PHILADELPHIA -- Memory tests performed with amnesiacs have enabled researchers to refute a long-held belief in an essential difference between long-and short-term memories. In the study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania determined that the hippocampus -- a seahorse shaped structure in the middle of the brain -- was just as important for retrieving certain types of short-term memories as it is for long-term memories. Their findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, overturn the established view of the hippocampus and offers insight on how the brain forms and recalls memories by piecing together related bits of experiences. "For over 40 years, the chief paradigm has been that the hippocampus was important for creating long-term memory but not short-term or working memory," said Ingrid Olson, a member of Penn's Department of Psychology and researcher at Penn's Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. "However, our data show that one type of working memory, working memory for the relationship between bits of information, is dependent on the hippocampus. Copyright © 2006, University of Pennsylvania

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 8994 - Posted: 06.24.2010

COLUMBUS , Ohio – Researchers found that they could eliminate the rewarding effect of cocaine on mice by genetically manipulating a key target of the drug in the animal's brain. While the researchers aren't suggesting that these genetic modifications be made in humans, the work brings to light the key protein that controls cocaine's effects in the body, which may help scientists develop medications that achieve the same results and therefore help addicts overcome their dependence. Right now there are no such treatments on the market, said Howard Gu, the study's lead author and an associate professor of pharmacology and psychiatry at Ohio State University . The study confirms that the dopamine transporter – a protein that moves the neurotransmitter dopamine from outside of a neuron into the inside of the cell – is a prime target for developing drugs to fight cocaine addiction. “Cocaine blocks dopamine transporters, and this action ultimately is what makes a person feel high,” Gu said. “We found that cocaine would not produce a high if it could not block the transporters.” He and his colleagues reported their findings the week of May 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 8993 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Helen Pearson Scientists in Israel have pinpointed a common genetic trait that could make some of us hungrier for sex than others. The team looked at a gene known as the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4), which partly controls the brain's response to dopamine, a chemical often associated with the body's 'pleasure system'. Scientists know that this neurotransmitter can control sexual behaviour in animals and humans, and that dopamine circuits help to create the drive for things such as sex, drugs and food. Richard Ebstein at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem was prompted to examine the DRD4 gene after a 2004 study showed that a drug blocking this gene's function helped to trigger erections in rats. Ebstein and his colleagues asked 148 male and female college students to fill in a sex questionnaire that posed questions such as 'How important is sex in your life?' and 'How often do you have sexual fantasies?' They used the answers to tot up scores showing how much each student desired sex, how much they were aroused by sex and how good they were at performing the deed: effectively a measure of their 'horniness', Ebstein says. Then the team matched up these scores with the genetic make-up of each student's DRD4 gene. ©2006 Nature Publishing Group

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 8992 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Rob Stein The words "It's frustrating," shaped to look like a pair of legs, float across the screen. A voice intones: "It's frustrating. Just when you're ready to relax, you feel the compelling urge to move." Eventually, the legs morph into those of a woman, draped lazily across a recliner. The television ad, and similar ones appearing in magazines and on the Internet, are hawking the first pill approved to treat a once-obscure condition known as restless legs syndrome, or RLS, which causes an irresistible, sometimes debilitating urge to move. Praised by some neurologists and patients advocates for raising the profile of an under-diagnosed, under-treated condition, the ads are also raising concerns. Although RLS is a bona fide condition that can make victims miserable, skeptics fear that fidgety people who simply have a hard time sitting still, or twitch a little in their sleep, will receive the inappropriate diagnosis of a serious neurological condition requiring treatment with a powerful prescription medication. The debate has focused attention on what some have dubbed "disease-mongering" -- taking something that is within normal bounds and labeling it a disease needing pharmaceutical treatment. © 2006 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 8991 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Dan Ferber EDMONTON, ALBERTA--Researchers have identified a key cellular pathway by which the herbal medicine ginkgo biloba may protect brain cells. If the results are confirmed in people, ginkgo biloba might one day be used to lessen the effects of stroke. For centuries, traditional Chinese physicians have used extracts from leaves of the maidenhair tree, Ginkgo biloba, to treat asthma, bronchitis, and brain disorders. Although many of ginkgo biloba's purported benefits remain unproven, doctors in the United States are studying the herb's potential to slow memory loss and ease confusion in patients with Alzheimer's disease. No one knows for sure how the herbal extract affects the brain. Neuroscientist Sylvain Doré of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, found one mechanism while studying how to combat the delayed effects of stroke. A stroke quickly decimates a small area of the brain, but surrounding brain tissue continues to die over several weeks. Doré's team had discovered that mice lacking an enzyme called heme oxygenase recovered poorly from stroke. The enzyme converts heme, a cellular compound that produces damaging oxygen radicals, to less harmful compounds, some of which neutralize oxygen radicals. Doré's team suspected that ginkgo biloba might activate heme oxygenase, thereby protecting brain cells. © 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science

Keyword: Alzheimers; Stroke
Link ID: 8990 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News — Just one cigarette can leave children hooked for life, according to a new study of teenage smoking behavior. Published in the current issue of the journal Tobacco Control, the research has found that the desire to smoke can lie dormant in children for three years or more after their first cigarette. Jennifer Fidler, of the Cancer Research UK Health Behavior Unit at University College London and colleagues, tracked the smoking behavior of over 2,000 London school children. The researchers started the survey when the students were 11 years old and ended it when they were 16. The students provided saliva samples which were tested for cotinine, a chemical marker of nicotine. The survey found that children who smoked just one cigarette by age 11 were more than twice as likely to start smoking regularly by age 14 as those who had never tried smoking. © 2006 Discovery Communications Inc.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 8989 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ATLANTA - The severe neurodegeneration associated with Huntington's disease may result from molecular mutations that block the transport of nutrients within cells. Findings from the Emory University School of Medicine indicate that the mutant huntingtin protein limits the efforts of the huntingtin-associated protein-1 (HAP1) to provide nutrients to growing neurons, or neurites. Without those nutrients, neurites fail to develop and mature neurons degenerate. Huntington's disease was first identified more than 125 years ago, and often inhibits speech, movement, reasoning and memory. The result of an abnormal Huntington gene, the hereditary disorder is estimated to affect one out of every 10,000 people. Though some current pharmacological treatments do address symptoms, scientists have been unable to stop the disease's progression. However, scientists at Emory are making headway in the search for a cure. The findings that appear in the May 31 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience are the latest of more than a decade of Huntington's disease-related discoveries led by Xiao-Jiang Li, PhD, professor of human genetics at Emory University School of Medicine. Juan Rong, doctoral student in the neuroscience graduate program at the Emory University School of Medicine, is the lead author of the article. The senior author, Dr. Li, first discovered the protein HAP1 as a postdoctoral fellow in 1995. In previous articles, he has identified the importance of HAP1 to the normal functioning of the hypothalamus, a region of the brain that acts as a central switchboard to regulate feeding and other body functions.

Keyword: Huntingtons
Link ID: 8988 - Posted: 05.31.2006

Roxanne Khamsi Teens diagnosed with the bipolar disorder are more likely to interpret neutral facial expressions as hostile and react with fear, a new study shows. Brain scans also showed that the brain centre that processes fear – the amygdala – shows more activity in these youngsters than in those free of the disorder. The researchers say the findings provide insight into how bipolar individuals process emotions differently to their peers. Bipolar disorder affects about 5.7 million American adults, and is one of the most common psychiatric disorders diagnosed among children. It is characterised by moods that swing between manic ‘highs’ and serious depression. Melissa DelBello, who researches mood disorders at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio, US, says adolescents with bipolar disorder may have a suicidal reaction to something as simple as a friend not calling them back on the phone. She adds that patients with the disorder also show inappropriate reactions during their manic phases: “A teacher will be yelling at them and they might think this is the funniest thing.” In the past, scientists have found that the amygdala, which processes fear and anxiety in the brain, is smaller in young adults with bipolar disorder. “But we didn’t know whether this structural abnormality translates into a functional abnormality,” says DelBello. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd

Keyword: Schizophrenia; Emotions
Link ID: 8987 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A rare genetic disorder is the cause of some strokes in young people, German researchers have said. Scientists in Rostock found 4% of over 700 people aged 18 to 55 years who had a stroke also had Fabry disease. And strokes occurred about a decade earlier in people with the condition, the study presented to the European Stroke Congress in Brussels, found. Experts said the findings only applied to a small number of people but did highlight a treatable cause of stroke. Fabry disease is caused by a missing or faulty enzyme needed by the body to process oils, waxes, and fatty acids. These lipids build up to harmful levels in the eyes, kidneys, nervous system, and cardiovascular system. People with the disease can die prematurely because of renal, cardiac or cerebrovascular complications. But the condition's progress can be slowed using enzyme replacement treatment. Researchers from the University of Rostock carried out genetic screening of over 700 adults suffering from unexplained stroke to see if they had Fabry disease. None had the typical risk factors for stroke, such as smoking or being severely obesity. It was found that nearly 5% of the male stroke patients and just over 2% of the female patients had gene linked to Fabry disease. (C)BBC

Keyword: Stroke; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 8986 - Posted: 05.30.2006

By KATHLEEN McGRORY It was supposed to be a typical ballet class. Cynthia Toussaint, then a senior dance major at the University of California, Irvine, engaged in her usual stretching routine: she raised her left leg to the barre and slowly bent her upper body down to her right knee. For a moment, she delighted in the long stretch. But as she returned to an upright position, she felt a sudden pop in her hamstring. "It felt like a guitar string had been plucked and it had broken," said Ms. Toussaint, who is now 45. An intense burning sensation followed; it felt as if her leg had been doused in gasoline and set on fire, she said. The next day, the college athletics trainer determined that she had pulled her hamstring. But even years later, the pain would not subside. It migrated to her other leg, leaving her bedridden for nearly a decade, and overtook her vocal cords, leaving her temporarily mute. All the while, doctors puzzled over and even doubted her mysterious condition. Ms. Toussaint now knows that she is among an estimated one million Americans living with complex regional pain syndrome, a nerve disorder formerly known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome. For patients with the disorder, a trauma as mild as a fractured wrist or a twisted ankle can cause the nerves to misfire, so much so that intense pain messages are constantly sent to the brain. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 8985 - Posted: 05.30.2006

By Ranit Mishori Bariatric surgery -- the stomach-shrinking operation performed to treat obesity -- works, and it is becoming safer all the time. But there's a catch often not understood by those who undergo the procedure: Once they lose the weight the surgery helps them lose, there may be more surgery to come -- surgery that is costlier and riskier and that requires a longer recovery time than the original operation. The reason: excess skin. An obese person who loses weight quickly will lose the fat but not the skin that once enveloped the fat. The arms, thighs, abdomen, breasts, all lose texture and sag. "It's as if a very, very large person all of a sudden had all the air let out, as if [he] were a doll," says Richard A. D'Amico, chief of the Department of Plastic Surgery at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, N.J. The solution: plastic surgery to remove the extra skin, a set of procedures known as body contouring. As bariatric surgery has grown more common (some 144,000 such procedures were performed in the United States in 2004, more than double the number in 2002), D'Amico says, patients seeking body contouring have "started to show up in plastic surgeons' offices in large numbers." Last year more than 68,000 patients underwent body contouring after bariatric surgery, 77 percent more than five years ago, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. © 2006 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 8984 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NEW YORK -- When recalling memories of negative or positive events that helped to shape our identity, such as a break-up or marriage, we tend to downplay the fear, anger or other negative emotions experienced at the time and remember more of the positive emotions, new study findings indicate. "These findings suggest that healthy individuals work to build a positive narrative identity that will yield an overall optimistic tone to the most important recalled events from their lives," write study authors Drs. Michael Conway and Wendy-Jo Wood, both of Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. The findings may also have implications for an individual's mental health. "Mental health is maintained or improved by people's attempts to make sense of their life experiences," Conway told Reuters Health. "People try to see the positive in even very difficult life experiences, and come to downplay, as much as they can, how negative some events were in the past," he explained. © 2002-2005 redOrbit.com.

Keyword: Emotions; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 8983 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A computer - or any digital system which processes and stores information - knows only two states: "on" and "off". While our brain may not be a computer, the signals of nerve cells can also represent "on" or "off" states, causing the receiving - "post-synaptic" - cells to either propagate the signal or to terminate signal transmission. The orchestrated interplay of stimulating and inhibitory signals is central to the development and functioning of the entire nervous system. If inhibitory neurons are prevented from carrying out their function, this causes major defects early in embryonal development - and these defects can even occur outside the nervous system. These are the results of a study recently published by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen (Neuron, May 18, 2006). The most common inhibitory transmitters in the mammalian central nervous system are GABA and glycine. Nerve cells can release GABA or glycine where they contact other nerve cells at junctions called synapses. This typically prevents further signal transmission by the post-synaptic cell. Most inhibitory nerve cells release either GABA or glycine. However, some inhibitory nerve cells appear to be "bilingual", releasing a mixture of GABA and glycine. These mixed-release cells are most common during nervous system development and seem to be crucial for normal spinal cord growth. For brain researchers, however, they have proven mysterious.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 8982 - Posted: 06.24.2010

New evidence that individual differences in human sexual desire can be attributed to genetic variations has been revealed by a research group headed by a professor of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The findings are believed to have an impact on people's understanding of their own sexuality as well as to how sexual disorders may come to be treated in the future. An article on the topic appears currently in Molecular Psychiatry online. The study represents the combined efforts of researchers directed by Prof. Richard P. Ebstein, of Herzog Hospital and the head of the Scheinfeld Center for Human Genetics in the Social Sciences of the Psychology Department at the Hebrew University, and a research group headed by Prof. Robert H. Belmaker of the Psychiatry Division of Ben Gurion University of the Negev. The article provides, for the first time, data that common variations in the sequence of DNA impact on sexual desire, arousal and function and lead to differences and diversity of the human sexual phenotype. The implications of these findings are far-reaching, say the researchers, and represent a revolutionary change in the way society, and especially psychology, may come to regard this central element of human behavior.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 8981 - Posted: 05.30.2006

Research has confirmed listening to music can have a significant positive impact on perception of chronic pain. US researchers tested the effect of music on 60 patients who had endured years of chronic pain. Those who listened to music reported a cut in pain levels of up to 21%, and in associated depression of up to 25%, compared to those who did not listen. The Journal of Advanced Nursing study also found music helped people feel less disabled by their condition. The patients who took part in the study were recruited from pain and chiropractic clinics. They had been suffering from conditions such osteoarthritis, disc problems and rheumatoid arthritis for an average of six-and-a-half years. Most said the pain affected more than one part of their body, and was continuous. Some listened to music on a headset for an hour every day for a week, while the rest did not. Among those who listened to music, half were able to chose their favourite selections, the rest had to pick from a list of five relaxing tapes provided by the researchers. Researcher Dr Sandra Siedlecki, of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, said: "Our results show that listening to music had a statistically significant effect on the two experimental groups, reducing pain, depression and disability and increasing feelings of power. "There were some small differences between the two music groups, but they both showed consistent improvements in each category when compared to the control group. (C)BBC

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 8980 - Posted: 05.29.2006

By Tom Jackman There are discussions about mental health, debates about dollars, demands for more beds, mostly in general terms at the top of political and policy food chains. Then there is real life -- and real consequences. Check out the first two weeks of this month: May 1: A mentally ill 22-year-old man is convicted of murder for beheading his aunt in Arlington. May 8: A mentally ill 18-year-old man drives into a police parking lot in Fairfax County, fatally shoots two police officers, then is shot and killed by police. May 12: A mentally ill 24-year-old man allegedly stabs his mother to death in Fairfax City, then uses duct tape to seal the bathroom, where her body is found. May 14: A mentally ill 18-year-old man in Anne Arundel County stabs himself, then menaces police and demands that they shoot him, which they eventually do. He dies. The pace of violence hardly surprises those who deal with the mentally ill every day: social workers, police, parents, lawyers. They know how hard it is to get a sick person treatment, how few resources are available, how the money for help has declined. © 2006 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 8979 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By PAUL RAEBURN Three years ago, Mary Beth Towell, a counselor in Canton, Ohio, was assigned to a family in a crumbling neighborhood of dilapidated houses, drug dealers and gangs. Even in that tough neighborhood, this family stood out as desperate. In a single month, child-protective services fielded more than 30 calls from teachers, police officers and others demanding that the children be removed. The mother had bipolar disorder and was a heavy marijuana user. The children's father no longer lived in the home. Two of the girls, 15 and 10, and a boy, 11, were violent and suicidal. They threatened one another with knives and fought viciously. (The remaining child, a 14-year-old girl, was somehow O.K.) Few families in such bad shape survive intact. The children may be sent to residential treatment centers or juvenile corrections facilities. "These programs generate high recidivism rates," says Bart Lubow, director of the program for high-risk young people at the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore. And they can cost at least $50,000 a year per child. "That would be O.K. if you were getting a reasonable return on your investment," Lubow says. "But the outcomes are very poor." Stark County in Ohio is trying something different. Towell was part of a team using an innovative antiviolence program called multisystemic therapy, or MST. Developed over the last 30 years by Scott Henggeler, a clinical psychologist and a professor of psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina, it is based on the assumptions that families should remain together and that all of the causes of antisocial behavior should be attacked at once. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Aggression
Link ID: 8978 - Posted: 05.29.2006

Researchers have discovered how the widely prescribed drug Prozac acts on the brain to counter depression. A team at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island, New York, found the drug triggers production of a type of immature brain cell. They hope their work could aid development of new drugs and therapies for depression, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. The study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. It has been known for some years that Prozac is likely to relieve the symptoms of depression by somehow causing more brain cells (neurons) to be born in a particular region of the brain called the dentate gyrus. But the origins of these neurons, and how Prozac promotes their existence, have been a mystery until now. The researchers analysed proteins produced by different kinds of cells in the brains of adult mice. This enabled them to track the steps involved in the complex process that converts immature stem cells into mature, specialised neurons. They found that Prozac had a specific effect on the second step of this pathway - it stimulated production of an intermediate form of the cells called ANPs (amplifying neural progenitors). As ANPs eventually go on to form fully-fledged neurons, this ultimately leads to increased neuron numbers in the dentate gyrus. The researchers are now testing other antidepressants and new drugs to establish whether they act in the same way. (C)BBC

Keyword: Depression; Neurogenesis
Link ID: 8977 - Posted: 05.27.2006

By GARDINER HARRIS WASHINGTON, May 26 — Federal drug regulators have approved the first vaccine intended to reduce the risk of shingles in people 60 and older. The vaccine, called Zostavax, is a souped-up version of the chickenpox vaccine. Both chickenpox and shingles are caused by the herpes zoster virus, which is present in almost everyone. The approval was announced on Friday. Zostavax, made by Merck, works by mimicking a shingles attack, but without the pain or blisters that shingles causes. The vaccine strengthens the body's immune response against the virus, reducing the chances of an outbreak, as well as the severity of the disease if it does occur. The science behind the vaccine is relatively simple. Zostavax is roughly equivalent to 14 doses of the pediatric chickenpox vaccine. Nonetheless, Zostavax represents a significant breakthrough, several scientists said. It is the first therapeutic vaccine, meaning it prevents or eases the severity of the problems from an infection that has already occurred. Scientists have been hoping to create such vaccines against cancer and AIDS, but without much success. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 8976 - Posted: 06.24.2010

More than half of the 185,000 amputations in the U.S. each year are a result of diabetes, a disease that plagues an estimated 20.8 million Americans -- seven percent of the population -- and is on the rise. Diabetic neuropathy, nerve damage that causes a loss of sensation in the hands and feet, can allow small injuries to go unnoticed and become severely infected. Tight control of blood sugar can keep neuropathy at bay, but there is no cure. "There are a variety of medications that are available now that can help with the pain but unfortunately, there's nothing available to help with numbness or prevention of nerve damage," says diabetes specialist Mark Kipnes, MD, director of the Diabetes and Glandular Disease Research Clinic in San Antonio, Texas. But now Kipnes is leading the first human testing of a new drug that might prevent or even reverse such damage. Designed by researchers at Sangamo Biosciences, it uses a natural protein that turns on the patient's own gene for helping nerve growth. As the researchers wrote in the journal "Diabetes," tests on diabetic rats showed that repeated treatments with the drug led to increasingly improved nerve function. © ScienCentral, 2000-2006.

Keyword: Regeneration; Obesity
Link ID: 8975 - Posted: 06.24.2010