The University of Vermont will lead the first study ever to examine the efficacy and safety of using nicotine patches to treat Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a state of memory impairment recently identified by the American Academy of Neurology that may be a precursor of Alzheimer’s disease. Often difficult to diagnose because of the mild nature of memory changes, MCI is characterized by symptoms such as increased forgetfulness, but is not accompanied by the disorientation, confusion and impaired judgment typical of Alzheimer’s disease. Studies suggest that if left untreated, 12 percent of MCI patients will convert to Alzheimer’s disease each year. “Just like heart disease doesn’t start with a heart attack – it starts with years of cholesterol build-up – Mild Cognitive Impairment may represent the early stages of memory loss prior to the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Paul Newhouse, M.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and research director of The Memory Center at Fletcher Allen Health Care. Contact Us © 2003 The University of Vermont

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Alzheimers
Link ID: 4415 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The mysterious cause of a young Australian man's meningitis was finally found to be a dinner of raw slugs. He had eaten two slugs for a dare five weeks before falling ill. But slugs harbour Angiostrongylus cantonensis - also known as the rat lungworm - which can cause the potentially fatal brain inflammation. Experts writing in the Medical Journal of Australia say that if people do want to eat slugs, they should cook them first, in order to kill the parasite. The young man was admitted to hospital after experiencing headaches, nausea, vomiting, neck stiffness and sensitivity to light. A series of tests were carried out by doctors, but the cause of his illness could not be determined, and he was discharged after 12 days. (C) BBC

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 4414 - Posted: 10.23.2003

If only there were a drug that could make you feel full while eating less. As this ScienCentral News video reports, researchers think a natural hormone could do just that. Being overweight causes a whole host of health problems, from advanced risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, to joint aches and arthritis. In fact, according to the Surgeon General’s office, obesity may soon overtake smoking as the number one cause of preventable deaths. But now researchers at London’s Hammersmith Hospital have discovered a hormone that they hope will help obese people manage their weight. The hormone, called PYY3-36 and dubbed “the fullness hormone” by scientists, tells the brain when to stop eating. Steve Bloom, a researcher at Hammersmith Hospital and professor at Imperial College London says what’s new about this discovery is that it offers a natural way to help control appetite. Bloom says current obesity drug treatments don’t work very well and have unpleasant side effects. “With the complete absence of any very effective treatments other then major surgery,” he says, “the pressure's on to try and find something that’s both safe and effective. And indeed that’s what we think we’ve found. © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 4413 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Trigger for sex and strops may lead to fertility treatments. HELEN R. PILCHER The discovery of a gene that initiates puberty could speed the production of new fertility treatments. The gene is called GPR54. It may trigger the hormonal onslaught that makes teenagers stroppy, spotty and sexually mature. Mutations in the gene prevent humans and mice from developing into adults, research reveals1. "It's a wonderful surprise," says Stephanie Seminara of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who helped to determine the gene's function. Drugs that alter the gene's activity could stifle or boost fertility, she says. This could help those who experience puberty abnormally early or late. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 4412 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Walruses are 'right-flippered', according to research published this week in BMC Ecology. The first study of walrus feeding behaviour in the wild showed that the animals preferentially use their right flipper to remove sediment from buried food. This is the first time that any aquatic animal has been shown to prefer using one flipper to the other when foraging. Direct observations of the underwater behaviour of free-living marine mammals are rare, especially if the animals are dangerous, like the walrus. This means that our understanding of these creatures is remarkably limited. The scuba-diving researchers from Denmark, Greenland and Sweden went to Northeast Greenland to film male Atlantic walruses while they ate. Walruses eat invertebrate animals that live on the seabed. They are particularly fond of clams. Walruses suck out the soft part of the clam, and discard the empty shells. As clams can be buried up to 40 cm deep, the walruses must remove sediment to find them.

Keyword: Laterality
Link ID: 4411 - Posted: 10.23.2003

By WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - In what may be an important step toward preventing blindness in old age, scientists have identified a gene believed to be responsible for a degenerative eye disease that could strike millions of baby boomers as they grow older. The gene is suspected of being the main cause of some cases of age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, a complex disease triggered by various factors. It typically affects people 65 and older. Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University were able to pinpoint the gene by tracking it through a large extended family with a history of the disease. Copyright © The Sacramento Bee

Keyword: Vision; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 4410 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Hypnotherapy seems to be an effective long term treatment for irritable bowel syndrome, research finds. IBS is a very common disorder affecting up to 15% of the population at any one time, but is difficult to treat. Researchers from Withington Hospital, Manchester, found hypnotherapy helped 71% of patients - and its effect lasted up to five years after treatment. The research, based on 200 patients, is published in the journal Gut. They were asked to assess their symptoms, quality of life and levels of anxiety and depression before and after treatment - and for up to six years after completing the course. (C) BBC

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 4409 - Posted: 10.22.2003

A New York zookeeper tells all about his life with animals By David Conrads Some careers are launched in the most unlikely ways. Take the case of Peter Brazaitis: A working-class kid growing up in Brooklyn in the 1940s and '50s, young Peter was a hostile, rebellious student with a bleak future but a love for animals, "particularly if it had scales and everyone else was afraid of it." He was 18 years old when his stepmother, at the end of her tether, declared: "You are an animal, and you should be in a zoo." Taking her words literally, as teenagers are wont to do, Brazaitis applied for a job at the Reptile House at the Bronx Zoo. Although he had read numerous books on the subject, he had no real experience caring for reptiles, other than those he had kept as pets. But to the surprise of both himself and his stepmother, Brazaitis got the job. "I would begin working life at the very bottom of a profession that few people can even imagine," he writes in "You Belong in a Zoo!" "as a broom-pushing, turtle-feeding, glass- cleaning, often terrified reptile keeper at one of the most prestigious zoos in the world." Brazaitis stayed at the Bronx Zoo for over 30 years, rising to the position of superintendent of reptiles. In 1988 he moved to the newly renovated Central Park Zoo. He retired 10 years later as curator of animals. Copyright © 2003 The Christian Science Monitor.

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 4408 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By FOX BUTTERFIELD As many as one in five of the 2.1 million Americans in jail and prison are seriously mentally ill, far outnumbering the number of mentally ill who are in mental hospitals, according to a comprehensive study released Tuesday. The study, by Human Rights Watch, concludes that jails and prisons have become the nation's default mental health system, as more state hospitals have closed and as the country's prison system has quadrupled over the past 30 years. There are now fewer than 80,000 people in mental hospitals, and the number is continuing to fall. The report also found that the level of illness among the mentally ill being admitted to jail and prison has been growing more severe in the past few years. And it suggests that the percentage of female inmates who are mentally ill is considerably higher than that of male inmates. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Aggression
Link ID: 4407 - Posted: 10.22.2003

Results further implicate iron deposits in brain in MS impairments BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The mental impairment and problems with walking experienced by patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are linked to damage in the brain's gray matter, with MRI findings suggesting the damage is due to toxic deposits of iron, researchers from the University at Buffalo have shown for the first time. Previous breakthrough work by the team had linked deep gray matter iron deposits to the disease course of MS, brain atrophy and overall disability, but not to cognition or ambulation. Results of these latest studies were presented today (Oct. 21, 2003) at the annual meeting of the American Neurological Association in San Francisco. The researchers, affiliated with the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC) and Jacobs Neurological Institute, use specialized, computer-assisted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology to focus on hypointensity, or unnatural darkness, of gray matter structures as seen on so-called T2-weighted images. This condition is referred to as T2 hypointensity. Using this approach, they were able to show that structures in the brain's deep gray matter of MS patients contained T2 hypointensity compared with normal individuals, suggesting higher-than-normal levels of iron deposits, and confirmed the relationship of T2 hypointensity to MS symptoms.

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis
Link ID: 4406 - Posted: 10.22.2003

DURHAM, N.C. - By applying a new technique that combines independent lines of genomic evidence, Duke University Medical Center researchers and colleagues have identified a single gene that influences the age at which individuals first show symptoms of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Such genes that can impact patients' age at onset for the two very prevalent neurological disorders are of particular interest as alternative targets for treatment, said Margaret Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center for Human Genetics . Drugs that delay the onset of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases beyond the normal human lifespan would effectively prevent them in patients at risk for the disorders, she added. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia among people over the age of 65, affecting up to 4 million Americans. Parkinson's disease -- characterized by tremors, stiffness of the limbs and trunk, slow movements and a lack of balance -- afflicts approximately 50,000 Americans each year. Both are complex disorders involving multiple genes. © 2001-2003 Duke University Medical Center.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 4405 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By MIKE FREEMAN Don Catlin, the scientist who identified a previously undetected steroid and oversaw tests indicating that as many as a half-dozen athletes in track and field had used the drug, said yesterday that he thought athletes were probably using similar unidentified drugs. Catlin, a molecular pharmacologist at U.C.L.A.'s Olympic Analytical Laboratory, led an eight-man team that identified the steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG. The drug is at the center of an investigation that started in track and field but appears likely to involve dozens of other professional athletes. Forty have been called before a federal grand jury in San Francisco to investigate a sports nutrition company accused of creating the drug. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 4404 - Posted: 10.21.2003

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD On a hillside in the badlands of Ethiopia, an ancestral home of the human family, an international team of scientists has uncovered the earliest known stone tools to be found mixed with fragments of fossilized animal bones. The scientists think the material, almost 2.6 million years old, is the strongest evidence yet that the primal technology was used to butcher animal carcasses for meat and marrow. The discovery could go a long way toward resolving a debate in paleoanthropology: which came first, a significant advance in the brain that enabled human ancestors to make tools, or the toolmaking ability that led to an enriched diet and then an evolutionary change in the brain? "I believe the use of stone tools came first and the larger brain came later with a more substantial meat diet," Dr. Sileshi Semaw, the leader of the discovery team, said last week by telephone. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 4403 - Posted: 10.21.2003

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR The notion that poverty and mental illness are intertwined is nothing new, as past research has demonstrated time and time again. But finding evidence that one begets the other has often proved difficult. Now new research that coincided with the opening of an Indian casino may have come a step closer to identifying a link by suggesting that lifting children out of poverty can diminish some psychiatric symptoms, though others seem unaffected. A study published in last week's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association looked at children before and after their families rose above the poverty level. Rates of deviant and aggressive behaviors, the study noted, declined as incomes rose. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 4402 - Posted: 10.21.2003

By HOWARD MARKEL While progress has been made in combating alcoholism and drug addiction in the United States, the medical establishment is still failing in large numbers to diagnose the disease in their patients, several experts said at a recent conference. "Although doctors and nurses have the best opportunity to intervene with alcoholics and substance abusers, our research indicates they are woefully inadequate of even diagnosing someone with this disease," said Joseph Califano Jr., the chairman and president of Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. At the conference sponsored by the Columbia center this month, policy makers and addiction specialists evaluated recent research on addiction, which affects 2 of 10 Americans at some point in life and costs billions of dollars for health care each year. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 4401 - Posted: 10.21.2003

Genetic discrepancies between males and females measured mid-term. HELEN PEARSON Genes drive the brains of male and female embryos apart as early as midway through gestation, a new study suggests1. These gender differences were assumed to arise around birth due to hormones pumped out by males' budding testes. Halfway into a mouse pregnancy, before the testes have even formed, the activity of 51 genes is different in males and females, says Eric Vilain of the University of California, Los Angeles. His team analysed 12,000 brain genes. The discovery hints that unknown genes hardwire our gender - perhaps influencing the way that men and women think, tackle problems or perceive themselves. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 4400 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Participation in a greater overall number of leisure activities during early and middle adulthood is related to lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according a team of researchers headed by University of Southern California graduate student Michael Crowe. He and his colleagues - University of South Florida faculty member Ross Andel (a recent USC PhD), USC and Karolinska Institute professors Margaret Gatz and Nancy Pedersen, and University of Gothenberg professor Boo Johansson - published the results of this recent study in the September issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences (Vol. 58B, No.5, September, 2003). "The idea that mental activity is good for the brain is not unlike the idea of 'use it or lose it' when it comes to keeping the body fit," said Andel. Using data from the Swedish Twins Registry, a population-based dataset of twins living in Sweden, the team analyzed information on like-sexed twins born between 1886 and 1925. The study was funded by the Alzheimer's Association and the National Institute on Aging. In the 1960s, these twins had filled out questionnaires about their leisure activities, which included reading, social visits, theater and movie going, club and organization participation, gardening and other outdoor activities, and playing sports. They subsequently participated in clinical follow-ups in the 1980s and 1990s, when they where tested for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 4399 - Posted: 10.21.2003

By Carol Hyman, Media Relations BERKELEY – Imagine the smell of coffee in the morning. Did you close your eyes and inhale deeply through your nose? Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, found that most people do and that the very act of sniffing plays a vital role in the brain's perception of odor. In the Oct. 19 online issue of Nature: Neuroscience the researchers report that the sniff people take when trying to imagine an odor closely resembles the sniff they would have taken if the odor were really there. For example, when imagining the smell of bus fumes, people take a timid sniff, but when imagining the smell of a rose, they take a vigorous sniff. If people are prevented from sniffing, the vividness of the image is significantly reduced. From these findings, the scientists conclude that the brain recreates the components of real sensation, such as sniffing, in order to create mental images. Copyright UC Regents

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 4398 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By ROWAN HOOPER The job of undertaker is not one that is restricted to human society. In honeybee colonies, too, some individuals have the task of removing the cadavers of their dead fellows. Researchers have previously demonstrated that bees are genetically inclined to perform the specialist job of undertaker, though they only take on that role when they reach middle age. (As often seems to be the case with human undertakers.) When they are young adults, honeybees are typically "nurses" who assist with brood care. Nurse bees feed larvae with royal jelly, and later with honey and pollen. When the nurses become older, most become foraging bees, searching for food outside the hive. The Japan Times (C) All rights reserved

Keyword: Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 4397 - Posted: 10.20.2003

Making IQ Tests Harder Due To Flynn Effect Has Educational, Financial, Legal and Military Recruiting Implications WASHINGTON — The steady rising of IQ scores over the last century – known as the Flynn effect – causes IQ tests norms to become obsolete over time. To counter this effect, IQ tests are “renormed” (made harder) every 15-20 years by resetting the mean score to 100 to account for the previous gains in IQ scores. But according to new research, such renorming may have unintended consequences, particularly in the area of special education placements for children with borderline or mild mental retardation. The findings are reported on in the October issue of American Psychologist, a journal of the American Psychological Association (APA). Researchers Tomoe Kanaya, M.A. and Stephen J. Ceci, Ph.D., of Cornell University and Matthew H. Scullin, Ph.D., of West Virginia University used IQ data from nearly 9,000 school psychologist special education assessments from nine school districts across the U.S. to document how the Flynn effect influences mental retardation diagnoses for several years after a new test is introduced. The students (ages 6 – 17) were from different geographical regions, neighborhood types and socioeconomic status. © 2003 American Psychological Association

Keyword: Intelligence
Link ID: 4396 - Posted: 06.24.2010