By Karl Deisseroth Despite the enormous efforts of clinicians and researchers, our limited insight into psychiatric disease (the worldwide-leading cause of years of life lost to death or disability) hinders the search for cures and contributes to stigmatization. Clearly, we need new answers in psychiatry. But as philosopher of science Karl Popper might have said, before we can find the answers, we need the power to ask new questions. In other words, we need new technology. Developing appropriate techniques is difficult, however, because the mammalian brain is beyond compare in its complexity. It is an intricate system in which tens of billions of intertwined neurons—with multitudinous distinct characteristics and wiring patterns—compute with precisely timed, millisecond-scale electrical signals, as well as with a rich diversity of biochemical messengers. Because of that complexity, neuroscientists lack a deep grasp of what the brain is really doing—of how specific activity patterns within specific brain cells ultimately give rise to thoughts, feelings and memories. By extension, we also do not know how the brain's physical failures produce distinct psychiatric disorders such as depression or schizophrenia. The ruling paradigm of psychiatric disorders—casting them in terms of chemical imbalances and altered levels of neurotransmitters—does not do justice to the brain's high-speed electrical neural circuitry. And psychiatric treatments have historically been largely serendipitous: helpful for many but rarely illuminating, and suffering from the same challenges as basic neuroscience. In a 1979 Scientific American article Nobel laureate Francis Crick suggested that the major challenge facing neuroscience was the need to control one type of cell in the brain while leaving others unaltered. Electrical stimuli cannot meet this challenge because electrodes are too crude a tool: they stimulate all the circuitry at their insertion site without distinguishing between different cell types, and their signals cannot turn off neurons with precision. © 2010 Scientific American,

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 14576 - Posted: 10.21.2010

By ALAN SCHWARZ NORMAN, Okla. — Moments after her son finished practicing with his fifth-grade tackle football team, Beth Sparks examined his scuffed and battered helmet for what she admitted was the first time. She looked at the polycarbonate shell and felt the foam inside before noticing a small emblem on the back that read, “MEETS NOCSAE STANDARD.” “I would think that means it meets the national guidelines — you know, for head injuries, concussions, that sort of thing,” she said. “That’s what it would mean to me.” That assumption, made by countless parents, coaches, administrators and even doctors involved with the 4.4 million children who play tackle football, is just one of many false beliefs in the largely unmonitored world of football helmets. Helmets both new and used are not — and have never been — formally tested against the forces believed to cause concussions. The industry, which receives no governmental or other independent oversight, requires helmets for players of all ages to withstand only the extremely high-level force that would otherwise fracture skulls. The standard has not changed meaningfully since it was written in 1973, despite rising concussion rates in youth football and the growing awareness of how the injury can cause significant short- and long-term problems with memory, depression and other cognitive functions, especially in children. Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Brain Injury/Concussion
Link ID: 14575 - Posted: 10.21.2010

By John von Radowitz, PA A gene that helps drink go to your head has been discovered by scientists. As well as providing a cheap night out, it is believed to protect against alcoholism. Previous research has shown that people who react strongly to alcohol are less likely to become alcoholics. The gene, CYP2E1, provides the coded instructions for making an enzyme that breaks down alcohol. Scientists found that 10% to 20% of the population possess a particular version of the gene that causes them to get drunk easily. The first few drinks during a night out will leave these individuals feeling more inebriated than their friends. Drugs that enhance the effect of CYP2E1 could in future be used to sensitise people to alcohol before an evening's drinking - or even sober them up when they have had one too many, said the researchers. Scientists in the US investigated the genetics of 237 college student siblings who had one alcohol-dependent parent but were not alcoholics themselves. ©independent.co.uk

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 14574 - Posted: 10.21.2010

By Laura Sanders Researchers have pinpointed a region of the brain where scarcity of a key protein may contribute to depression. The new findings, appearing October 20 in Science Translational Medicine, may pave the way to treating some cases of depression with gene therapy. In the new study, researchers led by Michael Kaplitt of the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City found that depressed people had lower than normal levels of a protein called p11 in the brain’s nucleus accumbens. This brain structure is important for reward, drug addiction and depression. Delivering the gene for the p11 protein to this region eliminated depression-like behavior in listless mice, the researchers showed. “We believe that low levels of p11 may be one of the causes of depression in at least some patients,” Kaplitt says. “If we can restore it to normal levels, we can potentially reverse the process.” Depression is notoriously difficult to treat. “It’s very hard to get people to remission and keep them well with the treatments currently available,” says psychiatrist Madhukar Trivedi of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. In a recent large-scale study, about 40 percent of patients with depression who received consistent treatment relapsed within a year. Developing new treatments like the one proposed in the new study is critical, he says. © Society for Science & the Public 2000 - 2010

Keyword: Depression; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 14573 - Posted: 10.21.2010

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent The popular belief that women's minds turn to mush during pregnancy and birth is completely wrong and their grey matter actually increases, they say. Research published by the American Psychological Association found that the brains of new mothers bulked up as they coped with the steep learning curve of dealing with a newborn. Mothers who gushed the most about their babies showed the greatest growth in key parts of the brain, it was found. The researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health in Maryland scanned the brains of 19 women who gave birth to 10 to boys and nine to girls. A comparison of images taken two to four weeks and three to four months after the women gave birth showed that grey matter volume increased by a small but significant amount in various parts of the brain. In adults, grey matter does not ordinarily change over a few months without significant learning, brain injury or illness, or major environmental change. The authors speculated that hormone levels and the need to cope with the challenges of a baby led to the increase in brain cells. The areas affected are involved with motivation – the hypothalamus -, reward and emotion processing – the amygdala – senses – parietal lobe – and reasoning and judgment – the prefrontal cortex. The findings were published in the journal Behavioural Neuroscience. © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2010

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 14572 - Posted: 10.21.2010

By RONI CARYN RABIN At their first family therapy session, Rina Ranalli and her husband tried to coax their anorexic 13-year-old daughter to eat a bagel with cream cheese. What followed was a protracted negotiation. The girl said she would eat it only if she could have it plain, with nothing on it. The parents countered that they really wanted her to eat it with the cream cheese. Her last offer: she would eat half. “Does this happen at every meal?” the therapist, Daniel Le Grange, asked them, Ms. Ranalli recalled. He added gently, “It has to stop.” “It’s anorexic debate, and it’s really not helpful,” Dr. Le Grange said later in an interview. “I will usually turn to the parents and say: ‘Mom and Dad — it’s your decision what she has to eat. You have to make the choices for her, because the anorexia doesn’t allow her to think clearly.’ ” Unlike traditional treatments for anorexia nervosa in adolescents, in which the patient sees the therapist one on one, this kind of family-based treatment encourages parents to play a pivotal role in restoring their child’s weight while trying to avoid hospitalizations. It is a demanding program: for the first two weeks of treatment, at least one parent must be available around the clock to supervise meals and snacks, and monitor children between meals to make sure they do not burn off the calories with excessive exercise. Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Anorexia & Bulimia
Link ID: 14571 - Posted: 10.19.2010

By CHRIS FILARDI Waking at 1,600 meters in the Solomons is like waking in the clouds. Cloud days begin with a vigil of sorts: a slow and deliberate ascent up a ladderlike trail through the tangles to a perch that hangs out into the gloaming heart of morning cloud surrounding the high ridges. At dawn, wind heaves up from the central caldera, shifting the heavy mist. Other than this mountain breath, there is little indication of anything beyond moss, wood and orchids splaying out everywhere along the limb holding me up. From this perch one can read the morning chorus of birdsong. Many bird species roost for the night at perches reflecting their distribution within a forest and then sing in a beautifully clocklike species-specific cadence at dawn. This awakening can disclose the presence and distribution of species that are otherwise seldom detected and, properly interpreted, can provide an incredible amount of information about a forest bird community. Mornings here I actually hear two choruses — one softly twittering in the mossy heights, and another, almost a din, rising from the crater floor far below. It is remarkable, indescribable really, hearing montane songs in the leafy tufts around my head unique to Kolombangara and reminiscent of Eurasia or North America, and simultaneously the blare of whistlers, monarch flycatchers, coucals, fantails and cuckoo-shrikes rising from tall hill forest nearly 1,100 meters below. Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Animal Communication; Language
Link ID: 14570 - Posted: 10.19.2010

by Michael Balter Neandertals are looking sharp these days. Many researchers now credit our evolutionary cousins, once regarded as brutish and dumb, with "modern behavior," such as making sophisticated tools and fashioning jewelry, a sign of symbolic expression. But new radiocarbon dating at a site in France could mar this flattering view. The study concludes that the archaeological layers at the site are so mixed up that ornaments and tools once attributed to Neandertals could actually be the work of modern humans, who lived in the same cave at a later date. One prominent researcher even argues that this celebrated site, the Grotte du Renne (literally "reindeer cave") at Arcy-sur-Cure in central France, should now be eliminated from scientific consideration. "This key site should be disqualified from the debate over [Neandertal] symbolism," says Randall White, an archaeologist at New York University. But João Zilhão, an archaeologist at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom who has often tussled with White and other researchers over the evidence from the Grotte du Renne, says that the new study "prove[s] the exact opposite of what [its] authors claim." The Grotte du Renne was excavated between 1949 and 1963 by the late French prehistorian André Leroi-Gourhan, who found 15 levels of hominid occupation ranging from about 45,000 to 28,000 years ago. This period includes the overlapping occupation of Europe by Neandertals, who show up about 130,000 years ago and disappear no later than 30,000 years ago, and modern humans, who arrived in Europe between 45,000 and 40,000 years ago and stayed for good. © 2010 American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 14569 - Posted: 10.19.2010

By REUTERS LONDON (Reuters) — Starch grains found on 30,000-year-old grinding stones suggest that prehistoric humans may have dined on an early form of flatbread, contrary to their popular image as primarily meat eaters. The findings, published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal on Monday, indicate that Paleolithic Europeans ground down plant roots similar to potatoes to make flour, which was later whisked into dough. “It’s like a flatbread, like a pancake with just water and flour,” said Laura Longo, a researcher on the team, from the Italian Institute of Prehistory and Early History. “You make a kind of pita and cook it on the hot stone,” she said, describing how the team replicated the cooking process. The end product was “crispy like a cracker but not very tasty,” she added. The grinding stones, each of which fits comfortably into an adult’s palm, were discovered at archaeological sites in Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic. The researchers said their findings throw humankind’s first known use of flour back some 10,000 years, the previously oldest evidence having been found in Israel on 20,000-year-old grinding stones. Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Evolution; Obesity
Link ID: 14568 - Posted: 10.19.2010

Repeated viewing of violent scenes in films, television or video games could make teenagers behave more aggressively, US research suggests. The National Institutes of Health study of 22 boys aged 14 to 17 found that showing dozens of violent clips appeared to blunt brain responses. Dr Jordan Grafman said it might make aggression feel more "acceptable". However, a UK expert said the reasons behind violence were too complex to be explained by laboratory research. The effect of violent imagery on young people has been debated from the early days of television, and, more recently, that debate has expanded to include video games. Various studies have suggested that exposure appears to have an effect on the way that the brain processes emotional responses, yet it is unclear whether this can have a direct impact on behaviour. The US study, published in the journal Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, involved 60 violent scenes from videos being collated, mostly involving street brawling and fist fights. The violence was ranked "low", "mild" or "moderate", and there were no "extreme" scenes. BBC © MMX

Keyword: Aggression
Link ID: 14567 - Posted: 10.19.2010

Evidence is mounting that levels of vitamin B12 may be connected to the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. A study of 271 Finns found those with the highest levels were the least likely to be diagnosed with dementia. However, an Alzheimer's charity said despite the findings, published in the journal Neurology, it was "too early" to think about taking supplements. It called for more research into the protective power of vitamins such as B12 - found in meat, fish and eggs. Vitamin B12 can also be found in milk and some fortified cereals. Alzheimer's has been linked to B vitamins for some years, and scientists know that higher levels of a body chemical called homocysteine can raise the risk of both strokes and dementia. Homocysteine levels can be lowered by increasing the amount of vitamin B12 in the blood. A recent trial found that "brain shrinkage", which has been associated with Alzheimer's, was slowed in older people taking high doses of vitamins, including B12. The volunteers for the latest study, carried out by scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, were all aged 65 to 79, and did not have dementia at the start of the study. BBC © MMX

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 14566 - Posted: 10.19.2010

by David Hambling Imagine a bionic arm that plugs directly into the nervous system, so that the brain can control its motion, and the owner can feel pressure and heat through their robotic hand. This prospect has come a step closer with the development of photonic sensors that could improve connections between nerves and prosthetic limbs. Existing neural interfaces are electronic, using metal components that may be rejected by the body. Now Marc Christensen at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and colleagues are building sensors to pick up nerve signals using light instead. They employ optical fibres and polymers that are less likely than metal to trigger an immune response, and which will not corrode. The sensors are currently in the prototype stage and too big to put in the body, but smaller versions should work in biological tissue, according to the team. The sensors are based on spherical shells of a polymer that changes shape in an electric field. The shells are coupled with an optical fibre, which sends a beam of light travelling around inside them. The way that the light travels around the inside of the sphere is called a "whispering gallery mode", named after the Whispering Gallery in St Paul's Cathedral, London, where sound travels further than usual because it reflects along a concave wall. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Robotics
Link ID: 14565 - Posted: 10.19.2010

By Steve Connor, Science Editor A gambling experiment has shown that pigeons like a flutter as much as humans – and that taking big risks in the hope of high rewards may be a fundamental part of our biological nature. Scientists have shown that when faced with a choice between a series of safe, small but guaranteed rewards or a single much larger reward that is less likely to happen, pigeons will almost always choose to gamble. The findings were a surprise to researchers, because Darwinist theory would predict that the birds would be honed by natural selection to act in a way that optimises the way they behave, rather than allowing them to take unnecessary risks that are going to leave them worse off in the long term. However, the scientists believe that if pigeons have an innate predisposition to gamble then this could be a widespread trait across the animal kingdom – and might even explain why so many people like to gamble, even though they know they are likely to be worse off over time. The experiment on pigeons indicates that there may be a fundamental biological reason for gambling rather than explanations based on purely human-centred preferences, such as the idea that gambling is practised because it is enjoyable and entertaining, said Thomas Zentall, professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. ©independent.co.uk

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 14564 - Posted: 10.19.2010

By Shaun Dreisbach Anxiety. It’s a term that’s often tossed around in conversation—as a casual synonym for stress, or worry, or that feeling you get when you look at your to-do list. But for 40 million Americans, anxiety disorders are debilitating and omnipresent, and women are twice as likely to suffer as men, according to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America. “There is an intense, constant fear that is hard to describe,” says Laura Rowe, 34, of Denver. “It’s a sinking feeling in your stomach—almost as if someone is stalking you and you never know when those arms are going to wrap around you and drag you away.” And more and more of us are being diagnosed: A recent study of about 63,700 college students found that five times as many young adults are dealing with high levels of anxiety as in the late 1930s (itself a stressful time!). The signs of anxiety’s prevalence among women are everywhere: Ads for anti-anxiety drugs run frequently on TV shows often aimed at women; young female stars, like the actress Amanda Seyfried, confide their own experiences in the press; websites like findthelight.net attract thousands of users. And though no national data of rates in women exist, many experts believe the surge is not just media hype—it’s real. “I think there’s little question that there’s more anxiety today, and that women, in particular, are feeling it,” says JoAnn E. Manson, M.D., chief of the division of preventive medicine at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “I see it not only among patients but with friends, colleagues and people I interact with daily.” Copyright © 2010 CondéNet.

Keyword: Emotions; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 14563 - Posted: 10.16.2010

By Natasha Allen In the 2001 movie, "A Beautiful Mind," mathematician and Nobel Prizewinner John Nash struggled with the debilitating mental disorder schizophrenia for years before being properly diagnosed and treated. For many individuals and families coping with this disease, early intervention is critical. A new blood-based test may help with that effort. The test, called VeriPsych, looks for biomarkers of schizophrenia in a person's blood, and is the first such diagnostic test meant to assist psychiatrists in confirming the diagnosis of recent-onset schizophrenia, researchers say. VeriPsych measures biomarkers, which are proteins or snippets of genetic material found in the bloodstream, that may be an indication of a condition or disease. Scientists have found 51 of these molecules associated with schizophrenia. "There are many people that believe that schizophrenia is a systemic disease," said study researcher Dr. Michael Spain, chief medical officer at Rules-Based Medicine, the company that makes the test and funded the study. "It is just that its greatest manifestations are in the brain." To make a diagnosis, the biomarker profile of a suspected schizophrenia patient is compared with that of a patient with the disease. MyHealthNewsDaily Copyright © 2010.

Keyword: Schizophrenia; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 14562 - Posted: 10.16.2010

By Jessica Marshall Bilingual education is controversial in the United States, but a growing body of research shows that regularly speaking two languages comes with certain types of improved mental performance. In a Perspective article appearing today in the journal Science, Jared Diamond of the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of "Guns, Germs and Steel" highlights studies of bilingualism that show this effect. Diamond began wondering about the effects on the brain of multilingualism while camping with New Guinea Highlanders, all of whom could speak between five and 15 languages. "What are the cognitive effects of such multilingualism?" Diamond asked in the new article. "Being able to use two languages and never knowing which one you're going to use right now rewires your brain," said Ellen Bialystok of York University in Toronto, Canada, whose work Diamond cited repeatedly in the article. "The attentional executive system which is crucial for all higher thought -- it's the most important cognitive piece in how we think -- that system seems to be enhanced," she noted. © 2010 Discovery Communications, LLC.

Keyword: Language; Alzheimers
Link ID: 14561 - Posted: 10.16.2010

By NATASHA SINGER The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Botox, the anti-wrinkle shot from Allergan, as a treatment to prevent chronic migraines, a little more than a month after the company agreed to pay $600 million to settle allegations that it had illegally marketed the drug for unapproved uses like headaches for years. Allergan says sales of Botox for chronic migraine and other medical uses will eclipse sales of the drug as a wrinkle smoother. The agency’s decision endorses doctors’ use of Botox to treat patients who suffer from a severe form of migraine involving headaches on at least 15 days a month. Britain’s drug agency approved Botox for the same use this summer. Botox is already approved by the F.D.A. to treat uncontrolled blinking; crossed eyes; certain neck muscle spasms; excessive underarm sweating; and stiffness associated with muscle spasticity in the elbows and hands. It also is approved for cosmetic purposes — to smooth lines between the eyebrows. Botox had worldwide sales last year of about $1.3 billion, divided equally between medical and cosmetic uses. But Allergan said sales of Botox for chronic migraine and other medical uses would soon eclipse sales of the drug as a wrinkle smoother. Allergan is also studying the drug for a variety of new medical uses, including overactive bladder, said Dr. Scott M. Whitcup, the company’s executive vice president for research and development. Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 14560 - Posted: 10.16.2010

By Marissa Cevallos Quick — learn these Swahili words: wingu means cloud, a lulu is a pearl and zabibu means grape. Covering up the words and quizzing yourself is a better learning strategy than repeatedly reading the words, psychologists reported in the Oct. 15 Science. Self-testing strengthens the memory by creating keywords as clues for retrieving the word pairs later on. Scholars have long known the value of self-quizzing: “Exercise in repeatedly recalling a thing strengthens the memory,” Aristotle wrote more than 2,000 years ago. But psychologists weren’t sure why. A pair of researchers at Kent State University in Ohio hypothesized that when studying, say, a foreign language, students invent keywords to help trigger the right word. To remember that wingu is a cloud, for example, a student might use the word wing to think of a bird flying in the clouds. The researchers asked 118 college students to study 48 pairs of Swahili and English words. Half of the students studied the words side by side, and half were quizzed by being shown one word and asked to recall its partner. In both groups, researchers asked what mediator — word, phrase or concept — the students used to link the words. When the students were tested one week later, those who had taken the practice quizzes performed better than those who hadn’t. The grades were especially disparate if researchers asked the students to recall their mediators just before the exam. In that case, students who had been quizzed remembered their mediators 51 percent of the time. Students in the unquizzed group remembered their mediators only 34 percent of the time. © Society for Science & the Public 2000 - 2010

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 14559 - Posted: 10.16.2010

by Andy Coghlan Elderly mice with memories addled by age could remember as well as their younger counterparts after receiving a drug that blocks a brain enzyme. The finding could one day help people with memory-impairment. "It shows that normal memory loss through ageing is not irreversible as many people assume," says Jonathan Seckl of the University of Edinburgh, UK, who carried out the study. A brain enzyme found in humans and mice, called 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (HSD1), amplifies the effects of stress hormones called glucocorticoids in the brain. Over a person's lifetime, this amplification impairs the ability of the hippocampus to store and recover memories, so older people have more trouble with their memory, says Seckl. Now Seckl and colleagues have shown that this memory-impairment can be reversed by blocking HSD1, at least in mice. Seckl gave old mice the drug UE1961 for 10 days, and then gave them a standard memory tests using a maze. He found that the treated mice performed as well as young mice, and better than old mice who had not received the drug. The drug works by blocking HSD1. "We've shown that relatively short-term inhibition of the enzyme restores memory," says Seckl. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 14558 - Posted: 10.16.2010

by Annie Murphy Paul This is an excerpt from the new book Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives, by Annie Murphy Paul. At 8:46 AM on September 11, 2001, there were tens of thousands of people in the vicinity of the World Trade Center—commuters spilling off trains, waitresses setting tables for the morning rush, brokers already working the phones on Wall Street. About 1,700 of these people were pregnant women. When the planes struck and the towers collapsed, many of these women experienced the same horrors inflicted on other survivors of the disaster: the overwhelming chaos and confusion, the rolling clouds of potentially toxic dust and debris, the heart-pounding fear for their lives. As the catastrophe began to unfold, psychiatrist Rachel Yehuda was arriving for work at the Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center, about 15 miles north of the Twin Towers. “I was leading a meeting at the center when I got a call from my mother, who lives in Florida,” Yehuda tells me. “She had seen news of the attack on TV and wanted to know if I was all right.” Yehuda and her colleagues located a television of their own and watched, aghast, as the awful events of that day took shape. “Of course I was thinking about what the long-term reactions of the survivors would be,” she says. Yehuda, who is director of the Traumatic Stress Studies pision at the VA center and a professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan, is a leading expert on post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that forces survivors of a traumatic event into a state of hyper-vigilance, assailing them with nightmares and panic attacks. In the course of her career as a PTSD researcher, she has worked mostly with Holocaust victims and Vietnam War veterans—people whose trauma happened far away and many years, even many decades, ago. As Yehuda watched in real time as tragedy struck her own city, she was already thinking about how to investigate its impact. © 2010, Kalmbach Publishing Co.

Keyword: Stress; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 14557 - Posted: 10.16.2010