Scientists strive to understand how the brain translates sensory stimuli By Jennifer Fisher Wilson Freshly cut lilac, fingernails on a chalkboard, just-baked apple pie, satin and silk, the vivid hues of a sunset. Such sensory stimuli shape people's lives. They arouse and change, elate or sadden, calm or agitate. They tap memories of yesterday or years ago. Information that travels through the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and skin define the world: what the senses don't perceive, the brain will never know. René Descartes, the famous 17th century French mathematician, philosopher, and physiologist, postulated that all information reaches the brain through the senses. He has since been proven correct: all sensory cues do end up there, arriving as electrical impulses in nerve fibers. But understanding how this happens and how this process can be manipulated is still being decoded. The Scientist 15[18]:1, Sep. 17, 2001 © Copyright 2001, The Scientist, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 626 - Posted: 10.20.2001

The oldest known hominid fossils yet found in southern Africa have been uncovered at the world-famous Sterkfontein Caves just north of Johannesburg. The remains, which include limb-bone and skull fragments, have been dated to be about 3.5 million years old. They were discovered by Dr Ron Clarke, and colleagues, of the University of the Witwatersrand.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 625 - Posted: 10.20.2001

A P300 event-related potential (ERP) is a brief electrical wave in a person's electroencephalogram (EEG). The P300 is a measure of the way the brain pays attention and discriminates between potentially important and non-important stimuli. People with anxiety disorders are believed more likely to use alcohol to self-medicate their anxiety. P300 amplitude may distinguish which anxious individuals are vulnerable to becoming alcoholic. Alcoholism is a genetically complex disorder. That is, it is produced by an unknown number of genes that interact in an unknown fashion with one another and with an unknown variety of environmental factors. To dispense with the mystery, individuals who wish to identify their risk for developing alcoholism can undergo a noninvasive measure of brain electrical activity called P300 event-related potential (ERP), one of the few brain measures associated with risk for alcoholism.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 624 - Posted: 10.20.2001

The body's endogenous opioid system has three classes of opioid receptors: mu, delta, and kappa. Previous research showed that mice lacking the mu opioid receptor do not drink alcohol. A new study shows that mice lacking the delta opioid receptor drink more alcohol. The delta opioid receptor may also play a mediating role between stress and alcohol consumption. The body's endogenous opioid system has traditionally been linked with peptides such as enkephalins and endorphins, which influence the brain's reward pathway to act as the body's natural response to pain. A study in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research has found that the endogenous opioid system may also be important for the reinforcing properties of alcohol.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 623 - Posted: 10.20.2001

TAMPA, Fla (Sept. 17, 2001) -- A nicotine patch boosts the effectiveness of drugs administered to relieve the involuntary movements and other symptoms of Tourette's syndrome -- even when the drug dosage is cut in half, a University of South Florida College of Medicine study found. The double-blind, placebo-controlled study, published in the September issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Tourette's Syndrome Association of America. It demonstrated that a low-dose nicotine patch may be useful, particulary in alleviating the motor tics of children with Tourette's syndrome.

Keyword: Tourettes
Link ID: 622 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Copyright Scripps McClatchy Western Service By EMILY RICHMOND, Las Vegas Sun LAS VEGAS - When she needed a fix, Helene would flip through the yellow pages, looking for a doctor she had not yet fooled. Addicted to hydrocodone, a powerful prescription painkiller, Helene became an expert at "doctor shopping" - visiting numerous physicians to obtain multiple prescriptions. "You go to the doctor and say your back hurts, that was always good for a few refills," said the Las Vegas woman, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy. "Supply was never a problem." Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Pain & Touch
Link ID: 621 - Posted: 10.20.2001

BY MARK COURT, HEALTH INDUSTRIES CORRESPONDENT ELAN CORPORATION, the Dublin-based drugs group, is to begin phase III trials of a unique treatment for multiple sclerosis, the devastating disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own nerves, after the release this weekend of positive phase II trial results. The drug, named Antegren and developed in partnership with Biogen, the US biotechnology company, showed more than a 90 per cent reduction in the formation of brain lesions. These lesions reflect the activity of the disease and determine its clinical symptoms. Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd.

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis
Link ID: 619 - Posted: 10.20.2001

By WES ALLISON © St. Petersburg Times, 2001. With few effective drugs available, researchers will try draining toxins from the brains of Alzheimer's patients in hopes of slowing the disease and its mind-wasting effects. Fifteen U.S. medical centers, including the University of South Florida in Tampa, are participating in a clinical trial in which shunts will be implanted in the skulls of Alzheimer's sufferers. These plastic shunts then will drain two types of toxic proteins, called beta amyloid and tau, that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Neurotoxins
Link ID: 615 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Bruce Bower A nearly toothless jawbone found last year in France, which represents an early form of the Neandertals, speaks volumes about the ancient roots of providing life-saving care for the injured and infirm, according to a new report. The partial jaw, dated at between about 169,000 and 191,000 years old, contains extensive bone damage and loss. It belonged to an adult who survived for at least 6 months while being virtually unable to chew food, concludes archaeologist Serge Lebel of the University of Quebec in Montreal and his colleagues. Survival for this prehistoric individual required the caring efforts of his or her fellow Neandertals, Lebel's group concludes in a paper slated to appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. From Science News, Vol. 160, No. 11, Sept. 15, 2001, p. 167. Copyright ©2001 Science Service. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 614 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Susan Milius The most common myth that people have about cats is that they're solitary, asocial creatures, fumes Sharon L. Crowell-Davis, a behavioral veterinarian at the University of Georgia in Athens. Supposed standoffishness hurts an animal's image, says Crowell-Davis, and she diagnoses the perceived aloofness of Felis catus as the main contributor to outbursts of anticatism. Which species provided the devious villains in the recent movie Cats & Dogs, for example? Not the romping, barking pack. And don't even get her started on the humor book that lists a hundred and one uses for a dead cat. Crowell-Davis contends that even in the scientific community, stereotypes of cat asociality persist. From Science News, Vol. 160, No. 11, Sept. 15, 2001, p. 172. Copyright ©2001 Science Service. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 613 - Posted: 10.20.2001

By forcing people to eat chocolate until the point of disgust, researchers have demonstrated what happens to the brain when a good stimulus turns bad. The results shed light on the brain regions involved in addictions and eating disorders, the researchers say, which seem to tap into the same brain circuitry. "Chocolate is the number one craved food, so this is sort of an in-house model of addiction," says cognitive neuroscientist Dana Small at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago. To look at what brain regions become active when people eat chocolate, Small and colleagues fed chocolate bars to nine self-proclaimed chocoholics and measured blood flow in the brain using positron emission tomography (PET). After each of seven snacks, the subjects were asked whether the sweets tasted good and whether they wanted more. Copyright © 2001 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Obesity; Emotions
Link ID: 611 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Scientists at Emory University have been able to increase bonding behavior in monogamous male prairie voles by transferring a receptor gene for the neuropeptide arginine vasopressin (AVP) into a particular region of the brain. The study reinforces previous findings that monogamy in voles, including the formation of pair bonds, is enhanced by vasopressin, and it is the first study to demonstrate that complex social behaviors, such as social attachment, can be increased by viral vector gene transfer. The research is reported in the September 15 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Emory University neurobiologist Larry J. Young, Ph.D., of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience and the Yerkes Primate Research Center, and his colleagues used an adenovirus vector to deliver the gene for the vasopressin receptor (V1aR) into an area of the voles' brains called the ventral pallidum - an area already known to naturally express V1aR in monogamous voles.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 610 - Posted: 10.20.2001

By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News Sep. 13 - Just hours after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Tuesday, the world's best searchers were on the job - elite canines trained to sniff out both survivors and those who perished in the disaster. From as far away as California, teams of handlers and their FEMA-certified search dogs were starting the heart-wrenching, dangerous task of searching for victims in the rubble. Hopes were high, however, that survivors will be found and rescued soon, said those involved with preparing dogs for this work. Copyright © 2001 Discovery Communications Inc

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 609 - Posted: 10.20.2001

DURHAM, N.C. -- A drug approved for the treatment of depression and smoking cessation appears effective for long-term weight loss in obese women, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center. The study results, which appear in the Sept. 12 issue of Obesity Research, show that women who took bupropion (trade name Wellbutrin) combined with a 1,600-calorie per day diet lost significantly more weight than women on placebo and the same diet, and those effects were sustained for up to two years, according to Dr. Kishore Gadde, director of obesity clinical trials at Duke and lead investigator of the study. Approximately 97 million Americans are estimated to be overweight or obese, according to a 1998 report on obesity published by the National Institutes of Health.

Keyword: Obesity; Depression
Link ID: 608 - Posted: 10.20.2001

DALLAS - Sept. 13, 2001 - Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have discovered a biochemical pathway that helps describe how neurons in the brain and spinal cord form their connections. Further study into the new data, published in today's issue of Nature, could lead to discoveries in nerve regrowth and regeneration. "By learning how nerve fibers grow and form connections in the embryonic brain and spinal cord, we may ultimately be able to determine how to coax nerves to regrow and regenerate," said Dr. Mark Henkemeyer, assistant professor in the Center for Developmental Biology at UT Southwestern.

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Regeneration
Link ID: 607 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Nice, France – 13 SEPTEMBER 2001 – Reminyl™ (galantamine) – the newest medication approved to treat mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease – can ease the burden on family caregivers by reducing the amount of time required for supervision and assistance, as well as by alleviating the stress associated with these responsibilities, suggest data presented today at the Tenth Congress of the International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA). Reminyl was first approved in Sweden in March of 2000, for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. It is believed that Reminyl inhibits an enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine – a chemical in the brain that plays a key role in memory and learning. It also is believed that Reminyl modulates the brain's nicotinic receptors, to which acetylcholine binds. Laboratory research suggests that through this modulation, Reminyl stimulates greater release of acetylcholine. Research designed to define the significance of this finding in humans is underway.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 606 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Princeton, N.J. -- In a study that combines philosophy and neuroscience, researchers have begun to explain how emotional reactions and logical thinking interact in moral decision-making. Princeton University researchers reported in the Sept. 14 issue of Science that they used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to analyze brain activity in people who were asked to ponder a range of moral dilemmas. The results suggest that, while people regularly reach the same conclusions when faced with uncomfortable moral choices, their answers often do not grow out of the reasoned application of general moral principles. Instead, they draw on emotional reactions, particularly for certain kinds of moral dilemmas.

Keyword: Brain imaging; Emotions
Link ID: 605 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory report in the current Journal of Neurochemistry (Volume 78, Number 5) that they used gene therapy techniques to increase levels of dopamine D2 (DRD2) receptors and reduce drinking in rats previously trained to self-administer alcohol. Panayotis Thanos, Ph.D., Nora Volkow, Ph.D., and colleagues used a partially inactivated virus as a vector, or transport agent, to carry copies of the DRD2 gene to the rat nucleus accumbens, the brain area associated with the reinforcing effects of alcohol. Supplying copies of the gene in this manner enables the rat brain cells to manufacture larger amounts of DRD2 receptors than they would ordinarily.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 604 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Neural networks are getting closer to real brains By BBC News Online technology correspondent Mark Ward Scientists have gone back to the brain in an attempt to produce smarter robots. Researchers who use artificial neural networks - circuits that mimic brain cells - to control robots usually ignore the biochemistry of the brain. But scientists from the University of Sussex, UK, have found that by simulating the presence of one key chemical they can enhance the performance of the neural network. (c) BBC

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 603 - Posted: 10.20.2001

BY MARK HENDERSON, SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT PEOPLE faced with intense moral dilemmas use their emotions rather than logic to make their choices, a study of brain activity has shown. Brain scans taken while volunteers grapple with ethical problems have revealed that the toughest decisions engage parts of the brain that process emotions, while areas that control working memory and weigh information are scarcely used at all. The findings, by a research team at Princeton University in New Jersey, may explain the general human reluctance to act in rational and utilitarian fashion when confronted with a moral dilemma. Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd.

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 602 - Posted: 10.20.2001