Bruce Bower As a college student in 1964, David J. Hufford met the dreaded Night Crusher. Exhausted from a bout of mononucleosis and studying for finals, Hufford retreated one December day to his rented, off-campus room and fell into a deep sleep. An hour later, he awoke with a start to the sound of the bedroom door creaking open—the same door he had locked and bolted before going to bed. Hufford then heard footsteps moving toward his bed and felt an evil presence. Terror gripped the young man, who couldn't move a muscle, his eyes plastered open in fright. Without warning, the malevolent entity, whatever it was, jumped onto Hufford's chest. An oppressive weight compressed his rib cage. Breathing became difficult, and Hufford felt a pair of hands encircle his neck and start to squeeze. "I thought I was going to die," he says. At that point, the lock on Hufford's muscles gave way. He bolted up and sprinted several blocks to take shelter in the student union. "It was very puzzling," he recalls with a strained chuckle, "but I told nobody about what happened." Hufford's perspective on his strange encounter was transformed in 1971. He was at that time a young anthropologist studying folklore in Newfoundland, and he heard from some of the region's inhabitants about their eerily similar nighttime encounters. Locals called the threatening entity the "old hag." Most cases unfold as follows: A person wakes up paralyzed and perceives an evil presence. A hag or witch then climbs on top of the petrified victim, creating a crushing sensation on his or her chest. Copyright ©2005 Science Service.

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 7613 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The key to preventing postpartum depression may be individual support provided after birth by a health professional and tailored to a mother's needs, says a University of Toronto researcher. "Health professionals want to identify pregnant women who may be at risk for postpartum depression in hopes of initiating preventive strategies," says U of T nursing professor Cindy-Lee Dennis. "But in my review of studies from around the world, I found no preventive effect of any strategy initiated before birth, including prenatal classes specifically targeting postpartum depression. It's not because the interventions are theoretically weak, but it's because compliance is low – women are busy and don't attend the classes." After sifting through hundreds of studies, Dennis conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 randomized control trials focusing on prevention of postpartum depression. The trials involved 7,697 women. Her study is published in the July 2 issue of the British Medical Journal. The evidence suggests postpartum depression may be preventable, says Dennis. In analyzing the prevention strategies used, Dennis found an overall 19 per cent reduction in postpartum depression. Individual assessment and intensive support provided by a health professional to at-risk women after they give birth was the most successful approach to preventing postpartum depression; group-based strategies weren't as effective. Risk factors for postpartum depression include past psychiatric history, a significant number of life stressors and lack of support.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 7612 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Waltham, Mass. – A Brandeis University researcher has shown that an African grey parrot with a walnut-sized brain understands a numerical concept akin to zero – an abstract notion that humans don't typically understand until age three or four, and that can significantly challenge learning-disabled children Strikingly, Alex, the 28-year-old parrot who lives in a Brandeis lab run by comparative psychologist and cognitive scientist Dr. Irene Pepperberg, spontaneously and correctly used the label "none" during a testing session of his counting skills to describe an absence of a numerical quantity on a tray. This discovery prompted a series of trials in which Alex consistently demonstrated the ability to identify zero quantity by saying the label "none." Dr. Pepperberg's research findings, published in the current issue of The Journal of Comparative Psychology, add to a growing body of scientific evidence that the avian brain, though physically and organizationally somewhat different from the mammalian cortex, is capable of higher cognitive processing than previously thought. Chimpanzees and possibly squirrel monkeys show some understanding of the concept of zero, but Alex is the first bird to demonstrate an understanding of the absence of a numerical set, Dr. Pepperberg noted. "It is doubtful that Alex's achievement, or those of some other animals such as chimps, can be completely trained; rather, it seems likely that these skills are based on simpler cognitive abilities they need for survival, such as recognition of more versus less," explained Dr. Pepperberg.

Keyword: Intelligence; Evolution
Link ID: 7611 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By David Kohn Blanche Cardarelli is a very friendly person. Almost every day, she spends at least a few hours hanging out with one group of people or another. She belongs to seven social clubs and, by her count, has dozens of friends. "I like people. I like being around people," says Cardarelli, a former homemaker who lives in the Middleborough section of Essex. "You can either sit home and watch TV or you can go out." Cardarelli, a widow who is in her early 70s ("I don't give my age away because that keeps my boyfriends around," she jokes), has a good chance of living for many more years, at least according to a study of almost 1,500 people aged 70 and older. The research, which appears in the July issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found that people who had more friends and who spent more time with them tended to live longer. Intriguingly, the researchers found that spending time with family did not seem to lengthen life. The study followed subjects for 10 years. The most interactive group, people who had five or more close friends and talked with them regularly, were 22 percent less likely to die than those who were least connected - no close friends and few social contacts of any kind. Copyright © 2005, The Baltimore Sun

Keyword: Neuroimmunology; Stress
Link ID: 7610 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Babies who sleep in the same bed as their parents are at greater risk of cot death, according to research. The Glasgow University study found babies sharing a bed were at risk even if the child was breast-fed and the parent was a non-smoker. Dr John McClure, chairman of the Scottish Cot Death Trust, said parents should only have their babies in bed for a feed or a cuddle. The research was carried out at the university between 1996 and 2000. The charity said cot death could not be prevented but the risk could be reduced if parents followed simple advice. HOW TO REDUCE COT DEATH RISK Both partners should reduce smoking during pregnancy Babies should be placed on their back to sleep Parents should also ensure their baby does not get too hot Keep baby's head uncovered Seek medical advice promptly if your baby is unwell In the first six months, a baby should sleep in a cot in the parents' room Do not share a bed with your baby if you smoke, have been drinking or taking drugs or are very tired Never sleep with a baby on a chair or an armchair Babies should not sleep in their parents' bed, particularly in the first three months and adults have been warned against falling asleep with a baby on a couch or a chair.

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 7609 - Posted: 07.08.2005

Making the morning-after pill available to buy in chemists has not encouraged unsafe sex, say experts. Opponents had claimed there would be a surge in risky sexual behaviour and sexually transmitted infections. Researchers at Imperial College London found no change in condom use after the emergency pill became available over the counter in January 2001. Neither had more people used the emergency pill, they told the British Medical Journal. "These results suggest that the predicted rise in unsafe sex has been overstated and supports the case for lifting the ban on over the counter sales in the US and other countries," said lead researcher Dr Cicely Marston. Her team looked at survey responses from women aged 16-49 in 2000, 2001 and 2002 who were asked about their sex lives. Each year, there were about 2,000 responses. Based on these, the researchers were able to gauge that there had been no significant change in contraceptive use among the women. One in five women said they used condoms, a third used the oral contraceptive pill, a coil or hormone implants and about one in 10 said they used no method. The number of women who said they used the morning-after pill did not change over the three years studied - around 8% of the women or 160 in each of the years. However, where they got it from did. (c)bbc

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 7608 - Posted: 07.08.2005

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., -- Researchers at Harvard University have found evidence that the retina actively seeks novel features in the visual environment, dynamically adjusting its processing in order to seek the unusual while ignoring the commonplace. The scientists report in this week's issue of the journal Nature on their finding that this principle of novelty-detection operates in many visual environments. "Apparently our thirst for novelty begins in the eye itself," says Markus Meister, the Jeff C. Tarr Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "Our eyes report the visual world to the brain, but not very faithfully. Instead, the retina creates a cartoonist's sketch of the visual scene, highlighting key features while suppressing the less interesting regions." These findings provide evidence that the ultimate goal of the visual system is not simply to construct internally an exact reproduction of the external world, Meister and his colleagues write in Nature. Rather, the system seeks to extract from the onslaught of raw visual information the few bits of data that are relevant to behavior. This entails the discarding of signals that are less useful, and dynamic retinal adaptation provides a means of stripping from the visual stream predictable and therefore less newsworthy signals. For example, Meister says, in visual environments such as forests or fields of grass with many vertical elements but only rare horizontal features, the retina adjusts to suppress the routine vertical features while highlighting the singular horizontal elements.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 7607 - Posted: 07.08.2005

Tim Simonite Deep-sea fish are suckers for lures lit up in red, say California researchers, challenging a long-held belief of marine biologists. They claim that a deep-sea relative of jellyfish uses glowing tentacles to catch its supper. Using a remotely operated submersible, up to 2,300 metres beneath the waves off the coast of California, Steven Haddock and colleagues collected three specimens of a new species of siphonophore, a group closely related to jellyfish and corals. Two of the three had the remains of fish in their guts. As fish are rare at those depths, this indicates that the species (which has not yet been named but is part of the genus Erenna) has a knack for angling. In the 8 July issue of the journal Science1, Haddock, a bioluminescence expert from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, and his team suggest the siphonophore uses red light as bait to capture its prey. The newly described species has glowing red spots inside its stinging tentacles, which it flicks rhythmically. "The motion and shape of the lures is quite distinct and nearly identical to that of a copepod," says Haddock, suggesting that the siphonophore mimics the movements of plankton to catch the attention of fish. "To us, the accumulated evidence is hard to explain any other way," he adds. ©2005 Nature Publishing Group

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 7606 - Posted: 06.24.2010

PITTSBURGH, – Just why those with anorexia nervosa are driven to be excessively thin and seem unaware of the seriousness of their condition could be due to over-activity of a chemical system found in a region deep inside the brain, a University of Pittsburgh study suggests. Reporting in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers found an over-activity of dopamine receptors in the brain's basal ganglia, an area known to play a role in how people learn from experience and make choices. Results of the study, led by Walter Kaye, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Guido Frank, M.D., now of the University of California at San Diego, contribute to the understanding of what may cause anorexia. The disorder affects about 1 percent of American women, some of whom die from complications of the disease. The research may point to a molecular target for development of more effective treatments than those currently available. The study is the first to use positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to assess the activity of brain dopamine receptors, a neurotransmitter system that is best known for its role in controlling movement. These receptors also are associated with weight and feeding behaviors and responses to reinforcement and reward. Researchers used a harmless molecule designed to bind to the dopamine D2 and D3 receptors that lie on the membrane surface of neurons. Ten women who had recovered from anorexia nervosa for more than a year were studied, as were 12 normal female subjects. Because malnourishment affects brain chemistry, the researchers did not include acutely ill women in their study.

Keyword: Anorexia & Bulimia
Link ID: 7605 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Despite tremendous advances in neonatal intensive care, premature babies with underdeveloped lungs remain at risk for brain injury and delayed development. In the July 7, 2005, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the University of Chicago report that adding tiny amounts of nitric oxide to the oxygen given to these premature infants on a mechanical ventilator in the first week of hospitalization reduced by nearly half the number of children with abnormal mental development at age 2. This study follows a 2003 report by the same group showing that inhaled nitric oxide decreased the risk of chronic lung disease, severe bleeding into the brain and death in premature infants with respiratory distress syndrome. The latest study, which focused on the mental development of the same children when assessed by neurologists near their second birthday, found that only 24 percent of the children who received nitric oxide at birth had delayed mental development or a disability, such as blindness, cerebral palsy or hearing loss, compared to 46 percent of those who received standard treatment of oxygen with no nitric oxide. "This is the first therapy for premature infants that has demonstrated a significant impact on brain development," said study director Michael Schreiber, MD, professor of pediatrics at the University of Chicago. "Not only does nitric oxide extend life in a large group of premature infants, it also improves the quality of life for the children and their parents." Copyright © 2005 University of Chicago Hospitals.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 7604 - Posted: 06.24.2010

La Jolla, Calif. – A research team lead by the Burnham Institute has synthesized and tested a new series of inhibitors that can prevent the type of nerve cell injury and death associated with many neurodegenerative diseases and stroke. The study, led by Stuart Lipton, MD, PhD, professor and director of Burnham's Del E. Webb Center for Neuroscience and Aging Research, is published in the July issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. There is but one medical treatment approved for stroke, the third leading cause of death in the United States: tissue plasminogen activator ("tPA"). tPA must be administered within 3 hours of stroke onset to restore the flow of blood to the brain. Unfortunately, treatment with tPA can also contribute to nerve cell damage. In recent years, medical scientists have begun to understand that tPA activates an entire family of enzymes, called matrix metalloproteinases, that normally regulate how cell structures are held together. Dr. Lipton, together with first author Dr. Zezong Gu, and other colleagues at Burnham, University of Notre Dame, and Wayne State University in Detroit, have found that a molecule called SB-3CT blocks the activity of one member of the metalloproteinase family, called MMP-9. Previous work at Burnham and elsewhere has shown that damage to the brain triggers excessive activity among MMPs, especially MMP-9. The enzymes degrade cell structures, inducing cell death and escalating brain damage in mice. In the current study, the researchers determined the particular mechanism of action for MMP-9. In doing so, they identified a new drug target and, armed with this knowledge, generated a lead therapeutic compound, SB-3CT.

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 7603 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Researchers have discovered a key regulatory molecule whose overactivation by the abnormal protein produced in Huntington's disease (HD) causes the central pathologies of the disease. The abnormal HD protein activates the regulatory protein called p53, which in turn switches on a host of other genes. This abnormal gene activation damages the cells' power plants, called the mitochondria, and kills brain cells. The researchers also speculated that disturbances in p53 may also play a role in some forms of Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Ironically, p53 is the same regulatory protein that is inactivated in a large fraction of cancers. This inactivation allows abnormal cancer cells to escape the cell's protective "suicide program" that would normally kill them. The researchers theorize that the lower incidence of cancer in HD patients could be caused by the protective effect of overactive p53. In the July 7, 2005, issue of Neuron, Akira Sawa and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine reported experiments ranging from molecular studies in cultured brain cells to analysis of the brains of human HD patients that demonstrated the central role of p53 in the pathologies of HD.

Keyword: Huntingtons
Link ID: 7602 - Posted: 07.07.2005

Michael Hopkin Women are most likely to cheat on their long-term partner when they are at their most fertile, and they tend to choose genetically superior men for their fling. That's the claim of a study by Czech researchers, which found that the smell of a socially dominant male is most exciting to women in stable relationships, especially on days when they are ovulating. Jan Havlícek, of Charles University in Prague, and his colleagues asked 48 men to complete a questionnaire, rating statements such as "I am the life of the party", in order to score the volunteers' social dominance. The researchers also asked them to wear cotton pads under their arms to collect sweat. A group of 65 women then smelled the pads and rated the sexiness and masculinity of the scent. Women in the middle week of their menstrual cycle, the point at which fertility is at its peak, tended to prefer the smell of the men who scored highest on the dominance quiz. This preference was not shown by women at other points in their cycle. What's more, the effect was only significant for women in long-term relationships, the researchers report in the journal Biology Letters1. This shows that both menstrual phase and relationship status can have an effect on which men women tend to prefer, says Havlícek. ©2005 Nature Publishing Group

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste); Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 7601 - Posted: 06.24.2010

For newborn mammals, including humans, identifying Mom by her odor can be critical to maternal bonding and survival. However, researchers have not understood how this odor identification develops. Now, Kevin Franks and Jeffry Isaacson of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report in the July 7, 2005, issue of Neuron that this process develops in basically the same way that newborns' developing visual systems learn to recognize the world. That is, during a critical early period, the infant's olfactory circuitry wires itself as a result of experiencing Mom's odor. In their initial experiments with rat brains, the researchers identified two receptors, called AMPA receptors and NMDA receptors, as the key components of the olfactory circuitry that undergoes such early olfactory adaptation. Such receptors are proteins embedded in the "receiving stations" of neurons and are activated by chemical signals called neurotransmitters--in this case, the neurotransmitter glutamate. Alterations in the relative numbers of such receptors "tune" neurons to be more or less likely to be triggered by neurotransmitters. Thus, such changes in networks of neurons can lay down the preferred neural pathways that constitute learning. The researchers found in studies of rat brain tissue that as newborn rats aged, the fraction of NMDA receptors tended to go down in a brain olfactory processing region called the lateral olfactory tract. This reduction tended to activate connections among neurons in the region.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 7600 - Posted: 07.07.2005

No single androgen (sex hormone) level was found to be predictive of low sexual function in women, according to a study in the July 6 issue of JAMA. Sexual dysfunction, primarily low libido, is common among women, with prevalences of 8 percent to 50 percent, according to background information in the article. Although multiple psychosocial and health factors contribute to low sexual desire and arousal, it has been proposed that androgen levels are significant independent determinants of sexual behavior in women. It is widely believed that a low serum free testosterone level is the diagnostic marker for the cluster of symptoms described as characterizing "female androgen insufficiency" based on therapeutic trials, and expert opinion. However, evidence that a low serum testosterone level distinguishes women with low sexual function from others, is lacking. Susan R. Davis, M.D., Ph.D., of Monash Medical School, Alfred Hospital, Victoria, Australia, and colleagues conducted a study to determine if low self-reported sexual function is associated with low serum androgen levels. The study included 1,423 women aged 18 to 75 years who were randomly recruited from April 2002 to August 2003. Women were excluded from the analysis if they were younger than 45 years and using oral contraception. Women were surveyed with the Profile of Female Sexual Function (PFSF) and serum levels of total and free testosterone, androstenedione (an androgenic steroid), and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS, a natural steroid hormone) were measured. The researchers write: "We found no evidence of associations between low scores for any of the sexual domains evaluated and low serum total and free testosterone levels. In contrast, we observed significant associations between low sexual desire, arousal, and responsiveness in younger women [aged 18 to 44 years] and low responsiveness in older women [aged 45 years or older] and low serum DHEAS level relative to age."

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 7599 - Posted: 07.06.2005

When encouraged to use memorization strategies commonly employed by healthy individuals, people with schizophrenia can be helped to remember information just as well as their healthy counterparts, a process that in itself seems to spur a normalization of memory-related activities in the brains of people with schizophrenia, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis. For decades, schizophrenia treatment has relied on powerful drugs to control the disease's most debilitating symptoms -- hallucinations, delusions and paranoia – often ignoring seemingly less ominous problems associated with learning, memory, attention and other cognitive functions that are so basic to everyday life. Now, as part of a new wave of research aimed at helping people with schizophrenia lead fuller, more normal lives, a study at Washington University in St. Louis has demonstrated that people with schizophrenia can be helped to remember things just as well as healthy subjects as long as they are given proper cues and memory aids. The study suggests a new way of understanding the cognitive problems that underlie schizophrenia, and offers hope that schizophrenia's suffering can be alleviated through the development of more effective cognitive rehabilitation programs.

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 7598 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Vitamin E supplements do not protect healthy women against heart attacks and stroke, according to new results from the Women’s Health Study, a long-term clinical trial of the effect of vitamin E and aspirin on both the prevention of cardiovascular disease and of cancer. The vitamin E results of the Women’s Health Study are published in the July 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. In addition to the cardiovascular disease findings, the study authors report that there was no effect of vitamin E on total cancer or on the most common cancers in women — breast, lung, and colon cancers. The Women’s Health Study was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. “This landmark trial has given women and their physicians important health information. We can now say that despite their initial promise, vitamin E supplements do not prevent heart attack and stroke. Instead, women should focus on well proven means of heart disease prevention, including leading a healthy lifestyle and controlling risk factors such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol,” said NHLBI Director Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D. The Women’s Health Study was conducted between 1992 and 2004. The participants were 39,876 healthy women age 45 years and older who were randomly assigned to receive 600 IU of Vitamin E or placebo and low-dose aspirin or placebo on alternate days. The participants were followed for an average of 10.1 years. The aspirin results published last March found no benefit of aspirin (100 mg every other day) in preventing first heart attacks or death from cardiovascular causes in women but did find a reduced risk of stroke overall, as well as reduced risk of both stroke and heart attack in women aged 65 and older.

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 7597 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Roxanne Khamsi People itching for a solution to seasonal allergies could get help from self-hypnosis, a team of Swiss researchers suggests. The study finds that simply focusing one's thoughts on allergen-free environments can reduce symptoms of hay fever by one-third. Although the arrival of spring brings better weather, it also triggers the release of plant pollens that cause allergies. Hay fever affects about 10-15% of adults in industrialized nations. To treat this, people turn to medications such as antihistamines, decongestants and sometimes steroids. But these can cause side-effects such as drowsiness, a dry mouth and raised blood pressure. Allergy sufferers have sought alternatives approaches, including psychotherapy-related methods, to ease their itchy eyes and runny noses. Wolf Langewitz of the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, and his colleagues sought to find out how well self-hypnosis works. The team recruited 79 patients with moderate to severe allergic reactions to grass or tree pollen, who then received training on self-hypnosis. To achieve successful results using self-hypnosis, says Langewitz, one must first enter a trance-like state and then focus the mind on a particular theme. The whole process, he adds, can take as little as five minutes. ©2005 Nature Publishing Group

Keyword: Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 7596 - Posted: 06.24.2010

There is growing evidence that a common childhood throat infection increases the risk of neurological disorders such as Tourette's syndrome. Scientists found children with such disorders were twice as likely to have had recent streptococcal infections than their healthy peers. Researchers at Seattle's Center for Health Studies suggest the body's response to the infection may be key. But they tell the journal Pediatrics, that it is just one potential trigger. OCD is more commonly associated with adults, but the researchers say it affects around 1 to 2% of school-age children - and transient tics can affect 10 to 25% of primary school age children. Tourette's - a neurological disorder characterized by tics, involuntary vocalization, and, in some cases, the compulsive utterance of obscenities - affects around one in every 100 children to some degree. Scientists had suspected there may be a link between the streptococcal infection and neurological disorders. It has been suggested that the body's natural response to infection, where particular antibodies are produced and directed to parts of the brain, might be linked in some way to these disorders. However, it is not clear why most of the millions of children who have bacterial throat infections each year do not develop such disorders. (C)BBC

Keyword: Tourettes; OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Link ID: 7595 - Posted: 07.05.2005

By Rick Weiss, Washington Post Staff Writer A mysterious biological mechanism that subtly changes the way people's genes behave may account for many of the surprising differences between identical twins, researchers announced yesterday. Geneticists said the new work, by an international team of scientists who studied the DNA of more than 40 pairs of twins, strengthens the case that a fledgling research field called epigenetics holds the long-sought answer to one of biology's toughest questions: How do environmental influences, such as exposure to pollutants, consumption of certain foods or perhaps even powerful emotional experiences, produce lasting and potentially life-altering changes in a person's DNA? Beyond its potential importance for understanding differences in identical twins, epigenetics could explain many of the twists of fate that affect ordinary people -- why one person may be struck by cancer, for example, while another is spared, even though neither's DNA harbors a cancer-causing mutation. "This is how the environment talks to the genome," said Rudolf Jaenisch, a geneticist at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., who was not part of the project. "This paper says lifestyle, or environmental influences or whatever you want to call them, have a real influence on your DNA." © 2005 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 7594 - Posted: 06.24.2010