By CHARLES McGRATH The case files of mental illness are filled with half-baked theories and their drastic advocates. Wilhelm Fleiss, for example, believed that sexual hang-ups stemmed from irregularities in the nasal cavity and that a little judicious snipping could set everything straight. In 1895 he famously botched an operation on Sigmund Freud's patient Emma Eckstein, absent-mindedly leaving a yard of surgical gauze stuffed in her head and almost causing her to bleed to death. Dr. Walter J. Freeman, a central figure in "My Lobotomy," a radio documentary that will be broadcast this afternoon on the National Public Radio program "All Things Considered," believed that the source of many mental disturbances was the thalamus, in which overabundant emotions tended to congregate. The solution, in his view, was simply to sever that part of the brain from the frontal lobes. In the late 1930's, Dr. Freeman was one of the first Americans to perform a transorbital lobotomy, in which holes are drilled in the patient's head. In 1946 he devised a faster and more efficient procedure, the prefrontal, or "ice pick," lobotomy, in which a spike is driven beneath the lids of both eyes and then swirled around in a sort of eggbeater motion to scramble the neural connections. He had some positive results, as in the case of Ann Krubsack, who today says she believes that the operation greatly helped her schizophrenia, if not entirely curing it, and enabled her to raise a family and hold down a job she liked. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Compan

Keyword: Depression; Schizophrenia
Link ID: 8184 - Posted: 11.16.2005

Rats, like humans, love sugar. So it comes as no surprise that during two weeks of training for a recent lab experiment, the rodents queued up twice daily for small doses of sugar water. What researchers did not anticipate was the apparent effect of the sweet stuff on their stress levels: when they placed the rats in stressful circumstances at the end of those two weeks, the animals were less agitated than expected. Multiple blood samples taken from these rats showed lower levels of stress hormones known as glucocorticoids than those that were given a saccharin solution or just plain water before being subjected to psychological or physical duress, according to research presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, D.C. "We actually found that sugar snacks, not artificially sweetened snacks, are better self-medications for the two most common types of stress--psychological and physical," explains Yvonne Ulrich-Lai, a postdoctoral fellow in psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati who led the study. Stressful events trigger the hypothalamus region of the brain, which links up with the pituitary and adrenal glands in what has been dubbed the "stress axis" to produce glucocorticoids. These stress hormones help the body defend itself under difficult conditions. But, when present in excessive quantities or for too long, they have been linked to a weakened immune system and increased abdominal fat, among other undesirable effects. © 1996-2005 Scientific American, Inc.

Keyword: Stress; Obesity
Link ID: 8183 - Posted: 06.24.2010

COLUMBUS , Ohio – A new study suggests that hamsters may suffer from symptoms of anxiety and depression during the dark days of winter, just as some humans do. Using a variety of tests, researchers found more symptoms of depression and anxiety in adult hamsters that were housed for weeks in conditions with limited daylight, as they would find in winter, when compared to hamsters who had days with longer daylight. The research also examined whether hamsters that developed prenatally and then were born during short days were more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety as adults. The results for these tests were mixed, but suggest that hamsters born in winter-like light conditions had increased depressive symptoms as adults. Overall, the results suggest that the season the hamsters were born in, their sex, and the changing of the seasons all may play a role in levels of depression and anxiety. “These results in hamsters may provide some insight into the development of seasonal affective disorders in humans,” said Randy Nelson, co-author of the study and professor of psychology and neuroscience at Ohio State University. Nelson conducted the study with Leah Pyter, a doctoral student in neuroscience at Ohio State . They presented their results Nov. 15 in Washington , D.C. at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.

Keyword: Depression; Biological Rhythms
Link ID: 8182 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News — They might be your best friends, but just what makes Fido and Fifi tick is far from well understood, said researchers who have surveyed seven decades of dog personality studies. Despite a surge in canine temperament studies since the 1960s, there are some large holes in the research, said University of Texas at Austin psychologists who are hoping to fill some of the voids. For instance, the vast majority of dog studies have been on young German shepherds and Labrador retrievers. As a result, practically nothing is scientifically known about the personality differences of pit bulls and poodles, or even whether personality traits are truly breed-specific. "There aren't tried and true assessments of dog temperaments," said psychologist Amanda Jones. Jones and her colleague Samuel Gosling evaluated 51 canine studies from the 1930s to the present. Their results are published in the November issue of Applied Animal Behavior Science. © 2005 Discovery Communications Inc.

Keyword: Emotions; Evolution
Link ID: 8181 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Jim Giles Brain researchers are developing tests that can identify the beginnings of Alzheimer's years before the first clinical signs of the disease emerge. The researchers, who presented their results on 14 November at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington DC, say the tests allowed them to single out people who went on to develop the condition. If those results are repeated using larger study groups, doctors could start using the tests straight away. One test uses brain scans to spot the first hints of problems that will later cause dementia. William Jagust of the University of California, Berkeley, and his group tracked about 60 healthy old people for around three years, using two brain-imaging techniques and exercises designed to probe memory and cognition. Six of the group developed forms of dementia and several others started to suffer from the cognitive impairments that precede full-blown Alzheimer's. When Jagust looked back at the scans taken at the start of the project, he found that several brain areas showed tell-tale signs in these subjects. Neural activity in temporal and parietal lobes, for example, was below average in people that later scored poorly in cognitive tests. ©2005 Nature Publishing Group

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 8180 - Posted: 06.24.2010

STANFORD, Calif. - When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared in 2004 that certain antidepressants are linked to an increased risk of suicide in adolescents, there was surprisingly little data about how depression was being treated in young patients. Now new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine provides critical documentation of the potential misuse of these medications in the years leading up to the FDA's decision to issue the so-called "black-box" warnings. The researchers found that, despite clinical guidelines calling for depressed adolescents to be treated with a combination of psychotherapy and medication, antidepressants began supplanting - rather than complementing - the role of mental health counseling between 1995 and 2002. And although only one antidepressant has been sanctioned for use in children, the study found that doctors were prescribing a variety of mood-altering medications for young patients. The researchers hope their findings provide a benchmark for assessing how the 2004 decision affects depression treatment in children, while reinforcing that antidepressants can be a valuable treatment tool if used appropriately. "We're not saying that doctors should avoid prescribing antidepressants for kids, but we are pointing out the potential for inappropriate use of antidepressants," said Jun Ma, MD, PhD, research associate at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and lead author of the study that will appear in the December issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. "If used as part of a comprehensive treatment regimen, antidepressants are of great benefit to individual patients and to the society as a whole."

Keyword: Depression; Drug Abuse
Link ID: 8179 - Posted: 11.16.2005

Multiple sclerosis patients are to be able to get a cannabis-based pain-relief drug on the NHS for the first time, it has been announced. Sativex has already been licensed for use in Canada to relieve pain in people with MS. The Home Office has now said the drug can be imported to the UK for individual patient's use. MS charities welcomed the development as a step towards the drug being fully licensed for use on the NHS. Eighty-five thousand people in the UK have MS. It is not yet certain how many of them would benefit from Sativex. The drug is a mouth spray containing two chemicals found in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol. The announcement is believed to be in response to enquiries to the Home Office from doctors and patients about access to the drug. Under the new arrangements, the prescription of Sativex would only be permitted under Home Office licence. Sativex can significantly reduce nerve pain in MS patients, a study has shown. Researchers at Liverpool's Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery compared the drug with a dummy version in a study of 66 patients.Dr Carolyn Young, who led the research which was published in the journal Neurology, said the drug was seen to reduce pain and sleep disturbance. A doctor would have to take responsibility for the prescription of the unlicensed drug, which would have to be imported from Canada for that particular patient. The government has asked a watchdog, the Commission on Human Medicines, to monitor the safety of Sativex. (C)BBC

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis
Link ID: 8178 - Posted: 11.15.2005

By MARY DUENWALD When is it a good idea for an adolescent to take a sleeping pill? There is reason to suppose the answer may be never. No prescription sleep aids are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in people under 18, largely because they have not been well studied in children. But children do take sleeping pills. In 2004, more than 180,000 people under age 20 in the United States - most of them 10 or older took sleep medications, according to estimates released last month by Medco Health Solutions, a large managed-care company. Although that represents only about one child in 500, Medco found that usage was up by 85 percent since 2000. The numbers reported by Medco were somewhat mysterious: the company's report did not indicate why the pills were prescribed for the patients under 18, or which pills were prescribed for them. That makes some doctors worry that the large increase may reflect a certain amount of unnecessary prescribing. To some extent, not sleeping enough is a normal part of adolescence. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 8177 - Posted: 11.15.2005

By CONNIE ROGERS People keep asking Carel van Schaik if there is anything left to discover in fieldwork. "I tell them, 'A lot,' " said Dr. van Schaik, the Dutch primatologist. "Look at gorillas. We've been studying them for decades, and we just now have discovered that they use tools. The same is true for orangutans." JUST LOOKING An adult male orangutan went about his business in the swamps of Sumatra under the watchful gaze of the Dutch primatologist Carel van Schaik. In 1992, when Dr. van Schaik began his research in Suaq, a swamp forest in northern Sumatra, orangutans were believed to be the only great ape that lived a largely solitary life foraging for hard-to-find fruit thinly distributed over a large area. Researchers thought they were slow-moving creatures - some even called them boring - that didn't have time to do much but eat. But the orangutans Dr. van Schaik found in Suaq turned all that on its head. More than 100 were gathered together doing things the researchers had never seen in the wild. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 8176 - Posted: 11.15.2005

By BENEDICT CAREY His mother in Ireland is entirely unaware of his international reputation, as far as he can tell. His neighbors in the hamlet of Porthaethwy, on an island off the coast of Wales, are equally oblivious, or indifferent. His wife, who knows too well the furor he has caused, says simply, "How could you be right and everyone else wrong?" THE CRITIC David Healy spoke to a reporter after a lecture last month. Dr. David Healy, a psychiatrist at the University of Cardiff and a vocal critic of his profession's overselling of psychiatric drugs, has achieved a rare kind of scientific celebrity: he is internationally known as both a scholar and a pariah. In 1997 he established himself as a leading historian of modern psychiatry with the book "The Antidepressant Era." Around the same time, he became more prominent for insisting in news media interviews and scientific papers that antidepressants could increase the risk of suicide, an unpopular position among his psychiatric colleagues, most of whom denied any link. By 2004, British and American drug regulators, responding in part to Dr. Healy and other critics, issued strong warnings that the drugs could cause suicidal thinking and behavior in some children and adolescents. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Depression; Schizophrenia
Link ID: 8175 - Posted: 11.15.2005

Researchers at Northwestern University and Columbia University have found that "wiring" in female rat brain memory area expands and retracts in relation to the amount of estrogen present during the estrous/menstrual cycle. A study describing this research will be presented on Nov. 14 by Aryeh Routtenberg, professor of psychology, neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University, at the 2005 Society for Neuroscience Meeting in Washington, D.C. Because this area of the brain, the hippocampus, has been shown to be critical to both humans and animals for memory processes, the group's finding lends support to a vast array of empirical and anecdotal evidence concerning variations in cognition and memory processes as a function of the time of the female cycle. That this rewiring is due to estrogen was shown in experiments using hormone replacement therapy to compare females with low, moderate or high levels. Only when the high physiological level was reached – similar to that seen during the peak of estrogen levels during the estrous cycle – was the growth observed. The investigators suggest the provocative hypothesis that the ability of the female brain network to modify itself in the presence of increased estrogen may facilitate processing of complex spatial environments to enhance reproductive success, for example, selecting a mate or, as a mother, finding food, water and shelter while avoiding predators.

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 8174 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---When the going gets tough, older adults' brains get going, according to new research by a University of Michigan professor studying how key regions of the brain click on when needed. Several regions in the brain, especially in the frontal cortex, are involved in helping people meet the demands of a constantly changing environment. While earlier research focused on older adults' failures to activate these regions, the new U-M research found that older adults can activate these regions in response to a challenging task, and may also bring additional brain regions online to help their performance. "Older adults' brains can indeed rise to the challenge, at least in some situations, although they may do so differently than young adults," said Cindy Lustig, a U-M assistant psychology professor who designed the study, which was conducted at Washington University in St. Louis. "We are continuing to collect data from these groups and are also beginning to test young children and middle-aged adults as well." Lustig and her colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity in young adults (ages 18 to 30) and older adults (ages 65 and up) while they performed easy or difficult tasks.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 8173 - Posted: 11.15.2005

New evidence points to production of myelin, a fatty insulation coating the brain's internal wiring, as a neural Achilles' heel early in life. An upcoming application of a novel model of human brain development and degeneration pioneered by a UCLA neuroscientist identifies disruption of myelination as a key neurobiological component behind childhood developmental disorders and addictive behaviors. Detailed in an article in press with the upcoming annual peer-reviewed publication Adolescent Psychiatry (Hillsdale, N.J.; The Analytic Press Inc.; 2005) the analysis suggests that many factors can disrupt myelination and contribute to or worsen disorders such as autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia. In addition, the analysis suggests that alcohol and other drugs of abuse have toxic effects on the myelination process in some adolescents, contributing to poor treatment outcomes and exacerbating co-existing psychiatric disorders. Author Dr. George Bartzokis, a professor of neurology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, concludes that the high incidence of impulsive behaviors that characterize the teen years as well as many psychiatric disorders that occur in the teens and 20s are related to incomplete myelination of inhibitory "stop" brain circuits, while the "go" circuits become fully functional earlier in development. These inhibitory circuits are not on line to quickly interrupt high-risk behaviors that are so prevalent in teens and young adults.

Keyword: Development of the Brain; ADHD
Link ID: 8171 - Posted: 11.15.2005

Jim Giles People can have physical brain abnormalities similar to those found in autistic individuals without having the disorder themselves. These results come from two studies, which were presented at a conference over the weekend. Brain scans show striking similarities between the brains of autistic patients and those of their non-autistic parents and siblings. The results are prompting researchers to ask how some people can be unaffected by brain deficits that cause such pronounced behavioural abnormalities in others. In one study, Eric Peterson of the University of Colorado at Boulder and his colleagues scanned the brains of 40 parents of autistic children and compared the results with functional magnetic imaging (MRI) scans from 40 controls. The data look much like those obtained for comparisons between autistic and non-autistic brains, says Peterson. The results were discussed on 13 November at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington. Some areas of the brain region known as the prefrontal cortex were smaller than normal in the parents of autistic children, for example. This part of the brain is involved in understanding other peoples' motivations, something that autistic people find difficult and is thought to lie behind the problems they face in interacting socially. ©2005 Nature Publishing Group |

Keyword: Autism; Brain imaging
Link ID: 8170 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Alison Motluk The drug ecstasy reduces the brain’s defences, reveals a new study of rats, leaving it vulnerable to invasion by viruses and other pathogens. The researchers behind the study warn of "clinical considerations which may apply to the treatment of people who abuse MDMA". For example, anaesthetics could find it easier to penetrate the brain, "greatly increasing the risk of unwanted sedation". And they say infections could cause permanent damage to brain cells or alter the ability of the brain to function normally. The brain is protected by a fence of tightly packed cells, called the blood-brain barrier. This prevents all but the smallest molecules from passing through. But the new experiments show that MDMA – the chemical name for ecstasy, or “E” – somehow forces open that barrier, allowing larger molecules access to the brain. Bryan Yamamoto at Boston University, US, and colleagues gave rats four doses of MDMA over 8 hours. “We were trying to approximate a human dosaging pattern,” says Yamamoto. The scientists also injected a blue dye, made of molecules too large to get into the rats' brains under normal circumstances. One day later, the researchers found the dye had made its way into parts of the brain, such as the caudate and the hippocampus. Ten weeks later, despite no further doses of MDMA being given, new injections of dye were still passing through the blood brain barrier. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 8169 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists at the Universities of Heidelberg and Ulm and a unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Monterotondo, Italy, have discovered that a specific signal within brain cells may determine whether they live or die after a stroke. Their study, published online (November 13) by Nature Medicine, strongly suggests that new therapies for victims of strokes could be developed by controlling a molecule involved in passing the signal. Strokes lead to death or permanent disabilities for millions of people every year when an interruption of the flow of blood to brain cells deprives them of vital oxygen and nutrients. But the fate of the cells seems to depend on what happens next. Scientists discovered that damaged and dying brain cells are very actively using an internal "communications network" known as the NF-kB signalling pathway. Cells have many such networks; their function is usually to switch genes on or off, changing the chemistry and behavior of the cell. Most drugs work by interfering with molecules that play important roles within these networks. Scientists knew that NF-kB signaling was active in neurons, but its function was unclear. "We had some evidence that in nerve cells, it could trigger a self-destruction program called apoptosis," says Markus Schwaninger of the University of Heidelberg, one of the heads of the project. "If that was the case, the signal could certainly be playing a role in the death of neurons after stroke and other types of brain damage." To address this hypothesis, Schwaninger's group had established a sophisticated method of creating a stroke-like condition in mice, a model that can be used to investigate new therapies.

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 8168 - Posted: 11.14.2005

The recent publication of a Cochrane systematic review concluding that there is "no credible evidence" of a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and either inflammatory bowel disease or autism provoked demands that the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail apologise for its role in promoting the MMR-autism scare (http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD004407/frame.html). Instead, on 31 October, the paper published a feature by leading columnist Melanie Phillips insisting that claims that MMR was safe were "a load of old baloney" (www.melaniephillips.com). Phillips proclaimed that, far from having received the "all-clear," the "MMR scandal" was "getting worse." The otherwise unanimous verdict of the media was that the Cochrane review—following a series of studies coming to the same conclusion—confirmed that the scare launched following the now notorious Andrew Wakefield Lancet paper in 1998 was finally over ( Lancet 1998;351: 637[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]). Phillips's defiant article stands as a symbol of the woe-ful role of the media in the course of the MMR controversy. It is true that the MMR-autism scare did not start in the press. Both a reputable London teaching hospital and a prestigious medical journal allowed the scare to start. Yet, once Wakefield decided to go public with his anti-MMR campaign, the media played a major part in promoting the scare. Phillips's response to the Cochrane study follows the familiar themes of numerous anti-MMR articles over the years, including several by Phillips herself. © 2005 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd

Keyword: Autism; Neurotoxins
Link ID: 8167 - Posted: 06.24.2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- People don't have to run marathons to keep their brain cells in shape -- regular, light activity may do the trick. In the first study to show that lifelong exercise decreases cellular aging in the brain, scientists from the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida say that moderately active rats have healthier DNA and more robust brain cells than their less active counterparts. The research was presented today (Nov. 12) at the Society for Neuroscience's 35th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. "It would be wonderful if we had a pill that contained all the benefits of exercise, but we don't," said Thomas Foster, Ph.D., the Evelyn F. McKnight chair for brain research in memory loss at the College of Medicine. "For this study animals were not forced to run; they did it because it was entertaining, the same as a pet hamster on a running wheel. The results show that regular mild exercise can prevent oxidative damage. In people, that translates to a daily 30-minute walk or a light 1-mile run." Oxidative damage in the brain is believed to be a natural consequence of aging and a contributor to memory loss. In addition, increased oxidative damage has been implicated in the loss of brain cells that is associated with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Oxidative damage can occur when molecules of oxygen gain electrons and become free radicals. The free radicals regain their balance by giving electrons to their neighbors.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 8166 - Posted: 11.14.2005

Researchers working with rats have found the first solid evidence that still "sharp" older brains store and encode memories differently than younger brains. This discovery is reported by a Johns Hopkins team in the issue of Nature Neuroscience released online Nov. 13. Should it prove to apply as well to human brains, it could lead eventually to the development of new preventive treatments and therapies based on what healthy older brains are doing, rather than on the less relevant, younger brain model, according to study co-author Michela Gallagher, chair of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins' Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. "We found that aged rats with preserved cognitive abilities are not biologically equivalent to young rats in some of the basic machinery that neurons use to encode and store information in the brain," said Gallagher, who collaborated with Alfredo Kirkwood and Sun Seek Min of Johns Hopkins' Krieger Mind/Brain Institute and Hey-Kyoung Lee, now of the University of Maryland College Park. Lee was a research associate at the Mind/Brain Institute when the research was done. The Gallagher-Kirkwood team compared the brains of 6-month-old rats with those of 2-year-old (considered "aged") rodents that had performed in the "young" range on various learning tasks. The aged rats' brains also were compared with those of older rats which showed declines in their abilities to learn new things. The researchers were looking at a key set of nerve cell connections that store information by modifying the strength of chemical communications at their synapses. (Synapses are the tiny gaps between nerve cells, where chemicals released by one cell act upon another.) Synaptic communication is the way brains register and preserve information to form memories.

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Alzheimers
Link ID: 8165 - Posted: 11.14.2005

Loneliness may run in the family, researchers have suggested. Teams from the Free University in Amsterdam and the University of Chicago looked at data on 8,000 identical, and non-identical, twins. They found genetics had a significant influence on loneliness. The researchers, whose study appears in Behavior Genetics, said it showed helping lonely people was not simply a matter of changing their environment. Loneliness has been linked to heart disease as well as emotional problems, such as anxiety, self-esteem problems and sociability. The researchers suggest that loneliness may stem from prehistoric times, where hunter-gatherers may have deliberately shut themselves away from others so they did not have to share food. That would have meant they were better nourished and therefore better able to survive and have children. But they added that the strategy had a downside, in that it also developed dispositions towards anxiety, hostility, negativity and social avoidance. In the study, the twins, who have been surveyed regularly since 1991 when they were aged 13 to 20, were asked if they agreed or disagreed with certain statements, such as "I lose friends very quickly" and "nobody loves me". The researchers compared the responses of adults in identical, and non-identical, twin pairs, all of whom had been brought up in the same households. They found less difference in loneliness ratings between identical twins. (C)BBC

Keyword: Genes & Behavior; Emotions
Link ID: 8164 - Posted: 11.12.2005