Study: In-Vitro Twins, Triplets Prone To Brain Disorders By Rick Weiss Washington Post Staff Writer Children conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF) are significantly more likely to have neurological complications and developmental delays -- but virtually all those problems are linked to IVF's high prevalence of twin and triplet pregnancies, according to a new Swedish study. The report, one of very few to follow IVF babies through more than a decade of childhood, strengthens the notion that fertilization outside the body does not in itself seem to affect development. But it also offers powerful impetus for doctors to adopt techniques to reduce the incidence of multiple births with IVF. Unfortunately, experts said, the question of how best to accomplish that goal remains a major point of contention among fertility specialists, who help couples bring some 50,000 IVF babies into the world annually. © 2002 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1524 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Chronicle Staff Report Scientists are a step closer to understanding why ice cream feels cold -- and coincidentally, it has something to do with the cool, refreshing flavor of mint. In a report published today, University of California at San Francisco researchers describe a microscopic gateway on the surface of nerve cells that responds identically to either a cold stimulus or to the chemical menthol, an active ingredient in mint. Menthol will cause certain receptors on the surface of nerve cells to spring open, flooding the cells with ions and triggering an electrical signal. The researchers used genetic engineering techniques to isolate the menthol receptors. Next, they determined that these receptors also respond to cold temperatures -- opening up ion channels and delivering the same electrical signal to the brain. ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle Page A - 4

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 1523 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Newton's study challenges notions of civilisation Why do tales of children being raised by wild animals capture the imagination of the public? According to Michael Newton, author of a new book entitled Savage Girls And Wild Boys, the fascination lies in the notion that human beings can be stripped back to their base level. Speaking to BBC World Service's Everywoman programme, he explained: "I think we are fascinated by the question, 'what makes us a human being?' "These stories represent a sense of the essence of the human being. What we would be like if we were outside of society - what are we like essentially?" (C) BBC

Keyword: Language; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1522 - Posted: 02.11.2002

TOM CLARKE A snowball in the face or a chilly breeze around the ankles opens a molecular trap door in our skin's nerve cells, two studies now show1,2 . A third suggests that this, the first cold sensor to be identified, is just the tip of the iceberg3. How sensory neurons detect a drop in temperature is very hard to study because it affects so many cell processes. David Julius of the University of California, San Francisco, and his colleagues resorted to using menthol, which has the same effects on cold-sensitive nerves as a drop in temperature. "Technically it is much easier to use a chemical," says Julius. * McKemy, D. D., Neuhausser, W. M. & Julius, D. Identification of a cold receptor reveals a general role for TRP channels in thermosensation. Nature advance online publication, (2002). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 1521 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Recovering from depression may be tougher for certain groups of patients: elderly women, the less educated, those with neurotic traits and the medically ill, according to a new study. "It is essential to develop and test active treatments for depression that will be more effective in these populations," says lead study author Wayne Katon, M.D., of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. "Treatments involving longer-term and more intensive specialty mental health treatment may be necessary," he added. Katon and colleagues studied nearly 300 depressed individuals ranging in age from 18 to 90. All had experienced symptoms of depression for at least two years. The researchers treated the study participants in one of three ways: with an antidepressant medication called paroxetine, problem-solving therapy or a placebo.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 1520 - Posted: 02.11.2002

WASHINGTON - It is estimated that 15-57 percent of older adults experience some form of chronic depression for a period of time later in their lives, according to recent research, and this may compromise their ability to fight off infections and cancers. Lead researcher, Lynanne McGuire, Ph.D., of John Hopkins School of Medicine and co-authors Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser, Ph.D., and Ronald Glaser, Ph.D., of Ohio State University College of Medicine found that even chronic, sub-clinical mild depression may suppress an older person's immune system. Those with chronic mild depression had poorer lymphocyte -T cell responses to 2 mitogens at the follow up 18 months later. And the older a person was, the poorer the immune response was to mitogens - a model for how the body responds to outside agents, like viruses and bacteria. Reported on in this month's Journal of Abnormal Psychology , published by the American Psychological Association (APA) is an 18-month prospective study of 78 older adults (average age of 72.5 years old) that compared those who suffer from chronic depression (22) and those who don't (56) on their ability to generate enough white blood cells to fight off an infectious agent. Participants were part of a larger, longitudinal study on stress and health of caregivers of adults with dementia. Forty of the participants were caregiving for spouses with dementia. And 38 of the participants were not caregivers and recruited from newspaper advertisements, church groups and other local neighborhood referrals. The non-depressed group included 25 caregivers and 31 non-caregivers and the depressed group included 15 caregivers and seven non-caregivers. Females accounted for 64 percent in both the depressed and non-depressed group. © PsycNET 2002 American Psychological Association

Keyword: Depression; Stress
Link ID: 1519 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By SARAH LYALL LONDON, — The British government is struggling to quell fears about a common childhood vaccine that increasing numbers of parents believe may be linked to autism, despite strong official assurances to the contrary. At issue is the so-called MMR vaccine, which immunizes children against measles, mumps and rubella, three potentially deadly diseases that were once common and have been mostly wiped out. The government says that the vaccine, which is administered in two doses, the first when babies are about 18 months old, is perfectly safe. The issue has become a serious political headache for Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has been under pressure from the press as well as parents' groups to say whether his 20-month-old son, Leo, has had the vaccine. Mr. Blair has refused to answer but has strongly implied that Leo has been or will be inoculated, saying that he would be unlikely to tell other parents to do something that he was unwilling to do himself. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 1518 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By PEGGY ORENSTEIN Patrick T. is prone to citing Oscar Wilde and the physicist Michio Kaku. He's so well spoken, his manners polished to such a high gloss, that -- aside from the fact that he's been a methamphetamine addict and career criminal since age 13 whose only formal education is a high-school degree earned in juvenile detention -- he could blend easily into a gathering of witty young professionals. Certainly he is equally engaged by his work. Until recently, Patrick often earned his living robbing drug dealers and the occasional small business. "There's a lot of thought and energy that goes into getting loaded and planning a crime," he explains. "It's dramatic -- the excitement, the carefree feeling that comes when you succeed. That's not something that happens in the monotone of everyday life. That's why for me, feeding my mind and spirit will be as important as anything I do in terms of abstaining. Because if I get bored. . . . " He lets the threat hang, unspoken. Patrick is 30, tall and rangy, with sandy, short-cropped hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. He and I are in the small library of Center Point, a substance-abuse treatment facility in San Rafael, Calif., about half an hour north of San Francisco, where he is enrolled in a six-month residential program. Patrick is a "retread": this is his second time through here in a year, initially in exchange for a suspended sentence on charges of possessing drugs and stolen property. He completed the program last June and got a job restoring boats in Sausalito, convinced that his own ship had finally come in. But within five weeks he had moved from swallowing pain pills for a bad back to downing a couple of beers with his older brother. Then he started lighting up a few joints. In less than two months, he headed to San Francisco on a meth binge. He had planned to stay high until his money ran out, he was arrested for violating probation or he died. But one night, holed up in a transient hotel with an old crime partner and a prostitute, Patrick had a revelation. "I was suddenly disgusted with the whole scene," he recalls. "I had this thought -- or this thought was given to me -- that I just couldn't do it anymore. I just couldn't." He called Center Point and said he needed help. Within 24 hours he was back. As Patrick talks, members of ''the family,'' as the 40 clients here call one another, drift in and out, browsing through the self-help books that line one of the room's walls or -- since the program frowns on privacy -- listening to our conversation. A disheveled heroin addict who has been through six treatment programs in 11 years comes in to sharpen a pencil. After he leaves, Patrick says, ''What scares me are people like him, who are intelligent. That can be one of the biggest obstacles. You substitute intellectual understanding for actual change.'' Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1517 - Posted: 02.10.2002

Sudden movements as simple as jumping when the doorbell rings can trigger a stroke, research suggests. Scientists from Tel Aviv University studied 150 people who had suffered an ischemic stroke, the most common form and one caused by a blood clot blocking blood flow in an artery in the brain. They found that in more than one in five cases abrupt changes in body position caused by sudden loud noises, calls for help or other unexpected events had occurred within two hours before the start of the stroke. (C) BBC

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 1514 - Posted: 02.09.2002

Bruce Bower The past decade has witnessed a wave of new medications to treat schizophrenia, a debilitating mental disorder that afflicts 1 in 100 people. Armed with results from their own studies, various pharmaceutical companies tout the new drugs, the so-called atypical antipsychotics, as superior to traditional antipsychotic drugs in the battle against schizophrenia. However, it may be time to lower expectations for atypical antipsychotics. A new investigation, funded largely by the federal government, finds that treatment with any of three of these medications diminishes chronic schizophrenia symptoms only slightly more than a traditional antipsychotic drug does. “Atypical antipsychotics work better than standard medications, but their advantage is relatively modest, at least for chronic schizophrenia,” says study coauthor Jeffrey A. Lieberman, a psychiatrist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Although atypical antipsychotics often induce a weight gain of 5 to 12 pounds, Lieberman adds, they’re much less likely than traditional antipsychotics to cause severe movement disorders. Lewis, D.A. 2002. Atypical antipsychotic medications and the treatment of schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 159(February):177-179. From Science News, Vol. 161, No. 6, Feb. 9, 2002, p. 83. Copyright ©2002 Science Service. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 1513 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By SAM HOWE VERHOVEK MOLALLA, Ore., — There are 8,300 active doctors in Oregon. Of these, 777 have authorized at least one patient to use marijuana, under terms of a voter-approved medical- marijuana law. There are 272 who have authorized more than one patient; several have approved a handful; one is up to 61, another 65. Then there is Dr. Phillip E. Leveque. With 1,718 such authorizations, Dr. Leveque, a 78-year-old semiretired osteopath in this Portland suburb, has granted 49.7 percent of Oregon's medical-marijuana cards since the law went into effect in May 1999. So lopsided are the numbers that Dr. Leveque has drawn the attention of Oregon medical authorities, who pledge to crack down on him for "repeated negligence" in granting the marijuana approvals, some for patients he never saw. The state's Board of Medical Examiners said this week that it would issue a formal complaint, asserting that some of those he has approved to use marijuana did not qualify under the law. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1512 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Birdwatchers have long known that a little chili pepper added to the birdfeeder keeps the squirrels away. Now biochemists can tell them why. A new study reveals the cellular difference that makes mammals uniquely sensitive to capsaicin--the fiery molecule that makes chili peppers the bane of gringos and the delight of culinary masochists. The finding may lead to a new class of pain medications. In 1999, researchers showed that desert rodents scorn chilies, whereas birds wolf them down (ScienceNOW, 13 August 1999 ). That preference works out nicely for the chili plants--because the seeds break down in the rodent gut, but not in the avian gut, birds are better at dispersing the seeds. Cell biologists later found that in mice the same pain receptor is responsible for sensitivity to both heat and capsaicin (Science NOW, < AHREF="http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2000/413/1">13 April 2000). This led them to suspect that the receptor, called VR1, might differ between birds and mammals. Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Pain & Touch; Evolution
Link ID: 1511 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The Popular Drug May Reduce the Effects of Stroke By Jennifer Warner WebMD Medical News -- Viagra, the drug best known for reviving men's sex lives, may also revitalize the brain, according to new research. An animal study suggests that the anti-impotence drug can reduce the effects of stroke by helping the brain heal itself. "What we found is that we can use certain drugs like Viagra to create new brain cells," said study author Michael Chopp, PhD, scientific director of the Neuroscience Institute at Henry Ford Hospital, in a news release. "And these cells are created in both elderly as well as young subjects." Chopp presented his research today at the 27th International Stroke Conference in San Antonio, Texas. He says Viagra was selected for testing in stroke treatment because it is chemically similar to other compounds that have been shown to improve brain function in animals after stroke. © 1996-2002 WebMD Corporation. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Stroke; Neurogenesis
Link ID: 1510 - Posted: 06.24.2010

New Haven, Conn. -- A Yale researcher has received a $1.4 million grant to study a neurotransmitter whose loss in the brain is believed responsible for narcolepsy, an often misunderstood disease marked by an uncontrollable desire to sleep. "It's profoundly debilitating," said Anthony van den Pol, professor of neurosurgery at Yale School of Medicine . "For example, narcoleptics may go to work and, despite their best intentions to the contrary, spontaneously fall asleep, raising the ire of their employer. Then at night they may have trouble sleeping, and may suffer from hallucinations when falling asleep or waking." Van den Pol's laboratory, in collaboration with colleagues at Stanford and the Scripps Research Institute, first described the hypothalamic neurotransmitter, hypocretin, in 1998. Later studies showed that patients with narcolepsy did not have any neurons in the brain to make hypocretin. More recently, van den Pol and other researchers also found that hypocretin appears to be linked to pain modulation in the spinal cord.

Keyword: Narcolepsy; Pain & Touch
Link ID: 1509 - Posted: 02.09.2002

Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer Scientists have discovered a new type of specialized, light-sensing cell in the eye that keeps the brain's built-in circadian clock running on track. The new findings outline a previously unknown link between basic physiology and the amount of light in the environment, suggesting a new approach for relieving jet lag, the grind of shift work and maybe even the wintertime blues. It's long been clear that the amount of light in the environment has a big effect on hormones, mood and many other basic body functions. But how the light cues are gathered and sent to the brain is only now starting to become clear. ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle

Keyword: Biological Rhythms; Vision
Link ID: 1508 - Posted: 06.24.2010

BRAILLE READING STRATEGIES MAY ENHANCE STIMULATION OF THE BRAIN RESPONSIBLE FOR VISION Findings appear in recent edition of the Journal of Neurophysiology,a publication of the American Physiological Society (APS) Bethesda, MD -- The federal government records that more than 365,000 Americans under the age of 65 suffer from a severe loss of sight that merits assistance. Among the challenges faced by the suddenly blind is learning Braille, the international system of writing and printing by means of reading raised dots corresponding to letters, numbers, and punctuation. How can a person who has become sightless learn Braille, allowing access to the printed word? For most, hard work and determination plays a major role. However, new research has demonstrated that the brain compensates for loss of vision, and works to assist the sightless individual in learning Braille. © 1995-2002 Newswise

Keyword: Pain & Touch; Vision
Link ID: 1507 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Children born as a result of IVF treatment have a higher than normal chance of having cerebral palsy, claims research. However, scientists believe that the worrying increase is largely due to the higher number of multiple pregnancies caused by fertility treatment. IVF babies in general, and particularly twins and triplets, are more likely to be born early, and have low birthweight, both of which can be influential. Tellingly, the proportion of IVF twins suffering cerebral palsy was not greatly different to the number of normally-conceived twins affected. (C) BBC

Keyword: Brain Injury/Concussion
Link ID: 1506 - Posted: 02.08.2002

New research to be published on Friday is expected to show there is no link at all between the controversial MMR vaccination and autism. The research, carried out by a team at the Royal Free Hospital in London, is to be published on the British Medical Journal's website. It follows stringent defence of the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella immunisation by Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer for England. In remarks posted on the 10 Downing Street website, Prime Minister Tony Blair gives another hint that his son Leo has had the jab. (C) BBC

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 1505 - Posted: 02.08.2002

By SANDRA BLAKESLEE With the help of three kinds of blind mice and some ugly frogs, scientists have discovered a new class of light-sensing cells in the retina. The cells, which are different from the rods and cones that enable vision, appear to reset the body's master biological clock each morning and night. The researchers said that while the finding was made in mice, it was certain to hold true for humans, with implications for possible treatment of sleep disorders, jet lag, depression and other maladies involving the body's internal clock. "We thought we knew everything about the retina," said Dr. Michael Menaker, a neuroscientist at the University of Virginia and an expert on biological clocks, who is familiar with the research. "Now we find we have two separate systems in the eye, one for vision and one for setting the clock. We have a new way of thinking about how light is interpreted by the nervous system." Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Biological Rhythms; Vision
Link ID: 1503 - Posted: 02.08.2002

NEW BRUNSWICK/PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Bionic limb replacements that look and work exactly like the real thing will likely remain a Hollywood fantasy, but fast advances in human-to-machine communication and miniaturization could bring the technology close within a decade. That is the outlook of Rutgers biomedical engineer and inventor William Craelius, whose Dextra artificial hand is the first to let a person use existing nerve pathways to control individual computer-driven mechanical fingers. Craelius published an overview of bionics entitled "The Bionic Man - Restoring Mobility," in the international journal "Science," on Feb. 8.

Keyword: Robotics
Link ID: 1502 - Posted: 06.24.2010