By GINA KOLATA Dr. Susan Hendrix, a gynecologist at Wayne State University in Detroit, recently saw a new patient, a middle-aged woman who, it turned out, had been taking double the normal dose of hormone therapy for menopause. Dr. Hendrix asked her why and she said she had had terrible hot flashes and needed the hefty amount. Then, Dr. Hendrix told me, the truth came out: the woman thought the extra estrogen would help her look younger. I have a feeling that would have been no surprise to Barbara Seaman, whose book "The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women" takes on the estrogen industry. Her lively and impassioned manifesto, while not always distinguishing between good science and anecdote, certainly makes her point. The advertising and promotion of estrogen have invested the hormone with an allure that goes far beyond medical evidence. That effect was hard to miss last year when many women and gynecologists rejected findings from the Women's Health Initiative, a large and rigorous federal study on hormone therapy in menopause. It found that there were health risks with Prempro, a popular combination of estrogen and progestin, that were not balanced by benefits. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 3996 - Posted: 07.05.2003

by Patrick Haggard This year marks the 100th anniversary of a series of experiments that had enormous influence on scientific views of consciousness and bodily sensation. Much has changed since those pioneering studies, but their legacy lives on. Our experience of our own bodies is an essential part of self-consciousness. A central question for neuroscientists is to understand how the brain handles the barrage of signals that the body produces, and links them together to produce a coherent sense of the body as "myself". Neuroscientists have just celebrated an important centenary in this quest. On 25th April 1903, Sir Henry Head and WHR Rivers began a series of experiments, which had an enormous influence on scientific thinking about bodily sensation, but also more generally on scientific views of consciousness and human nature. On that day, Head arranged for a surgeon colleague to cut and re-sew the sensory nerves in his own left forearm. Immediately afterwards, Head could not detect touch over a large part of the hand and forearm. Over the next year and a half, Head travelled weekly to Cambridge, where his colleague WHR Rivers performed a meticulous series of psychophysical tests to measure the gradual recovery of sensation in the forearm, as the nerves regenerated. © Elsevier Limited 2003

Keyword: Pain & Touch; Regeneration
Link ID: 3995 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ST. PAUL, MN - A rare type of stroke can occur as a result of long airplane flights, according to a study in the June 24 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The type of stroke can occur in people who have a patent foramen ovale, or an opening between two chambers in the heart. The opening is present in about 30 percent of the general population. Air travel increases the risk of developing blood clots in the veins of the legs, which can then enter the bloodstream and block an artery in the lungs, a condition called pulmonary embolism. In some cases, the opening can allow the blood clot to enter the arteries of the brain, causing a stroke. For the study, researchers examined all passengers over an eight-year period who had a pulmonary embolism when they arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France, and were transported to a hospital by a medical transport team. Of the 155 million passengers during that period, 65 people with pulmonary embolus were transported by a medical team. Of those, four people, or six percent of those with pulmonary embolus, had strokes. All four had patent foramen ovales. Patent foramen ovale is a known risk factor for stroke. No other cause of stroke was found in the four patients. All four were on flights lasting at least eight hours.

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 3994 - Posted: 07.04.2003

NewScientist.com news service New research on the sense of touch shows that learning, and the brain rewiring necessary for learning, can be significantly enhanced by drugs. The findings could help to restore touch sensation in the elderly or injured and lead to treatments for some forms of chronic pain. "Everything is chemical in the brain. If it becomes feasible to manipulate certain brain processes on a finer scale by using drugs, this changes everything," says Hubert Dinse, who did the new research with colleagues at Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany. In the new research, volunteers were asked to decide whether they were touching one or two hidden, pin-like points. When two points are placed less than 1.5 millimetres apart, subjects often mistake them for one. But people can be coaxed into making much finer discriminations via a special form of stimulation devised by Dinse's group. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Pain & Touch
Link ID: 3993 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Many victims of strokes or other brain injuries lose the ability to speak or write. But as this ScienCentral News video reports, researchers are looking at other ways to help them find their voices. About one million Americans suffer from aphasia, a speech disorder caused by damage to the areas of the brain that control language that leaves patients with little or no ability to communicate. About 25 to 40 percent of stroke survivors have aphasia, but it can also be caused by brain tumors and head injuries. “Some people may have difficulty understanding what is said to them, some people may have difficulty expressing,” explains Joanne Marttila-Pierson, a speech-language therapist and associate director of the Center for the Development of Language and Literacy at the University of Michigan. “People may have difficulty reading and writing as well. They may have difficulty putting words together to say what they need to say, and some people may have severe problems with listening, but their speech remains intact, although it may not always make sense.” © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Language; Stroke
Link ID: 3992 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Nerve cells derived from human embryonic stem cells and transplanted into paralysed rats have enabled the animals to walk again. The findings add to a growing number of studies that suggest embryonic stem cells could have a valuable role to play in treating spinal injuries. The researchers, whose work was funded by stem cell giant Geron of Menlo Park, California, say trials on people could start in just two years. But the first trials are likely to involve patients with recent spinal cord injuries and localised damage. Treating people who have been paralysed for years or suffer from degenerative nerve diseases would be far more difficult. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Stem Cells; Regeneration
Link ID: 3991 - Posted: 06.24.2010

AFP — One of nature's curiosities, the African dung beetle, gets its remarkable sense of direction by using the polarisation of moonlight, the first time that this ability has ever been spotted among animals. Scarabaeus zambesianus is a picturesque scavenger that feasts on the tasty droppings of elephants. It moulds the dung into a ball, using its front legs and head, and then rolls it away home, taking a straight line from the dung pile and its swarm of competitors. But how does it do this fast and efficient exit trick? Copyright © 2003 Discovery Communications Inc.

Keyword: Animal Migration
Link ID: 3990 - Posted: 06.24.2010

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Saltiness often enhances our enjoyment of certain foods -- think French fries or a Margarita. But salt is an essential nutrient for humans and other animals, and far from being a trivial matter of taste, the ability to detect salt is critical for survival. A University of Iowa study provides insight on how humans and other animals are able to detect salt. The study appears in the July 3 issue of Neuron. "Given that salt is essential for survival, it is not surprising that animals have developed the ability to detect salt, even at low concentrations. This sense allows them to seek out, and then consume salt," said Michael Welsh, M.D., the Roy J. Carver Biomedical Research Chair in Internal Medicine and Physiology and Biophysics, UI Professor, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. "We were interested in identifying the receptors that detect small quantities of salt." The ability to detect when something is too salty is also important. Consuming very high concentrations of salt could be potentially harmful. Previous research suggested a role for a specific type of protein in salt-sensing. Lei Liu, Ph.D., UI postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study, and colleagues turned to the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) to investigate these proteins, known as ion channel proteins.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 3989 - Posted: 07.03.2003

PITTSBURGH, – Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have completed the first survey of the entire human genome for genes that affect the susceptibility of individuals to developing clinical depression. George S. Zubenko, M.D., Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and adjunct professor of biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon University and his team have located a number of chromosomal regions they say hold the genetic keys to a variety of mental illnesses, including major depression and certain addictions. The survey was done in 81 families identified by individuals with recurrent, early-onset, major depressive disorder (RE-MDD), a severe form of depression that runs in families. The Pitt team's findings are published today in the American Journal of Medical Genetics. Finding the genetic roots of depression is important for many reasons. Depression is the second-leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting nearly 10 percent of the population. And while scientists have made significant progress developing new drugs to treat it, studies that identify specific risk genes may lead to even more effective drugs designed to target depression in specific individuals.

Keyword: Depression; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 3988 - Posted: 06.24.2010

People at risk of developing schizophrenia may soon be identified years before they develop any symptoms, psychiatrists have said. Research carried out on people considered to be high risk has led to hopes that treatment could be offered to help prevent the onset of the disease. Experts at the University of Edinburgh have been tracking a group of more than 150 people with a high risk of developing schizophrenia since 1994. The individuals, who come from all over Scotland, were considered high risk as they had two or more close relatives with the disease. Since the study began, 20 of the group have gone on to develop schizophrenia. Psychiatrists compared them with the rest and found clear differences which they claim may be used to help identify the condition at an early stage. (C) BBC

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 3987 - Posted: 07.02.2003

Dogs are naturally nosy creatures, so chemists have been trying to find a way to create a device as sensitive as their snouts. As this ScienCentral News video reports, they’re coming close. If you wanted to create something that could sniff out the competition, you’d model it after nature’s furry odor-detecting machine, the dog. That’s what David Walt, professor of chemistry at Tufts University, did when he built an artificial nose, one that resembles a dog’s--both inside and out. “The nasal cavity of a dog is actually quite complex,” says Walt. “It has all sorts of little channels and tunnels. And if you could imagine all these channels and tunnels when the dog, or even humans, take a sniff of an odor, the odor has to travel down those long passageways. Those passageways are lined with receptors. That is, the sensors that do the smelling.” © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 3986 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Ever been in a spot where you can’t put a name to a face or a face to a name? As this ScienCentral News video reports, neuroscientists have more information about what happens in the brain as these memories are made. You meet someone and later you’re trying to remember his or her name. Sound familiar? Neuroscientists call it associative memory. “It’s a critical form of memory because it really defines us as individuals,” says Wendy Suzuki, assistant professor of neuroscience and psychology at the Center for Neural Science at New York University. “Our memories for the facts that we’ve learned and the events that we’ve experienced in our lives is really what makes us who we are. So that’s why it’s the focus of so much cognitive neuroscience research today.” Associative memory is, for example, the ability to learn the relationship between unrelated items, such as the name of someone you just met and that person’s face. © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 3985 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The movie Trainspotting , with its horrific depictions of heroin withdrawal, might someday seem as outdated as steam locomotives. Researchers have found a neurotransmitter that alleviates many of these chilling symptoms in mice. That transmitter is a new clue for developing therapies to deal with drug withdrawal in humans. Withdrawal symptoms, such as tremors, anxiety, and a racing heart, are due to signals from the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which arouses these "fight or flight" urges in times of stress. Opiates such as morphine sedate neurons sensitive to norepinephrine, causing them to work harder to communicate with their neighbors. When the opiate is later removed, the neurons respond to norepinephrine with excessive gusto. Another piece of the puzzle is galanin, a brain chemical that reduces norepinephrine release. It's not clear how galanin interacts with these neurons, but because neurons near the so-called locus coeruleus--a brain region that fires wildly during withdrawal--have receptors for galanin, neuroscientist Marina Picciotto of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues tested whether galanin was involved in withdrawal. Copyright © 2003 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3984 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Treatment with medication or psychotherapy reduced depressive symptoms in women from minority populations, according to research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Most of the participants in the controlled trial were low-income African-American and Latino women who are at high risk for depression and use county health and welfare services. Research findings appear in the July 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Participants were randomly assigned an antidepressant, psychotherapy, or referral to a community mental health service provider. “Structured care reduces major depression in these diverse and impoverished patients,” said lead author Jeanne Miranda, Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles Neuropsychiatric Institute. “This study broadens the knowledge base by evaluating depression treatments among young, predominantly minority women. It is the first study to let providers know that treating depression in this population can significantly improve the ability of these women to feel and function.” Results show that low-income women in minority populations benefit from depression treatment when it is paired with intensive outreach and encouragement to support the interventions. Not only did women achieve lower levels of depressive symptoms, but they also gained higher levels of functioning in daily life.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 3983 - Posted: 06.24.2010

HANOVER, NH – While picking apart the genetic makeup of the plant Arabidopsis, two Dartmouth researchers made a startling discovery. They found that approximately 36 percent of its genome is potentially regulated by the circadian clock, which is three and a half times more than had previously been estimated. The study, which appears in the June issue of Plant Physiology, was conducted by C. Robertson McClung, Dartmouth professor of biological sciences, and Todd Michael, a former Dartmouth graduate student who is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Their research on circadian-controlled genes contributes to efforts to help improve plant productivity and can possibly lead to growing crops that are more resistant to stressful soil or climate conditions. McClung and Michael used a technique called "gene trapping" or "enhancer trapping" to measure how much mRNA is produced or synthesized by large sections in the genome. According to McClung, a great deal of gene regulation occurs in the gene's ability to synthesize mRNA, which then is translated into proteins that perform the critical metabolic activities of a cell.

Keyword: Biological Rhythms
Link ID: 3982 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A study led by a UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute researcher challenges standard treatment guidelines for bipolar depression that recommend discontinuing antidepressants within the first six months after symptoms ease. Study participants treated under the guidelines relapsed at nearly twice the rate of those who continued taking antidepressants in conjunction with their mood stabilizer medication during the first year after remission of acute bipolar depression. The researchers found no increased risk of manic relapse in those who continued the medication for one year. The findings appear in the July 2003 edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry. "The common clinical practice of discontinuing antidepressant use in bipolar patients soon after remission of depression symptoms may actually increase the risk of relapse," said Dr. Lori Altshuler, a professor at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and the study's lead author.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 3981 - Posted: 07.02.2003

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