A study by researchers from the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Medical Center suggests that chronic cocaine use may cause damage to brain cells that help produce feelings of pleasure, which may contribute, in part, to the high rates of depression reported among cocaine abusers. It is well-known that cocaine increases levels of the brain chemical dopamine, resulting in the "high" that abusers feel. Prolonged use of the drug, however, may reduce dopamine levels, making it harder for abusers to experience positive feelings. Dr. Karley Little, lead investigator, and colleagues studied samples of brain tissue obtained during autopsies of 35 long-term cocaine users and 35 non-users. They analyzed the tissue for dopamine and the protein VMAT2, which is found in dopamine transporters. Urine or serum samples were also analyzed for the presence of cocaine, opioids, antidepressants, and antipsychotic medications. A person close to each individual was interviewed about the individual's substance abuse, alcoholism, and symptoms of personality and mood disorders.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Depression
Link ID: 3520 - Posted: 03.06.2003

BY CONNIE PRATER Adults who have a condition most often identified with hyperactive children have a new drug to add to their arsenal. Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly recently released Strattera, a nonaddictive alternative to some of the drugs now prescribed to adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, a condition that until recently was largely undiagnosed in grown-ups. Psychiatrists estimate that as many as 4 percent of American adults -- about eight million people -- suffer from ADHD. This is the first drug that can be used for both kids and adults.

Keyword: ADHD
Link ID: 3519 - Posted: 03.06.2003

Researchers have identified a genetic factor that appears to influence anxiety in women. Combining DNA analysis, recordings of brain activity, and psychological tests, investigators at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) found that Caucasian and American Indian women with the same gene variant had similarly high scores on tests that measure anxiety. These women also had similar electroencephalograms (EEG) — recordings of brain electrical activity as unique as an individual's fingerprints — that showed characteristics of anxious temperament, further strengthening the association of this shared genetic factor with anxiety. The study appears in the current issue of the journal Psychiatric Genetics. "These results shed more light on the genetic origins of anxiety, which can sometimes be a warning sign for developing alcoholism," says NIAAA Director T.K. Li, M.D. "Such multidimensional studies that integrate neurogenetics, behavioral science, and the study of the brain are vital to increasing our fundamental knowledge of the genes related to complex psychiatric disorders." Research physician Mary-Anne Enoch, M.D., and colleagues in the Laboratory of Neurogenetics in NIAAA's Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research in Bethesda, Maryland, conducted the study. The team investigated a gene that encodes catechol-O-methyltranferase, or COMT, a major enzyme responsible for the metabolism of certain neurotransmitters — the nervous system's chemical messengers — including norepinephrine, which affects anxiety. People can inherit various possible forms, or polymorphisms, of the COMT gene, which in turn can affect the metabolism of their neurotransmitters.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 3518 - Posted: 06.24.2010

John Nash, the brilliant mathematician of the 1950s, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994, and who was portrayed by Russell Crowe in the movie “A Beautiful Mind”, may be the most well known schizophrenic yet. But according to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than two million Americans are affected by this devastating mental illness. Since the victims of schizophrenia are robbed of their thoughts, it is “often referred to as a thought disorder”, says William Greenough, Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry, Cell and Structural Biology, and a faculty member at the Beckman Institute, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He says, “The reality that the schizophrenic sees is simply different from the reality that all of the rest of us see”. Constance Lieber, the president of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD), has personally seen schizophrenia up close. Her daughter Janice was suddenly struck by delusions and hallucinations while in graduate school. She heard strange voices and thought people were coming after her to harm her. She even heard voices coming through the radio and television, telling her that she was a bad person. Mrs. Lieber and her husband watched as the disorder changed their bright and talented daughter’s life forever. © ScienCentral, 2000-2003.

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 3517 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By TIMOTHY EGAN PORTLAND, Ore., — In a state that says it is already so short of public money it does not have enough to keep all the schools open and prosecute many criminals, Oregon took another drastic step this week to cover budget shortfalls: it cut off medications to thousands of schizophrenics, manic-depressives, drug addicts and others who are poor and have no health care. A decade ago, Oregon was widely hailed as a pioneer in providing health insurance, including prescription drug coverage, not only to the poor but also to people who make just enough money that they do not qualify for most federal Medicaid programs. Now, in a reversal that has stripped a once ambitious program to its core, Oregon has pared back the insurance, and removed prescription drug coverage for things like mental illness and drug addiction. Most of the cuts went into effect March 1, but others started Feb. 1, just days after Oregonians voted in a referendum against a tax increase to balance their budget. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 3516 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Artificial muscle feels the weight of objects it moves. PHILIP BALL Scientists in Spain have developed a robotic finger with a sense of touch. It is made of a polymer that can feel the weight of what it's pushing and adjust the energy it uses accordingly1. This is similar to the way we use our sense of touch. If we pick up a delicate object such as a flower, our fingertips sense its fragility and so grasp it lightly. We instinctively exert more force when holding or moving a heavier, more robust item because there is feedback between our sensations and muscles. One way to make an artificial touch-sensitive limb, therefore, would be to equip it with delicate pressure sensors to provide this sort of feedback. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Robotics; Pain & Touch
Link ID: 3515 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Becky Ham, Staff Writer, Health Behavior News Service Antidepressant drugs are the most prevalent, and often the only, treatment offered to patients newly diagnosed with depression, even when mental health therapy is readily available, according to a new study. And after three months of treatment, many depressed patients have relatively low satisfaction with their care, say Leif I. Solberg, M.D., of HealthPartners Research Foundation and colleagues. "They seem relatively satisfied with the courtesy and respect shown to them, but there is considerable room for improvement with satisfaction with choices of treatment, the ease of getting help or seeking specialists and follow-up care," Solberg says.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 3514 - Posted: 03.05.2003

(NEWARK) – In a scientific first, researchers have shown that the brains of dyslexic children can be “rewired” through intensive remedial training to function more like those found in normal readers. Paula Tallal, Board of Governors Professor of Neuroscience at Rutgers-Newark, and other members of a multi-university research team used brain-imaging scans of dyslexic children to demonstrate that areas of the brain critical to reading skills became activated for the first time and began to function more normally after only eight weeks of special training. In addition, other regions of the brain also lit up on the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans in a compensatory process that the dyslexics may have used as they learned to read more fluently. The researchers’ groundbreaking findings were published Feb. 24 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition. The other authors include faculty from Stanford and Cornell universities, the University of California’s Los Angeles and San Francisco campuses, and one of the co-founders of Oakland-based Scientific Learning Corporation. © 2001, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Keyword: Dyslexia
Link ID: 3513 - Posted: 06.24.2010

by Matthew Dolbey, News Writer Stanford University researchers have recently discovered hope for people with dyslexia. The researchers reported that an intensive eight-week learning program helped remedy reading problems among 20 dyslexic children between the ages of eight and 12. Elise Temple, lead writer of the study and assistant professor at Cornell University, said proper training designed to help children understand rapid language sounds is pinnacle to helping people overcome dyslexia. "The most important finding of the study is that brain dysfunction in dyslexia, which has been shown [to occur] in other studies, can actually be changed and made better to a large degree with a training program that is dealing with their behavior and their reading," Temple said.

Keyword: Dyslexia
Link ID: 3512 - Posted: 03.05.2003

It seems as though the Cher hit "It's In His Kiss" was right all along. Scientists have found that the size of somebody's lips plays a key role in determining whether they are sexually attractive to other people. Basically, the bigger the better - but, in a warning to those who are thinking about opting for surgical enhancement, it is possible for somebody to have lips that are too big. And while men love a full pout on a women, the Mick Jaggers of this world are not necessarily on to a guaranteed winner with the opposite sex. Professor Michael Cunningham, a psychologist from the University of Louisville, explained his findings to the BBC Radio Four programme The Kiss. "Generally speaking, big is better than small," he said. "But it is possible to go a little too far and then be unattractive." (C) BBC

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 3511 - Posted: 03.04.2003

By DENISE GRADY The capsules, recommended by a friend, sounded wonderful: they were supposed to increase metabolism to help the body burn off fat. "It was like you're doing aerobic exercise while you're just sitting there," said Jennifer Rosenthal, 28, a truck dispatcher and the mother of a 4-year-old in Long Beach, Calif. The capsules, sold over the Internet at $39.95 for a bottle of 90, had just one ingredient, usnic acid, a chemical found in certain species of lichen plants. The chemical is not approved for any medical use, but the label on the bottle said it would make the body burn calories "at an accelerated rate." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 3510 - Posted: 03.04.2003

Red light rescues retinas from methanol poisoning. HELEN R. PILCHER Light could prevent alcohol poisoning from causing blindness, a new rat study suggests. Shining red light into intoxicated rodents' eyes stops them going blind. Just one shot glass of neat methanol, a common ingredient in antifreeze and windscreen-washing fluid, can blind a human permanently within days. There are over 5,000 accidental overdoses in the United States alone every year. Sitting methanol-poisoned rats under a near-infrared light source for two and a half minutes each day for three days reduces swelling in their retinal cells, making them "more responsive to light", says toxicologist Janis Eells at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 3509 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Genomic rearrangements discovered using DNA microarrays are expected to reveal genetic regions important to human health Perlegen Sciences, Inc. today announced the publication of a scientific paper in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed journal Genome Research. The paper, “Genomic DNA insertions and deletions occur frequently between humans and nonhuman primates,” describes novel findings suggesting that genomic rearrangements, not single base pair changes in DNA, provide the genetic basis for the differences between humans and non-human primates such as the chimpanzee. “This is a very surprising and important discovery of the fundamental basis of structural genomic differences between humans and other primates,” said David Cox, M.D., Ph.D, Perlegen’s Chief Scientific Officer. “It provides a valuable starting point from which to improve our understanding of what makes human beings unique.” Analysis of the differences in sequence between human and chimpanzee DNA has previously established that the two species are approximately 98.5% identical. For this reason, it is widely accepted that qualitative and quantitative differences in gene expression are responsible for the major biological differences among humans, chimpanzees and other non-human primates. To date it has been commonly thought that single base pair changes in these genomes, not larger DNA rearrangements, would underlie the majority of these postulated genomic regulatory differences.

Keyword: Evolution; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 3508 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Sarah Yang, Media Relations BERKELEY – New findings by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, could significantly improve the resolution of scans from functional magnetic resonance imaging, one of neuroscience's most powerful research tools to date. Functional MRI (fMRI) is a non-invasive procedure that detects increased levels of blood flow into certain areas of the brain to infer neural activity. But in a study published Feb. 14 in the journal Science, researchers from UC Berkeley's Group in Vision Science show that an initial decrease in oxygen levels is an earlier and more spatially precise signal of nerve cell activity. The findings could lead to fMRI scans with a more detailed resolution measured in micrometers. Most current fMRI techniques have a resolution of a few millimeters. There is hope that the new findings can provide the groundwork for research that will translate into future clinical use, such as earlier detection of brain and neurologic disorders such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's Diseases. Copyright UC Regents

Keyword: Brain imaging
Link ID: 3507 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Theresa Agovino, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK - The success of Viagra has companies racing to achieve a female equivalent, and one herbal product's claims of effectiveness are stirring debate on whether any one drug can be the answer for women. "They have Viagra. Now we have Avlimil," its makers boast in magazine and television advertisements. As an herbal treatment, Avlimil didn't require the extensive study and tests necessary for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. But that does not prevent it, and others like it, from promoting themselves as giving women what Viagra offers men. Since the 1998 launch of Viagra, which racked up $1.7 billion in sales last year for New York-based Pfizer Inc. as a treatment for male sexual disfunction, at least 10 pharmaceutical companies have undertaken development of a similar drug for women, according to market research firm Decision Resources.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 3506 - Posted: 03.04.2003

By ELISSA GOOTMAN As soon as Tamara Rabi arrived at Hofstra University, she noticed the bizarre behavior. People she had never laid eyes on would smile, wave and greet her as an intimate. Then, met by Tamara's blank stare, they would walk away. A few friends claimed to have spotted someone who looked just like her. Someone else from Mexico, she figured. So when a friend of a friend showed up at her 20th birthday party and could not stop gawking, insisting that Tamara looked just like his friend Adriana Scott, it was mildly annoying but not a surprise. As the other guests dug into ice cream cake, the friend's friend persisted. Adriana had also been born in Mexico, he said. Like Tamara, she was also adopted. And the two young women shared a birthday. Thus began the real-life unfolding of a fairy-tale story line, a paradigm that has inspired psychological studies (nature vs. nurture), movies ("The Parent Trap") and at least one sitcom ("Sister, Sister"). Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 3505 - Posted: 03.04.2003

By BRIAN LAVERY DUBLIN, — Despite its famous brands of whiskey and stout and its 10,000 pubs, Ireland's relationship with alcohol is not as historic or indulgent as the stereotypical hard-drinking Irishman might suggest. Until recently, Ireland's per capita alcohol consumption was far behind countries where a drink is part of the daily routine, like a glass of wine in France, Italy or Greece. "For a long time we were actually quite abstemious compared to other European cultures," said Liz McManus, health spokeswoman for the Labor Party. "Very heavy drinking was confined to very heavy drinkers." But over the last decade, the Irish have caught up to their European counterparts with astonishing speed. Annual consumption per Irish adult rose gradually to 10.6 quarts of pure alcohol in 1985 from 4.2 quarts in 1960. It jumped to nearly 15.8 quarts in 2000. The European Union average is about 9.5 quarts. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3504 - Posted: 06.24.2010

What's smell got to do with modern art? How does a fragrance set the scene for memory? Why are humans losing their sense of smell? Neuroscientist Upinder Bhalla believes that our smell system could prove an easier route to understanding the human brain than more conventional means. He has even built a smell machine to find out which groups of people have retained or lost their olfactory skills. And, as he told Seema Singh in Bangalore recently, you may get a chance to leave your own smell on the project when it comes to the UK in June - all in the name of art What's art got to do with smell? What are you trying to do here? Two artists Leslie Hill and Helen Paris approached me with their Wellcome-sponsored "On the Scent" project, which is an installation/performance project to investigate the potential of smell to trigger memories and emotions. I thought it all sounded good fun so I got involved. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 3503 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Sour taste preferences are more intense during childhood. HANNAH HOAG Children are suckers for tart sweets such as sherbet and cola bottles because sour taste preferences are more intense during childhood, a new study finds1. Of the five taste sensations - sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and savoury or umami - sour is the least understood. The preference for salty and sweet foods appears early in life, increases and then peters out during late adolescence. "Sour seems to go along with that story," says Julie Mennella of the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in Philadelphia. More than a third of the 35 children that Mennella studied favoured the taste of super-sour gelatin - flavoured with more citric acid than is present in concentrated lemon juice - relative to weaker-tasting stuff. None of the children's mothers enjoyed the extra-sharp jelly. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste); Development of the Brain
Link ID: 3502 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Infants accustomed to sleeping on their backs who are then placed to sleep on their stomachs or sides are at an increased risk for SIDS — greater than the increased SIDS risk of infants always placed on their stomachs or sides. The study, conducted by Kaiser Permanente in Northern and Southern California and supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIDCD), appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. The study also shows that infants sleeping on their sides are at an increased risk of SIDS. The researchers think that a large part of the risk may be due to the instability of the side sleeping position and the tendency for infants sleeping in this position to turn onto their stomachs. The study, which was conducted in 11 counties in Northern and Southern California, is the first to examine the relationship between infant sleeping position and SIDS in a racially diverse U.S. population. The incidence of SIDS has declined over 50 percent since 1992, when the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that infants be placed on their backs to sleep. Before the current study, evidence of the link between stomach sleeping and SIDS risk was based largely on overseas studies, where populations and cultural practices are different from those in the United States.

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 3501 - Posted: 06.24.2010