Some people who find it hard to give up smoking may have a good excuse - it's down to their genetic make-up. Scientists have found that people who carry a version of one particular gene may find it harder to give up their habit. However, there may be an upside. It seems that the same variant may protect people from developing lung disease. The gene in question - dubbed CYP2A6 - plays a role in processing nicotine in the body. However, there are at least three versions of the gene. One, called del, is less active than the others. A team of researchers from Keio University in Tokyo took DNA samples from 203 current or ex-smokers suspected of having respiratory disease, and compared them with samples from 123 healthy non-smokers. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 3980 - Posted: 07.01.2003

NewScientist.com news service The idea that women are hunting for rich husbands while men choose wives for their beauty is a long way from the truth, suggests a new study. While some celebrity marriages may fit this pattern, most men and women are seeking a mate who is similar to them in qualities such as income, beauty, and desire to have children. The new study flouts the traditionally accepted views that, to maximise our ability to reproduce, men are seeking young, attractive women who are likely to bear them children while women are seeking older, successful men who have the resources to support and protect their young. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 3979 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By HENRY FOUNTAIN Scientists have long known that there is more to speech perception than meets the ear. Humans, even infants who cannot yet speak, pick up visual cues from the movement of the lips and other parts of the face to help understand what it is they are hearing. Now there is evidence that this ability may go back a long way. Researchers in Germany say they have found that rhesus monkeys can also combine visual and auditory information to perceive vocal signals, suggesting that the ability had some kind of evolutionary precursor before humans and other primates diverged millions of years ago. The researchers, Dr. Asif A. Ghazanfar and Dr. Nikos K. Logothetis of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, tested monkeys by showing them side-by-side video images of another monkey making two sounds, while playing a soundtrack of just one of the sounds. Time after time, the test monkeys were able to match the sound with the correct video image. The research was reported in the current issue of the journal Nature. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Animal Communication; Emotions
Link ID: 3978 - Posted: 07.01.2003

By ABIGAIL ZUGER An itch demands a scratch, but science has barely begun to scratch the surface of why an itch itches, and how to make it stop. The itch-scratch cycle sits right at the fascinating intersection of pleasure and pain, reflex and compulsion, but it has received relatively little scientific attention. Ten years ago, one of the small band of international itch researchers called itch "sadly neglected," an "orphan symptom." But new developments are slowly beginning to refine scientific understanding of itch. They include the identification of nerve fibers devoted to transmitting itchy sensations, of brain sectors that process itch, and of molecules that seem to provoke itch. Itch experts hope that better treatments for itchy patients will soon follow. People who sail through the occasional mosquito bite without a conscious thought may be unmoved by this news. But for the many others whose itch-scratch cycle has been deranged by yet-unknown neurochemicals into a tortured process that scars their skin, destroys their sleep and sometimes sends them to the brink of suicide, the dearth of scientific understanding and treatment options for itch is deeply frustrating. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 3977 - Posted: 07.01.2003

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The human brain combines motion and shape information to recognize faces and facial expressions, a new study suggests. That new finding, part of an engineer’s quest to design computers that “see” faces the way humans do, provides more evidence concerning a controversy in cognitive psychology. Were computers to become adept at recognizing faces and moods, they would be more user-friendly, said Aleix Martinez, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Ohio State University. They could also support intelligent video security systems and provide potentially hack-proof computer identification. Martinez developed a model of how the brain recognizes the faces of people we’ve seen before, and how we discern facial expressions. These two activities take place in different areas of the brain, and some scientists believe that the mental processes involved are completely separate as well; others believe that the two processes are closely linked.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 3976 - Posted: 06.24.2010

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study suggests that men and women might not be as far apart in sexual behaviors as previous research has shown. In many surveys, men typically report engaging in sex at earlier age, more often, and with more sexual partners than do women. However, a new study shows that some reported gender differences might show up because women don’t always answer surveys honestly, but give answers they believe are expected of them. “Women are sensitive to social expectations for their sexual behavior and may be less than totally honest when asked about their behavior in some survey conditions,” said Terri Fisher, co-author of the study and associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University’s Mansfield campus.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 3975 - Posted: 06.24.2010

CHAPEL HILL -- Taking care of chronically ill loved ones over long periods stresses caregivers, as everyone knows, but a new study provides strong new evidence that such continuing stress boosts the risk of age-related diseases by prematurely aging caregivers' immune systems. Levels of a damaging compound known as a proinflammatory cytokine not only increased considerably faster among those taking care of ailing spouses but also continued to increase faster for years after the spouses died. A report on the research, conducted by scientists at Ohio State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will appear online Monday afternoon (June 30) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Keyword: Neuroimmunology; Stress
Link ID: 3974 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have produced a genetically altered mouse that exhibits behavioral abnormalities that are strikingly similar to those observed in humans with schizophrenia. The scientists report that they have already used insights from studying the mouse to identify a genetic variant associated with schizophrenia in humans. According to the researchers, the findings could well mean that they have identified a molecular signaling pathway involved in the origin of schizophrenia, which affects about one percent of the population. If so, the search for drugs affecting that pathway could yield a new class of antipsychotic drugs that more precisely and effectively treat the disorder. ©2003 Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 3973 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Rick Weiss Washington Post Staff Writer A less intrepid scientist might have stayed in the comfort of her laboratory. But not Anna Gislen. Gislen went the extra mile. The extra 5,328 miles, to be more precise -- from her lab in Lund, Sweden, to a cluster of tropical islands off the west coast of Thailand, to study a tribe of highly skilled divers known as "sea gypsies." It was rough. The blazing sun. The gorgeous beaches. The fresh coconuts and crystal-clear waters. But in the end, with the help of her 7-year-old daughter and a few colleagues, Gislen overturned conventional thinking about the limits of human vision underwater. © 2003 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 3972 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By ERIC NAGOURNEY A new study has found the first physical clue to the cause of restless leg syndrome, a condition that disturbs the sleep of millions of Americans. The syndrome, which causes sufferers to move their legs frequently to avoid unpleasant sensations like tingling and throbbing, particularly at night, has sometimes been considered psychological. But the new study, which involved comparing autopsy samples of the brains from seven people with the condition and five without, contradicts that idea, said the lead researcher, Dr. James Connor of the Penn State College of Medicine. "There's a difference in the R.L.S. brain and the non-R.L.S. brain," he said. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 3971 - Posted: 06.30.2003

By DAVID BARBOZA Can a white leghorn hen be truly happy? That's one question researchers are asking in the emerging academic field called "animal well-being." These researchers videotape chickens at play or rig doors so pigs can use their snouts to choose between eating their food alone or hanging out with other swine. The scientists attend conferences to hear papers with titles like "Hyperaggressiveness in Male Broiler Breeder Fowl." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Emotions; Animal Rights
Link ID: 3970 - Posted: 06.30.2003

So, how many millions of years has it been? Susan Milius In barstool speculation on how long it's possible for someone to survive without sex, the phrases "old fossil" and "a million years" certainly do turn up. However—meaning no disrespect to snubbed Homo sapiens —our species doesn't even register in the scientific version of the debate. In this, there are genuine geologic fossils. And a million years? Forget it. The species attracting interest now look as if they may not have had sex for tens, or even hundreds, of millions of years. Yes, there really is a scientific version of the barroom lament, and it's a serious inquiry. Biologists have long held that asexuality is an evolutionary dead end because sex purges the genes of detrimental mutations, provides the genetic variation for coping with environmental change or both. But new methods of genetic analysis are suggesting that certain groups of species have avoided sex and still have done quite well over the eons, thank you very much. "The question of, 'Why sex?' is a very central one to biology," says David Mark Welch of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. Copyright ©2003 Science Service.

Keyword: Evolution; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 3969 - Posted: 06.24.2010

-- In the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins researchers report that injection of human stem cells into the fluid around the spinal cord of each of 15 paralyzed rats clearly improved the animals' ability to control their hind limbs -- but not at all in the way the scientists had expected. "Our first hypothesis was that functional recovery came from human cells reconstituting the nerve circuits destroyed by the paralysis-inducing virus we gave the rats," says first author Douglas Kerr, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. "Some of the tens of thousands of implanted primitive human stem cells did become nerve cells or the like, but not enough to account for the physical improvements. "Instead, these human embryonic germ cells create an environment that protects and helps existing rat neurons -- teetering on the brink of death -- to survive," he says. Copyright © 1992-2003 Bio Online, Inc.

Keyword: Stem Cells; Regeneration
Link ID: 3968 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Humans may have evolved a language skill from primate ancestors. HELEN R. PILCHER Rhesus monkeys can match up sounds and facial expressions, research suggests1. It hints that our capacity to do likewise may have evolved from our primate ancestors. "Some people had thought that the ability was unique to humans," says Asif Ghazanfar of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Germany, who studied the monkeys. Other animals had simply not been tested. In captivity and the wild, rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) produce a variety of noises. "Almost all have a unique facial expression," says Ghazanfar. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Emotions; Language
Link ID: 3967 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Author Chris McManus wins £10,000 Aventis award for exploration of asymmetry. PHILIP BALL This year's winner of the world's most prestigious science book competition was announced in London last night. Psychologist Chris McManus was awarded the £10,000 Aventis Prize for his work Right Hand, Left Hand: The Origins of Asymmetry in Brains, Bodies, Atoms and Cultures. A panel chaired by British novelist Margaret Drabble picked Right Hand, Left Hand, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, from a shortlist of six entries on topics ranging from cosmology to risk perception. In it, McManus who works at University College in London, explores the phenomenon of handedness from the human to the subatomic level. He discusses why we are predominantly right-handed, why there is an imbalance in other animals too - parrots are southpaws, he reveals - and why amino acids, the building blocks of proteins and DNA exist in mirror image forms. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Laterality
Link ID: 3966 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Tampa, FL -- The buildup of Alzheimer's-associated amyloid plaques in the brain dramatically inhibits several genes critical to memory and learning, University of South Florida College of Medicine researchers have found. The strong link between the decreases in select memory genes and amyloid accumulation was observed both in mice genetically engineered to develop memory loss and in the brains of deceased Alzheimer's patients. The results are reported in the June 15 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience published online today. "Blocking the ability of amyloid to inhibit, or down-regulate, these genes may improve memory in patients with early Alzheimer's disease," said principal investigator David Morgan, PhD, professor of pharmacology and therapeutics and director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Laboratory at USF.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 3965 - Posted: 06.30.2003

Madrid, Spain: Researchers have found the first evidence that a common cause of infertility in women is more prevalent amongst lesbians than heterosexuals[1], and they suggest that the biochemical disorder associated with the condition might contribute to the women's sexual orientation. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is the commonest cause of ovarian dysfunction in women and is caused by an imbalance of sex hormones. One of the main features of PCOS is hyperandrogenism[2], and now that the researchers have discovered the increased prevalence of PCOS amongst lesbian women they hypothesize that hyperandrogenism could be contributing to the women's sexual orientation. Dr. Rina Agrawal, deputy medical director at the London Women's Clinic and The Hallam Medical Centre, and her colleagues examined 618 women who attended the clinic for fertility treatment between November 2001 and January 2003. Of these, 254 were lesbian and 364 were heterosexual women.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 3964 - Posted: 06.30.2003

Neurogenesis in the central nervous system can be the start of something huge By Ricki Lewis The brain and spinal cord were once considered mitotic dead ends, a division of neurons dwindling with toddlerhood, with memory and learning the consequence of synaptic plasticity, not new neurons. But the discovery of neural stem cells (NSCs) in the human adult central nervous system (CNS) has raised the possibility of reawakening neurogenesis in the adult to treat neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson, Alzheimer, and Huntington diseases, and spinal cord injuries. "Does the human CNS self-repair? Of course it does! We live 90 years. It is unreasonable to think that there is no turnover, like in every other organ," says Fred Gage, of Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, Calif., who led the team that discovered neural stem cells in the human brain in 1998. "Can we turn endogenous cells into neurons in a disease setting? Can we activate our own systems? We are beginning to unravel cell fates and choices, to distinguish intrinsic properties of cells versus local environment cues. For cells, it is not who you are, but where you are, that counts." ©2003, The Scientist Inc.

Keyword: Neurogenesis; Regeneration
Link ID: 3963 - Posted: 06.24.2010

An analysis of research studies with long-term, recreational users of marijuana has failed to reveal a substantial, systematic effect on the neurocognitive functioning of users. According to researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, the only deleterious side effect found was a minimal malfunction in the domains of learning and forgetting. The findings were particularly significant considering the movement by several states to make cannabis (marijuana) available as a medicinal drug, and questions regarding its potential toxicity over long-term usage. Published in the July issue of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, the study involved a quantitative synthesis of 15 previously published research studies on the non-acute (residual) effects of cannabis on the neurocognitive performance of adult human subjects.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3962 - Posted: 06.30.2003

We all have a little stress in our lives. But after studying nerve cells in a banana-shaped area of the brain called the hippocampus, a hub for learning and memory, neuroscientists say chronic stress can have devastating effects on our brains. Bruce McEwen, professor and head of the neuroendocrinology laboratory at the Rockefeller University, explains more about the hippocampus: “It’s a structure that is very important for remembering where you were and what you were doing when something important happened; in other words, providing context. For example, remembering where we were and what we were doing on September 11, 2001—that’s a function of the hippocampus. The reason that we remember that horrible day is that another brain structure very close to the hippocampus, called the amygdala, is a structure that reacts strongly to emotionally-charged events, either very positive or very negative events.” McEwen and his team, who published their research in the February, 2003 issue of Nature Neuroscience, looked at the brain cells of both stressed and not-so-stressed mice, and found something interesting about the brains of stressed-out mice. “[Nerve cells] have these wonderful trees [with branches] that are called dendrites, places where other nerve cells make connections and transmit chemical signals,” says McEwen. These cells connect to each other at junctions called synapses. “When we look at these individual nerve cells from an animal that’s stressed or not stressed, we could see some very characteristic changes. For example, the branches become shorter and less branched, as a result of repeated stress. That means there are fewer synaptic connections, and it means these cells are not receiving as much information as they normally do. When you look at many of these cells you realize that many of the cells in this brain area called the hippocampus show this shrinkage after repeated stress.” © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Stress
Link ID: 3961 - Posted: 06.24.2010