International research team discovers potential link between ultraviolet vision and urine scent marks in rodents Humans and most other mammals cannot see ultraviolet (UV) light, whereas some rodents can. A Chilean-German research team has now reported UV vision in the South-American degu, a distant relative of the guinea pig. In a search for behaviourally relevant UV signals in the habitat of these rodents, the researchers found that fresh degu urine reflects the UV parts of the spectrum most strongly, while dry old urine has only marginal UV reflectance. The socially active degus use urine extensively to scent mark their communal trails and wallowing places. The researchers postulate that such scent marks represent visual as well as olfactory cues for the UV-sensitive degus (Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, vol. 44, pp. 2290-2296, May 2003). For humans and most other mammals, the visible spectrum extends from short-wave blue to long-wave red, ultraviolet (UV) is invisible to them. In contrast, many fish, reptiles and birds can see UV and use it in the identification of conspecifics: In some birds, e.g. blue tits, males and females have different UV patterns in their plumage. UV vision is also important for bird foraging: the waxy cover of many berries has a high UV reflectance. UV vision is part of the sensory equipment of many vertebrates and invertebrates (e. g., honeybees), but has been lost in the evolution of mammals. Not completely, however, as some rodents like mice and rats have retained UV vision. The adaptive reasons for this specialization are largely unknown.

Keyword: Vision; Animal Communication
Link ID: 3916 - Posted: 06.11.2003

Youngsters who watch films in which actors are seen smoking are three times as likely to take up the habit, according to research. Research in health journal The Lancet said smoking in movies can actually encourage non-smokers to follow their screen idols. The findings have been both welcomed and rubbished, with some experts saying there are too many other factors which influence whether teenagers do go on to smoke. The US study has also led anti-smoking group Glantz to call for films where actors are seen smoking to be given an adult R-rating. Bollywood stars have already launched their own campaign to persuade film-makers to avoid using smoking in films. The latest research, which was conducted at Dartmouth Medical School, New Hampshire, studied 2,063 children between the ages of 10 and 14 who had never touched a cigarette. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3915 - Posted: 06.10.2003

Cathy Burgess, a Nottinghamshire woman with motor neurone disease (ALS), wanted more people to know about the illness. She spoke to BBC News about the disease a few weeks before her death. "It was like someone had crept up on me and an icy hand grabbed my heart while I wasn't looking and stole my future." Cathy, who was 48, only discovered she had motor neurone disease two years ago. "I promised myself to learn a new skill every year and I did - skiing, sailing, ballroom dancing, scuba diving and sky-diving. "One of the things I always say is that my family and support network are my parachute." (C) BBC

Keyword: ALS-Lou Gehrig's Disease
Link ID: 3914 - Posted: 06.10.2003

Got GABA? Why do some elderly people have difficulty with vision, speech, and mobility? Some neuroscientists have turned to monkeys for the answer, and believe it might be because of a brain chemical called GABA. “Our subjects were literally the world’s oldest rhesus monkeys,” says Audie Leventhal, professor of neurobiology and anatomy and adjunct professor of physiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. “We chose rhesus monkeys because they are, with the exception of the great apes, the animal species that has brains that are closest to ours.” The brain of a thirty-year-old rhesus monkey works a lot like the brain of a ninety-year-old human. “The very old monkeys we studied exhibit behaviors very similar to what very old people do,” Leventhal says. “In addition to looking like old people, having grey hair, wrinkles, and so on, they have cognitive declines. They don’t move as quickly. They have more difficulty doing complex tasks as they get older.” © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 3913 - Posted: 06.24.2010

by Steven H. Hyler, M.D. Psychiatric Times Negative stereotypes of patients with mental illness have a long history in Hollywood. Inaccurate portrayals have an important and underestimated negative effect on the perception of people with mental disorders--by the public, legislators, families and patients themselves. In this update of a 1991 presentation given by Glenn Gabbard, M.D., Irving Schneider, M.D., and myself, I will review some of the common stereotypes seen in film and television and discuss several recent films that perpetuate such myths. This stereotype dates back to early one-reel films. Several years before his famous Birth of a Nation (1915), D. W. Griffith gave the American public The Maniac Cook (1909). In this film, Griffith introduced the stereotype of the "deranged" mental patient who is dangerously violent and requires incarceration lest he or she wreak havoc upon society. Later versions of this stereotype can be found in the genre of horror films that first appeared in the 1960s, such as Psycho (1960), Halloween (1978) and the Friday the 13th series (1980 and later), and continue to the present. Recently, several popular films that reinforce this stereotype have appeared. Silence of the Lambs (1991) brought to the screen the character of Hannibal Lecter, the homicidal psychiatrist who killed his victims and, in one case, ate his liver "with some fava beans and a nice Chianti." Other recent films of this genre include American Psycho (2000), adapted from the controversial book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. Christian Bale plays Patrick Bateman, the ultimate yuppie homicidal maniac. © 2003 Psychiatric Times. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 3912 - Posted: 06.24.2010

by H. Michael Zal, D.O. Psychiatric Times The successful treatment of social phobia requires an individualized treatment plan combining reassurance and education found in psychotherapy; relearning, possible through cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT); and neurotransmitter adjustment, possible through psychopharmacology. Adequate treatment is best administered in the milieu of a solid therapeutic relationship. Following are some of the specific nonpharmacologic treatment choices that physicians can use in treating social phobia (Table 1). Individual psychotherapy. This treatment offers an opportunity to confirm an appropriate diagnosis, which in itself has a therapeutic effect. Once the condition has a name, the clinician and patient can work together to address it. Psychotherapy also allows therapists to reassure patients that their symptoms are real and not an indication that they are crazy or losing control. It allows for the establishment of a rapport that can reduce anxiety and enhance compliance. It provides education about the interplay of psychological, behavioral and biological forces in social phobia. Associated issues of patients' low self-esteem, lack of assertiveness or feelings of inferiority that often accompany social phobia also can be addressed. © 2003 Psychiatric Times. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 3911 - Posted: 06.24.2010

In a new book, "The Ride Together: A Brother and Sister's Memoir of Autism in the Family," Paul and Judy Karasik tell the story of growing up in a tall Victorian house in Chevy Chase, Md., with their parents and two brothers, Michael and David. David, the oldest, is autistic and mildly retarded, and the book follows him as he grows from infancy to middle age. (He is now in his 50's and lives in a group home near Washington.) Excerpts follow; the first is set in 1960, the second in 1966. Judy Karasik narrates; the cartoons are by Paul Karasik. "How come David never has to clean up his room?" I asked. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 3910 - Posted: 06.10.2003

By CLAUDIA DREIFUS CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Dr. Cynthia L. Breazeal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is famous for her robots, not just because they they are programmed to perform specific tasks, but because they seem to have emotional as well as physical reactions to the world around them. They are "embodied," she says, even "sociable" robots — experimental machines that act like living creatures. As part of its design triennial, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York is exhibiting a "cyberfloral installation," by Dr. Breazeal, which features robotic flowers that sway when a human hand is near and glow in beautiful bright colors. "The installation," said Dr. Breazeal, 35, "communicates my future vision of robot design that is intellectually intriguing and remains true to its technological heritage, but is able to touch us emotionally in the quality of interaction and their responsiveness to us — more like a dance, rather than pushing buttons." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Robotics; Emotions
Link ID: 3909 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Infrared light probes tissue a slice at a time. GEOFF BRUMFIEL A new technique for probing tissue samples with lasers could give researchers easy access to three-dimensional images of brain samples and pieces of other organs. The system could replace the current methods of imaging soft tissue, says one of its developers Jeff Squier, a physicist at the Colorado School of Mines. Typically, samples are frozen, sliced and dyed, before being examined under the microscope. This process can distort key details. Squier's team places a fresh, dice-sized sample of rat brain tissue in front of a high-powered laser. The laser emits short, bright pulses of infrared light that stimulate fluorescent dyes that are either genetically engineered or manually brushed into the sample. The dye then emits light at a different wavelength that is picked up by detectors around the tissue. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Brain imaging
Link ID: 3908 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Rodent study raises concerns about effect of cannabis on concentration. MICHAEL HOPKIN Cannabis makes rats lose track of time, a new study shows1. It robs rodents of the ability to discriminate between short and long periods. The discovery lends support to the suggestion that human cannabis users may be less adept at tasks that require sustained concentration. Most countries penalize possession of the drug, but there have been calls for tougher measures against driving while under its influence. "Any task that requires prolonged attention could be affected," says Jonathon Crystal of the University of Georgia, Athens, who led the study. Somebody driving after smoking marijuana, for example, could be perfectly capable of executing the required manoeuvres, but could be prone to disastrous lapses in concentration, he warns. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3907 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ST. PAUL, MN – People with high levels of iron in their diet are more likely to develop Parkinson's disease, according to a study in the June 10 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. People with both high levels of iron and manganese were nearly two times more likely to develop the disease than those with the lowest levels of the minerals in their diets. The study compared 250 people who were newly diagnosed with Parkinson's to 388 people without the disease. Interviews were conducted to determine how often participants ate certain foods during their adult life. Those who had the highest level of iron in their diets – in the top 25 percent – were 1.7 times more likely to be Parkinson's patients than those in the lowest 25 percent of iron intake. Those whose level of both iron and manganese was higher than average were 1.9 times more likely to be Parkinson's patients than those with lower than average intake of the minerals.

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 3906 - Posted: 06.24.2010

MADISON - Scientists working with cells that may someday be used to replace diseased or damaged cells in the brain have taken neural stem cell technology a key step closer to the clinic. Writing in the current online edition (June 2003) of the Journal of Neurochemistry, scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center describe the first molecular profile for human fetal neural stem cell lines that have been coaxed to thrive in culture for more than a year. The work is an in-depth analysis of global gene expression in human neural stem cells and demonstrates a method for prolonging the shelf life of cultured fetal stem cells, making it possible to generate enough cells to use to treat disease, says Lynda Wright, the lead author of the paper. Copyright © 2003 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.

Keyword: Stem Cells; Regeneration
Link ID: 3905 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Researchers have identified a mechanism by which the eight amino acid peptide NAP, an active fragment of a neuroprotective brain protein, protects against alcohol-induced embryo toxicity and growth retardation in mice. Their findings bring alcohol researchers a critical step closer to developing pharmacologic agents to prevent alcohol-induced fetal damage. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the Medical Research Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, appears in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.* The researchers produced NAP derivatives with specific substitutions and screened the compounds in cultured rat neurons for their protection against cell toxins and in whole mouse embryos for their protection against alcohol. By manipulating NAP’s structure and thereby altering its activity, the researchers were able to examine the ability of the different NAP derivatives to block alcohol inhibition of the L1 cell adhesion molecule. Their results indicate that NAP protects mouse embryos from alcohol toxicity by blocking alcohol effects on L1 rather than by its broad neuroprotective actions. "This elegant study demonstrates that the protective effect of NAP against alcohol damage differs from that of NAP against neurotoxins, said Ting-Kai Li, M.D., Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "Ethanol inhibition of L1 is now strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of fetal alcohol damage and a foremost target of medication development."

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 3904 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Many researchers have blamed the brain chemical, dopamine, as the major molecular underpinning of cocaine addiction. Cocaine increases the amount of dopamine available to send messages in the brain. Now increasing studies in animals show that another brain chemical, termed glutamate, which is known to aid memory, may be an equally or more important factor. The process of addiction is complex, but on a simple level, the findings may mean that glutamate oversees memories and learning tied to "cocaine-seeking." This new insight makes glutamate a prime target for drug development. The white powder may look as harmless as the sugar dusting on a donut, but friends and family of cocaine addicts know otherwise. People who try this drug often want to try it again. And again. With continued use they may become addicted. By definition, addicts have lost control of their drug use even in the face of negative physical, personal or social consequences. They devote every ounce of their being to finding and doing cocaine. Friends, family, work and school are no longer important. Copyright © 2003 Society for Neuroscience

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3903 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By DIANE CARDWELL Abby Bah, whose son Omar had high levels of lead in his blood, found out that the dust on the windowsills of her Brooklyn apartment had more than five times the amount of lead the Environmental Protection Agency deems safe. Cheri Lewis-Fontanez and her husband, David, learned that their 15-month-old son might be at an even greater risk, since the amount of lead discovered near the windows of their apartment nearby was more than 28 times greater than the safety threshold. The families live in two of the 59 apartments that were tested for lead in a three-month study in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where lead poisoning rates have remained high despite a steady citywide decline. The study, conducted by the Pratt Area Community Council using high school students trained in an E.P.A.-certified course, concludes that one of three children in the area lives in dangerous conditions. "The results of our study are shocking," said Gabriel Thompson, an author of the report, who is on the staff at the Community Council. "Our findings also have significance for residents of other Brooklyn neighborhoods, many of which have similar housing stock." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 3902 - Posted: 06.10.2003

How facial muscles reveal--and hide--emotion By Carol Tavris Chelsea Thomas was born with Möbius syndrome, in which a nerve that transmits commands from the brain to the facial muscles is missing. As a result, for her first seven years Chelsea looked perpetually grumpy. Then surgeons transplanted nerves from Chelsea's leg to both sides of her mouth, and today Chelsea can do what most people in the world take for granted. She can smile. Meanwhile, thousands of adults are botoxing the nerves that allow them to frown. Actors who do so cannot convey anger or fear, and some botoxed mothers complain that their children no longer take their admonitions seriously, accompanied as they are by the mothers' bland expressions. Paul Ekman would not be surprised. He has been studying facial expression of emotions for some 30 years, in the noble tradition of Aristotle, who first observed the characteristic facial expressions of anger, fear "and all the other passions," and Charles Darwin, who added an evolutionary explanation. Darwin's theory of the universality of emotional expression was unpopular in the 1960s, when Ekman began his research. It was the era of the tabula rasa in social science; Ekman was to emotion what Harry Harlow was to love, swimming against the academic tides. As a graduate student at the time, I was in that tide up to my neck, and I remember how vehemently psychologists protested the idea that any aspect of human behavior might have a hardwired element. Facial expressions? Clearly cultural. Don't the Japanese coolly suppress any sign of emotion, and don't the Italians exuberantly reveal theirs? © 1996-2003 Scientific American, Inc.

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 3901 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Mari Kane, AlterNet For eons, cannabis has been ingested for the treatment of common and chronic ailments, but now, the march of technology is propelling wacky tobaccy into a brave new century of pharmaceutical development. Scientists around the world are studying not only whole, smoked marijuana, but also pure extracts that would make Louis Armstrong blush. The fruits of their labors could hit European pharmacies as soon as next year. The leading-edge cannabis pharmaceutical company is the publicly-owned British firm, GW Pharmaceuticals. Their Cannabis Based Medical Extracts (CBME) have proven extraordinarily safe and effective in relieving medical conditions such as neuropathic pain and muscle spasms with effects occurring after 15-45 minutes depending on the patient's condition. The active ingredients in cannabis are Cannabinoids and the most potent ones are Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabinadiol (CBD). GWP has separated various Cannabinoids to determine which work best for specific ailments. Clinical trials have shown, for instance, that appetite was most improved with pure THC, but CBD also had an effect. They found the THC/CBD mix to work especially well for sleep improvement. © 2003 Independent Media Institute.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3900 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Research Explains Why Most People Are Happy With Their Lives WASHINGTON — Surveys conducted in the United States and around the world consistently show that people are generally happy with their lives, even for those with physical and mental disabilities and people without much money. Researchers reviewing several studies on autobiographical memory and happiness have found that human memory is biased toward happiness and that mild depression can disrupt this bias for good over bad. The findings are published in the June issue of Review of General Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association (APA). In their article, W. Richard Walker, Ph.D., of Winston-Salem State University and colleagues find two causes for people’s recollection of the past to be positively biased. The first cause, according to their review of the research, seems to be due to the simple fact that pleasant events do in fact outnumber unpleasant events because people seek out positive experiences and avoid negative ones. Across 12 studies conducted by five different research teams, people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds and participants who ranged in age from late teens to early 50’s consistently reported experiencing more positive events in their lives than negative events. The other process at work involves our memory system treating pleasant emotions differently from unpleasant emotions. Seven studies reviewed by the researchers provide support for a fading affect for negative emotions. Pleasant emotions have been found to fade more slowly from our memory than unpleasant emotions. One mechanism for this uneven fading may involve a process known as minimization. In order to return to our normal level of happiness, we try to minimize the impact of life events. This minimization process – which occurs biologically, cognitively and socially -- is usually stronger for negative events than for positive events. © 2003 American Psychological Association

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Depression
Link ID: 3899 - Posted: 06.24.2010

John Travis Whether it's the whisper of a lover or the shouts of rapper Eminem, the hearing process works the same. Sound waves bend lashlike projections on cells within the inner ear, and these so-called hair cells respond by sending electrical impulses to the brain. Conventional wisdom holds that once damaged, hair cells in people and other mammals don't regenerate. But by using a virus to deliver a gene into the inner ear, scientists have now coaxed the ears of adult guinea pigs to sprout new hair cells. "It's the first time anyone has shown new hair cells can be grown in a mature mammalian ear," says Yehoash Raphael of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who led the study. Copyright ©2003 Science Service.

Keyword: Hearing; Regeneration
Link ID: 3898 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News — Human infants babble more precisely and baby birds sing better when they are engaged in positive social interaction with someone who cheers them on, according to a recent study. Previously it was thought that baby birds and humans only imitated their vocal cheerleaders, but the study suggests infants are also learning from non-vocal reactions to their sounds. The paper, published in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, mentions baby birds sing a so-called plastic subsong, which is the equivalent of human baby gibberish. Copyright © 2003 Discovery Communications Inc.

Keyword: Language
Link ID: 3897 - Posted: 06.24.2010