NewScientist.com news service Bull elephant seals can traverse enormous distances across Antarctic seas to build themselves a harem, a new genetic analysis has revealed, while females stay close to home. Researchers used mitochondrial DNA - which is inherited from the mother only - and DNA from the cell nucleus to track the breeding patterns in male and female southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonine. One male, nicknamed Blob, had travelled about 8000 kilometres to father at least 19 pups. "This sort of range is extraordinary," says one of the team, molecular ecologist Rus Hoelzel at the University of Durham, UK. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 3379 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer Psychiatrists joined the Raider Nation on Tuesday in an effort to understand the apparent medical meltdown of All-Pro center Barret Robbins. Robbins, 29, displayed signs of emotional problems and then disappeared the day before the biggest game of his life on Sunday. Hospitalized in San Diego, he was pulled from the Raiders' lineup before his teammates endured a thrashing by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He reportedly had stopped taking prescription medications for bipolar disorder. Although medical experts all declined to comment on the particulars of the Robbins case, they called it a classic scenario of stress complicating a struggle with mental illness. ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle

Keyword: Depression; Stress
Link ID: 3378 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Fathers control how many young, mothers how big. JOHN WHITFIELD Male mice can control how many young their mates produce, researchers have found. Females retaliate by taking charge of how much food the babies get. The discovery1 gives the battle of the sexes a new twist. It shows that a male's attempts to manipulate his mate can influence her parental behaviour - even when he is no longer around. "Fathers increase litter size, and mothers fight back by reducing provisioning," says one of the study team - Reinmar Hager of the University of Cambridge, UK. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 3377 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Primitive prion hints at origins of brain disease. HELEN PEARSON Fish, like sheep, elk and humans, could suffer a version of 'mad cow disease', or BSE, preliminary evidence suggests. The results might help to reveal how the disease jumps from species to species. Infectious prions are thought to cause BSE and human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). They probably crossed from sheep to cows, and then to humans in infected meat. Now a team at the University of Konstanz in Germany has identified a cousin of the prion protein in pufferfish1 . The researchers show that the fish protein is different at key sites from the prion protein found in mammals. It's "unlikely" that transmission could occur between such different animals, says study leader Edward Málaga-Trillo. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 3376 - Posted: 06.24.2010

COLLEGE STATION, – It may be only pond scum, the sort of green gunk that clogs lakes and floats in on the tides. But inside, a clock is quietly ticking. Even this lowly one-celled bacterium has a biological clock, the sophisticated internal timing device that governs the daily rhythms of people, animals and plants, says Susan Golden, a biology professor at Texas A&M University. The university’s Department of Biology is a leader in unraveling the mysteries of biological clocks, research that eventually could lead to cures for sleep and mood disorders, as well as other medical problems. Golden and her colleagues also study the biological clocks of birds, rats and fungi, but it was the bacterium known as Synechococcus elongatus that yielded the latest revelation: the first structural model of part of the clockworks.

Keyword: Biological Rhythms
Link ID: 3375 - Posted: 06.24.2010

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Marriage is under a microscope of sorts at The Ohio State University Medical Center, where researchers are examining how the quality of the union may affect married partners’ health. The research team is in the throes of a multiyear study examining how humans’ closest personal relationships are associated with health, monitoring married couples’ levels of stress hormones and wound-healing progress as partners carry on discussions about their lives. The prediction: Positive feelings about one’s marriage can contribute to overall better health. “There’s growing evidence that the quality of marriage is related to health,” said Dr. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, director of health psychology in Ohio State’s College of Medicine and Public Health. “The question is, how? If you have a good marriage, do you sleep better? Eat better? Probably so. But what we’re finding is that the quality of interaction shows in the way the body responds through stress hormones and immune function.”

Keyword: Stress; Emotions
Link ID: 3374 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By CAREY GOLDBERG THE BOSTON GLOBE A new report suggests that doctors are often wrongly blamed and sued for infant brain damage that can result from oxygen deprivation during delivery even though the vast majority of such cases actually stem from infections and other hard-to-prevent causes. The report, issued yesterday by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and endorsed by several federal agencies and doctors' groups, summed up mounting evidence against the long-held theory that cerebral palsy is usually caused by a difficult or poorly managed birth in which the baby's brain is temporarily starved for oxygen. "The reality is that very few of these cases are preventable," said Dr. Gary Hankins, who headed the task force that produced the report. ©1996-2003 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 3373 - Posted: 06.24.2010

— Using a tiny worm to model a severe childhood movement disorder, researchers at The University of Alabama have discovered the role of a protein that may have implications for a number of neurological syndromes such as Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. With support from grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, the scientists found that a mutated gene associated with early onset dystonia, a severe hereditary movement disorder, normally helps manage protein folding. The mutated gene, TOR1A (or DYT1), was linked to the disorder in 1997, but the role of its protein, torsinA, had been unknown until this finding, reported in the cover article of the February 1, 2003, issue of Human Molecular Genetics. 2003 Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Keyword: Genes & Behavior; Movement Disorders
Link ID: 3372 - Posted: 06.24.2010

— Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have found that a gene mutation that produces a black coat color in mice also causes degeneration of neurons similar to that observed in prion-caused diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and “mad cow disease.” The scientists say that their findings could improve understanding of how the renegade proteins, called prions, destroy the brains of infected humans, cattle and sheep. In an article published in the January 31, 2003, issue of the journal Science, researchers led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Gregory Barsh reported that a gene mutation in mahoganoid mice causes neural damage that closely resembles that observed in spongiform encephalopathies. The work was carried out by Lin He and Teresa Gunn, graduate student and former postdoctoral fellow with Barsh, respectively, and also involved collaboration with the University of Michigan School of Medicine. Gunn, He, and Barsh began looking at the effects of mahoganoid mutation on neural development after their studies of another mutation in a similar coat-color gene, called Attractin, turned up some intriguing results. ©2003 Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 3371 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition A Madagascan lemur has been revealed as the first animal known to self-medicate when pregnant. Female sifaka eat plants rich in poisonous tannins in the weeks before giving birth, researchers have discovered. It is unclear why the sifaka does this. In other mammals, small doses of tannins kill parasites and stimulate milk production. And vets often use tannins to prevent miscarriage, raising the intriguing possibility that by eating the plants the sifaka is protecting its developing baby. At first sight, a taste for tannins might seem odd whether you are pregnant or not. Plants use them as defensive chemicals to deter herbivores from munching their leaves, as the toxic tannins bind to proteins in the animals' guts. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 3370 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Transplants using eye tissue from aborted foetuses appear to have improved the sight of two out of four patients involved, say scientists. It is too early to say whether the improvement will last, but the experts involved are encouraged by the success so far. The transplants were carried out at the Doheny Eye Institute in Los Angeles. The patients involved had advanced retinitis pigmentosa, a heriditary disease which causes degeneration of the retina, the layers of cells at the back of the eye that receive light. The surgery involved inserting two-millimetre squares of foetal tissue to partly replace those lost to the disease. The secret of the operation, say the researchers, is the implantation of complete chunks of tissue, which maintains vital connections between transplanted retinal cells. (C) BBC

Keyword: Vision; Stem Cells
Link ID: 3369 - Posted: 01.30.2003

Sharks have a remarkable gel in their snouts that produces electricity in response to minute temperature changes, enabling the fish to spot heat differences in water that could lead them to prey, a scientist says. The gel lies in long channels, about 10 centimeters (four inches long), beneath the shark's skin which connect pores on the surface with sensors called ampullae of Lorenzini. These sensors are already known to be highly sensitive to electrical fields generated in the water by the muscles of a wriggling or wounded fish, perhaps even the heartbeat of a swimmer. Copyright © 2002 Discovery Communications Inc.

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 3368 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By HOWARD MILLMAN HAVE you ever been lulled into serenity by the flickering firelight of a fireplace? Can machines that produce flickering lights and synchronized audio tones similarly help you relax? Yes, say the users of sound and light machines, some of whom become so relaxed during a session that they fall asleep. What is less verifiable, however, are claims that the machines boost creativity and help alleviate attention deficit disorder, dyslexia and migraine headaches. Sound and light machines, sometimes called mind machines or light-stim devices (as in light stimulation), produce computer-generated patterns of flashing lights synchronized with binaural tones that practitioners claim can calm an agitated mind. The pulsating lights are generated by a ring of light-emitting diodes (L.E.D.'s) encircling each eye. The L.E.D.'s, embedded in the lenses of opaque goggles, are bright enough to shine through closed eyes. Sounds come from a headset. The pattern and speed of the L.E.D.'s pulsations and the beat of the binaural tones are controlled by a palm-size programmable module. Prices of most units range from $100 to $400. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Stress
Link ID: 3367 - Posted: 01.30.2003

BETHESDA, Md., /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- You can't fool 'mother nature' when it comes to how much sleep a person requires, according to the results of a study published in the January issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda found that sleep needs may vary based on individual factors programmed by the body's internal clock. "Our study shows that the body's internal clock programs a longer biological night in long sleepers than in short sleepers," said Dr. Daniel Aeschbach, now at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston and lead author of the study. "Thus, individual differences in the clock's program may contribute to the variability in sleep duration in the general population. Although we do not know the origin of these differences, the present results provide a physiological basis for why it is difficult to change sleep habits willfully." Researchers have long hypothesized that sleep duration has a physiological basis, driven by an internal signal. However, meaningful differences between long and short sleepers have never been identified. Recent analysis using an electroencephalogram, which provides a record of the electric potentials of the brain derived from electrodes attached to the scalp, during sleep and wakefulness has shown that short sleepers are able to live under higher 'sleep pressure,' commonly known as sleep debt. This pressure increases during waking and decreases during sleep. Even so, the kinetics, or measure of change of sleep pressure during sleep and wakefulness were similar in short and long sleepers. Copyright (C) 2003 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 3366 - Posted: 01.30.2003

Today's questions are answered by Dr. Richard Rubin, a voluntary associate professor of child psychiatry at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Q. Tell me about Straterra, a medicine that the FDA recently approved to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. A. It has different chemistry from currently or previously available ADHD medicines, the so-called stimulant medicines. It provides a valuable alternative for many children and adults with ADHD who have not responded well or had difficulties with the current medicines. It's the first medicine to be approved for use in adults for ADHD. Q. How does it work? A. We cannot say for sure now that we know the exact cause of ADHD, but it appears from a variety of research that deficiencies of the messenger chemical norepinephrine and dopamine are involved. Straterra makes natural norepinephrine more available and that increase strengthens attention function and activity control. So with this drug, we're not just suppressing boisterous kids. We're trying to strengthen their brain functions to minimize impairment from the attention and activity-control weaknesses.

Keyword: ADHD
Link ID: 3365 - Posted: 01.30.2003

NewScientist.com news service The image of our cavemen ancestors as wild hunters who enjoyed no better meal than flesh torn from their latest kill has been dented by new archaeological research. Chemical analysis of 6000-year-old pottery shards shows ancient Britons also had a taste for cow's milk and goat's cheese. "This is the first direct evidence for widespread dairying at prehistoric sites anywhere in the world," says Richard Evershed, professor of biogeochemistry at the University of Bristol, UK. Archaeologists had previously uncovered a few objects that suggested dairying, such as suspected cheese strainers, but nothing unambiguous. Until now, the earliest proof of dairying was a picture of a Sumerian frieze in Baghdad Museum showing milking 4500 years ago. "And in Britain we had no proof till pictures and writing in Roman times," Evershed told New Scientist. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Evolution; Animal Rights
Link ID: 3364 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By ERICA GOODE Four days a week, Rachel H. takes the subway uptown, waves to the doorman in the large prewar apartment building where her psychoanalyst keeps his office, lies down on a burgundy leather couch and begins to talk. Ms. H., a 33-year-old graduate student, has heard all the jokes. She has listened patiently to friends who tell her she would be better off taking Prozac or trying yoga or leaving New York altogether to escape her obvious "dependency" on her analyst. She has endured teasing and incredulity. "Don't you think that's so last century?" asked one woman. Yet Ms. H. is not bothered by this lack of enthusiasm. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 3363 - Posted: 01.28.2003

Study in mice links appetite hormone and autoimmune disease. HANNAH HOAG Starvation could relieve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases, a new study suggests1. Mice with a condition akin to MS that were deprived of food for 48 hours still developed the disease but had fewer brain lesions and performed better on tests of walking, balance, weakness and paralysis. "Using a nutritional approach together with other drugs might offset the progression of MS," says study leader Giuseppe Matarese of the University of Napoli Federico II in Italy. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003

Keyword: Multiple Sclerosis; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 3362 - Posted: 06.24.2010

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Three key areas of the brain adversely affected by aging show the greatest benefit when a person stays physically fit. The proof, scientists say, is visible in the brain scans of 55 volunteers over age 55. The idea that fitness improves cognition in the aging is not new. Animal studies have found that aerobic exercise boosts cellular and molecular components of the brain, and exercise has improved problem-solving and other cognitive abilities in older people. A new study in the February issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, however, is the first to show -- using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging -- anatomical differences in gray and white matter between physically fit and less fit aging humans. Gray matter consists of thin layers of tissue of cell bodies such as neurons and support cells that are critically involved in learning and memory. White matter is the myelin sheath containing the nerve fibers that transmit signals throughout the brain.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Brain imaging
Link ID: 3361 - Posted: 01.28.2003

While about 80 percent of people with epilepsy gain significant relief from drug therapy, the remaining 20 percent have seizures that cannot be controlled by medications. Many of these people have a particular type of epilepsy called partial epilepsy. A new study shows that people with partial epilepsy often have seizures controlled by medications for years before their seizures become drug-resistant. The study also found that periods when seizures stopped for a year or more are common in these patients. "This study opens the door for early identification of patients who will later develop drug-resistant partial epilepsy, which may in turn allow us to identify ways of preventing some forms of epilepsy from ever becoming drug-resistant," says lead author Anne T. Berg, Ph.D., of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, who is part of a large multicenter team directed by Susan Spencer, M.D., at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and appears in the January 28, 2003, issue of Neurology.1 In the new study, researchers looked at patients who had surgery for drug-resistant partial epilepsy to identify factors that predict when seizures will become intractable, or no longer controllable with medications. They also studied the incidence of previous seizure-free periods in this group. Partial epilepsy results from abnormal neuronal activity that originates in a single part of the brain, usually in one of the temporal lobes.

Keyword: Epilepsy
Link ID: 3360 - Posted: 01.28.2003