Stem cells that could be used to restore hearing have been successfully created, scientists have said. A Sheffield University team took stem cells from embryos and converted them into cells that behave like sensory hair cells in the human inner ear. Their discovery could ultimately help those who have lost hair cells through noise damage and some people born with inherited hearing problems. But any cure is still some years away, experts told the journal Stem Cell. The Sheffield team is now working on the next stage of the research to check if the cells can restore hearing. Currently, hair cell damage is irreversible and causes hearing problems in some 10% of people worldwide. Embryonic stem cells could change this because they have the unique ability to become any kind of human cell. Not only could they be used to replace the lost hair cells, but also any damaged nerve cells along which the signals generated by the hair cells are transmitted to the brain. But the use of stem cells is controversial - opponents object on the grounds that it is unethical to destroy embryos in the name of science. Lead researcher Dr Marcelo Rivolta, said: "The potential of stem cells is very exciting. We have now an experimental system to study genes and drugs in a human context. "Moreover, these cells would help us to develop the technologies needed to deliver them into damaged tissues, such as the cochlea, in order to restore the different cell types. Dr Ralph Holme, director of biomedical research at RNID, said: "Stem cell therapy for hearing loss is still some years away but this research is incredibly promising and opens up exciting possibilities by bringing us closer to restoring hearing in the future." Vivienne Michael of Deafness Research UK said: "This study highlights the importance of stem cell research. In addition to the future potential for restoring hearing with stem cell therapy, the recent research success means that we may now have better ways to test the efficacy and toxicity of new drugs on auditory cells." (C)BBC

Keyword: Hearing; Stem Cells
Link ID: 12708 - Posted: 04.02.2009

by Caroline Williams By the time we take our first breath, the brain is already more than eight months old. It starts to develop within four weeks of conception, when one of three layers of cells in the embryo rolls up to form the neural tube. A week later the top of this tube bends over, creating the basic structure of fore, mid and hindbrain. From this point, brain growth and differentiation is controlled mainly by the genes. Even so, the key to getting the best out of your brain at this stage is to have the best prenatal environment possible. In the early weeks of development, that means having a mother who is stress-free, eats well and stays away from cigarettes, alcohol and other toxins. Towards the end of the brain-building process, when the fetus becomes able to hear and remember (see "The five ages of the brain: 2 Childhood"), sounds and sensations also begin to shape the brain. In the first two trimesters of pregnancy, though, development is all about putting the basic building blocks in place: growing neurons and connections and making sure each section of the brain grows properly and in the right area. This takes energy, and a variety of nutrients in the right quantity at the right time. In fact, if you consider the size of the construction job at hand - 100 billion brain cells and several million support cells in four major lobes and tens of distinct regions - it is a truly staggering feat of evolutionary engineering. One nutrient we know the brain needs early on is folic acid, which is crucial for closing the neural tube. Deficiencies can lead to defects like spina bifida, where part of the spine grows outside the body, and anencephaly, a fatal condition in which much of the brain fails to develop. There's some evidence that vitamin B12 deficiency has similar effects (Pediatrics, vol 123, p 917). © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 12707 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By JANE E. BRODY Concern about the safety of hormone replacement has all but obscured one of the most pressing concerns for women of a certain age: the effects of menopause on their sex lives. Many are reluctant to ask their doctors a question uppermost in their minds: “What has happened to my desire for sex and my ability to enjoy it?” With fully a third of their lives ahead of them, but with little or none of the hormones that fostered what may have been a robust sex life, many postmenopausal women experience diminished or absent sexual desire, difficulty becoming aroused or achieving orgasm, or pain during intercourse caused by menopause-related vaginal changes. Sometimes the reasons for these problems go beyond hormones. Some women may consider themselves less sexually attractive as their bodies change with age, or they have partners who have lost interest in sex or the ability to perform reliably. But for most postmenopausal women, hormone-related changes are the primary factors that interfere with sexual satisfaction. My friend Linda, for example, who lives in Pittsburgh, was 52 years old and recently married when her vibrant interest in sex suddenly plummeted, leading to a frantic search for a way to restore it. A more common situation is described by Pat Wingart and Barbara Kantrowitz in their informative book, “Is It Hot in Here or Is It Me?” (Workman, 2006): “You’re not in the mood a lot of the time. Most nights, you just wish your partner would roll over and go to sleep. When you do feel like a little action, it takes forever to get warmed up. Sometimes sex is more painful than pleasurable.” Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 12706 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By NICHOLAS WADE Researchers studying the social behavior of ants have found that a single gene underlies both the aggressive behavior of the ant colony’s soldiers and the food gathering behavior of its foraging caste. The gene is active in soldier ants, particularly in five neurons in the front of their brain, where it generates large amounts of its product, a protein known as PKG. The exact amount of the protein in the ants’ brains is critical to their behavior. Low levels of PKG predispose both castes of ant to foraging; high levels make the soldiers fight and the foraging caste less interested in food gathering, Christophe Lucas and Marla B. Sokolowski report in the current issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The soldier and foraging castes in the species of ant under study, known as Pheidole pallidula, have their career choices settled in infancy when they start to be fed different diets. The soldiers develop large heads and jaws, and go on to guard the colony and kill invaders. The foragers, who remain small, specialize in looking for food and bringing back prey to the nest. Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 12705 - Posted: 06.24.2010

by Linda Geddes "Moonwalking" mice may provide insights into the genetic causes of a rare debilitating condition called cerebellar ataxia. The illness affects the cerebellum – the part of the brain that controls movement and balance. The mice, which are engineered to express a mutated protein that causes neurons in the cerebellum to die, move backwards when they try to walk forwards on a smooth surface. The same neurons are destroyed in cerebellar ataxia, which causes unsteadiness and loss of co-ordination. Moonwalking – made famous by Michael Jackson – is a dance move where someone appears to walk forwards but actually slides backwards. The mice seem to do it because they place their feet further apart than normal as they walk, in order to maintain their balance. Humans with cerebellar ataxia have trouble coordinating their movements, although "I don't think there are any human patients out there who walk backwards," says Esther Becker of the University of Oxford, who led the study. "The million dollar question is whether mutations of this gene also occur in humans with cerebellar ataxia," says Becker, who is currently screening patients with genetic forms of the condition to find out. If they do, it could pave the way towards new treatments. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Movement Disorders; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 12704 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Coco Ballantyne About a year ago, a 42-year-old male gorilla named Fubo living in the Bronx Zoo's Congo Gorilla Forest suffered a seizure for no apparent reason. Concerned about his condition, zoo veterinarians put him on several seizure-controlling medications, which seemed to work, because he didn't have any more occurrences on the meds. But they were worried about the cause: Did Fubo have a brain tumor, a stroke or perhaps some kind of injury? To find out, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which runs the Bronx Zoo in New York City, contacted the Brain Tumor Foundation (BTF), a nonprofit that provides free brain scans to people living in New York's five boroughs—especially those who cannot afford medical care and want to be screened for possible brain tumors. Furry and weighing 275 pounds (125 kilograms), Fubo was no typical patient, but the BTF was willing to give it a go. On February 25, workers arrived at the zoo in BTF's Bobby Murcer Mobile MRI Unit, a trailer housing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, which uses magnetic fields and radio waves to generate images of structures inside the body. (The MRI-on-wheels is named after the late Bobby Murcer, the New York Yankees All-Star outfielder who went on to become a radio commentator, and who died last year from brain tumor complications.) The whole process of sedating the gorilla, running the scan, and returning him to the Gorilla Forest took about three and a half hours, says veterinarian Paul Calle, director of the WCS's Zoological Health Program. "He was very stable and did well," Calle says, noting that Fubo is now back with his family and doing just fine. © 1996-2009 Scientific American Inc.

Keyword: Brain imaging
Link ID: 12703 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Sandra G. Boodman Weeks after his hip replacement surgery, Solomon Berkman started going downhill fast. The 70-year-old retired aerospace engineer, who had prided himself on his mental acuity, became vague and forgetful, unable to work the crossword puzzle that had been his daily routine. Usually gregarious, Berkman became nearly mute in social situations. He developed urinary incontinence and began falling, necessitating emergency calls to the police because his wife, Pat, was unable to hoist him. At times his behavior was inexplicably bizarre. Berkman once fell asleep in the shower, where his wife discovered him after an hour. Although doctors agreed he was deteriorating mentally and physically, they differed on the possible causes. One suspected Parkinson's disease. Another thought he might be showing signs of dementia or early Alzheimer's. A third thought his hip surgery and a second procedure to clean out his blocked carotid artery might be partly responsible. Yet none of the doctors seriously considered the real, and ultimately treatable, reason for Berkman's decline. "It felt like we were losing him," his oldest son, Robert Berkman, recalled. "The whole thing put tremendous strain on my mother." Today, nine years later, Berkman, who lives in Lebanon Township, N.J., suffers from none of the problems that had so disabled him. © 2009 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 12702 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Steve Connor, Science Editor Computer and video games that involve guns and shooting may not do much for a child's education but they can improve eyesight, according to a study showing that a person's night-time vision gets better after playing electronic action games. Scientists found that games involving aiming and shooting at virtual objects on a computer screen can significantly increase people's ability to see objects in twilight conditions, when colours fade into different shades of grey. Until now the only recognised way of improving a person's ability to detect small changes in shades of grey – visual "contrast" – was to improve the optics of the eye with contact lenses, spectacles or surgery. But researchers have found that training on a video game can be just as effective, if not more so. "Unfortunately, contrast sensitivity is one of the aspects of vision that is most easily compromised," said Daphne Bavelier, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester in New York, who led the study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. "This problem affects thousands of people worldwide, including those with professional activities requiring excellent eyesight, and ageing populations, along with individuals who are clinically evaluated for vision problems such as amblyopia," Professor Bavelier said. "Normally, improving contrast sensitivity means getting glasses or eye surgery, somehow changing the optics of the eye. But we have found that action video games train the brain to process the existing visual information much more efficiently. The improvements last for months after game play has stopped." ©independent.co.uk

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 12701 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By LINDSEY TANNER CHICAGO -- An influential government-appointed medical panel is urging doctors to routinely screen all American teens for depression _ a bold step that acknowledges that nearly 2 million teens are affected by this debilitating condition. Most are undiagnosed and untreated, said the panel, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which sets guidelines for doctors on a host of health issues. The task force recommendations appear in April's issue of the journal Pediatrics. And they go farther than the American Academy of Pediatrics' own guidance for teen depression screening. An estimated 6 percent of U.S. teenagers are clinically depressed. Evidence shows that detailed but simple questionnaires can accurately diagnose depression in primary-care settings such as a pediatrician's office. ad_icon The task force said that when followed by treatment, including psychotherapy, screening can help improve symptoms and help kids cope. Because depression can lead to persistent sadness, social isolation, school problems and even suicide, screening to treat it early is crucial, the panel said. The task force is an independent panel of experts convened by the federal government to establish guidelines for treatment in primary-care. Its new guidance goes beyond the pediatrics academy, which advises pediatricians to ask teen patients questions about depression. Other doctor groups advise screening only high-risk youngsters. © 2009 The Associated Press

Keyword: Depression; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 12700 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Bruce Bower When 2-year-olds with autism look at someone’s face, they may crave synchronized detection rather than social connection. Toddlers with this developmental condition track sounds and sights that occur together, such as a mother’s lips moving in time with sounds coming out of her mouth, rather than social cues, such as the gleam in that same mother’s eyes, a new study suggests. Locked in a world of co-occurring sound and motion, youngsters with autism neglect social signals that critically contribute to mental and brain development, propose psychologist Ami Klin of Yale University’s Child Study Center and his colleagues. “Our findings lead us to the rather sad hypothesis that a toddler with autism might watch a face but not necessarily experience a person, since so much of that experience involves mutual eye gaze,” Klin says. The new study, published online March 29 in Nature, indicates that by age 2, kids with autism don’t notice the array of cues indicating that a body is moving. Non-autistic children do so within days of birth. Young animals in many species, from humans to birds, monitor signs of movement by others as cues to initiate social contact. While earlier studies have suggested that children with autism often don’t look at other people’s eyes, it’s been unclear why this behavior occurs. Few studies have included toddlers or infants with autism, who are difficult to diagnose. © Society for Science & the Public 2000 - 2009

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 12699 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The raising of the school leaving age to 15 over 50 years ago could go some way to reducing dementia rates in the elderly, a study has suggested. A Cambridge University team compared the mental abilities of elderly people, and found those born after the change fared better. They say that further changes to the school leaving age could improve mental abilities and curb dementia rates more. Experts said more information on how education affected dementia was needed. Around 700,000 people in the UK currently have dementia. Experts have estimated that by 2051, the number could stand at 1.7m. In this study, researchers compared a group of over 9,000 people aged over 65 tested in 1991 with over 5,000 over-65s tested in 2002. They were all given a standard test used to detect early signs of dementia, which involves naming as many animals as possible within a minute. The researchers identified a small but potentially significant increase in the number of words a minute people used in the later group. Poor cognitive function is known to be linked to developing dementia, and it is already known that dementia is less likely in people who been educated for longer. Previous research has shown that education is beneficial because it increases the number of neural connections in the brain. The school leaving age was set at 15 in 1947, rising to 16 in 1972. The government announced two years ago that, by 2015, teenagers would have to stay in education or training until they were 18. (C)BBC

Keyword: Alzheimers; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 12698 - Posted: 03.28.2009

By Shankar Vedantam New data from a large federal study have reignited a debate over the effectiveness of long-term drug treatment of children with hyperactivity or attention-deficit disorder, and have drawn accusations that some members of the research team have sought to play down evidence that medications do little good beyond 24 months. The study also indicated that long-term use of the drugs can stunt children's growth. The latest data paint a very different picture than the study's positive initial results, reported in 1999. One principal scientist in the study, psychologist William Pelham, said that the most obvious interpretation of the data is that the medications are useful in the short term but ineffective over longer periods but added that his colleagues had repeatedly sought to explain away evidence that challenged the long-term usefulness of medication. When their explanations failed to hold up, they reached for new ones, Pelham said. "The stance the group took in the first paper was so strong that the people are embarrassed to say they were wrong and we led the whole field astray," said Pelham, of the State University of New York at Buffalo. Pelham said the drugs, including Adderall and Concerta, are among the medications most frequently prescribed for American children, adding: "If 5 percent of families in the country are giving a medication to their children, and they don't realize it does not have long-term benefits but might have long-term risks, why should they not be told?" © 2009 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: ADHD; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 12697 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Jennifer Viegas -- Ripping the legs off live crabs and crowding lobsters into seafood market tanks are just two of the many practices that may warrant reassessment, given two new studies that indicate crustaceans feel pain and stress. The findings add to a growing body of evidence that virtually all animals, including fish, shellfish and insects, can suffer. Robert Elwood, the lead author of both papers, explained to Discovery News that pain allows an individual to be "aware of the potential tissue damage" while experiencing "a huge negative emotion or motivation that it learns to avoid that situation in the future." Both pain and stress are therefore key survival mechanisms. Elwood, a professor in the School of Biological Sciences at The Queen's University in Belfast, and colleague Mirjam Appel studied hermit crabs collected from rock pools in County Down, Northern Ireland. All of the crabs survived the experiments and were later released back into their native habitat. Elwood and Appel gave small electric shocks to some of the crabs within their shells. When the researchers provided vacant shells, some crabs -- but only the ones that had been shocked -- left their old shells and entered the new ones, showing stress-related behaviors like grooming of the abdomen or rapping of the abdomen against the empty shell. © 2009 Discovery Communications, LLC

Keyword: Pain & Touch; Evolution
Link ID: 12696 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ROCHESTER, N.Y., (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've discovered brain cells called astrocytes are what distinguish the human brain from that of other animals. "Studies in rodents show that non-neuronal cells are part of information processing," said Dr. Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester Medical Center, who led the research team. "And our study suggests that astrocytes are part of the higher cognitive functioning that defines who we are as humans." The scientists noted there are 10 times as many astrocytes in the brain than the neurons that send electrical signals. Medical student Nancy Ann Oberheim, first author of the study, said human astrocytes signals are faster, bigger and more complex than those found in mice and rats. The researchers discovered new types of astrocytes, and also determined astrocytes use calcium, rather than electrical signals, to communicate with neurons. The research team reported astrocytes send much slower signals that do neurons, but are just as important in the basic working of the brain. The study that included scientists from New York Medical College and the University of Washington appears in the Journal of Neuroscience. © 2009 United Press International, Inc.

Keyword: Glia; Evolution
Link ID: 12695 - Posted: 06.24.2010

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Getting between a female hyena and her cubs at chow time is no laughing matter – especially for males. Females rule among spotted hyenas, making them rare among mammals and unique among carnivores, Michigan State University researcher Kay Holekamp said. After more than 20 years of closely studying generations of the ferocious, yet social creatures, Holekamp and colleagues now believe they know why. "We've been unhappy with previous explanations of sex role reversal in hyenas for some time," said zoology professor Holekamp, who is recognized as a top authority on the spotted hyena. Holekamp and associates theorize that the length of time it takes for the massive skulls and jaws of hyenas to mature in youngsters – combined with the intense feeding competition typical of hyena clans – prompt female family members to develop dominant behaviors. "Mothers have to compensate with aggression for the handicaps their kids are experiencing during feeding," she said. Hyena cubs are at particular risk after they are weaned, she said, because their skulls don't fully develop until after sexual maturity. More closely related to cats than dogs, hyenas are most closely related to the animal family that includes mongooses. They can weigh up to 185 pounds and stand up to 3 feet tall, with jaws capable of cracking open giraffe leg bones up to 3 inches in diameter. Known mostly as scavengers and able to eat things that would sicken or kill many other species, they also are good hunters, capable of bringing down prey several times their own size. © 2009 Michigan State University Board of Trustees

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 12694 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Bruce Bower In the brain, the gift of gab — or at least the gift of knowing what someone’s gabbing about — depends on sight, not just sound. If a listener sees a talker’s lips moving or hands gesturing, certain brain networks pitch in to decode the meaning of what’s being said, a new study suggests. In daily life, the number of brain networks recruited for understanding spoken language varies depending on the types of communication-related visual cues available, proposes a team led by neuroscientist Jeremy Skipper, now at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City. This idea contrasts with a longstanding notion that language comprehension is handled solely by a relatively narrow set of brain regions. “The networks in the brain that process language change from moment to moment during an actual conversation, using whatever information is available to predict what another person is saying,” Skipper says. Neuroscientist Gregory Hickok of the University California, Irvine interprets the new findings more cautiously. Skipper’s results suggest that a stable language network can incorporate information from gestures and other visual signals that feed into it, Hickok remarks. Skipper and his colleagues studied 12 adults who reclined in an fMRI scanner. Each volunteer listened to a woman read roughly 50-second-long adaptations of Aesop’s Fables. In one condition, participants only heard the woman’s voice. In three additional conditions, a mirror inside the scanner allowed them also to see the woman on a video screen placed at the edge of the scanner. © Society for Science & the Public 2000 - 2009

Keyword: Language
Link ID: 12693 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Therapists are still offering treatments for homosexuality despite there being no evidence that such methods work, research suggests. A significant minority of mental health professionals had agreed to help at least one patient "reduce" their gay or lesbian feelings when asked to do so. The survey, published in the journal BMC Psychiatry and conducted by London researchers, involved 1,400 therapists. Many were acting with the "best of intentions", said the lead author. Only 4% said they would attempt to change a client's sexual orientation, but when asked if they would help curb homosexual feelings some 17% - or one in six - said they had done so. The incidence appeared to be as prevalent in recent years as decades earlier. "Of course it's incumbent on a professional to assist a client who wants help, but this should be done using evidence-based therapies - exploring their distress and helping them to adjust to their situation," said Professor Michael King of University College London. "We know now that efforts to change people's sexual orientation result in very little change and can cause immense harm. We found it very worrying that there was a significant minority who appeared to ignore this - even if they had all the right intentions." The Royal College of Psychiatrists says all homosexuals have "a right to protection from therapies that are potentially damaging, particularly those that purport to change sexual orientation". In the US, where there has been heated debate on the issue of "curing" homosexuality, The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has urged all "ethical practitioners to refrain from attempts to change individuals' sexual orientation". (C)BBC

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 12692 - Posted: 03.26.2009

WASHINGTON - An estimated 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer's, and each patient on average costs Medicare three times more than patients without the disease, the Alzheimer's Association reported yesterday. In its annual report, the group projected that by 2010, nearly a half-million new cases of Alzheimer's will develop each year as the population ages, and by 2050 a million new cases will be diagnosed annually. "Direct and indirect costs of Alzheimer's and other dementias amount to more than $148 billion annually," the group said in a statement. "A strategy to immediately confront Alzheimer's has the potential to save millions of lives and billions of dollars by reducing the burden on Medicare and Medicaid," said Harry Johns, Alzheimer's Association chief executive officer. The number of deaths from Alzheimer's, the sixth-leading cause of mortality in the United States, rose by more than 47 percent between 2000 and 2006, the group said. And these patients cost far more to treat than most other patients. There is no cure and the few drugs available only mildly affect symptoms. © 2009 NY Times Co.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 12691 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By RONI CARYN RABIN Scientists who have been following families with a history of depression have found structural differences in family members’ brains — specifically, a significant thinning of the right cortex, the brain’s outermost surface. The thinning may be a trait or a marker of vulnerability to depression, the researchers suggested. The scientists’ brain imaging study found the thinning in descendants of depressed parents and grandparents, whether or not the individuals themselves had ever suffered a depressive episode or an anxiety disorder, researchers said. “That’s what is so extraordinary. You’re seeing it two generations later, and you’re seeing it in both children and adults,” said Dr. Bradley S. Peterson, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and the paper’s first author. “And it’s present even if those offspring themselves have not yet become ill.” While people may assume that a familial trait is genetic, that is not necessarily the case, Dr. Peterson added. “We don’t know if this has a genetic origin or if it’s a consequence of growing up with parents or grandparents who are ill. Studies have shown that when parents are depressed, it changes the environment in which children are growing up.” The paper, to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is an outgrowth of research started 27 years ago by Dr. Myrna Weissman to investigate the familial roots of depression. Dr. Weissman is the paper’s senior author. Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 12690 - Posted: 06.24.2010

by Ewen Callaway With hindsight, the causes of the current global financial meltdown seem obvious, even predictable. Now, brain imaging offers one explanation for why so few investors challenged foolhardy fiscal advice. Our brains raise few objections when presented with seemingly expert guidance, new research suggests. "Most average people have this tendency to turn off their own capacity for making judgments when an expert comes into the picture," says Gregory Berns, a neuroeconomist at Emory University in Atlanta. Berns' team presented 24 young volunteers with a simple choice: accept a sure payment or bet on a riskier, yet higher-paying lottery. When weighing this decision, volunteers activated brain circuits known to calculate risk and reward. In line with previous research, the team noticed more brain activation in these dopamine-delivering areas when the expected reward was higher. "When advice is not there, when people are making these judgments on their own, you can make clear correlations with expected value in the lottery and areas associated with the dopamine system," he says. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 12689 - Posted: 06.24.2010