By Marc Kaufman Less than six months after it came onto the market, the powerful narcotic painkiller Palladone was abruptly withdrawn yesterday because of evidence that the one-a-day pills could be fatal to patients who take them with alcohol. The Food and Drug Administration asked Purdue Pharma L.P. to stop selling the drug Tuesday and the company complied yesterday, said James Heins, a Purdue spokesman. The 24-hour extended-release medication, the first of its kind in the United States, was approved by the FDA last September for people in chronic pain who were already using morphine-based painkillers. The agency said the withdrawal was triggered by a company study that showed potentially serious or even fatal consequences if a person abusing the drug also drank alcohol. Neither the company nor the FDA reported any instances of the problem among the 11,500 people who have been prescribed the drug. "All powerful pain-management drugs have serious risks if used incorrectly, but the current formulation of Palladone presents an unacceptably high level of patient risk," said Steven Galson, acting director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. © 2005 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Pain & Touch; Drug Abuse
Link ID: 7639 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists at New York University School of Medicine reveal the important role of early experience in shaping neuronal development and brain plasticity in a new study published in the July 14 issue of the journal Nature. In mice, the researchers found that sensory deprivation prevented the substantial loss of synapses that typically occurs in growing animals. The effects were most pronounced in the period from young adolescence to adulthood. Synapses are the gaps between neurons through which information travels. Wen-Biao Gan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience, and his colleagues captured images of brain plasticity--its ability to adapt quickly to ever-changing circumstances--and have started to unravel how this dynamic unfolds. The scientists were able to deliver visible evidence of the effect of sensory deprivation. It is well known that a growing child learns many skills. "What is less known," says Dr. Gan, "is that during childhood until puberty in the human brain, as well as in the monkey and mouse, you see a substantial loss of neuronal connections." In learning, it appears the brain needs to lose as it gains. He believes this loss may well be the fundamental process underlying the development and plasticity of the brain. After birth, the number of synapses increases and then decreases sharply. From early childhood to adolescence the synaptic loss could be as much as 50 percent.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 7638 - Posted: 07.14.2005

Being a new mother is exhausting, but if you're a dolphin or a killer whale, you won't be getting any extra sleep-time to recover, in fact you won't be getting any sleep at all. Scientists in California and Russia have discovered that both dolphin and killer whale mothers and calves apparently go with no sleep for the first few months of the new baby's life. "These marine [animals], who are mammals like us, thrive without any extended periods of sleep for over a month," says lead researcher and neuroscientist at UCLA's Sepulveda VA Ambulatory Care Center Jerome Siegel. Siegel and his colleagues monitored two killer whale and calf pairs at SeaWorld San Diego, as well as four dolphin and calf pairs at the Gelendgick Dophinarium near Russia's Black Sea coast. They reported in the journal Nature that during the first postpartum month these animals were awake "24 hours a day," but gradually increased the amount of time they spent sleeping as the calf aged. Siegel says the sleep patterns he and his colleagues observed in the babies are "just the reverse" of all other mammals, which normally sleep the most after birth and gradually taper down to adult levels as they age. "This is a challenge for the idea that sleep is necessary for brain and body growth, because during this period of very rapid development in killer whales, and we've also seen it in dolphins," says Siegel, "There's actually the lowest level of sleep behavior of the animals' entire life." © ScienCentral, 2000-2005.

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 7637 - Posted: 06.24.2010

New Haven, Conn.--Yale School of Medicine researchers report the first demonstration that a single mutation in a human sodium channel gene can trigger pain in people with an inherited pain syndrome known as primary erythromelalgia, according to a study published this month in the journal Brain. The research provides novel insights into the molecular basis for altered firing of pain signaling neurons in primary erythromelalgia, according to Stephen Waxman, M.D., senior author of the study, chair of the Department of Neurology and director of the West Haven Veterans Administration Rehabilitation Research Center. DNA samples were studied from a family with 36 members, of which 17 exhibit symptoms typical of erythromelalgia--attacks of intense burning pain of the hands and feet triggered most commonly by heat and moderate exercise. There is currently no effective treatment for erythromelalgia. All 17 affected members of this family carried a mutation in the gene for sodium channel Nav1.7, one of the nine sodium channels. Nav1.7 is abundantly and preferentially present in small-diameter nerve fibers and free nerve endings within the peripheral nervous system and is associated with pain transmission. Previous studies linked primary erythromelalgia to two mutations in the gene coding for sodium channel Nav1.7. This study describes a third mutation in Nav1.7 and is evidence that mutant Nav1.7 predisposes its pain sensing neurons to become hyperexcitable and fire rapid bursts of signals at lower than normal stimulation. Hyperexcitability has long been considered a hallmark of painful neuropathies.

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 7636 - Posted: 07.14.2005

Facial attractiveness and smell give us contradictory messages about how to select mates, new research has revealed. Previous research on smell suggests that humans prefer odours from potential partners who are genetically dis-similar. But new research in which women rated the facial attractiveness of men suggests the exact opposite. So sight and smell appear to be giving contradictory messages about which partners to choose. The new research investigated possible links between mate preference and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) - the huge molecule on cells, unique to each individual, which helps our immune systems to distinguish native from alien cells. The underlying theory is that humans avoid the dangers of inbreeding, and maximise the chances of having genetically fitter children, by selecting partners who have a vastly different MHC from their own. That way, there is more chance of one parent’s genes compensating for faulty genes in the other. But how the senses pick up subliminal cues about someone else’s MHC is still something of a mystery. Most research so far has focused on smell, especially in rodents, and has backed up this basic assumption. Male and female mice, for example, usually select mates with different MHC, which they judge by smelling each others’ urine. Smell experiments in humans have broadly given the same message, showing that body odour is more appealing in people with vastly differing MHC. But new research in which women rated the attractiveness of men’s faces has bucked the trend, showing that women preferred faces of men with similar MHC. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste); Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 7635 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Sean Coughlan A university research team says it has discovered why most people "hearing voices" in hallucinations say they hear male voices. Dr Michael Hunter's research at the University of Sheffield says that male voices are less complex to produce than female. As such, when the brain spontaneously produces its own "voices", a male voice is more likely to have been generated. Among both men and women, 71% of such "false" voices are male. "Psychiatrists believe that these auditory hallucinations are caused when the brain spontaneously activates, creating a false perception of a voice," says Professor Hunter of the university's psychiatry department. "The reason these voices are usually male could be explained by the fact that the female voice is so much more complex that the brain would find it much harder to create a false female voice accurately than a false male voice," he says. Such imaginary voices are typically likely to be middle-aged and carry "derogatory" messages. The research, published in NeuroImage, shows how the brain interprets information from human voices - and how female and male voices activate different parts of the brain. "The female voice is more complex than the male voice, due to differences in the size and shape of the vocal cords and larynx between women and men, and also due to women having greater natural 'melody' in their voices. (C)BBC

Keyword: Schizophrenia; Hearing
Link ID: 7634 - Posted: 07.14.2005

For severe depression, electro-shock therapy is nowadays the last hope. However, it can impair memory for weeks after therapy. A less aggressive alternative seems to be provided by what is known as "transcranial magnetic stimulation". This is the conclusion arrived at by doctors and psychologists of the Bonn University Clinic in an article which has just appeared in the British Journal of Psychiatry (vol. 186 [2005], pp. 410-416). Nowadays depression is seen as amenable to treatment: with psychotherapy or medication most patients affected can be assisted out of their depressive phase. About five per cent of all patients, however, fall into such profound depression that they do not respond to these methods. Because depression is one of the most frequent psychological diseases – every sixth person suffers from it at least once in their lives – this affects a large number of people. In these cases electro-shock therapy is one option. This involves the patient being anaesthetised. Then the doctors pass electrical impulses through the patient's head via two electrodes, thereby triggering an epileptic spasm. This changes the cerebral chemistry in the area of the forehead, a region which, among other things, regulates the emotions and steers the psycho-motor reflexes. One in two patients who previously did not respond to other therapies improve after a series of therapy to the extent that therapy can be continued by using medication or psychotherapy. 'In the severest cases of depression electro-shock therapy is nowadays still an important therapeutic option,' the head of the Bonn Psychiatric Clinic, Professor Wolfgang Maier, emphasises.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 7633 - Posted: 06.24.2010

MADISON-Boosting levels of two critical proteins that normally shut down during Huntington's disease, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have cured fruit flies of the genetic, neurodegenerative condition. Forms of the same proteins-known in short form as CREB and HSP-70--exist in all cells, including those of humans. The study results, published online today by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were a "logical finding" because of a growing body of work in the area, says senior author Jerry Yin, a UW-Madison molecular geneticist. Scientists previously knew, for example, that hiking the activity of either CREB or HSP-70 lessened symptoms in mice or flies with Huntington's disease. Completely reversing a disease by targeting a combination of proteins or genetic pathways, however, reflects the growing need to embrace a broader treatment paradigm in the realm of genetic disorders, says Yin. In working with a disorder such as Fragile X Syndrome, for example, conventional therapies might focus all their efforts on repairing the genetic pathways that cause neurons to go awry. Meanwhile, "the defective gene is not just in one type of tissue," says Yin. "And we are not yet sensitive to detecting the defects in those other tissues."

Keyword: Huntingtons
Link ID: 7632 - Posted: 07.12.2005

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR Those who believe that taking cholesterol-lowering drugs will reduce their risk for Alzheimer's disease may want to reconsider. A large study published yesterday in Archives of Neurology found no proof that the drugs affected the risk of developing dementia from any cause - Alzheimer's, vascular dementia or the two combined. There is broad agreement that cholesterol-lowering drugs reduce the risk for heart disease by inhibiting the production of cholesterol or through their anti-inflammatory effects, and researchers have theorized that such mechanisms may help prevent dementia as well. But this does not appear to be the case. "Earlier studies found some hope that statins might be protective," said Dr. Thomas D. Rea, the lead author on the study and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington. "But we evaluated the drugs in another population with a different study design and didn't find any evidence for a protective effect." The study, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, used a database of almost 2,800 people 65 and older, all tested and found free of dementia at the start of the study. The researchers tracked the progress of those who took cholesterol-lowering drugs (both statins and others) and those who did not. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 7631 - Posted: 07.12.2005

By CARL ZIMMER Seven years ago Reginald King was lying in a hospital bed recovering from bypass surgery when he first heard the music. It began with a pop tune, and others followed. Mr. King heard everything from cabaret songs to Christmas carols. "I asked the nurses if they could hear the music, and they said no," said Mr. King, a retired sales manager in Cardiff, Wales. "I got so frustrated," he said. "They didn't know what I was talking about and said it must be something wrong with my head. And it's been like that ever since." Each day, the music returns. "They're all songs I've heard during my lifetime," said Mr. King, 83. "One would come on, and then it would run into another one, and that's how it goes on in my head. It's driving me bonkers, to be quite honest." Last year, Mr. King was referred to Dr. Victor Aziz, a psychiatrist at St. Cadoc's Hospital in Wales. Dr. Aziz explained to him that there was a name for his experience: musical hallucinations. Dr. Aziz belongs to a small circle of psychiatrists and neurologists who are investigating this condition. They suspect that the hallucinations experienced by Mr. King and others are a result of malfunctioning brain networks that normally allow us to perceive music. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Hearing
Link ID: 7630 - Posted: 07.12.2005

ST. Paul, Minn. – Contrary to what you might think, most people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are not depressed. They are also not more likely to get depressed as the end of life approaches, and they are not more likely to be depressed if they want to die or hasten their own death. Two new studies, published in the July 12 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology, provide the evidence to contradict these assumptions. The two studies involved the same group of 80 people with advanced ALS. To enter the study, participants had to have breathing difficulties with a forced vital capacity, or breathing power, of less than 50 percent of normal, which is related to a high likelihood of hospice admission and death or the need for mechanical ventilation within six months. The participants were assessed every month until death; 53 of the participants died during the study period. The first study found that 57 percent of the participants were never depressed during the study period, and only eight percent were depressed at all visits. The researchers also found that people were not more likely to become depressed as death approached. "It's remarkable that a majority of ALS patients have a more positive attitude toward life even as the inevitability of death is imminent," Catherine Lomen-Hoerth, MD, PhD, wrote with her colleague and mentor Richard K. Olney, MD, in an accompanying editorial. Olney was founder and director of the ALS Treatment and Research Center at the University of California-San Francisco before he was diagnosed with ALS in 2004 and turned over the reins to Lomen-Hoerth, his former student.

Keyword: ALS-Lou Gehrig's Disease ; Depression
Link ID: 7629 - Posted: 06.24.2010

CHICAGO – Eleven patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) developed pathological gambling behavior following dopamine agonist therapy, a drug therapy to control movement problems caused by Parkinson's disease, according to a study posted online today which will appear in the September print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Parkinson's disease, a degenerative disorder marked by the death of the neurons of an area of the brain called the substantia nigra, is primarily treated by drugs that restore or improve brain chemical signaling system dependent on dopamine, according to background information in the article. Brain dopamine, a chemical that helps regulate movement, balance and walking, also plays a central role in the behavioral reward system, reinforcing a myriad of behaviors. It has been implicated in the reward of gambling behavior. M. Leann Dodd, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and colleagues, present reports of eleven patients seen and evaluated between 2002 and 2004 in the Mayo movement disorders clinic with Parkinson's disease who had recently developed pathological gambling and review similar cases from the medical literature. Pathological gambling is defined as a failure to resist gambling impulses despite severe personal, family or vocational consequences

Keyword: Parkinsons; Drug Abuse
Link ID: 7628 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The size of a particular structure in the brain may be associated with the ability to recover emotionally from traumatic events. A new study by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) finds that an area called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is thicker in volunteers who appear better able to modify their anxious response to memories of discomfort. The report will appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and has received early online release on the PNAS website. "We've always wondered why some people who are exposed to traumatic experiences go on to develop anxiety disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder and others do not," says Mohammed Milad, PhD, a research fellow in the MGH Department of Psychiatry, the study's lead author. "We think this study provides some potential answers." In the classical model of conditioned fear, individuals respond with physical and emotional distress to situations that bring back memories of traumatic events. Such responses are normal and usually diminish over time, as those situations are repeated without unpleasant occurrences. But some people continue to respond with what can be overwhelming fear and may develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For example, it would not be unusual for a soldier who experienced a traumatic battlefield situation to become distressed when hearing noises that bring back those memories, such as the sound of a helicopter.

Keyword: Emotions; Stress
Link ID: 7627 - Posted: 07.12.2005

Imagine raising a child who stops breathing when falling asleep – and has to be reminded to visit the bathroom after drinking a Big Gulp. That's the dilemma faced by parents of children born with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS). Afflicting about 250 children in the United States, the genetic disease wreaks havoc in areas of the brain that control involuntary actions such as breathing, fluid regulation and heart function. Now an MRI study by UCLA scientists reveals that these children's brains display stroke-like damage in regions that regulate the cardiovascular system, body temperature and urination. Published July 11 in the Journal of Comparative Neurology, the research holds important clues for unraveling the mysteries of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), sleep apnea and numerous other conditions. "For a breathing researcher, this syndrome represents a rare opportunity from Mother Nature," explained Ronald Harper, Ph.D., principal investigator and professor of neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "By using CCHS as a model to study how the brain controls breathing, we hope not only to help children born with the disease, but also provide insights into SIDS and sleep apnea. "These children's brains don't respond to the same cues as the rest of us, which prevents a host of involuntary mechanisms from kicking in," he added. "Younger children have to be reminded to breathe and to go to the bathroom. They will plop down to relax in front of the TV or a video game, start turning blue and not realize they are passing out."

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 7626 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News — Humans invented the names Big Bird and Tweety Bird, but new evidence suggests at least one species of parrot creates its own names for friends and family members. Since vocal labeling indicates that the namer must first be able to imagine the individual or object in its mind, the discovery likely means bird thoughts and communication are far more complex and closer to human levels than previously realized. The namers in this case are spectacled parrotlets, Forpus conspicillatus, which are small bright green or blue South American parrots. "We have shown that they use specific calls that only refer to the individual in question," said Ralf Wanker, lead author of the study. "To my knowledge it is the first time that labeling or naming is described for animals in this way." He added that other studies suggest bottlenose dolphins and another bird, budgerigars, match their calls to others, similar to how humans often copy the tone or volume of the person they are speaking with, as for baby talk. Wanker and his team housed two groups of the birds in a simulated natural environment. The researchers noted social ranks within identified bird families. Copyright © 2005 Discovery Communications Inc.

Keyword: Language; Evolution
Link ID: 7625 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Andreas von Bubnoff A strange kind of humming fish has evolved a clever way to avoid deafening itself with its own noise, researchers have found. They say the same mechanism could be at work in other animals, including humans, helping to tone down the senses and avoid overpowering them with self-generated signals. Andrew Bass, a neuroscientist with a name amply suited to studying both fish and acoustics, looked at the male plainfin midshipman fish (Porichthys notatus) to study this effect. These 25-centimetre-long fish live off the west coast of the United States from California to Alaska. During summer nights, they hum to attract females and encourage them to lay their eggs. The hum, described by some as similar to the chanting of monks, is so loud that houseboat owners near San Francisco have sometimes complained of their homes vibrating at night. Bass and his fellow authors have shown that the brains of these fish regulate their hearing so that they are not deafened and can hear predators or incoming females even while humming. The fish control both sound and hearing through nerve impulses from the same part of the brain. Some impulses signal to muscles around the swim bladder, which is the fish's buoyancy organ, making it generate sound by vibrating. The same area of the brain sends signals to inhibit the sensitivity of the ear's hair cells, which translate sound into electrical signals that the brain can understand. ©2005 Nature Publishing Group

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Hearing
Link ID: 7624 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Roxanne Khamsi Can a controversial medicine called Lorenzo's oil really reduce the risk of developing a rare brain disease? After years of hope and provisional evidence, experts are publishing scans from children who started this therapy more than a decade ago. They say the positive results will quiet sceptics and prove the oil's worth. In 1984, Augusto and Michaela Odone learned that their son, Lorenzo, suffered from a genetic disorder known as adrenoleukodystrophy, or ALD. The prognosis was frightening: children diagnosed with ALD experience neurological deterioration and typically die from the illness within a few years. Faced with a lack of treatment options for their son, the Odones began pouring over books in the library for more information. They learned that ALD is related to an abnormal accumulation of very-long-chain fatty acids, particularly in the nervous system of the body. Although they tried to cut these fatty acids from their son's diet, his body continued producing them. The literature convinced them that giving their son a different fatty acid, an oily liquid known as oleic acid, would inhibit the synthesis of long chains of saturated fats. It works simply by keeping enzymes busy making chains of unsaturated fats instead. The Odones later improved their formula by using a modified form of rapeseed oil, which seems to keep the enzymes even busier. Their medicine, which improved the health of their ailing son and inspired a Hollywood movie in the early 1990s, became known as 'Lorenzo's oil'. ©2005 Nature Publishing Group

Keyword: Glia; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 7623 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Possessive cockerels use fake sex to keep their hens faithful. By merely mounting females - without bothering to waste precious sperm - cocks ensure their partners will not go looking for male competitors to fertilise them, a new study suggests. The finding may explain why males of many species - from insects to mammals - engage in seemingly meaningless sperm-free sex. “Copulations that appear to be successful, but with no semen transferred, are almost ubiquitous,” says Tommaso Pizzari at the University of Oxford, UK, co-author of the study. “It suggests that this behaviour may be rather more than an accident or a by-product of males running out of sperm.” While sperm was always thought of as a cheaper investment than eggs, in the past few years, researchers have begun to realise that sperm also carries a hefty biological price tag. In 2003, Pizzari and his colleagues showed that male chickens allocated their precious seed according to the likelihood of fathering children. Unfamiliar females always received a fulsome dose, while hens with which the cock had already mated several times ended up receiving little more than ruffled feathers. The research team decided to test the consequences of sperm-free mountings on a female’s propensity for promiscuity. Using cleverly designed harnesses, which prevent cocks from depositing semen into a females’ reproductive tract, the team was able to create two distinct groups - hens that had been mounted, but received no sperm, and hens who had successful, sperm-transferring copulations. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 7622 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists have uncovered clues about what happens in the brain to make some people "over-friendly". US National Institute of Mental Health experts looked at differences in the brains of people with an abnormality which makes them highly sociable. Researchers used scans to identify areas which failed to work properly when they saw frightening faces. In Nature Neuroscience, they say this could give clues for understanding social disorders in others. People with the genetic condition Williams Syndrome lack around 21 genes on chromosome seven. Their lack of fear means they will impulsively engage in social situations, even with strangers. But they often have heightened anxiety about non-human fears, such as spiders or heights. The condition affects around one in 25,000 people. The US team focused on the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure deep in the brain which has been thought to help regulate social behaviour. fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans was used to study the brains of 13 healthy volunteers and 13 with Williams Syndrome. All were shown pictures of angry or scary faces. In healthy brains, seeing such images would provoke a strong response in the amygdala. However the fMRI scans showed far less activity in those of people with Williams Syndrome. Study participants were then shown pictures of threatening scenes, such as plane crashes, which did not have any people or faces in them. The amygdala response was seen to be abnormally increased in participants with Williams Syndrome. (C)BBC

Keyword: Language; Emotions
Link ID: 7621 - Posted: 07.11.2005

Training the Brain Cognitive therapy as an alternative to ADHD drugs By Gunjan Sinha To medicate or not? Millions of parents must decide when their child is diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)--a decision made tougher by controversy. Studies increasingly show that while medication may calm a child's behavior, it does not improve grades, peer relationships or defiant behavior over the long term. Consequently, researchers have focused attention on the disorder's neurobiology. Recent studies support the notion that many children with ADHD have cognitive deficits, specifically in working memory--the ability to hold in mind information that guides behavior. The cognitive problem manifests behaviorally as inattention and contributes to poor academic performance. Such research not only questions the value of medicating ADHD children, it also is redefining the disorder and leading to more meaningful treatment that includes cognitive training. "This is really a shift in our understanding of this disorder from behavioral to biological," states Rosemary Tannock, professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Tannock has shown that although stimulant medication improves working memory, the effect is small, she says, "suggesting that medication isn't going to be sufficient." So she and others, such as Susan Gathercole of the University of Durham in England, now work with schools to introduce teaching methods that train working memory. In fact, working-memory deficits may underlie several disabilities, not just ADHD, highlighting the heterogeneity of the disorder. "Working memory is a bottleneck for everyday functioning independent of what category you fit into," comments Torkel Klingberg, a neuroscientist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Based on Klingberg's research, Karolinska founded Cogmed--a biotech company that has developed a software program to train working memory. © 1996-2005 Scientific American, Inc

Keyword: ADHD
Link ID: 7620 - Posted: 06.24.2010