By Joseph Rosenbloom Many video games, television shows, and other forms of popular entertainment may reek of sex and violence, but what about their benefits in developing American brains? The brain-developing benefits of pop culture? That the very question seems preposterous is the backdrop of Steven Johnson's iconoclastic and captivating ''Everything Bad Is Good for You." In fact, he says, it's the public's overly righteous preoccupation with sexual and violent content that is diverting attention from pop culture's important contribution to Americans' cognitive development. During the past 30 years, as Johnson abundantly documents, video games and TV shows have become mind-dazzlingly more complex. Hence, ''Pac-Man" has yielded to ''SimCity" (the urban-management simulator that is the most popular video game of all time) and ''Grand Theft Auto" (a limitless excursion through a vast city environment). ''Starsky and Hutch" has given way to ''The West Wing" and ''24." Although example rigging could skew his argument wrongly, Johnson builds a convincing case that popular games and shows have generally grown more cognitively taxing. To be sure, plenty of schlock still appears on TV. But today's schlock is better than yesterday's, Johnson suggests. In one comparison he pits ''Battle of the Network Stars" vs. ''Joe Millionaire." If the former promoted only mind-numbing passivity, ''Joe Millionaire," for all its silliness, at least compels next-day ''water-cooler conversations" about the competitors' decisions and strategy, Johnson notes, seemingly drawing only on his seat-of-the-pants impressions. © 2005 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Intelligence
Link ID: 7299 - Posted: 06.24.2010

When it comes to treating headaches, acupuncturists might as well stick their needles in at random, according to a new study, which finds that traditional acupuncture is no better than its sham counterpart at reducing migraines. Even so, either sort of needling was significantly more effective than no treatment at all. Each year, millions of people suffer excruciating headaches associated with migraines. Drugs can reduce the pain but usually bring only modest relief. Instead, many turn to acupuncture, an ancient Chinese practice that involves inserting needles at strategic points along the body. Practitioners argue that correctly placed needles cure disorders by unblocking the flow of a person's vital energy. But although many hail acupuncture as an effective treatment, others want more evidence. So Klaus Linde, a clinical epidemiologist at Technische University in Munich, Germany, decided to test acupuncture's value in treating migraines. Linde and colleagues selected 302 migraine patients aged 18 to 65 and divided them into groups that received Chinese acupuncture treatment, a sham acupuncture treatment that did not follow the Chinese rules, and no treatment. Each patient maintained a headache diary and completed standardized pain questionnaires before and after the therapy. After 9 to 12 weeks of treatment, 15% of patients in the nontherapy group reported a 50% or greater drop in the number of days they had migraines. In the acupuncture and sham groups, the percentage experiencing a similar reduction was 51% and 53% respectively. "This means acupuncture is quite effective–-for at least German migraine patients--and needling the correct points does not seem to be very important," says Linde, whose team publishes its findings on 4 May in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Copyright © 2005 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 7298 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Reginald G. Smart, Ph.D., Robert E. Mann, Ph.D., and David S. Goldbloom, M.D. Psychiatric Times April 2005 Vol. XXII Issue 4 Road rage is a topic that has received much attention recently with reports of serious incidents appearing in the media on an almost daily basis. Road rage has no standard definition, although it has been defined as a situation where "a driver or passenger attempts to kill, injure or intimidate a pedestrian or another driver or passenger or to damage their car in a traffic incident" (Smart and Mann, 2002a). Newspaper reports on road rage have greatly increased in Canada (Smart and Mann, 2002b) and the United States (Fumento, 1998) making it seem like a new phenomenon. However, historical References to road rage can be found as early as 420 B.C.E. in Sophocles' play Oedipus the King (Roche, 2001); a road rage incident is the reason why Oedipus kills his father. The life of Lord Byron contains several incidents of road rage (Smart et al., unpublished data). Several studies have established that road rage is a common and dangerous experience. Deaths and injuries have been reported in Australia (Harding et al., 1998), Canada (Smart and Mann, 2002b), the United Kingdom (Joint, 1997) and the United States (Batten et al., 2000; James and Nahl, 2000). Wells-Parker et al. (2002) conducted a national U.S. survey of 1,382 adult drivers and found that 30% complained about other drivers; 17% had yelled at other drivers; 3% had chased other drivers or prevented others from passing; and about 1% to 2% had gotten out of their cars to hurt or argue with other drivers, had deliberately hit other cars, or had carried a weapon. In Arizona, 34% of 790 drivers surveyed had made obscene gestures or cursed angrily, and 28% had aggressively followed or blocked other vehicles (Miller et al., 2002). About 11% always (4%) or sometimes (7%) carried a gun in their cars, and hostile behavior while driving was much more common among drivers who had guns. © 2005 Psychiatric Times. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Aggression
Link ID: 7297 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Robert J. Ursano, M.D. Psychiatric Times April 2005 Vol. XXII Issue 4 After commanding a transportation unit in Iraq, a National Guardsman returned home to California (Guthrie, 2005). He thought he was fine until the nightmares and night sweats started. He felt numb and detached from his family. When he drove to work, a bump in the asphalt triggered memories of improvised devices that exploded on Iraqi roadways. With the encouragement of his family, the Guardsman finally sought counseling. Meanwhile, a 24-year-old gunner still in Iraq became withdrawn, listless and disinterested in eating (Myers, 2003). He would lie awake, remembering how four of his friends, fellow soldiers, had their bodies torn apart by a bomb packed inside a taxi. He was referred to counseling for his "combat stress reaction" and returned to duty with his unit. The issues are challenging: How do you reduce or avert the psychological wounds of war and prevent long-term, service-connected disabilities? At the recent 13th Annual Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Conference in Long Beach, Calif., researchers discussed the development of new technologies using virtual reality to treat soldiers returning from Iraq with posttraumatic stress disorder and to provide those being deployed with stress inoculation training. As defined by researchers working with veterans, "virtual reality integrates real-time computer graphics, body-tracking devices, visual displays and other sensory input devices to immerse a participant in a computer-generated virtual environment that changes in a natural way with head and body motion" (Rothbaum et al., 2001). © 2005 Psychiatric Times. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Stress
Link ID: 7296 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The most comprehensive study to date exploring the genetic divergence of humans and chimpanzees has revealed that the genes most favoured by natural selection are those associated with immunity, tumour suppression, and programmed cell death. These genes show signs of positive natural selection in both branches of the evolutionary tree and are changing more swiftly than would be expected through random mutation alone. Lead scientist Rasmus Nielsen and colleagues at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, examined the 13,731 chimp genes that have equivalent genes with known functions in humans. Research in 2003 revealed that genes involved with smell, hearing, digestion, long bone growth, and hairiness are undergoing positive natural selection in chimps and humans. The new study has found that the strongest evidence for selection is related to disease defence and apoptosis - or programmed cell death - which is linked to sperm production. Nielsen, a professor of bioinformatics, believes immune and defence genes are involved in “an evolutionary arms race with pathogens”. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 7295 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Roxanne Khamsi Pregnant women could be unwittingly exposing their unborn children to harmful amounts of the hormone oestrogen. Researchers have demonstrated that tiny quantities of this hormone, found in birth-control pills and some plastics, can cause serious deformities in male mouse fetuses. "There should be a much higher level of concern," says Frederick vom Saal, a biologist at the University of Missouri, Columbia, who headed the study. Oestrogenic drugs have long been known to cause problems. Since the 1990s, the work of vom Saal and others has revealed links between these drugs and sperm production, sex reversal in amphibians, early onset of puberty and a variety of behavioural changes. Not all of the evidence is confined to lab studies. For example, many women prescribed an anti-miscarriage oestrogenic drug called diethylstilbestrol in the 1950s gave birth to babies who later developed genital abnormalities. Vom Saal wanted to study the impact of common oestrogens on fetal development. These chemicals include bisphenol A, an artificial compound with oestrogenic properties that is used in the hard plastic lining of tin cans. When tins are exposed to high temperatures, this chemical may leach into food. ©2005 Nature Publishing Group

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 7294 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Pregnant women traumatised by the World Trade Center attacks may have passed a susceptibility to stress on to their newborn babies, researchers say. Mothers who experienced post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during pregnancy as a result of witnessing the attacks have been found to have children with abnormally low levels of the hormone cortisol, which is associated with increased stress. This could mean that these children were "programmed" in the womb as a result of their mother's trauma. Cortisol is produced in response to stress, and increases blood pressure and blood glucose. But severe stress can also cause levels of the hormone to fall, because more of it is being used up. Previous studies have shown that traumatised mothers are more likely to have children that develop stress disorders themselves. But this has often been blamed on parents recounting their experiences to children. A study of 38 women who witnessed the World Trade Center attacks was carried out by researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, UK, and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, US, one year after the events. Cortisol levels were lower than expected in those women who experienced PTSD in response the attacks - and also in their children. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Stress; Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 7293 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Sherry Seethaler To understand the complex processes in the human brain that lead to addiction, some researchers at UCSD have turned to bees. Granted, the brains of humans and bees don't look much alike. But how bees respond to simple rewards, such as food, can tell scientists much about the workings of the primitive portion of our brains that lead some of us to become addicted to tobacco, alcohol or other drugs. This region of the brain exerts such a powerful influence on the behavior of humans and other animals that a rat will work so tirelessly when it is rewarded with electrical stimulation to this region of the brain that it can forgo eating and ultimately starve to death. The neurobiology and evolutionary basis of the brain circuitry that processes information about rewards is the focus of study by Terrence Sejnowski, a professor of biology at both the Salk Institute and UCSD. He told a gathering of scientists, high school students and community members last week that neurobiologists like himself are gaining a better understanding of human addiction by examining simpler brains, such as those of bees.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 7292 - Posted: 05.04.2005

By Malcolm Ritter ALBANY, N.Y. – To somebody peeking into this little room, I'm just a middle-aged guy wearing a polka-dotted blue shower cap with a bundle of wires sticking out the top, relaxing in a recliner while staring at a computer screen. But in my mind's eye, I'm a teenager sitting bolt upright on the black piano bench of my boyhood home, expertly pounding out the stirring opening chords of Chopin's Military Polonaise. Not that I've ever actually played that well. But there's a little red box motoring across that computer screen, and I'm hoping my fantasy will change my brain waves just enough to make it rise and hit a target. Some people have learned to hit such targets better than 90 percent of the time. During this, my first of 12 training sessions, I succeed 58 percent of the time. But my targets are so big that I could have reached 50 percent by random chance alone. Bottom line: Over the past half-hour, I've displayed just a bit more mental prowess than you'd expect from a bowl of Froot Loops. © Copyright 2005 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

Keyword: Robotics
Link ID: 7291 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By JANE E. BRODY If ever there was a classic case of "no free lunch," popular pain control medications are it. There's not one without a potentially serious risk. Yet, far too many people use them carelessly, without adequate attention to dosage and warnings about possible risks. For over a century, aspirin was the pain drug of choice, until data emerged on the rather large number of bleeding-related deaths this time-honored medicine caused each year. In fact, many pharmaceutical experts say that if aspirin had to go through the Food and Drug Administration's approval process today, it would never make it to market. Along came some dandy substitutes, now also sold over the counter under brand names and as generics: ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB) and naproxen (Aleve). Ibuprofen and naproxen, known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or Nsaids, can equal or outdo aspirin's action against painful inflammation but at less risk of bleeding. But they, too, can have serious side effects: they can irritate the gastrointestinal tract and possibly cause ulcers. People who use Nsaids chronically are often told to take an anti-acid drug to protect their stomachs. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 7290 - Posted: 05.03.2005

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR Parents would certainly deny it, but Canadian researchers have made a startling assertion: parents take better care of pretty children than they do ugly ones. Researchers at the University of Alberta carefully observed how parents treated their children during trips to the supermarket. They found that physical attractiveness made a big difference. The researchers noted if the parents belted their youngsters into the grocery cart seat, how often the parents' attention lapsed and the number of times the children were allowed to engage in potentially dangerous activities like standing up in the shopping cart. They also rated each child's physical attractiveness on a 10-point scale. The findings, not yet published, were presented at the Warren E. Kalbach Population Conference in Edmonton, Alberta. When it came to buckling up, pretty and ugly children were treated in starkly different ways, with seat belt use increasing in direct proportion to attractiveness. When a woman was in charge, 4 percent of the homeliest children were strapped in compared with 13.3 percent of the most attractive children. The difference was even more acute when fathers led the shopping expedition - in those cases, none of the least attractive children were secured with seat belts, while 12.5 percent of the prettiest children were. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 7289 - Posted: 05.03.2005

Posted by Carl Zimmer Evolutionary psychologists argue that we can understand the workings of the human mind by investigating how it evolved. Much of their research focuses on the past two million years of hominid evolution, during which our ancestors lived in small bands, eating meat they either scavenged or hunted as well as tubers and other plants they gathered. Living for so long in this arrangement, certain ways of thinking may have been favored by natural selection. Evolutionary psychologists believe that a lot of puzzling features of the human mind make sense if we keep our heritage in mind. The classic example of these puzzles is known as the Wason Selection Task. People tend to do well on this task if it is presented in one way, and terribly if it is presented another way. You can try it out for yourself. If you took these tests, chances are you bombed on version one and got version two right. Studies consistently show that in tests of the first sort, about 25% of people choose the right answer. But 65% of people get test number two right. © Copyright 2000-2005 Corante

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 7288 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By H. Allen Orr The human genome is made up of forty-six chromosomes, the rod-like structures that reside in the nucleus of every cell. These chromosomes carry all of our genes, which, in turn, are made of DNA. Two of these chromosomes, called the X and the Y, are different from the rest: they are "sex chromosomes." Men carry one X and one Y chromosome, while women carry two X chromosomes. All the obvious physical differences between the sexes ultimately spring from this humble difference in chromosomal constitution. During the last few years, real progress has been made in our understanding of the sex chromosomes and we now know much more about our X and Y than we did a mere decade ago. In 2003, for example, essentially the entire stretch of DNA carried on the human Y chromosome was decoded, revealing the number and, in many cases, identity of the genes that make up this seat of maleness. More important, owing to a breakthrough that occurred in the early Nineties, biologists now understand just how sex is decided in human beings—geneticists identified the master "switch gene" that determines whether an embryo will develop into a male or a female. These discoveries might seem surprisingly recent. In view of the confident pronouncements in the medical press about all things having to do with sex and gender (homosexuality, for example, was said to be genetically determined), you'd be forgiven for assuming that the biology of how a human being becomes a boy or a girl has long been understood. To be fair, though, there were good reasons for the slow progress. How sex is determined represents a rare problem in which the study of simpler organisms like fruit flies led biologists astray. Sex determination in human beings specifically and in mammals generally doesn't work the way it does in most of the species that geneticists like to study. Moreover, genetic studies in human beings are simply harder to perform than those in species like the fruit fly: a generation is more like two decades than two weeks, and we can't dictate who mates with whom, an ethical constraint that doesn't arise with flies. © 1963-2005 NYREV, Inc

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 7287 - Posted: 06.24.2010

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (ARVO 2005 Annual Meeting) - Researchers from the University of Southern California and the Doheny Eye Institute's Doheny Retina Institute will be presenting data on the first six patients implanted with an intraocular retinal prosthesis-more popularly referred to as an artificial retina-developed and manufactured in partnership with Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., of Sylmar, Calif. According to Mark Humayun, professor of ophthalmology at the Keck School of Medicine and the lead investigator on the project, all six of the previously blind patients have been able to detect light, identify objects in their environment, and even perceive motion after implantation with the epiretinal device. Data collected as of November of 2004 showed that the six patients-who had been implanted with a single prosthesis in their "worse eye" for between 5 and 33 months-were able to "localize the position of, or count the number of, high contrast objects with 74 to 99 percent accuracy," Humayun says. In addition, they could discriminate simple shapes-i.e., figure out the spatial orientation of a bar or the capital letter L-with 61 to 80 percent accuracy. The researchers also noted that when there is no electricity running through the device, the subjects do not show any improvement in perceptual acuity, "suggesting that electrical stimulation did not improve the health or function of the retina."

Keyword: Vision; Robotics
Link ID: 7286 - Posted: 05.03.2005

There's no doubt an afternoon coffee break often gives new energy to the weary. But scientists have only recently figured out why we start to feel worn out in the first place. Researchers at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas identified a chemical change in the brains of rats that causes the transition between being awake and asleep. They say the chemistry is shared by all mammals, including people, and is triggered by prolonged neural (nerve) activity – being awake for a long period of time. The finding explains why coffee gives us a boost and may also provide more natural treatments for people fighting insomnia. The researchers focused on the "arousal centers" – the regions scattered through the brain that regulate the smooth transition from being asleep, to waking up, to falling back asleep. Without these regions, our sleep patterns might be completely erratic and we could fall asleep at any moment. The research team showed that under normal "awake" conditions these arousal centers release an excitatory chemical called glutamate. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter, a chemical that carries messages between brain cells. In the arousal centers it keeps the cells firing, so they interact and respond effectively to everyday stimuli. Through the course of the day however, these same neurons release a second neurotransmitter called adenosine. Adenosine is a natural sleep chemical that counteracts the effects glutamate and quiets the cells down, essentially making them, and us, sleepy. (C)ScienCentral, 2000-2005.

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 7285 - Posted: 06.24.2010

CHICAGO – Switching from an antidepressant medication to psychotherapy or vice versa may improve symptoms in chronically depressed patients who prove unresponsive to their initial treatment, according to an article in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "A substantial proportion of patients treated for depression do not respond to the initial trial of either an antidepressant medication or depression-targeted psychotherapy," according to background information in the article. For those resistant to treatment there are several options available, including switching medication, enhancing or combining medications, and switching to or enhancing treatment with psychotherapy. Alan F. Schatzberg, M.D., from Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif., and colleagues studied chronically depressed patients who were treated with either nefazodone (an antidepressant medication) or cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy (CBASP) for 12 weeks. Participants in the nefazodone group received an initial does of 200 mg per day (100 mg twice daily), which increased to a maximum of 600 mg per day. Those in the CBASP group attended sessions twice weekly during the first four weeks and then once weekly until week 12. If unresponsive to either the nefazodone or CBASP, patients were switched to the other treatment.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 7284 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Although most people with depression have physical symptoms, few discuss them with their doctor, a survey shows. More than eight out of 10 will experience fatigue and nearly the same number will have difficulty sleeping, the Depression Alliance found. Yet only two-thirds will raise these issues with their doctor. Doctors urged any person who thought they might be depressed to seek help, and said treatments were available that were extremely effective. The survey of 644 people with depression revealed that patients appear to be particularly reluctant to discuss some symptoms with their doctor. For example, only 14% of those experiencing sexual dysfunction, which was nearly half of all patients, discussed this with their doctor. A large international study found that 43% of patients with depression experience general aches and pains, which is four times higher than in those who had not been diagnosed with depression. A previous survey by the Depression Alliance found even among the 33% of patients who actually discussed aches and pains with their doctor, almost half said that their doctor did not explain that they can be symptoms of depression. A spokeswoman from Depression Alliance said: "In the survey, 99% of the people we talked to listed one or more physical symptoms, and of them, 85% believed their quality of life would be remarkably improved if these symptoms could be managed. (C)BBC

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 7283 - Posted: 05.02.2005

NEW YORK, NY, – Age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, occurs when a common inherited gene variation is triggered, possibly by an infection, according to a new study led by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center and the University of Iowa, with an international research team. The gene, known as Factor H, encodes a protein that regulates immune defense against infection caused by bacteria and viruses. People who have an inherited variation in this gene are less able to control inflammation caused by these infections, which may spark age-related macular degeneration (AMD) later in life, the study finds. Published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the results suggest that targeting the molecules involved in immune system response may provide powerful new therapies for treating and preventing AMD. "We now understand the genetic variation that is behind age-related macular degeneration and are beginning to target the trigger that sets the process in motion," said Rando Allikmets, Ph.D., Acquavella Associate Professor in the department of ophthalmology and the department of pathology & cell biology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. "By targeting the molecules involved in inflammation and its regulation we believe we can begin to develop therapies and diagnostic tools that could help countless people keep their sight."

Keyword: Vision; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 7282 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Andreas von Bubnoff Acupuncture has a measurable, if mysterious, effect on the brain, UK scientists have found. The study adds to evidence that patients benefit from acupuncture not simply because of their expectations. The research team used brain imaging to show that treatment with genuine needles activates brain areas beyond the ones that light up when trick needles are used. "This is the first brain-imaging study that has shown an effect beyond placebo," says George Lewith, an expert in complementary medicine at the University of Southampton who led the study. Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese treatment for illness, pain or even addiction, which uses fine needles in defined points of the body. The mechanism behind this is far from understood, and clinical trials into acupuncture have had mixed results. "It has worked in some trials, it hasn't worked in others, it's very complicated," says Ted Kaptchuk, an acupuncture researcher at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts. Many studies have suggested that the placebo effect accounts for most of the benefits seen. Part of this confusion may be thanks to the use of badly defined controls in acupuncture tests, experts say. Some studies use needles in non-acupuncture points, for example. But this may simply prove that needling is an effective treatment. ©2005 Nature Publishing Group

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 7281 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Low levels of social connectedness can adversely affect the body - lowering immune response and affecting heart health - highlight two new studies. One study demonstrates that first-year college students who mixed with fewer people or felt lonely had a lower immune response to influenza vaccination than their more gregarious or socially contented classmates. A second study suggests that men who are socially isolated have elevated levels of a blood marker for inflammation, which has a role in atherosclerosis. It was known that isolation has detrimental effects on heart health, but the study gives clues as to how this is mediated, says Sarah Pressman, a health psychologist a Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, US. Pressman and colleagues found small social networks and loneliness lowered the antibody response of students to the flu jab. But surprisingly, the effects were independent of one another. “Loneliness is the perception of being alone,” she explains, whereas social networks can be counted objectively as the number of people with whom a person has contact. “You can have very few friends but still not feel lonely. Alternatively, you can have many friends yet feel lonely,” says Pressman. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 7280 - Posted: 06.24.2010