Controlling inflammation with endogenous peptide may lessen damage WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. Zengen, Inc. announced today that its researchers have discovered that supplementation with alpha-Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormone (a-MSH), a naturally occurring molecule that modulates inflammatory and immune responses, may be beneficial in patients with brain injury. Based on the knowledge that an inflammatory response occurs immediately after traumatic brain injury (TBI), Zengen scientists measured the levels of a-MSH in patients with acute TBI or subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). They discovered that blood concentrations of the a-MSH peptide are markedly reduced and remain steadily low during the first days after injury. The findings, "a-Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormone is Decreased in Plasma of Patients with Acute Brain Injury," appear in the March 27, 2003 issue of the Journal of Neurotrauma, the official peer-reviewed journal of the National Neurotrauma Society.

Keyword: Brain Injury/Concussion; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 3620 - Posted: 03.28.2003

Tamar Kahn A group of South African hunter-gatherers is to receive six per cent of all royalties received by South Africa's leading research organisation from a potential anti-obesity drug derived from the local hoodia plant. Under the deal, the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will also pay the San community eight per cent of all milestone payments received from Phytopharm, its UK-based licencee for the drug. The money will be used for the "general upliftment, development and training of the San community". CSIR sold the development rights for the active ingredient of the appetite-suppressing hoodia plant, known as p57, to Phytopharm, which in turn sold the rights to Pfizer. At the time, it was unclear how — if at all — the San people would benefit from the CSIR's dealings with pharmaceutical companies.

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 3619 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Gay men and lesbians have gender-bending brains that contribute to their effeminate and “butch” stereotypes, it was claimed today. A new study has found that gay men really do think like women, while lesbians show a similar affinity with men. In tests, scientists found that gay men excelled at mental tasks women generally perform better than men, but were not so good at tasks traditionally seen as “male”. © Thomas Crosbie Media - Thomas Crosbie Holdings, Ireland, 2003.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 3618 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Self-harm is linked to depression More than one in 10 adolescents has deliberately harmed themselves, researchers have found. The study, commissioned by the Samaritans and conducted by the Centre for Suicide Research at Oxford University, found youngsters were more likely to harm themselves if they had friends who had already done so. Each year in the UK more than 24,000 teenagers are admitted to hospital after deliberately harming themselves. The research is the first large scale, anonymous survey on the subject to have been carried out in the UK. In total, more than 6,000 pupils aged 15 and 16 were quizzed from 41 schools across England. They were asked about suicidal thoughts and self-harming behaviour. The survey found that young people who harm themselves often have difficulty coping with everyday problems. (C) BBC

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 3617 - Posted: 03.26.2003

By COREY KILGANNON In the working-class neighborhood of Queens Village, Joseph and Silva Swinton stood out. The vibrant young couple, who exchanged vows in an unofficial beach wedding in 1996, were known for their free-thinking outlook and firm beliefs in a natural-foods diet. On July 31, 2000, in the one-family house the couple shared with relatives, Ms. Swinton gave birth to a baby girl with no doctor or midwife present. The couple named her Iice Wings Swinton. Born prematurely, Iice (pronounced ICE) weighed 3 pounds, well below the average birth weight, and had a lung disorder. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Animal Rights
Link ID: 3616 - Posted: 03.26.2003

By JANE E. BRODY Over the years, any number of coincidental findings have suggested that exposure to a particular substance may cause a certain illness. But under the critical eye of careful research, most of these apparent associations turn out to have no cause-and-effect relationship. The suspicion that vaccines given to infants and children can cause autism is one such association, with attention directed at the vaccines that use the preservative thimerosal, which contains mercury. Experts have poked many holes in this theory, which arose because of two facts: that mercury is a known neurotoxin and that symptoms of autism typically appeared soon after children were given vaccines containing thimerosal. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 3615 - Posted: 03.26.2003

Two new research findings suggest that boosting normal, protective processes in the brain might help degrade or prevent damaging protein plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). In one publication, researchers at The Salk Institute and colleagues at other institutions found that gene transfer of the enzyme neprilysin may help clear a protein that forms amyloid plaques in humans. The experiments -- in mice -- are an important step in the development of an alternative approach to controlling AD and suggest closer study of the potential for neprilysin therapy. The findings, by Fred H. Gage, Robert A. Marr, and Inder M. Verma at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Eliezer Masliah at the University of California San Diego and Atish Mukherjee and Louis B. Hersh at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, are reported in the latest issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.(The Journal of Neuroscience findings are embargoed until March 25, 2003, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. They appear in the journal issue dated March 15, 2003). The Gage report comes on the heels of another study, reported March 3, 2003, in the online version of Nature Medicine, by Jens Husemann, Columbia University, New York, Tony Wyss-Coray, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University in California, and colleagues. Husemann's group found that certain cells in the brain, called astrocytes, can degrade the beta amyloid peptide in cell cultures. While not yet tested in an animal model, the study's finding that astrocytes can be effectively mobilized at the cellular level suggests yet another possible target for potential therapies for AD.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Glia
Link ID: 3614 - Posted: 03.26.2003

Region may be new target for anti-alcoholism drugs, therapies PORTLAND, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) have discovered a new region of the brain involved in chronic alcohol consumption. This research may be used to develop new or improved drugs and therapies aimed at combating alcoholism. The finding also presents a more complete picture of the brain's important role in alcohol abuse. The research, which is printed in the March 25 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, centers on a peptide called urocortin. The peptide is connected to alcohol craving. Scientists at OHSU and collaborators at Indiana University tracked urocortin to a group of brain cells located in the midbrain. The group of cells is called the Edinger-Westphal (EW) nucleus. "This research is the first to tie this region of the brain to alcohol abuse," said Andrey Ryabinin, Ph.D., an assistant professor of behavioral neuroscience in the OHSU School of Medicine and senior author of the paper. "It is also the first time urocortin levels have been tied to alcohol consumption."

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3613 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Babies who are tiny at birth are less likely to do well in their GCSEs as teenagers, researchers have found. Researchers studied the exam results of 334 16-year-olds who sat GCSE exams in Merseyside, north west England. They gave a numerical score to each GCSE grade, starting with eight for A* to one for a G grade. Half the children in the study had weighed 1,500 grams or less at birth, compared to a normal birth weight of between 2,500 and 3,500 grams. The researchers also looked at the results of formal intelligence (IQ) tests, which the children had taken at the age of eight. And they assessed various influential factors, such as social class, employment and housing status, parental education and income, and number of children in the family. (C) BBC

Keyword: Development of the Brain; Intelligence
Link ID: 3612 - Posted: 03.25.2003

By MARY DUENWALD Ever since Viagra hit the market five years ago this spring and immediately became one of the best-selling prescription drugs ever, sex researchers have been searching for a treatment that will work as well for women. But something that was obvious to begin with — that sex mechanics for women are different from those for men — has proved to be a bigger obstacle than scientists expected. Researchers have found that women's sex organs are not as readily affected as men's by Viagra. The drug works by blocking an enzyme that normally inhibits blood flow and, in doing so, causes engorgement of erectile tissue. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 3611 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By ERICA GOODE Benjamin Marrero had seen dozens of war movies, but it took only a few seconds in the dark of a Kuwait desert 12 years ago to convince him that none of them had come close to the truth. "The noise is louder," said Mr. Marrero, a retired Army sergeant, who earned a bronze star for his service with an armored tank division in the Persian Gulf. "The people are going down. You don't think somebody's going to die next to you. Nobody can prepare you for death." Many troops in this new gulf war will discover, as Mr. Marrero did, that battlefield reality bears little resemblance to anything that they had imagined beforehand. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Stress
Link ID: 3610 - Posted: 03.25.2003

Rats exposed to cannabis in womb have learning and memory problems. HELEN R. PILCHER Infant rats exposed in to cannabis compounds in the womb have memory difficulties and are hyperactive, a study has found. The compounds seem to alter the animals' brain chemistry permanently1. Similar changes may explain why some children whose mothers smoked marijuana while pregnant suffer attention problems later in life2. "Pregnant and lactating women should avoid using marijuana," says one of the study team, Vincenzo Cuomo of the University La Sapienza in Rome. Cuomo and his colleagues gave rats a low daily dose of a synthetic cannabinoid for the last two weeks of their three-week pregnancy. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 3609 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Sex chromosomes split personality in bird possessing testis and ovary. JOHN WHITFIELD A half-male, half-female bird has added to evidence that genes - not only hormones - underlie the differences between male and female brains. The cells on the right half of the bird's body contained male sex chromosomes, those on the left, female. The zebra finch had one testis and one ovary; its plumage was bright on its right half, and drab on its left. It also had a split personality. When ornithologist John Wingfield and his colleagues looked at the bird's brain, they saw that it, too, was divided into male and female sides. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 3608 - Posted: 06.24.2010

ST. PAUL, MN -- A cross-sectional study has convinced some researchers that the APOE genotype is a risk factor for diabetic neuropathy severity equal to having 15 extra years of age or diabetes duration. The study, led by Richard S. Bedlack, MD, Phd, of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, is reported in the March 25 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Patients with APOE 3/4 and 4/4 genotypes scored three points higher on the Neuropathy Impairment Score in the Lower Limbs (NISLL) than patients with other genotypes. Patients were enrolled in the study from the diabetes clinic at Northeast Medical Center in Concord, North Carolina. The study took into account the patient's age, duration of diabetes, most recent and highest recorded hemoglobin, most recent and highest recorded triglycerides, and presence of the APOE gene.

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 3607 - Posted: 03.25.2003

St. Louis, -- Researchers have discovered a gene that appears to be critical for maintaining a healthy sense of balance in mice. The study, led by a team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, appears in the April 1 issue of the journal Human Molecular Genetics and online March 24. "Loss of balance is a significant problem in the elderly because it can lead to dangerous falls and injuries," says one of the study's principal investigators, David M. Ornitz, M.D., Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and pharmacology at the School of Medicine. "Loss of balance also is a problem for astronauts following exposure to zero gravity. Now that we've discovered this new gene, we can begin to understand the mechanisms that allow the body to sense gravity and maintain balance." Balance is determined and regulated by the vestibular system, which is housed in the inner ear. To detect gravity, a cluster of particles called otoconia rests atop hair cells lining the inner ear. Like a water buoy guided by the movement of waves, otoconia are displaced as the body moves. As otoconia move, they shift the hair cells, which triggers the cells to send messages to the brain.

Keyword: Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 3606 - Posted: 03.25.2003

A gene associated with red hair and fair skin may also be responsible for how females respond to painkillers, according to a study conducted by lead researcher Jeffrey Mogil, a McGill University psychology professor, and collaborators in the United States. Results of their study are to be released today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (article #03-0053). “While we believe pain is the same in all women of all hair colours,” explained Mogil, “our study shows women with red hair respond better to the pain-killing drug we tested than anyone else -- including men.” Previous research suggested the existence of a female-specific pain pathway in the brain. Analgesics that target receptors in this pathway, called kappa-opioid receptors, have been reported to work only in women. Using a technique called quantitative trait locus mapping, Mogil and his colleagues identified a candidate gene that may be responsible for this sex difference. Interestingly, the gene, called Mc1r, was first associated, not with neurological function, but with pigmentation. Variants of the gene cause red hair and fair skin in humans.

Keyword: Pain & Touch; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 3605 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NEW ORLEANS, — Move over, morphine: Researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of New England have developed a new narcotic based on a natural painkiller found in the body that appears in animal studies to be more potent but less addictive. Although researchers have developed many narcotic-type painkillers that rival morphine in strength, few have had the ability to avoid its potential side effects, until now. These side effects include severe constipation, reduced blood pressure and breathing, and addiction. "This represents one of the most promising morphine-like painkillers to date in terms of avoiding its side effects, particularly addiction," says Robin Polt, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at the University of Arizona in Tucson and a chief researcher on the project. He presented details of the research today at the 225th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

Keyword: Pain & Touch; Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3604 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Liz Tucker, BBC Horizon Why do people experience religious visions? BBC Two's Horizon suggests that in some cases the cause may be a strange brain disorder. Controversial new research suggests that whether we believe in a God may not just be a matter of free will. Scientists now believe there may be physical differences in the brains of ardent believers. Inspiration for this work has come from a group of patients who have a brain disorder called temporal lobe epilepsy. In a minority of patients, this condition induces bizarre religious hallucinations - something that patient Rudi Affolter has experienced vividly. Despite the fact that he is a confirmed atheist, when he was 43, Rudi had a powerful religious vision which convinced him he had gone to hell. "I was told that I had gone there because I had not been a devout Christian, a believer in God. I was very depressed at the thought that I was going to remain there forever." (C) BBC

Keyword: Epilepsy
Link ID: 3603 - Posted: 03.24.2003

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition A microchip that uses chemicals instead of pulses of electricity to stimulate neurons has been created. It could open the way to implants that interact with our nervous system in a far more subtle way than is possible now. While electrical pulses convey impulses along neurons, the cells communicate with each other and with other cells such as muscles by releasing chemical messengers. These neurotransmitters are released from one side of a cell junction, or synapse, and picked up by receptors on the other side, triggering another electrical pulse. Since synapses are typically around 50 nanometres across, and each chemical puff contains just a few thousand molecules, building an artificial synapse is a huge challenge. But Mark Peterman and Harvey Fishman at Stanford University in California are getting close. They told a biophysics conference in Texas earlier in March that they have created four "artificial synapses" on a silicon chip one centimetre square. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Robotics
Link ID: 3602 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Discovery could lead to new therapies for Smith-Magenis Syndrome Researchers at Michigan State University have identified the gene responsible for a developmental disorder known as Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS), a discovery that could lead to new therapies for the disorder and the myriad problems that accompany it. The finding is documented in the March 24 issue of Nature Genetics, a prestigious peer-reviewed British journal. SMS is a chromosome microdeletion syndrome that is characterized by a very distinct series of physical, developmental and behavioral features, including varying levels of mental retardation, cranio-facial abnormalities, sleep disturbances and self-injurious behaviors. Because the disease is manifested in so many ways and is associated with a chromosomal deletion that includes many genes, it was always assumed that more than one gene contributed to the disorder, said researcher Sarah Elsea.

Keyword: Genes & Behavior; Intelligence
Link ID: 3601 - Posted: 03.24.2003