Molecular biology may provide answers to relief By Jennifer Fisher Wilson In the first case of its kind, a jury earlier this year found a physician guilty of undermedicating a patient for pain. Claiming that such an action amounted to elder abuse and recklessness, the judge awarded $1.5 million to the patient's family. The precedent-setting case occurred after the passage of a Congressional provision, the Decade of Pain Control and Research, which went into effect Jan. 1. Signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton and sponsored by the American Academy of Pain Medicine, this mandate is intended to stimulate progress into pain research, education, and clinical management. 1. M.J. Caterina et al., "The capsaicin receptor: a heat-activated ion channel in the pain pathway," Nature, 389:816-24, 1997. 2.M.J. Caterina et al., "Impaired nociception and pain sensation in mice lacking the capsaicin receptor, Science, 288:306-13, 2000. 3. M.J. Caterina et al., "A capsaicin-receptor homologue with a high threshold for noxious heat," Nature, 398:436-41, 1999. 4. L.R. Watkins et al., "Glial activation: a driving force for pathological pain, Trends in Neuroscience, 24[8]:450-5, August 2001. The Scientist 15[21]:16, Oct. 29, 2001 © Copyright 2001, The Scientist, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 857 - Posted: 10.27.2001

Neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease affect millions of people worldwide, including Mohammed Ali and Ronald Reagan. A hallmark of these disorders is the presence of aggregates of specific proteins in the brains of patients. If we could find a way to interfere with the formation of these aggregates, or to destroy them once they are formed, we might be able to eradicate or ameliorate these conditions. This is exactly what Dr. Eliever Masliah of the University of California San Diego and colleagues have achieved in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease. Their results are reported in today's issue of Neuron. Copyright © 1995-2001 UniSci. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 856 - Posted: 10.27.2001

Since the emergence of a new human disease linked to eating beef from cattle with "mad cow disease" in 1996, the British public has been gripped by one question: How bad will the epidemic be? In the hopes of clearing up the confusion, two teams of scientists have been refining their projections--and they are arriving at different answers. Although humans consumed roughly 750,000 cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) between about 1980 and 1996, no one knows how many people became infected, nor how long it takes for an infected person to fall sick. By late September 2001, 107 people living in the United Kingdom had died from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), an invariably fatal neurodegenerative malady. How many more are at risk remains unclear; the most authoritative estimate to date, by epidemiologist Roy Anderson's group at Imperial College in London, predicts from a few hundred to up to 136,000. Copyright © 2001 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 851 - Posted: 10.26.2001

Italian scientists have confirmed that the Pill appears to affect a woman's sensitivity to smells. In a study involving 60 non-Pill using women aged 18 to 40 they measured their ability to detect six distinctive substances – anise, musk-ketone, clove, pyridine, citral and ammonia – at three defined times in the menstrual cycle. The testing was done were during the follicular phase (day 5-8), the periovular phase (day 13-16) and the luteal phase (day18-23). The women's sense of smell was most sensitive at the time around ovulation. The research is published today (Friday 26 October) in Human Reproduction.* ### *A prospective study evidencing rhinomanometric and olfactometric outcomes in women taking oral contraceptives. Human Reproduction Vol. 16. No. 11. pp 2288-2294 S. Caruso, C. Grillo, C.Agnello, L.Maiolino, G.Intelisano, A Serra.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 850 - Posted: 06.24.2010

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- In a move that reflects the emergence of autism to the center stage of the scientific community, the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) will promote communication and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration among scientists researching the disorder. The inaugural forum will be held on November 9-10, 2001 in San Diego, California, as a satellite event of the Society for Neuroscience Meeting. The conference is underwritten collaboratively by the Cure Autism Now Foundation, the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute and the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) – three of the most prominent organizations in the field. Spearheaded by parent activists, the plight of children with autism has been brought to national and international awareness.

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 845 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Memory loss is a common problem that accompanies aging. Current evidence confirms that consumption of mixed meals containing carbohydrates can improve memory in certain situations; for instance, eating breakfast improves cognitive performance in comparison with omitting breakfast. However, little is known about the contributions of other macronutrients to memory enhancement. In a study in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Kaplan et al. examined the effects of pure protein, fat, and carbohydrate-containing drinks on cognitive performance in a group of elderly subjects. Cognitive test scores improved after consumption of all three of the macronutrients when compared with a placebo, with a more pronounced effect on delayed recall than immediate recall. Kaplan, Randall J et al. dietary protein, carbohydrate, and fat enhance memory performance in the healthy elderly. Am J Clin Nut 2001;74: 687-93. Morley, John E. Food for thought. Am J Clin Nutr 2001;74:567-8.

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Alzheimers
Link ID: 844 - Posted: 10.25.2001

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered a pattern to protein manufacture in the hippocampus, the part of the brain devoted to making memories. Christy Job, PhD, a postdoctoral neurobiologist with James H. Eberwine, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology at Penn, measured a protein as it was being made in structures of brain cells called dendrites. "The patterns of electrical stimulation which make memories are well-established, but how those memories are stored is still unexplained," said Job. "We decided to tackle this from a completely different angle by looking at protein synthesis in dendrites." Job and Eberwine grew particular cells from the hippocampus called neurons that extend long structures (dendrites) away from the main portion of the cell, known as the cell body. Cell bodies store the genetic code (the DNA) so a message, mRNA, which is made from the DNA, moves from the cell body to dendrites.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 843 - Posted: 10.25.2001

HELEN PEARSON You must pay attention to learn, teachers say. Not necessarily, US psychologists now argue: sights we are unaware of can have a lasting impact on our brains. Subliminal training can improve our ability to see moving dots, Takeo Watanabe and his co-workers at Boston University, Massachusetts, have found. "Without noticing, we are unconsciously learning," Watanabe says. Repeated exposure to objects we are oblivious to "could have a tremendous effect on our brains", he says. The findings show that for basic visual processes "the brain is never resting", says Robert Stickgold, who studies consciousness at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1.Watanabe, T., Nanez, J.E. & Sasaki, Y. Perceptual learning without perception. Nature, 413, 844 - 848, (2001). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2001

Keyword: Attention
Link ID: 838 - Posted: 10.25.2001

The vulnerable teen-age brain Sandy Agonstine For The Daily Press Alcohol has long been used by many people as a social beverage. Because it is widely accepted by our society, most individuals don't consider it a drug when in reality, beverage alcohol is a very potent drug. No matter what types of drugs kids may try, if they try any, alcohol is much more likely going to be one of them. Many adults say: "Big deal. We drank when we were young too." New research on the human brain over the last decade has conclusively proven that using alcohol or other drugs during the preteen or teen years can cause brain loss and impair thinking. The adolescent brain is much more vulnerable than adults, because it is still rapidly developing.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 835 - Posted: 10.22.2001

A Wellington researcher will study swearing and inappropriate utterances by stroke victims. Dr Carolyn Wilshire, of Victoria University's school of psychology, has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Marsden Fund to investigate aphasia - a language disorder which can occur after a stroke or brain damage. She will look at "competitor blocking" - when an inappropriate word comes to mind and seems to block the desired word. ©Copyright 2001, New Zealand Herald

Keyword: Stroke; Language
Link ID: 834 - Posted: 10.22.2001

Results by Northwestern University researchers suggest the WKY rat could be used to investigate the genetic basis of human depression. Summary: The Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rat has been shown in several different laboratories to be hyperreactive to stress and to exhibit depressive-like behavior in several standard behavioral tests. Because patients with depressive disorders often exhibit disruptions in the circadian rhythm of activity, as well as altered secretory patterns of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid hormones,. Researchers from Northwestern University studied the depressive-like behaviors and sleep abnormalities inherent to the WKY rat in hopes that this strain might be useful as a genetic animal of depression. Methodology: Researchers Leah C. Solberg, Susan Losee, Olson Fred W. Turek, and Eva Redei tested the hypothesis that the phenomena of altered circadian rhythms and altered secretory patterns occur in the WKY rat. The diurnal secretory patterns of ACTH, corticosterone, and TSH in freely moving WKY rats kept on a long-day cycle were measured and compared to their outbred progenitor strain, the Wistar rat. Plasma levels of T3 at a single time point in these two strains were also measured. In addition, researchers monitored activity rhythms in these strains under both long-day and constant dark conditions.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 833 - Posted: 10.20.2001

SCIENTISTS at Edinburgh's prestigious animal health institute were under pressure to resign last night after it emerged that a five-year study into BSE in sheep was wasted because they studied cattle brains, not sheep brains. The spectacular blunder, which went unnoticed for five years, now means that the study to determine whether BSE had spread to the national sheep flock is worthless. All the test results will now have to be scrapped, leaving consumers no nearer to knowing whether it is safe to eat lamb. Last month the government announced that the national flock would have to be slaughtered if sheep were found to be infected but now it is impossible to tell whether that has happened. Professor Chris Bostock, director of the Institute of Animal Health, said: "I am flabbergasted, devastated."

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 830 - Posted: 10.20.2001

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) Why are most organisms sexual? The question of why most species reproduce sexually and others reproduce asexually has stymied biologists for years (particularly since asexual reproduction has many advantages including producing more offspring.) The question is answered in part in this week's Science Magazine, published on Friday, October 19. Studies by scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara show that sexual reproduction wins out, in an evolutionary sense, over asexual reproduction in a major study that included 34 experiments with the common fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Specifically, they discovered that the rate of progressive evolution (the accumulation of beneficial mutations) is faster in populations that reproduce sexually.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 824 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Estrogen appears to counteract the addictive drug's restriction of blood flow to the brain. These findings may also lead to treatments for age-associated blood flow abnormalities.
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- The Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates that the number of chronic cocaine users in the United States stands at 3.6 million. The National Institute on Drug Abuse asserts that men are more prone to use and addiction; now, a team of researchers believe that women users have an added edge – their physiological profile may shield them from cocaine's brain altering effects. Additionally, this research may lead to a new therapy that may help cocaine users "kick the habit," a difficult challenge under any circumstance. Researchers have known that women are less inclined to be a victim of vascular disorders caused by chronic use of the drug. What the scientific community did not know was why. Now, a team of medical researchers affiliated with Harvard University Medical School has found that during the first half of a women's menstrual cycle, the susceptibility to vascular dysfunction may be lower than the corresponding propensity for male users. Only in the latter stages of the menstrual cycle did women experience a significant degree of vasoconstriction (restriction of blood flow to the brain). Copyright © 2001, The American Physiological Society,

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 823 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Role of alcohol, marijuana and cigarettes among other factors being examined BUFFALO, N.Y. -- In a new study underway at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions, researchers are examining the cumulative effect of a number of risk factors associated with mothers' cocaine use on their infants' mental development. Maternal substance use, an environment of family and community violence, negative mother-infant interactions and maternal psychological problems such as depression are being considered in the study, as well as the impact of these risk factors on infants' physiology and behavior. Given the reality that most cocaine-using women also use substances such as alcohol, marijuana and cigarettes, the investigators are looking at the role of these other substances, in addition to cocaine use.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 821 - Posted: 10.20.2001

WASHINGTON - Does coming from a family full of "lefties" tend to make a person better at remembering events? The data from two recent experiments answer in the affirmative. What's more, psychologists may finally be able to explain why kids don't remember events until they are about four years old. This recent research is reported in the October issue of Neuropsychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA). Stephen D. Christman, Ph.D., and Ruth E. Propper, Ph.D., of the University of Toledo in Ohio, studied memory as a function of family handedness. Interestingly, people don't have to be personally left-handed to share a unique trait: There is evidence that the two brain hemispheres of even right-handers with left-handed relatives share functions more equally, interact more and are connected by a larger corpus callosum (the bundle of mediating fibers) than the hemispheres of people with right-handed relatives. Although it is not well understood, there is a hereditary component to handedness. "Superior Episodic Memory is Associated with Interhemispheric Processing," Stephen D. Christman, Ph.D., and Ruth E. Propper, Ph.D., Neuropsychology, Vol. 15, No 4. © PsycNET 2001 American Psychological Association

Keyword: Laterality; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 820 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Although scientists believe that mad cow disease spread from cattle to people in a few instances in the United Kingdom, they know very little about how that happened. To better understand how diseases like mad cow jump and adapt to a new species, researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) examined the process by which a disease called scrapie transfers from hamsters to mice. "We found that the adaption is a prolonged and subtle process, and the early stages of it are very difficult to detect," says Bruce Chesebro, M.D., senior study author and researcher at NIAID's Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) in Montana. The results of his team's work are reported in the current issue of the Journal of Virology.

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 815 - Posted: 10.20.2001

The finding that "Estrogen receptor-{alpha} antisense decreases brain estrogen receptor levels and affects ventilation in male and female rats," is the result of an investigation conducted by Shashita R. Inamdar, Kathleen M. Eyster, and Evelyn H. Schlenker, all of the Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences at the University of South Dakota School of Medicine, Vermillion, SD. Dr. Inamdar and colleagues explored the effects of estrogen receptor-{alpha}protein production in the brain of neonatal rats on the gender-specific ventilatory response to aspartic acid. To determine whether the activational effects of puberty modified these responses to aspartic acid the investigators evaluated animals shortly after weanling (~23 days old) and at adulthood (2-3 months old).

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 813 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Bijal P. Trivedi for National Geographic Today Researchers in England have identified the first gene to be linked to language and speech, suggesting that our human urge to babble and chat is innate, and that our linguistic abilities are at least partially hardwired. "It is important to realize that this is a gene associated with language, not the gene," said Anthony Monaco of the University of Oxford, England, who led the genetic aspects of the study. The gene is required during early embryonic development for formation of brain regions associated with speech and language. The gene, called FOXP2, was identified through studies of a severe speech and language disorder that affects almost half the members of a large family, identified only as "KE." Individuals with the disorder are unable to select and produce the fine movements with the tongue and lips that are necessary to speak clearly. © 2001 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Language; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 811 - Posted: 10.20.2001

See how you compare with other Discover readers By Eric Haseltine Inexorably, after the age of thirty, your brain begins to shrink. The rate that cerebral tissue vanishes differs from one person to the next based upon lifestyle, education, sex, disease and other factors. However, the diminishment of cognitive abilities associated with age-related brain shrinkage affects virtually everyone. One of the most sensitive tests of brain aging is the Trailmaking test. © Copyright 2001 The Walt Disney Company.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 809 - Posted: 10.20.2001