By CHRISTOPHER DREW and FORD FESSENDEN As a growing number of deaths and illnesses have raised questions about their diet pills, some ephedra companies have promoted a medical study as showing that their product is safe and helpful for losing weight. But documents released yesterday by a House subcommittee show that a panel of scientists has found flaws and shortcomings in the study. Some government officials said those problems could undercut its safety findings at a time when federal regulators are trying to decide if they should ban ephedra, an herbal stimulant, or restrict its sales. For several years, the industry had refused to give the regulators all the data from the study, which was conducted at medical centers in New York and Boston in the late 1990's. But last February, the Food and Drug Administration made an unusual deal to gain access to the data, officials say. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 4075 - Posted: 07.23.2003

BOISE, IDAHO-- Female baboons love to talk about sex, particularly when it's good. Biologists have been baffled by this bawdy habit, but new research suggests that the ladies may have a good reason for being so forthcoming. Lots of animals call, sing, or whistle to advertise fertility, attract a mate, or spur competition among members of the opposite sex. But most creatures don't have much to say once the deed is done. Female baboons are an exception. After mating, females often give loud staccato grunts. Scientists observing wild baboons noticed that females tend to call more after sex with a higher-ranking, dominant male. The researchers thought the noisy females were trying to encourage more males to compete for a roll in the hay. The truth may be quite the opposite, according to behavioral biologist Dario Maestripieri of the University of Chicago. Copyright © 2003 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Animal Communication
Link ID: 4074 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Suz Redfearn, Special to The Washington Post Scientists writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association have identified the first physical warning sign of autism: small head circumference at birth, followed by rapid and excessive increase in head size during the first year of life. The researchers' findings, published last week, could lead to earlier identification of autistic children, who now are typically diagnosed at age 3 when teachers and parents begin to notice behavioral problems. Experts say earlier intervention is more beneficial, and the study may help alert doctors to a possible, though not certain, diagnosis of autism in the first months of life. The research also provides further evidence contradicting the theory that autism could be triggered by vaccinations given just before age 3. © 2003 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 4073 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The researchers said there was no link between the MMR vaccine and autism The controversial MMR vaccine has not triggered an increase in the number of children being diagnosed with autism, according to experts. Researchers at University College London say figures actually show that the number of new cases has levelled off and may have peaked 11 years ago. They also said that the rise in new cases throughout the 1980s and early 1990s may have been simply due to greater awareness of the condition. Nevertheless, the study found that parents were now more likely to blame their children's autism on the MMR vaccine. Professor Brent Taylor and colleagues at UCL identified 567 children born between 1979 and 1998 who were diagnosed with autism in north-east London. They found that the number of children being diagnosed with autism peaked in 1992. (C) BBC

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 4072 - Posted: 07.22.2003

When science meets religion at this ancient Greek site, the two turn out to be on better terms than scholars had originally thought By John R. Hale, Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, Jeffrey P. Chanton and Henry A. Spiller The temple of Apollo, cradled in the spectacular mountainscape at Delphi, was the most important religious site of the ancient Greek world, for it housed the powerful oracle. Generals sought the oracle's advice on strategy. Colonists asked for guidance before they set sail for Italy, Spain and Africa. Private citizens inquired about health problems and investments. The oracle's advice figures prominently in the myths. When Orestes asked whether he should seek vengeance on his mother for murdering his father, the oracle encouraged him. Oedipus, warned by the oracle that he would murder his father and marry his mother, strove, with famous lack of success, to avoid his fate. The oracle of Delphi functioned in a specific place, the adyton , or "no entry" area of the temple's core, and through a specific person, the Pythia, who was chosen to speak, as a possessed medium, for Apollo, the god of prophecy. Extraordinarily for misogynist Greece, the Pythia was a woman. And unlike most Greek priests and priestesses, the Pythia did not inherit her office through noble family connections. Although the Pythia had to be from Delphi, she could be old or young, rich or poor, well educated or illiterate. She went through a long and intense period of conditioning, supported by a sisterhood of Delphic women who tended the eternal sacred fire in the temple. Tradition attributed the prophetic inspiration of the powerful oracle to geologic phenomena: a chasm in the earth, a vapor that rose from it, and a spring. Roughly a century ago scholars rejected this explanation when archaeologists digging at the site could find no chasm and detect no gases. The ancient testimony, however, is widespread, and it comes from a variety of sources: historians such as Pliny and Diodorus, philosophers such as Plato, the poets Aeschylus and Cicero, the geographer Strabo, the travel writer Pausanias, and even a priest of Apollo who served at Delphi, the famous essayist and biographer Plutarch. © 1996-2003 Scientific American, Inc

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 4071 - Posted: 06.24.2010

For the 10 to 15 percent of school-aged children in the U.S. who suffer from dyslexia, the written word often feels like an insurmountable obstacle. But a spate of research is helping scientists get to the root of the condition and suggest new methods of treatment. Research published today in the journal Neurology suggests that some therapies can make a difference quickly. Scientists report that dyslexic children showed normal brain activation patterns during reading tests after just three weeks of specialized instruction. Elizabeth Aylward of the University of Washington and her colleagues tested 10 children who suffered from dyslexia and scored 30 percent below average on standardized reading tests despite having above average intelligence and 11 children classified as good readers. © 1996-2003 Scientific American, Inc.

Keyword: Dyslexia
Link ID: 4070 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Preliminary study suggests overweight elderly women more prone to dementia. HELEN R. PILCHER Women who are overweight at 70 may be at greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life1. Prevention and control strategies should stress the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle, researchers suggest. It's a concerning correlation. Dementia and obesity are already major health concerns for the ageing, expanding developed world. By 2025, an estimated 34 million people worldwide will suffer from dementia. More than 50% of adult Americans and Europeans are overweight. Deborah Gustafson, of Utah State University in Logan, and her colleagues monitored 392 elderly Swedes over 18 years. Of this group, 93 developed dementia. Women who did so in their eighties were more likely to have been overweight in their seventies. "It shows the importance of maintaining a healthy weight throughout life," says Gustafson. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Alzheimers; Obesity
Link ID: 4069 - Posted: 06.24.2010

People who are energetic, happy and relaxed are less likely to catch colds, while those who are depressed, nervous or angry are more likely to complain about cold symptoms, whether or not they get bitten by the cold bug, according to a recent study. Study participants who had a positive emotional style weren't infected as often and experienced fewer symptoms compared to people with a negative emotional style, say Sheldon Cohen, Ph.D., of Carnegie Mellon University and colleagues, writing in the July issue of Psychosomatic Medicine. Cohen's team interviewed 334 healthy volunteers three evenings a week for two weeks to assess their emotional states. The volunteers described how they felt that day in three positive-emotion areas: vigor, well-being and calm. They were also questioned about three categories of negative feelings: depression, anxiety and hostility.

Keyword: Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 4068 - Posted: 07.22.2003

The number of children taking the controversial drug Ritalin has jumped sharply, official figures reveal. According to the Department, the number of prescriptions for the drug increased by 22% last year. The number of children taking the drug now tops 254,000, double what it was five years ago. Ritalin is prescribed to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The symptoms of ADHD range from poor concentration and extreme hyperactivity to interrupting and intruding on other people and not being able to wait in queues. Studies have suggested the condition may affect one in 20 children. Boys are three times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls. (C) BBC

Keyword: ADHD
Link ID: 4067 - Posted: 07.20.2003

By MELINDA LIGOS ADDICTION costs corporate America billions of dollars a year in lost productivity, absenteeism and higher health care expenses. It also derails many once-promising careers. More companies are willing to offer assistance these days, especially as they deal with higher levels of employee stress from heightened workloads and job cuts. Yet many workers are still reluctant to take advantage of this help, for fear of jeopardizing their positions. "Telling something so personal would have lessened my authority as a leader," said a 65-year-old executive of a computer company in Philadelphia who recently returned from 28 days of treatment for alcoholism. "As a manager, you have to create some distance between you and your employees." The executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had arranged for the treatment himself at the Caron Foundation, a rehabilitation center in Wernersville, Pa. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 4066 - Posted: 07.20.2003

By MICHAEL RUSE Biology may not have the status of physics and chemistry, but it sure is a lot more fun. Did you know that, controlling for body size, the testicles of the chimpanzee are 16 times as large as those of the gorilla? That the chimp has sex 100 times as often as the gorilla? And that the bonobo, the pygmy chimp, has 10 times as much sex as its larger cousin and hence 1,000 times as much as the gorilla? The basic gorilla-chimpanzee difference is a function of the chimpanzee's preference for life in the trees. Male gorillas (those that can) form harems of females, and to this end are much bigger than the females. They need to ward off their rivals. Male chimpanzees cannot afford to grow too much bigger -- that would be bad for climbing. Hence, since chimps are not so readily able to form harems, their strategy is to out-copulate competitors. In the bonobos, for various reasons, the females rule the roost, and the males know that fighting simply will not work. In such a situation, being a superstud -- the Errol Flynn of the primate world -- is the best way forward. Which conclusion certainly gives male chauvinists food for thought. If Andrea Dworkin becomes president, will there be more sex down in the ranks? Or does any of this really pertain to humans? In ''Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human,'' the British science writer Matt Ridley rather suggests it does. Body weight for body weight, our testicles come in at five times the size of gorillas' even if we attain only one-third the size of chimpanzees'. ''This is compatible with a monogamous species showing a degree of female infidelity. The difference between species is the shadow of the similarity within the species.'' Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Evolution; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 4065 - Posted: 07.20.2003

For years we’ve been told to blame our obsession with thinness on society's glorification of it, and that eating disorders like anorexia were "social diseases." But research shows that genetics likely plays a big role too. "If there's any disorder that's going to be caused by both nature and nurture, it's something like an eating disorder," says Cynthia Bulik, professor of psychiatry and director of the eating disorders program at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "It was believed for a long time that these were socio-cultural disorders, that somehow our culture or the emphasis on thinness caused anorexia. But we know now that that's not entirely true." The first sign of a genetic link came from surveys of families where anorexia appeared. "Family studies show that if you have a family member who has an eating disorder, you're between seven and twelve times at greater risk for developing an eating disorder yourself," says Bulik. "What we can't tell from family studies is whether the reason something runs in a family is because of genes or environment. So we've done twin studies to ask that question and we've found indeed that anorexia is a strongly heritable condition." © ScienCentral, 2000-2003

Keyword: Anorexia & Bulimia
Link ID: 4064 - Posted: 06.24.2010

As many as one in one thousand babies born completely deaf every year. Another two or three per thousand have some hearing loss. As this ScienCentral News video reports, one researcher is calling for hearing screenings for newborns because the earlier hearing loss is discovered, the better. When two-year-old Charlie Knott was born with severe hearing loss, it was not something his parents anticipated before his birth. "We were really shocked," says his mother, Rebecca Knott. "Because out of all the things you worry about with a child, hearing wasn't the one we were thinking about." © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Hearing
Link ID: 4063 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service Stem cells from the brain do not provoke an immune response when transplanted to different parts of another individual's body, suggests a study in mice. The finding could help overcome immune rejection, one of the most difficult obstacles to developing therapies to treat people with central nervous system problems such as spinal cord injuries and Parkinson's disease. Michael Young, at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard, and US and Japanese colleagues have shown that stem cells from the brain have a special "immune privilege" even when they are transplanted to places outside their normal location in the central nervous system. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Stem Cells
Link ID: 4062 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The brain is constantly striving to find meaning in things, even in situations where there is no meaning. This attempt to find meaning can often lead to what music perception pioneer Diana Deutsch calls 'illusions in the brain.' Just as one might imagine seeing, for example, the outline of a woman's face in a gnarled tree trunk, in its grasp for meaning, the brain often produces auditory illusions that lead us to hear phantom words. "Phantom Words and Other Curiosities," a new CD by Deutsch, a professor of psychology at the University of California, San Diego, includes numerous instructive and entertaining sound demonstrations to provide researchers and amateur scientists with the resources to conduct research on how the brain processes sound. The CD will be released at the Second Annual Citizen Science Conference in Pasadena, CA on July 17-20. Like Deutsch's earlier CD, "Musical Illusions and Paradoxes," the demonstrations in "Phantom Words and Other Curiosities" are based on discoveries by Deutsch. Members of the news media can listen to selected tracks from "Phantom Words and Other Curiosities," by visiting the following web site: htttp://philomel.com/press/

Keyword: Hearing
Link ID: 4061 - Posted: 07.19.2003

NewScientist.com news service A chocolate-scented mousetrap has been developed by UK scientists to catch the pests without the need for bait. Contrary to popular belief, mice are more attracted to the scent of chocolate than the more traditional mouse-bait cheese, or other aromas like vanilla essence, according to Sorex Ltd, a manufacturer of rodent control products based in Cheshire, UK. So the company enlisted researchers at the University of Warwick to help them produce a chocolate-based trap to capture the rodents. Sorex originally had the idea of putting melted chocolate into a depression within the trap. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 4060 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Danny Kingsley, ABC Science Online — People who develop complex networks, like the World Wide Web or electricity grids, could learn a lot from the social behavior of dolphins, a New Zealand zoologist has found. David Lusseau, a zoologist at the University of Otago, spent seven years observing a community of 64 bottlenose dolphins in Doubtful Sound, New Zealand, and found they have a social structure similar to human and human-made networks. His mathematical study of their social behavior is published in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society. Copyright © 2003 Discovery Communications Inc.

Keyword: Animal Communication
Link ID: 4059 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By MARY DUENWALD Scientists have identified a gene that may help explain why some people become depressed in response to the stresses of life and others skate by relatively unscathed. The gene, which comes in two forms, or alleles, can either protect people from depression or make them more vulnerable, researchers report today in the journal Science. In the study, people who experienced job loss, death in the family, abuse or other traumas were much more likely to develop depression if they possessed two copies of the short allele. Those with two copies of the long allele (pronounced uh-LEEL) were able to withstand such events without becoming depressed. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Depression; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 4058 - Posted: 07.18.2003

Among people who suffered multiple stressful life events over 5 years, 43 percent with one version of a gene developed depression (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depressionmenu.cfm), compared to only 17 percent with another version of the gene, say researchers funded, in part, by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Those with the "short," or stress-sensitive version of the serotonin transporter gene were also at higher risk for depression if they had been abused as children. Yet, no matter how many stressful life events they endured, people with the "long," or protective version experienced no more depression than people who were totally spared from stressful life events. The short variant appears to confer vulnerability to stresses, such as loss of a job, breaking-up with a partner, death of a loved one, or a prolonged illness, report Drs. Avshalom Caspi, Terrie Moffitt, University of Wisconsin and King's College London, and colleagues, in the July 18, 2003 Science. The serotonin transporter gene codes for the protein in neurons, brain cells, that recycles the chemical messenger after it's been secreted into the synapse, the gulf between cells. Since the most widely prescribed class of antidepressants act by blocking this transporter protein, the gene has been a prime suspect in mood and anxiety disorders. Yet, its link to depression eluded detection in eight previous studies. "We found the connection only because we looked at the study members' stress history," noted Moffitt. She suggested that measuring such pivotal environmental events — which can include infections and toxins as well as psychosocial traumas — might be the key to unlocking the secrets of psychiatric genetics.

Keyword: Depression; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 4057 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Antonio Damasio takes neuroscience back to its philosophical origins in Spinoza's "mind-body" and reveals the "embodied consciousness" of art As Byatt Book: Looking for Spinoza Author: Antonio Damasio Price: Heinemann, £20 In his book "Descartes' Error", Antonio Damasio took issue with two aspects of Des-cartes's thought-his use of clockwork as a metaphor for the mind, and his statement of priorities: cogito ergo sum. Damasio reverses this, and shows how the life of the mind arises from the life of the body. He finds the idea of mind as computer programming, as hard-wiring, to be a misleading descendent of the clockwork metaphor. He deals in the "wet stuff" of the living tissues of body and brain. In "Descartes' Error", he gave us a plausible and beautiful idea of how our sense of self and our thought processes arise out of a series of nervous mappings of the body by the brain-from the unconscious visceral reporting to the conscious appetites, to memory and reflection. He does this partly by showing us what happens in brain-damaged people, distinguishing between those who live in vegetative states, those who have lost certain precise things (the left side of the body, or short-term memory, or a sense of responsibility) and those who think and feel more or less as most of us do. In "Looking for Spinoza", he extends his researches into the contribution of emotions and feelings to the constitution of our selves. My only real problem with this book is with the ordinary language slipperiness of two words which Damasio uses very precisely. "Emotions," for Damasio, are involuntary responses like pleasure, pain, disgust and fear, which arise with the appetites early in the life of the body (and which in some cases are innate). "Feelings" are maps and images in the brain of its responses to sensory and emotional stimuli, both external and internal. Both emotions and feelings are an inextricable part of the way we take in the world-including the way we think. Damasio is very persuasive on how we could not survive without the social emotions that have evolved within us. But his greatest skill is making his readers feel the process by which our nervous system maps our body, its surroundings, its history, its needs and its decisions at every moment in our brains. He disposes elegantly of the idea that a metaphorical homunculus sits in our skulls making immutable representations of things to some inner eye, and replaces him with a shifting stream of signals, reinforcing, correcting, congregating into ideas of things and ourselves.

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 4056 - Posted: 07.17.2003