triglyceride. Brown fat, however, is an immediate energy resource that quickly grows active when an animal is exposed to the cold. Each cell usually contains many triglyceride droplets of different sizes. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 1669 - Posted: 03.12.2002

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) today awarded the first installment of an expected $6 million grant over 5 years to researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for major expansion of a collaborative effort to identify autism vulnerability genes. Daniel Geschwind, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute will direct the project, in partnership with the citizens group Cure Autism Now (CAN), to add 300 more families to its Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) gene bank. The information and samples gathered in the study will be broadly shared with the research community through AGRE and a repository maintained by the NIMH Human Genetics Initiative. Autism begins in early childhood and impairs thinking, feeling, language and the ability to relate to others. While causes and effective treatments have thus far eluded science, evidence suggests that the disorder is highly heritable. However, it is thought to stem from interactions among multiple, as yet unknown, genes, complicating the research challenge. Recent genome scans have identified several chromosomal sites likely harboring disease vulnerability genes.

Keyword: Autism; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 1668 - Posted: 03.12.2002

Ivanhoe Newswire) -- They look like snakes wrestling in a patient's brain and when these brain malformations rupture, they can lead to brain damage or death. However, many patients don't even know they have arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). Researchers have now developed a simple, safe way to minimize the disastrous effects of AVMs. AVMs are dense clusters of blood vessels that twist and turn around each other in the brain. Patients with AVMs may experience extremely painful headaches, but many are unaware of their condition. To treat the condition, doctors traditionally use a special type of glue to seal off the vessels that send blood to the AVMs. However, doctors do not know if the vessels they block will cause irreversible damage to brain tissue. Previous research shows 7 percent to 39 percent of patients experience brain damage after this operation and up to 3 percent of patients will die. Copyright © 2002 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 1667 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Critics say the government's new anti-drug campaign is reactionary and moralistic. Worse, it may not even work. By Janelle Brown This is your brain on drugs. Just say no. What's your anti-drug? D.A.R.E. to keep kids off drugs. Billions have been spent on catchy slogans and flashy branding to make the rejection of drugs as appealing as the consumption of candy. But have the dollars devoted to educating, cajoling, pleading and frightening us away from drugs done the job? Even those who make the ads admit a limited return on this investment: Teenagers see anti-drug ads 2.7 times a week, according to the government's numbers. And yet 54 percent of all teens try drugs before they graduate from high school. Propaganda from the War on Drugs was supplanted by dispatches from the War on Terrorism during the waning months of 2001. But last month, the Office for National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) found a way to marry the two battles in its latest anti-drug campaign, which equates drug use with financing terrorists. At the same time, the Partnership for a Drug Free America debuted its own ambitious anti-Ecstasy crusade entitled "Ecstasy: Where's the Love?" Copyright 2002 Salon.com

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1666 - Posted: 03.12.2002