Bruce Bower Welcome to the era of Neandertal genetics. Researchers announced this week that they have retrieved and analyzed a huge chunk of Neandertal DNA, covering more than 1 million of the roughly 3 million paired chemical constituents of an individual's genetic makeup. Until now, scientists had extracted small DNA segments from Neandertal bones, mainly from mitochondria outside cell nuclei (SN: 4/1/00, p. 213: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20000401/fob2.asp). Two new techniques have now recovered large amounts of genetic material from nuclei. One also permits tagging of ancient DNA sequences that correspond to modern human genes. A team led by Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, presents results from the first new technique in the Nov. 16 Nature. A group directed by Edward M. Rubin of the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, Calif., describes results from the second technique in the Nov. 17 Science. These new studies "foreshadow an exciting development—the recovery of the complete Neandertal genome," comment David M. Lambert of Massey University in Auckland, New Zealand, and Craig D. Millar of the University of Auckland, in an editorial published with the Nature report. Pääbo and his colleagues expect to complete the genome within 2 years. ©2006 Science Service.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 9636 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News — It may not be language as we know it, but whales have no shortage of ways to make themselves understood. So broad is their vocal repertoire, in fact, that whales can call to their young, woo potential mates and even express emotions, according to researchers who have identified 622 social sounds in humpback whales. Their work will be presented at the upcoming joint meetings of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the Acoustical Society of Japan in Hawaii. Social sounds are brief, unpatterned sounds that are distinct from lengthier, complex whale songs. The new research adds to a growing body of evidence that whales convey more meaning through vocalizations than previously thought. "I wouldn't say (whales possess) language, as that's a human term," Rebecca Dunlop told Discovery News. Dunlop, who worked on the study, is a researcher in the School of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Queensland, Australia. "Whales don't string these sounds together like words and form sentences. It's more like a simple vocabulary," she said. The scientists visually tracked 60 pods of whales migrating along the east coast of Australia. The researchers used a static hydrophone array — sensitive equipment that detects sound waves — linking the whale sounds to various activities and contexts. © 2006 Discovery Communications Inc.

Keyword: Animal Communication; Language
Link ID: 9635 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists have worked out which parent to blame if you are unhappy with your weight or height. Fathers appear to determine the height of their child while mothers tend to influence how much body fat they will have, a study suggests. The work is ongoing, but researchers from the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital say the initial results are clear - taller dads make longer babies. How fat the father is does not seem to influence a child's fatness, however. In contrast, whether the mother is fat or not has a major effect on the birth weight of the baby, the team found. This is likely to be down to the environment in the womb - with overweight mums tending to have higher levels of sugar in their blood. Research midwife Dr Beatrice Knight stressed both genetic and environmental factors influence in a child's growth. The early growth of the baby, both in the womb and in the first few years of life, may be crucial for the development of their health in later life, she said. By identifying the genes involved in this early growth, she hopes to develop a better understanding of how these things are linked. They have been studying about 1,000 families, measuring the weight and height of the mums, dads and their babies in their first two years of life. Dr Knight said: "Obviously one of the biggest influences on a baby's growth is the size of the mother. But we have confirmed that a father's height also has a direct impact on their baby's growth, with taller dads having longer and heavier babies." (C)BBC

Keyword: Genes & Behavior; Obesity
Link ID: 9634 - Posted: 11.17.2006

By Rob Stein A component of red wine recently shown to help lab mice live longer also protects animals from obesity and diabetes and boosts their physical endurance, researchers reported yesterday. The new research helps confirm and extend the possible benefits of the substance, resveratrol, and offers new insight into how it works -- apparently by revving up the metabolism to make muscles burn more energy and work more efficiently. Mice fed large doses could run twice as far as they would normally. In addition, the scientists for the first time produced evidence linking the biological pathway activated by the substance to human physiology, showing that the same genetic switch resveratrol mimics seems to naturally endow some people with faster metabolisms. "It's very exciting," said Johan Auwerx, a professor of medicine at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Strasbourg, France, who led the research being published online and in the Dec. 15 issue of the journal Cell. "This compound could have many applications -- treating obesity and diabetes, improving human endurance, helping the frail. There's a lot of potential." Auwerx and other researchers cautioned much more research is needed to study the compound and similar agents, especially to see if the approach is safe for people. Humans would have to take hundreds of resveratrol pills sold in health food stores or drink hundreds of glasses of wine a day to get equivalent levels of the substance tested on the mice, neither of which would be safe. But the new research adds to the growing enthusiasm about the approach, experts said. © 2006 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 9633 - Posted: 06.24.2010

David F. Salisbury Much like the electrical wiring in your house, the nerves in your body need to be completely covered by a layer of insulation to work properly. Instead of red, white or black plastic, however, the wiring in the nervous system is protected by layers of an insulating protein called myelin. These layers increase the speed that nerve impulses travel throughout the brain and the body. The critical role they play is dramatically illustrated by the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, which is caused by lesions that destroy myelin. These include: blindness, muscle weakness and paralysis, loss of coordination, stuttering, pain and burning sensations, impotence, memory loss, depression and dementia. The formation of myelin sheaths during development requires a complex choreography generally considered to be one of nature’s most spectacular examples of the interaction between different kinds of cells. Now, a group of Vanderbilt researchers has successfully produced movies that provide the first direct view of the initial stage of this process: the period when the cells that ultimately produce the myelin sheathing spread throughout the developing nervous system. The results were published online in the journal Nature Neuroscience on Nov. 12 and should aid in the design of new therapies to promote the repair of this protective layer following disease or injury.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 9632 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Institute for Human Genetics have shown for the first time that the severity of an adult neurodegenerative disease is tied to how well the brain developed shortly after birth. The researchers used a mouse model for spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA 1), a fatal neurodegenerative disease that is associated with the loss of coordination that affects activities such as walking, speaking and swallowing. There is no treatment for this disease, and patients typically die 10-15 years after their first symptoms appear. "We always suspected that something was going on with the SCA 1 mice developmentally," said Harry Orr, Ph.D., professor of genetics, cell biology and development. "Now, we have the data to support it." The research will appear in the Nov. 17, 2006 issue of the journal Cell. Orr and his team manipulated the mouse model for the disease so that the gene that causes SCA 1 could be turned on and off. In one group of mice, they turned off the gene for approximately two weeks at the beginning of the mice's development; then it was turned back on. In the second group of mice, they left the gene on for the entire time. After 12 weeks, the researchers observed the mice. "The difference was dramatic," Orr said.

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Movement Disorders
Link ID: 9631 - Posted: 11.17.2006

Richard A. Friedman, M.D. On Sunday afternoon, September 3, 2006, Wayne Fenton, a prominent schizophrenia expert and an associate director at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), was found dead in his office. He had just seen a 19-year-old patient with schizophrenia who later admitted to the police that he had beaten Fenton with his fists. This tragic incident was widely publicized and raises, once again, the controversial question about the potential danger posed by people with mental illness. The killing also left many in the mental health and medical communities concerned about their own safety in dealing with psychotic patients. After all, if an expert like Fenton, who understood the risks better than most, could not protect himself, who could? It is not an idle question. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey for 1993 to 1999, conducted by the Department of Justice, the annual rate of nonfatal, job-related, violent crime was 12.6 per 1000 workers in all occupations. Among physicians, the rate was 16.2 per 1000, and among nurses, 21.9 per 1000. But for psychiatrists and mental health professionals, the rate was 68.2 per 1000, and for mental health custodial workers, 69.0 per 1000. For Tim Exworthy, a forensic psychiatrist at Redford Lodge Hospital in London who was recently assaulted by a patient, the risk of job-related violence is no longer a dry statistic. © 2006 Massachusetts Medical Society.

Keyword: Schizophrenia; Aggression
Link ID: 9630 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Many women experience declines in their memory during and after menopause, a change thought to be due, in part, to the rapid hormonal changes they weather during that time. Now, research from the University of Michigan Health System suggests that hormone therapy might help women retain certain memory functions. In a study in the new issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, they report that a group of postmenopausal women showed more brain activity during a visual memory test than did women who were not taking the hormone therapy. The 10 postmenopausal women in the study, ages 50-60, were given hormone therapy or a placebo for four weeks, followed by a month with no medications, and then four weeks of the other treatment. Their brain activation was measured as they were shown a complex grid of 81 squares, with 40 of them darkened to form a pattern. Participants were asked to find the matching image from a choice of two, with the new set of images presented after varying time periods (one to four seconds). During the time that the two images were shown, participants were asked to choose the one that matched the initial grid by pressing one of two buttons on an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)-compatible response pad. Those who were taking combined estrogen-progestin hormone therapy showed significantly increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain that is critical in memory tasks, compared with those on placebo (a pill with no medicinal value).

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 9629 - Posted: 11.17.2006

By Michael S. Rosenwald A few years ago, drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. announced it was retooling its strategy, meaning a drug it was developing for insomnia was probably headed for the sidelines. Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. pounced. The little Rockville start-up licensed the drug for $500,000 and additional royalty payments, then set off to finish developing it as part of its strategy to salvage other companies' drugs. Yesterday, that investment showed its first clear hints of significant returns within the $4 billion-a-year insomnia market, as Vanda reported late-stage test results of the drug showing what one analyst called "profound" effects. Patients fell asleep up to 26 minutes faster when compared to a placebo. They slept up to 48 minutes longer. The news sent Vanda's stock up 53 percent, or $5.14, with its shares closing at $14.90. The company went public in April at $10 per share, below the original $12-to-$14 range it had set. MedImmune Ventures Inc., a venture capital subsidiary of the Gaithersburg drug company, owns about 7 percent of the company's shares. Vanda still has to complete two more studies for the drug, meaning it wouldn't hit the market until around 2010, but yesterday's results solidified the company's business plan of salvaging other companies' drugs. Vanda is developing a drug for schizophrenia that it licensed from Novartis AG. © 2006 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 9628 - Posted: 06.24.2010

by Simon Baron-Cohen Over the years I've been struck by a pattern among the parents of children with autism. The mothers often say things like "my child is a lot like my husband—just writ large. My husband has to watch the weather forecasts every night, and my son has to watch them every hour." When I ask about their parents, the mothers comment, "Well, my father was rather similar to my husband—he collected model trains and knew everything there was to know about each one." Such observations don't amount to evidence about the cause of autism, but they do give us clues about where to look. Autism is at root genetic, but new research from my lab at Cambridge University implicates genes inherited from both parents. From this and other observations, we've formulated the "assortative mating theory." Its central idea is that both mothers and fathers of children with autism (or its milder variant, Asperger Syndrome) share a common characteristic and have been attracted to each other because of their psychological similarity. Assortative mating is a term borrowed from the field of genetics that refers to a long-recognized aspect of animal behavior: the sim­ple idea that mate selection is not random. An­mals, including human animals, do not mate with just anyone. Darwin theorized that two kinds of selection operate to ensure that some animals have better reproductive success than others: natural selection and sexual selection. Deer with large antlers, for example, are more likely to reproduce—not just because they can defeat weaker males in contests over females (natural selection), but also because the females themselves tend to prefer males with the largest antlers (sexual selection). Animals are finely tuned to external indicators of fitness, and these indicators influence whether or not they will mate with a potential partner. © Copyright 2006 Seed Media Group, LLC.

Keyword: Autism; Evolution
Link ID: 9627 - Posted: 06.24.2010

New York – Are you easily forgetful, distracted, impulsive or fidgety? Do you find that smoking helps you alleviate these symptoms? Columbia University Medical Center researchers are investigating whether these most common symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) could be causing people to smoke. If that is the case, will treatment for ADHD combined with the standard treatment to help people quit smoking – the patch with counseling – increase the quit rates for smokers trying to quit? Covey and her colleagues are recruiting smokers who have been diagnosed with ADHD or who may have symptoms of ADHD but have not yet been diagnosed, to be part of a study that will help them quit smoking. Approximately 7-8 million adults in the U.S. have ADHD. Smoking is twice as common in this population as in the general population. Research has shown that most smoking in the U.S. occurs among people who have psychiatric conditions, such as alcohol or drug abuse, major depression, anxiety and ADHD. One line of research has shown that smokers with these conditions “self-medicate” their symptoms with nicotine, the primary addictive substance in tobacco. Participants in the study will receive the nicotine patch, behavioral counseling, and a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of ADHD called methylphenidate (brand name CONCERTA®). Because methylphenidate and nicotine act on the brain in a similar way, the premise is that treatment with methylphenidate when trying to quit smoking may reduce symptoms of ADHD while also reducing tobacco withdrawal symptoms.

Keyword: ADHD; Drug Abuse
Link ID: 9626 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Debora Mackenzie STEM cells have helped dogs with muscular dystrophy to walk again. Doctors hope a similar approach in humans could lead to more complete improvement than the other leading contender for a cure - an RNA-blocking drug now in clinical trials. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) strikes about one in 35,000 children, almost always boys, and is usually fatal by the age of 30. It is caused by mutations in the gene for the muscle protein dystrophin. Without it, muscle contractions shear and kill muscle cells, and victims become progressively weaker, often dying when their breathing muscles fail. Giulio Cossu and colleagues at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, had found previously that adult stem cells called mesangioblasts colonise muscle and restore dystrophin production in mice engineered to lack the gene. But the therapeutic effect could not be tested, because these mice do not develop MD. Dogs do. So Cossu's team took mesangioblasts from golden retrievers with a mutation in the dystrophin gene that causes a disease similar to DMD. They used gene therapy to give the cells a normal version of the gene, before reinjecting them into the dogs' leg arteries. They also transplanted mesangioblasts from healthy dogs into dogs with MD, and gave drugs to suppress immune rejection (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature05282). © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd

Keyword: Muscles
Link ID: 9625 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A computer program has been designed to allow amputees to see and move a 3D "phantom limb". A small study by researchers at the University of Manchester found the device could help people with phantom limb pain. Previous research showed that if a person's brain is "tricked" into believing they can see and move a "phantom limb", pain can decrease. The researchers say one patient saw her pain ease after just one session. It is suggested that phantom limb pain is caused by signals from nerve endings on the amputated limb being amplified. People with phantom limb pain are currently treated using a "mirror box" where they move their remaining arm, but their brain perceives it is their amputated limb is actually the one moving. However, it is easy for the illusion to be broken and the benefit to be lost. The Manchester researchers created a virtual reality world where patients can see both "limbs" moving at once. Upper-limb amputees were fitted with a special data glove and had sensors attached to the elbow and wrist joints. Sensors were fitted to the knee and ankle joints of lower-limb amputees. Patients can use their remaining limb to control the movements of the computer-generated limb which appears in the 3D computer-generated "virtual world". They are able to move fingers, arms, hand, arms, feet and legs. They are even able to play ball games. Three men and two women aged 56-65 took part in the study. Each used the system between seven and 10 times over two to three months. Four out of the five reported improvement in their phantom limb pain, sometimes almost immediately. (C)BBC

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 9624 - Posted: 11.15.2006

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Daily events are minted into memories in the hippocampus, one of the oldest parts of the brain. For long-term storage, scientists believe that memories move to the neocortex, or “new bark,” the gray matter covering the hippocampus. This transfer process occurs during sleep, especially during deep, dreamless sleep. Many neuroscientists have embraced and built upon this theory of memory storage, or consolidation, for a generation. But the theory is difficult to test. New research led by Brown University neuroscientist Mayank Mehta, conducted with Nobel Prize-winning physiologist Bert Sakmann, shows the best evidence yet of the sleep dialogue between the old brain and the new. Their work, published in Nature Neuroscience, also shows that this interaction occurs in a startling way. Instead of the hippocampus uploading information to the neocortex in a burst of brain cell communication, Mehta found the opposite: the neocortex seems to drive the dialogue with the hippocampus. The findings may give scientists a new understanding of how the brain manages memories in health and during dementia, offering up a fresh look at the causes of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, as well as potential treatments. “Long-term memory making may be a very different process than we previously thought,” said Mehta, an assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Brown.

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Sleep
Link ID: 9623 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Constance Holden The U.S. Congress has passed a measure that is expected to make it much easier to prosecute animal-rights activists who target enterprises that deal with research animals. Research groups immediately hailed the measure, called the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, as a milestone in protecting science, while animal activists warned that it labels peaceful demonstrators as terrorists. The House of Representatives approved the act yesterday by a voice vote, following similar action by the Senate in September. The bill tightens provisions in the existing Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992, which made it a federal offense to interfere with the conduct of "animal enterprises" from university labs to slaughterhouses to circuses. The new measure extends that protection to anyone targeted by activists because they do business with an animal enterprise, including accountants and suppliers. It also calls for reimbursement for economic damages caused to such entities. Offenders will face fines or jail terms ranging from 1 year to life for various forms of harrassment and intimidation, including property damage, trespassing, and death threats. The bill is largely a response to the tactics of a group called Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC). Active in both the U.K. and the U.S., SHAC has for years targeted U.K.-based Huntingdon Life Sciences, which uses animals to test drugs, food additives, and pesticides. Last year, SHAC reportedly intimidated the New York Stock Exchange into declining to list Huntingdon's parent company, New Jersey-based Life Sciences Research. © 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Animal Rights
Link ID: 9622 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Emma Young When male chickens come across food, they make a “took, took, took” call to tell the flock – but hens react only if they don’t already know that food is around. This shows that the call triggers other chickens to look for specific information – in this case, whether or not there is food about – and to respond appropriately, researchers claim. This is similar to how human language works, they say. Such “representational” communication has been demonstrated in some primates before, but never in a bird. Critics of the idea that certain animal calls might have similarities with language have suggested, for instance, that the calls might simply be triggering a reflex response, or that researchers might be over-interpreting a call's meaning. “In this work, we have shown that the hens’ response is mediated by a representation of food,” says Chris Evans. He and Linda Evans, both animal behaviourists, studied a type of domestic chicken, called golden Sebrights (Gallus gallus), at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Several animal species produce sounds that trigger a particular response among other members of their group. These calls are usually related to the presence of either a predator or food. For example, meerkats produce several different types of alarm call. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Language; Animal Communication
Link ID: 9621 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By LARRY ZAROFF, M.D. The creative process is therapeutic for many of us. If we are writers, we wrench out poetry, prose, a play about our pain, about our mistakes in life. We explain ourselves to ourselves, and generally feel better. A cousin of mine, who was made miserable by his mother, wrote her a long letter after she died. Afterward, he felt relief, unburdened. But writing is not the only way for people to unveil their troubles. Some compose music, a few paint, others choreograph or dance. Chris Furbee is making a documentary of his mother’s life, a film that powerfully reveals her gradual deterioration — physical and mental — from Huntington’s disease. In the video — some still frames from it are shown above — we see Mr. Furbee’s mother early on, before the onset of Huntington’s. She is a beautiful young woman, a fine artist. Then she is 40, in the writhing, uncooperative movements typical of Huntington’s, a personal plague like no other. Finally she is on the floor, her mental capacity gone, few words remaining. Mr. Furbee, too, has the single dominant gene for Huntington’s in every part of his body, every cell. The disease is a criminal that wants to steal his brain. It is the worst of the dementias, with its early onset and its inevitability. There is no return, no recovery. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Huntingtons
Link ID: 9620 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By SIOBHAN ROBERTS HAMILTON, Ontario — Standing in her vaultlike walk-in refrigerator, Sandra F. Witelson pries open a white plastic tub that looks like an ice cream container. There, soaking in diluted formaldehyde, is a gleaming vanilla-colored brain: the curvy landscape of hills and valleys (the gyri and sulci) that channeled the thoughts of the late mathematician Donald Coxeter, known as the man who saved geometry from near extinction in the 20th century. “His brain is amazingly plump,” Dr. Witelson says. She ought to know. Here at McMaster University, where she is a neuroscientist with the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, Dr. Witelson has a collection of 125 brains. They are all from Canadians: business people, professionals, homemakers, and blue- and white-collar workers. By weighing her specimens, calculating their volumes and measuring their proportions, Dr. Witelson (pronounced WIT-il-son) investigates the relationship between brain structure and cognition, a focus of her research for three decades. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 9619 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Jennifer Cutraro Students who break into a cold sweat at the thought of a pop quiz might feel better once they learn about a side effect of test-taking: The practice appears to enhance memory, possibly even more than studying. What's more, according to a new study, testing also helps students remember material that wasn't on the exam in the first place. Over the past several years, cognitive scientists have documented a phenomenon called the "testing effect," in which taking a test, rather than studying, boosts an individual's ability to remember the material later on. The research led psychology doctoral student Jason Chan and his colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, to wonder whether testing also affects memory for untested materials. To test the theory, the team had 84 undergraduate students read a passage about toucans, a topic the researchers believed would be unfamiliar to psychology undergraduates. After reading the passage, one-third of the students were dismissed, one-third were asked to read an additional set of study materials that covered the same information as the original passage, and one-third were asked to take a brief short-answer test on the original material. The next day, all participants returned to take a final short-answer test, which included questions from the previous day's brief test as well as new questions. © 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 9618 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Mary Beckman Morphine and other opiates dull pain, but they don't stick around for long. Almost immediately, a class of enzymes known as peptidases burst onto the scene and degrade these painkillers. Now researchers have identified a naturally occurring molecule in humans that blocks this process, prolonging the effect of opiates. The findings, say the researchers, may lead to new ways to combat pain. Three years ago, researchers got their first hint that animals could block opiate-destroying enzymes. When neuroendocrinologists stressed rats, they found a small protein or peptide called sialorphin inhibited the action of neutral endopeptidase (NEP), which breaks down a natural opiate known as enkephalin. Do humans make a similar peptide? Neuroendocrinologist Catherine Rougeot of the Institut Pasteur in Paris suspected so. Previous work hinted that people secrete a mystery molecule in their mouths that could inhibit NEP, so Rougeot and colleagues started isolating peptides from saliva. The team identified a peptide that was five amino acids long and could block NEP in a test tube. Calling it opiorphin, the team modified it slightly to make it easier to work with in rats, naming the new peptide YQRFSR. Then the researchers injected YQRFSR into the bloodstreams of rats and, 15 minutes later, injected a compound that stimulates painful inflammation into the rats' hind paws. Rodents without YQRFSR licked their paws in discomfort for more than 2 minutes, but rats that got the small molecule only tended their paws for a little over a minute and a half, indicating less pain. © 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 9617 - Posted: 06.24.2010