Scientists at SUNY Downstate Medical Center have discovered a molecular mechanism that maintains memories in the brain. In an article in Science magazine, they demonstrate that by inhibiting the molecule they can erase long-term memories, much as you might erase a computer disc. Furthermore, erasing the memory from the brain does not prevent the ability to re-learn the memory, much as a cleaned computer disc may be re-used. This finding may some day have applications in treating chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, and memory loss, among other conditions. The SUNY Downstate researchers reported in the August 25 issue of Science that an enzyme molecule called “protein kinase M zeta” preserves long-term memories through persistent strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons. This is analogous to the mechanism storing information as 0’s and 1’s in a computer’s hard disc. By inhibiting the enzyme, scientists were able to erase a memory that had been stored for one day, or even one month. This function in memory storage is specific to protein kinase M zeta, because inhibiting related molecules did not disrupt memory. These findings may be useful for the treatment of disorders characterized by the pathological over-strengthening of synaptic connections, such as neuropathic pain, phantom limb syndrome, dystonia, and post-traumatic stress. Conversely, the identification of the core molecular mechanism for memory storage may focus effort on the development of specific therapeutic agents that enhance memory persistence and prevent memory loss. Earlier this year, SUNY Downstate scientists reported that PKMzeta was bound up in the tangles of Alzheimer's disease, thus perhaps blocking its function in memory storage.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 9286 - Posted: 06.24.2010

There is no single "God spot" in the brain, Canadian scientists say. A University of Montreal team found Christian mystical experiences are mediated by several brain regions. Researchers asked 15 nuns to recount mystical experiences while studying them on MRI scanners, the journal, Neuroscience Letters reported. There has been much debate about how the brain reacts during connections with God among religious followers. Some people went as far as suggesting there was a specific brain region designed for communication with God. But the researchers claim this study discredits those theories. Nuns are said to experience Unio Mystica - the Christian notion of a mystical union with God - during their 20s. Researchers asked the nuns aged 23 to 64-years-old to recount such mystical experiences and measured their brain activity through MRI scans. They found increased activity in at least 12 regions of the brain, including areas normally involved with self-consciousness and emotion. Lead researcher Dr Mario Beauregard said: "The main goal of the study was to identify the neural correlates of a mystical experience. Rather than there being one spot that relates to mystical experiences, we've found a number of brain regions are involved. This does not diminish the meaning and value of such an experience and neither does it confirm or disconfirm the existence of God." (C) BBC

Keyword: Brain imaging; Emotions
Link ID: 9285 - Posted: 08.30.2006

NEW BRUNSWICK/PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Engineers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, have modified a popular home video game system to assist stroke patients with hand exercises, producing a technology costing less than $600 that may one day rival systems 10 times as expensive. The Rutgers hand rehabilitation system is an example of virtual rehabilitation, which combines virtual reality – computer-generated interactive visual environments in which users control actions in a lifelike way – with traditional therapy techniques. Virtual rehabilitation gives therapists new tools to do their jobs more effectively and engages patients who may otherwise lack interest or motivation to complete normal exercise regimens. The Rutgers engineers are describing their work at the fifth International Workshop on Virtual Rehabilitation taking place Aug. 29 and Aug. 30 in New York City. “Virtual reality is showing significant promise for promoting faster and more complete rehabilitation, but the cost of many systems is still prohibitive for widespread deployment in outpatient clinics or patients’ homes,” said Grigore Burdea, professor of electrical and computer engineering and a noted inventor of virtual rehabilitation technology. “While it’s essential to keep pursuing breakthrough technologies that will initially be costly, it’s just as important that we find ways to make innovative treatments accessible to the many patients who need them.” © 2006 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 9284 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A new study at the Université de Montréal has concluded that there is no single God spot in the brain. In other words, mystical experiences are mediated by several brain regions and systems normally implicated in a variety of functions (self-consciousness, emotion, body representation). The study published in the current issue of Neuroscience Letters was conducted by Dr. Mario Beauregard from the Department of Psychology at the Université de Montréal and his student Vincent Paquette. "The main goal of the study was to identify the neural correlates of a mystical experience," explained Beauregard. "This does not diminish the meaning and value of such an experience, and neither does it confirm or disconfirm the existence of God." Fifteen cloistered Carmelite nuns ranging from 23 to 64-years-old were subjected to an fMRI brain scan while asked to relive a mystical experience rather than actually try to achieve one. "I was obliged to do it this way seeing as the nuns are unable to call upon God at will," said Beauregard. This method was justified seeing as previous studies with actors asked to enter a particular emotional state activated the same brain regions as people actually living those emotions.

Keyword: Brain imaging; Emotions
Link ID: 9283 - Posted: 08.30.2006

-- Researchers at the University at Buffalo studying the effects of alcohol on the brain, using zebrafish as a model, have identified several novel central nervous system proteins that are affected by chronic alcohol exposure. They also confirmed the involvement of additional proteins previously suggested as targets of alcohol toxicity, and observed abnormal behavior in the fish resulting from chronic alcohol exposure. Results of the research appeared in the Aug. 15 online edition of the European Journal of Pharmacology. Five proteins were found to be overexpressed and three were found to be underexpressed. These proteins are thought to be involved in critical mechanisms such as programmed cell death, cholesterol balance, amino acid metabolism, oxidative stress and signal transduction. "Identification of proteins that show selective changes in abundance after alcohol exposure has the potential to unlock new pathways both for understanding the mechanisms of alcoholism and alcohol toxicity, as well as its amelioration," said Richard A. Rabin, Ph.D., professor in the UB Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and senior author on the study. © 2006 University at Buffalo.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 9282 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Barry Fox Stimulating the tongue could help people with brain damage relearn how to ride a bike, or even to walk again, according to US company Wicab. Its patent application says injury or disease can upset the brain’s ability to balance the body, which hinders rehabilitation, but stimulating the tongue with mild electrical pulses provides the powerful stimulus needed to re-train the brain. Wicab has developed the technology to test the idea and has won a joint grant from the US government’s National Institutes of Health and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to prove it. A false palate with a square grid of 160 gold-plated electrodes is placed on the tongue and wirelessly connected to the output of a motion sensor and camera fitted on the patient’s head. The sensors deliver a coarse image of the scene ahead to the grid, which the tongue’s nerve cells send to the brain. Wicab’s say that with less than an hour’s training, the brain learns to correlate the input from the tongue with whatever other sensory signals it is getting from the eyes, inner ear and other parts of the body. As patients recover their balance they are weaned off the tongue-based assistance. The same system can be used to give blind people a coarse image of the outside world, without the need for eye implants. With only half an hour’s training a blind person can use tongue signals to catch a rolling ball, Wicab claims. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Vision; Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 9281 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Sandra G. Boodman They regularly visit doctors' offices complaining of baffling combinations of symptoms for which no medical cause can be found: chest pain one month, gynecologic problems the next, followed by headaches or crushing fatigue. Hospital staff privately refer to them as "crocks" -- people who repeatedly show up in emergency rooms demanding expensive, exhaustive tests to unearth the elusive cause of their numerous symptoms. Reassurance that their tests don't show anything amiss has the opposite effect, convincing these patients that physicians haven't looked hard enough -- or don't believe them. While everyone at some point experiences symptoms for which no cause is found, patients who have what is known as somatization disorder suffer from a host of disabling problems. Most are women who develop the lifelong disorder during adolescence. It's impossible to accurately determine how many patients have somatization disorder, although the problem "probably occurs on a continuum and accounts for many, many doctor visits," said Lesley Allen, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. © 2006 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Stress; Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 9280 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By ERIC NAGOURNEY Researchers have found that different kinds of strokes are more likely to occur at different times of day, perhaps because of the body’s natural clock. Writing in The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, the researchers reported that three types of stroke all had two peak periods during the day: in the morning and in the evening. But the researchers, led by Dr. Shinichi Omama of Iwate Medical University in Japan, found that the peaks were not uniform. Occurrence of the most common type of stroke, for example, in which blood flow to the brain is cut off, peaked in the morning. Occurrence of the two other kinds, which involve bleeding in the brain or, more rarely, at its surface, peaked in the afternoon. The researchers reviewed first-time strokes among about 13,000 people from 1991 to 1996. Bleeding and clotting strokes have similar triggers, the researchers said, leading to questions about why the occurrence would vary with the hour of the day. Some research has shown that the blood is more prone to clotting in the morning, which may promote the second type of stroke and inhibit the first. The study also found that, over all, strokes are least likely to occur during sleep because blood pressure, a trigger, is lower then. Still, low blood pressure is also a trigger for clotting strokes. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Biological Rhythms; Stroke
Link ID: 9279 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Boston, MA-- According to the most comprehensive survey yet completed of mental health among Hurricane Katrina survivors from Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, the proportion of people with a serious mental illness doubled in the months after the hurricane compared to a survey carried out several years before the hurricane. The study also found that thoughts of suicide did not increase despite the dramatic increase in mental illness. The authors suggest that this low rate of suicide thoughts is due to optimistic beliefs about the success of future recovery efforts. The research, which was published today in a special online edition of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, was led by researchers from Harvard Medical School (HMS). "The increase in mental illness among Katrina survivors is not surprising, but the low suicidality is a surprise," says Ronald Kessler, PhD, professor of health care policy at HMS and lead author of the study. "Our concern, though, is that this lowering of suicidal tendencies appears to be strongly associated with expectations for recovery efforts that might not be realistic." This report is the first in a planned series based on the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group, a statistically representative sample of hurricane survivors participating in ongoing tracking surveys to monitor the pace and mental health effects of hurricane recovery efforts. The project is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation.

Keyword: Stress; Depression
Link ID: 9278 - Posted: 08.29.2006

Bob Holmes Chimpanzees can pass knowledge from one individual to the next with nearly perfect accuracy through several "generations" of teacher and learner, a new study shows. This ability, which has never been demonstrated in chimps before, means that these apes have one of the key skills needed to create and maintain true cultural differences among groups. Researchers have known for many years that different groups of wild chimps behave differently. However, without controlled experiments it is impossible to know for certain whether these represent adaptations to subtly different conditions or different traditions inherited culturally within each group. Victoria Horner, a primate behaviourist at the University of St Andrews, UK, and colleagues tested whether chimps are capable of transmitting knowledge faithfully through a chain of learners. The researchers devised a box whose door could be opened in either of two ways, by lifting a flap or sliding it sideways. "Then we basically set up the telephone game [also known as Chinese whispers] with chimpanzees," Horner explains. See footage of the sliding chimps and the lifting chimps in action (both avi format, 3.2MB and 2.5MB) © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Evolution; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 9277 - Posted: 06.24.2010

by Lydia Fong A child in the study observes dolls in a puppet theater. Click on the image to watch a video at the University of Oregon website. In a discovery that could shed light on the development of the human brain, University of Oregon researchers determined that infants as young as six months old can recognize simple arithmetic errors. The researchers used puppets to portray simple addition problems. For example, in order to illustrate the incorrect equation 1 + 1 = 1, researchers showed infants one puppet, then added a second. A board was then raised to block the infant's view of both puppets, and one was removed. When the board was lowered, only a single puppet remained. To gauge the infants' ability to detect the error, researchers recorded the number of seconds the babies spent looking at the puppet. According to the study, babies ranging from six to nine months old looked at incorrect solutions 1.1 seconds longer than correct ones. This extended viewing correlated with EEG measurements showing higher activity in a frontal area of the brain that is known to be involved in error detection in adults. The team's findings are published in the August 7th online edition of The Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences. © Copyright 2006 Seed Media Group, LLC.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 9276 - Posted: 06.24.2010

by Emily Anthes During mating season, male bowerbirds make elaborate ground-level structures out of sticks, moss and leaves, then decorate these bowers with colorful flowers, stones and shells. They sometimes even "paint" them with berries. When the time comes, the females choose to mate with the males that have built the biggest, most symmetric and best decorated nests. While male bowerbirds' creative displays have a clear function, the purpose of human creativity is not as well understood. Some scientists theorize that problem solving, which is one facet of creativity, confers a survival advantage and probably evolved via natural selection. But a new study by Arizona State University researchers provides evidence that creativity could also be the result of a complementary process known as sexual selection. According to sexual selection, traits attractive in a mate will become more common over time, as the individual animals that display those traits pass on their genes more often than animals that don't. Sexual selection can lead to traits that don't have a direct survival advantage but serve to advertise the fitness of their bearer's genes. © Copyright 2006 Seed Media Group, LLC.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 9275 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scan of human genome may provide important new tools for prevention and treatment Researchers at the Molecular Neurobiology Branch of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, have completed the most comprehensive scan of the human genome to date linked to the ongoing efforts to identify people most at risk for developing alcoholism. This study represents the first time the new genomic technology has been used to comprehensively identify genes linked to substance abuse. The study can be viewed online and will be published in the December 2006 issue of the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B (Neuropsychiatric Genetics). “Tools such as pooled data genome scanning give us a completely new way of looking at complex biological processes, such as addiction,” says Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health. “The ability to pinpoint genes in the human genome responsible for disease has the potential to revolutionize our ability to treat and even prevent diseases.” “Previous studies established that alcoholism runs in families, but this research has given us the most extensive catalogue yet of the genetic variations that may contribute to the hereditary nature of this disease,” says NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow. “We now have new tools that will allow us to better understand the physiological foundation of addiction.”

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 9274 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Alcoholism can cause neuropsychological deficits, that much is clear. There is much less clarity, however, concerning to what degree recovery may occur with abstinence from alcohol. New findings indicate that long-term abstinence from alcohol can resolve many – but not all – neurocognitive deficits. Results are published in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. "Previous research has shown some but not total recovery with abstinence from alcohol," said George Fein, president of and senior scientist at Neurobehavioral Research, as well as the corresponding author for the study. "The continuing presence of deficits is not a trivial issue as it may interfere with day-to-day functioning." "The nature of alcoholism as a dynamic condition is largely underappreciated by most people, including clinicians," added Edith Sullivan, a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. "Alcoholics may have periods of abstinence, during which time they give their nervous system time for repair. Thus, longitudinal studies of alcoholics are critical for identifying functional areas that are targeted by alcoholism, those that are relatively spared, and those that can recover with sobriety."

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 9273 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Boston, MA -- Socks in the sock drawer, shirts in the shirt drawer, the time-honored lessons of helping organize one's clothes learned in youth. But what parts of the brain are used to encode such categories as socks, shirts or any other item, and how does such learning take place? New research from Harvard Medical School (HMS) investigators has identified an area of the brain where such memories are found. They report in the advanced online Nature that they have identified neurons that assist in categorizing visual stimuli. They found that the activity of neurons in a part of the brain called the parietal cortex encode the category, or meaning, of familiar visual images and that brain activity patterns changed dramatically as a result of learning. Their results suggest that categories are encoded by the activity of individual neurons (brain cells) and that the parietal cortex is a part of the brain circuitry that learns and recognizes the meaning of the things that we see. "It was previously unknown that parietal cortex activity would show such dramatic changes as a result of learning new categories," says lead author David Freedman, PhD, HMS postdoctoral research fellow in neurobiology. "Some areas of the brain, particularly the frontal and temporal lobes, have been associated with visual categorization. Since these brain areas are all interconnected, an important next step will be to determine their relative roles in the categorization process."

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 9272 - Posted: 08.28.2006

Michael Hopkin For the past two years, researchers have been hotly debating (and coming dangerously close to fighting over) whether the fossils of a diminutive hominin found in Indonesia are those of a previously unknown species. The publication this week of some long-standing doubts over the 'hobbit' fossils show the debate is far from over. The dispute over the bones of Homo floresiensis has involved allegations of name-calling, nationalistic motives, and wilfully damaging specimens. One camp insists that the tiny inhabitants of the Indonesian island of Flores were a unique species; the other claims that the bones are of a diseased Homo sapiens pygmy. As the debate rages, news@nature.com set out to find whether there will ever be an end to the conflict. The latest instalment came on Monday, with the publication in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1 of doubts first raised by Indonesia's leading anthropologist, Teuku Jacob, of Gadjah Mada University, shortly after the finds were first published in 2004. Jacob and his colleagues cite a range of evidence that the 'hobbit' bones bear similarities to features found in various modern pygmies, including a Rampasasa pygmy from Flores who has a receding chin (the single complete hobbit skull features a jaw with no chin at all). ©2006 Nature Publishing Group

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 9271 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Hearing loss in the elderly has been linked to flaws in a specific gene in a study by Dutch researchers. About 37% of Britons aged 61 to 70 and 60% of those aged 71 to 80 - 6.5m people - have age-related hearing loss. The Human Mutation study of over 1,200 people found subtle changes in a gene called KCNQ4 were more common in those with age-related hearing problems. The Royal National Institute for Deaf People, which funded the work, said it offered "real hope for treatments." Age-related hearing loss is a complex condition, which scientists believe has both environmental and genetic causes. The most common environmental factor is noise exposure. Hearing loss makes it difficult for elderly people to communicate with friends and family, and can lead to them feeling increasingly isolated. There is currently is no way of identifying those at risk or preventing the onset of hearing loss. Scientists already know that a mutation in KCNQ4 is linked to hereditary hearing loss which happens early in life, regardless of exposure to noise and other environmental factors. In people with normal hearing, it is expressed in the hair cells of the cochlea where it helps recycle potassium, brought in to trigger a nerve signal to be sent to the brain, back into inner ear fluid. (C)BBC

Keyword: Hearing; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 9270 - Posted: 08.27.2006

PARENTING has obvious effects on mothers, but fathers appear to be affected, too. A study published this week shows that fatherhood increases the nerve connections in the region of the brain that controls goal-driven behaviour—at least, it does in marmosets. Pregnancy and motherhood have long been known to bring about changes—many of them positive—to the female brain. Pregnant and nursing rats have a greater number of neural connections, particularly in the region of the brain that controls hormones and maternal behaviour. The brain changes coincide with improvements in spatial memory and speedier foraging skills, which might help a mother rat protect and feed her young. Just what effect parenting might have on the brains of fathers has remained an open question, however. Male rats sometimes eat their young rather than nurture them, which makes them a poor model for studying how fatherhood affects the brains of species that frown on infanticide. Marmoset fathers on the other hand are a model of paternal devotion. They carry their babies for more than half the time during the offspring's first three months, passing them to the mother only when the babies need to be fed. Elizabeth Gould of Princeton University and her colleagues compared the brains of marmoset fathers with those of males that lived in mated pairs, but lacked offspring. They found substantial differences. The nerve cells in the prefrontal cortex of fathers had more tiny projections, known as dendritic spines, than those of non-fathers. © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2006

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 9269 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Montreal, -- A new breed of permanently 'cheerful' mouse is providing hope of a new treatment for clinical depression. TREK-1 is a gene that can affect transmission of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is known to play an important role in mood, sleep and sexuality. By breeding mice with an absence of TREK-1, researchers were able create a depression-resistant strain. The details of this research, which involved an international collaboration with scientists from the University of Nice, France, are published in Nature Neuroscience this week. "Depression is a devastating illness, which affects around 10% of people at some point in their life," says Dr. Guy Debonnel an MUHC psychiatrist, professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, and principal author of the new research. "Current medications for clinical depression are ineffective for a third of patients, which is why the development of alternate treatments is so important." Mice without the TREK-1 gene ('knock-out' mice) were created and bred in collaboration with Dr. Michel Lazdunski, co-author of the research, in his laboratory at the University of Nice, France. "These 'knock-out' mice were then tested using separate behavioral, electrophysiological and biochemical measures known to gauge 'depression' in animals," says Dr. Debonnel. "The results really surprised us; our 'knock-out' mice acted as if they had been treated with antidepressants for at least three weeks." This research represents the first time depression has been eliminated through genetic alteration of an organism. "The discovery of a link between TREK-1 and depression could ultimately lead to the development of a new generation of antidepressant drugs," noted Dr. Debonnel.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 9268 - Posted: 08.27.2006

An enzyme that helps neurons rid themselves of excess or aberrant proteins is required for normal brain function, according to a new report in the August 25, 2006 issue of the journal Cell, published by Cell Press. What's more, by increasing brain levels of the enzyme in mice with Alzheimer's symptoms, the researchers found they could reverse lapses of memory characteristic of the debilitating disease. Treatments that elevate the protein, known as ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (Uch-L1), might therefore have potential as a new therapy for Alzheimer's disease, according to the researchers. Currently available therapies have almost exclusively targeted amyloid beta (Aß), the protein responsible for the "amyloid plaques" that riddle the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease, they added. "By injecting what is essentially a Uch-L1 drug to raise its levels in the brain, we were able to restore a great deal of brain activity in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease," said Michael Shelanski of Columbia University. "While amyloid beta is certainly a key player in Alzheimer's disease--and efforts to reduce it remain a worthy goal--our results show that, even in the presence of the plaque, damage to memory can be reversed." The findings suggest that neurons' protein-ridding machinery, the so-called ubiquitin/proteasomal pathway, may play an important early role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, he added.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 9267 - Posted: 08.27.2006