By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG WASHINGTON, — A survey of medical experts who write guidelines for treating conditions like heart disease, depression and diabetes has found that nearly 9 out of 10 have financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, and the ties are almost never disclosed. It has long been known that contact with the pharmaceutical industry can influence individual doctors' prescribing patterns and that financial support from drug manufacturers can affect the course of academic research. But the survey, a relatively small study conducted by a team from the University of Toronto, is the first to document the extent to which the industry may influence so-called clinical practice guidelines. These voluntary guidelines, which are typically published in medical journals and endorsed by medical societies, set standards that are followed by countless doctors. The survey, in this week's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, sought the opinions of 192 medical experts who participated in writing 44 sets of practice guidelines covering treatment for asthma, coronary artery disease, depression, diabetes, high cholesterol, pneumonia and other ailments. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 1485 - Posted: 06.24.2010

MADISON, Wis. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- For years, law enforcement officials have relied on DNA evidence, fingerprints and lie detector tests to identify who committed a crime. Now, they are looking for ways to use the criminal’s own brain to convict them. We look pictures of violent crimes and wonder, how can anyone commit such acts? Neuroscientist Richard Davidson, Ph.D., says, for some, the behavior may be out of their control. Copyright © 2002 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.

Keyword: Brain imaging; Aggression
Link ID: 1483 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The NHS will pay for expensive MS drugs for thousands of patients - despite its own advisory body ruling them out. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) - has ruled that drugs such as beta interferon and glatiramer acetate are not currently cost effective for the NHS. However, ministers have softened the blow to patients by negotiating a massive programme with pharmaceutical firms which will mean that many who could benefit from the drug will get it anyway. Health Secretary Alan Milburn said: "Today we can go a long way towards ending the uncertainty that has affected thousands of people with MS. For years they have suffered from the legacy of postcode prescribing. "Beta interferon has a unique history which demands a unique solution. Uncertainty about the effectiveness of treatment for MS has led to thousands of patients missing out." (C) BBC

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis
Link ID: 1482 - Posted: 02.05.2002

Researchers identify for the first time proteins vital to maintaining nervous system architecture New York, N.Y., -Researchers at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found, for the first time, that certain proteins maintain the nervous system architecture after the developing body lays down the wiring pattern. The finding may someday lead to a better understanding of some neurological diseases but, for now, is changing neuroscientists’ fundamental understanding of nervous system anatomy. The investigators, led by Dr. Oliver Hobert, P&S assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, have identified a family of six proteins, called ZIGs, responsible for keeping the wiring of the nervous system in its proper place in the mature organism. The results will be published in the Jan. 25 issue of Science. Although the researchers identified the proteins in C. elegans, a microscopic worm employed as a model invertebrate to study neurobiology, humans have proteins with similar structures.

Keyword: Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 1480 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By REUTERS WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 — As the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease worsen, the costs of caring for patients rise sharply, suggesting that treatment to slow progression of the degenerative brain disease would help lower medical costs, according to a study released today. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles and published in the February issue of The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, showed that for a six-month period, costs associated with Alzheimer's could rise to more than $30,000 per patient, depending on severity of symptoms. "We knew that Alzheimer's was an expensive illness, but I wanted to get a better idea of how the severity of the illness related to the costs," said Dr. Gary Small, the lead researcher and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at U.C.L.A. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 1479 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By ERICA GOODE It was 1980 and the patient in Dr. Glen Gabbard's consulting room had a pressing request. She had just seen "Ordinary People," she told him, and in the movie, Judd Hirsch, who played the therapist, hugged Timothy Hutton, who played the suicidal patient. "It really helped him a lot," the woman said, "so I was wondering if you could hug me." Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 1478 - Posted: 02.05.2002

By JANE E. BRODY Having an old dog is akin to having a newborn baby, only worse. Babies, at least, become easier to care for and more fun to be with as they get older. The dog gets harder and less amusing. No owner can get a continuous night's sleep when every whimper may be an announcement that the dog, no longer continent, needs to go out in a hurry. New babies remain confined to cradle or crib and rarely rustle the bedding. But owners of old pets are often awakened by nighttime pacing and the click, click, click of nails on the floor, or by the painful yelp of an arthritic dog trying to lie down. And while caring for an old pet gets harder, the rewards decline as it becomes increasingly unresponsive and immobile. Loss of hearing keeps a sleeping pet (and they do sleep most of the day) from noticing its owner's return and bestowing a loving greeting. Arthritis turns a walk into a crawl and forces many owners to carry their dogs up and down stairs and lift them into cars. An aging animal's interests are likely to wane — even favorite toys are often ignored — and memory fades, as well, with some dogs forgetting whether to go through a door on the hinge side or the knob side. And happily for older people as well as for pet owners, scientific studies in dogs strongly suggest that some of the more debilitating effects of age on the brain may be averted or at least eased by consuming more substances that protect the brain's cellular mechanisms from the ravages of oxidation. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 1477 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere has discovered that a protein involved in muscle-wasting diseases plays a role in moving water in and out of brain cells. The finding opens new avenues of inquiry for treating potentially lethal brain swelling from injury and stroke. Brain swelling begins when water molecules pass through a microscopic "channel" into certain brain cells. In a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists report that alpha-Syntrophin keeps these common water channels where they belong. By tethering the water channel protein, Aquaporin-4 (AQP4), to the tips of brain cells, Syntrophin keeps the openings for water right next to blood vessels. Without Syntrophin, the water channels are everywhere on the brain cells except where they are supposed to be, the scientists found. "The brain is in a very unique environment," says Peter Agre, M.D., a professor in the department of biological chemistry, part of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences, and an author of the report. "If you sprain your ankle, it has room to swell. If you hurt your brain, swelling can kill. The skull provides protection, but its rigidity can be a potentially lethal hazard as well." In addition to impacting research into brain swelling, the finding also creates a new vision of the invisible barrier between the blood and the brain, one that involves a separate barrier for water, the scientists suggest.

Keyword: Brain Injury/Concussion
Link ID: 1476 - Posted: 02.05.2002

Findings may provide novel insights into more common epilepsy New York, N.Y.— Columbia Health Sciences researchers have identified a gene implicated in a rare form of epilepsy, a finding that could provide insights into the cause of common epilepsy. Led by Dr. Ruth Ottman, Columbia investigators identified the gene, called LGI1, by extensively studying five families in which some members had an uncommon type of epilepsy characterized by auditory hallucinations and other symptoms. During a seizure, affected individuals often hear sounds that are not real. The findings will be published Jan. 28 in the online version of Nature Genetics and in the March issue of the journal. Dr. Ottman is professor of epidemiology in the Mailman School of Public Health and deputy director of research at the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center. Researchers have not yet identified the genes associated with most forms of epilepsy, a chronic medical condition that affects at least 2.3 million Americans. People with epilepsy have repeated seizures, caused by that is due to temporary changes in the electrical function of the brain, that can causing seizures that can affect awareness, movement, and sensation. But scientists study rarer familial forms of the disease to get genetic clues about the more common cases.

Keyword: Epilepsy; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 1475 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Body builders who abuse prescription-only drugs bought on the internet are risking their health, according to a report. It follows the case of a man who suffered repeated blackouts after taking an anabolic steroid that was withdrawn from use in 1982. An article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine said the 30-year-old man, from the UK, had bought this and another substance on the internet. He admitted buying and taking Dianabol, which was removed from the market 20 years ago because of its reported side-effects. He had also taken bromocriptine, which interferes with the neurotransmitter dopamine, in the brain. (C) BBC

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 1474 - Posted: 02.05.2002

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers are one step closer to finding a new treatment for Huntington's disease. By improving the brain's natural protective response to Huntington's disease, researchers from Stanford University Medical Center have been able to ease the uncontrollable tremors and extend the lives of animals afflicted with the disease. Previous research shows Huntington's patients' brains become clogged with clumps of abnormal proteins called aggregates. Lead author Lawrence Steinman, M.D., from SUMC, believed preventing the proteins from clumping into aggregates could control the disease. Dr. Steinman and colleagues injected mice that had a neurological disease similar to Huntington's with a compound called cystamine. After treatment, the mice had fewer tremors and abnormal movements. Also, lifespan was increased by 20 percent in these mice. However, the amount of aggregates remained unchanged. SOURCE: Nature Medicine, 2002;8:143-149 Copyright © 2002 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.

Keyword: Huntingtons
Link ID: 1473 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By ERICA GOODE The American Academy of Pediatrics, which offers guidance to parents on child-rearing issues from spanking to nutrition, is announcing its support today for the right of gay men and lesbians to adopt their partners' children. "Children who are born to or adopted by one member of a same- sex couple deserve the security of two legally recognized parents," the academy says in a policy statement published in its scientific journal, Pediatrics. The organization issued its statement after a committee reviewed two decades of studies. Most, it said, found that the children of gay or lesbian parents were as well adjusted socially and psychologically as the children of heterosexual parents. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1472 - Posted: 02.04.2002

Philadelphia, Pa. – Rapid rates of weight gain during infancy could be linked to obesity later in childhood, report researchers in the February issue of Pediatrics. By studying a large, diverse cohort of U.S. children, researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that rapid weight gain during the first four months of life was significantly associated with an increased risk of being overweight at age seven, regardless of birth weight and weight at one year of age. “Early infancy seems to be a critical period for the establishment of obesity. Babies double their birth weight during the first four to six months, so this may be a period for the establishment of weight regulation. A rapid rate of early weight gain may also be related to cardiovascular disease later in life; both conditions often cluster in individuals,” said Nicolas Stettler, M.D., M.C.S.E., a pediatric nutrition specialist at Children’s Hospital and primary investigator of the study.

Keyword: Obesity; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1471 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Women's greater ability to detect odours and aromas could be linked to the oestrogen hormone, according to research. A US study showed women of reproductive age are far better at identifying odours than men after repeated exposure to the source of the smell. Researchers found female subjects whose odour sensitivity was tested many times, were able to detect the cherry-almond smell of benzaldehyde and a few other odours at progressively much lower concentrations. Male subjects taking part in similar tests never improved their ability to identify odours with experience. (C) BBC

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste); Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 1470 - Posted: 02.04.2002

An appetite drug which appears to significantly reduce fat consumption in rats could become the latest potential treatment for obesity. But it remains to be seen whether the drug can work in humans. Obesity is a growing modern epidemic in many developed countries - placing patients at far higher risk of heart disease, diabetes and other health problems. The research, carried out at the drug firm Merck's laboratories in New Jersey in the US, has been published in the journal Nature Medicine. (C) BBC

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 1469 - Posted: 02.04.2002

There are fears parents may turn away from the vaccine The doctor who publicly voiced concerns about the safety of MMR, has not proved the triple jab may cause autism and bowel disease in some children. BBC One's Panorama programme gained exclusive access to the latest research by scientists, including Andrew Wakefield, which is due to be published in the Journal of Molecular Pathology in April. In the research Wakefield and his collaborators report that they have found the measles virus in 83% of gut samples from children with autism and bowels disorders but only in 7% of children without these conditions. (C) BBC

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 1467 - Posted: 02.03.2002

AlzheimAlert, soon to be made available in the US, is a simple urine test for Alzheimer's disease. Early diagnosis using AlzheimAlert would lead to earlier treatment intervention, a huge unmet need. Better diagnostics would also bring a dramatic rise in the disease's patient potential, increasing the revenues of existing drug therapies and making the market more attractive to potential investors. The results of the study demonstrated AlzheimAlert to be a highly accurate and useful physician diagnostic aid. It is essentially a urine test - it detects levels of a brain protein, called neural thread protein (NTP), which is elevated in AD sufferers.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 1466 - Posted: 02.03.2002

MRI offers new insights into brain development By Laura DeFrancesco Brain size is a lot like shoe size. It doesn't correlate with height, weight or even IQ, though boys tend to have larger brains (and feet) than girls. This lack of proportional comparison coupled with the fact that, like fingerprints, brains are unique, has created barriers to the better understanding of brain development. But recent imaging technology advances that factor out individual differences, as well as tools that automate data collection and quantitation, are allowing researchers to construct a detailed picture of the growing brain. One such scientist is Judith Rapoport, director of the child psychiatry branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. Rapoport has marshaled her forces to track long-term changes in brain anatomy in the largest prospective study ever attempted of normal and abnormal children. One decade and thousands of scans later, she and her collaborators are reporting some unexpected findings that could have implications for treating and diagnosing children suffering from debilitating psychoses. 1. J.N. Giedd et al., "Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study," Nature Neuroscience, 2:861-3, 1999. 2. P.M. Thompson et al., "Growth patterns in the developing brain detected by using continuum mechanical tensor maps," Nature, 404:190-3, 2000. The Scientist 16[3]:27, Feb. 4, 2002 © Copyright 2002, The Scientist, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1465 - Posted: 06.24.2010

E. coli, the bacteria which can cause severe food poisoning, may provide scientists searching for a way to treat Alzheimer's disease with vital clues. A team from the Washington University School of Medicine has discovered that the bug produces fibres similar to those thought to cause Alzheimer's. These amyloid fibres accumulate in the brains of people with the condition, forming plaques. The version produced by certain strains of E. coli are known as curli. (C) BBC

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 1464 - Posted: 02.02.2002

Imagine looking at a dog - and not recognising it as a dog. What if you looked at a sheep or a cow, and didn't know what it was? And what if you looked at the pictures above - and thought the "babex" and "bunnyphant" might be real? That is the situation for some people with visual agnosia. People with the condition can have trouble recognising animals, faces or objects. (C) BBC

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 1463 - Posted: 02.02.2002