Imaging technologies bring empirical rigor to the study of a mysterious medical phenomenon | By Eugene Russo The placebo effect baffles patients, confounds clinicians and frustrates drug developers. Until now, relatively little empirical evidence existed for the biological mechanisms that underlie the effect. But recently, researchers have begun approaching the challenge with methodological rigor. This new area of investigation, straddling basic and clinical realms, has evolved largely because of the novel, detailed window of observation offered by modern imaging technologies. "What we're getting," says Harvard Medical School's Ted Kaptchuk, "is good preliminary evidence that describes the hardwiring of the placebo effect--that is, the impact of symbolic treatment, and how it's mediated through the neurobiology of the brain to produce physical effects in illnesses." Understanding the biological basis of the placebo effect has potentially wide-ranging implications. Knowing the power of placebo may help scientists and philosophers to better characterize an age-old question. "We had this Cartesian split of mind and body. It's taken us a long time to get back to having ... due respect for mind-body effects," says Linda Engel , acting director, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine's division of extramural research and training. Engel co-organized a workshop on the placebo that NCCAM held in November 2000. Based in part on conclusions from this workshop, the National Institutes of Health plans several new, soon-to-be-announced grants for the coming fiscal year.1 Philosophical implications aside, understanding the biology of placebo could also help improve healthcare and help the struggling pharmaceutical industry to develop better, more effective medications. "[The placebo effect] is crushing whole areas of drug development," says Kaptchuk, an assistant professor. While clinicians like him work to maximize people's self-healing capacity, the drug industry attempts to minimize the placebo effect to demonstrate the usefulness of medications. ©2002, The Scientist Inc.

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 3139 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The drug could stop addicts craving cocaine A drug used to treat patients with cystic fibrosis and heart disease could also help cocaine addicts to quit their habits. Researchers in the United States have found that n-acetyl cysteine (NAC) can help to reduce craving in cocaine users. The medication eliminates the 'rewards' associated with taken the drug, which keeps addicts wanting more. Tests on rats have proved so effective that human trials are now being planned. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina have found that NAC has an impact on glutamate levels in the brain. Previous studies have shown that this chemical plays a key role in cocaine dependence. Long-term use of cocaine interferes with normal glutamate levels. If addicts stop using the drug, glutamate levels plunge. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3138 - Posted: 12.09.2002

Technique detects nerve agent's swift decay. KENDALL POWELL The deadly nerve agent VX degrades on concrete in a matter of hours, a new detector has revealed1. The finding could help military clean-up crews and chemical-weapons inspectors. The discovery was a surprise spin-off from a project to detect VX at Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in Idaho Falls. The research group designed a sensitive instrument to detect VX's chemical signature on a contaminated surface. Chemist Gary Groenewold and his colleagues celebrated when they found that their device, called a secondary ion mass spectrometer, could pick up VX on a concrete sample at minute concentrations of around one part per million. They left to grab some lunch. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Neurotoxins
Link ID: 3137 - Posted: 06.24.2010

New understanding of the changes in brain chemistry caused by chronic cocaine use has suggested a novel treatment that could reduce the intense craving that forms the core of cocaine addiction. "Our studies show that administration of an existing drug – n-acetyl cysteine, which is used to treat cystic fibrosis and several other disorders – reverses the changes in brain chemistry that appear to cause cocaine craving," said David A. Baker, a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Peter W. Kalivas at the Medical University of South Carolina. Baker presented the latest results from the Kalivas group's studies of the effects of cocaine in a region of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, which has been associated with motivation, at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The initial studies were done in rats, but the results have been so promising that Kalivas and his colleagues are designing experiments to see if this effect carries over to humans.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3136 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Most people find caffeine stimulating – Americans alone consume about 350 million cups of coffee daily. But some people find that it makes them anxious instead. A recently completed study sheds new light on the likely reason for this difference. Individuals who have two linked genetic variations are far more likely to end up biting their nails following a jolt of caffeine than those who don't, reported Harriet de Wit of the University of Chicago on Sunday, Dec. 8 at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. "This is the first time that anyone has identified why people have different behavioral reactions to the same drug," said de Wit.

Keyword: Genes & Behavior; Emotions
Link ID: 3135 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists have been looking for genes that can explain behavioral disorders for 20 years without much success. According to L. Alison McInnes of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, that may be because they have been concentrating their efforts in the wrong places in the genome. Speaking on Dec. 8 at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, McInnes advised that those interested in genetic links to behavior should start looking at places in the genome that produce special molecules called small non-messenger RNA (smnRNA) rather than concentrating on genes that code for proteins. Current genetic screening techniques do not pick up these sequences because they are very small and not much is known about their structure. So McInnes and her colleagues at Mt. Sinai have created a computational and molecular screening technique designed specifically to look for smnRNA molecules produced by regions in the genome that have been associated with behavioral disorders. Furthermore, they have used this method to successfully identify such molecules in the first few genes that they investigated, she reported.

Keyword: Genes & Behavior; Autism
Link ID: 3134 - Posted: 12.09.2002

Implant stimulates nerve in the neck to interrupt brain signals SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES A treatment used by thousands of people with epilepsy may offer hope for those suffering from severe depression, Alzheimer's disease and chronic migraines. Results of 35 studies of vagus nerve stimulation therapy are being presented at the American Epilepsy Society's annual meeting, which began Friday in Seattle. The meeting gives more than 2,000 academics and medical professionals the chance to share the latest research on a disorder that affects 3 million Americans and costs $12.5 billion annually in medical care. ©1999-2002 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Keyword: Epilepsy; Depression
Link ID: 3133 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Washington, (ANI): New understanding of the changes in brain chemistry caused by chronic cocaine use has suggested a novel treatment that could reduce the intense craving, which forms the core of the addiction. "Our studies show that administration of an existing drug - n-acetyl cysteine, which is used to treat cystic fibrosis and several other disorders - reverses the changes in brain chemistry that appear to cause cocaine craving", said David A Baker, a post-doctoral academic at the Medical University of South Carolina. "The study focuses on the effects of cocaine in a region of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, which has been associated with motivation", Baker added. Copyright © 2001 ANI-Asian News International.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3132 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Three months after having an electronic device implanted into his brain to control the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease, David Beresford reports on his progress The Guardian Some years ago Martha Gellhorn passed through South Africa on her way to Mozambique. A dinner was given in her honour in Johannesburg. Asked what she planned to do in Mozambique, the writer and former war correspondent - then in her 70s and almost blind - said she hoped to do some diving around the coral reefs. Then she added darkly that she also hoped to see a Shangaan sangoma, or witch doctor, to put a curse on the Harley Street surgeon who had nearly blinded her with a bungled eye operation. Subsequently, my companion Ellen and I had a drink with Gellhorn in her London flat, and I asked how it had gone with the witch doctor. She said off-handedly that he had thrown the bones, but had told her not to waste her time on the doctor. He was already dying of a terminal disease. I once consulted a witch doctor. It was in the northern Transvaal and it did not go too well. About 15 metres away from me, across an open space from the sangoma's hut, there was an old woman tethered by a collar and leash to a stake. She seemed to take a great interest in me, gibbering and gesticulating. I asked the witch doctor, busy over his bones, who she was. He said it was his mother. I was disconcerted by this. The rubric "physician, heal thyself" may have fallen into discredit in modern times, but I could not help but feel that he could have done a bit more healing where his mum was concerned. Shortly afterwards he announced that the bones were not working. He seemed to blame me for having insufficient faith. © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

Keyword: Parkinsons; Robotics
Link ID: 3131 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Fruit flies could hold the key to a possible treatment for alcoholics. Scientists believe they are close to identifying genes in these flies which prevent them from becoming addicted to alcohol. Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco are confident that the same genes also play an important but opposite role in humans. They believe that triggering changes in these genes could stop alcoholics from drinking. They are also hopeful that the genes could be manipulated to stop humans from becoming tolerant to alcohol. While fruit flies live off fermented fruits, they do not get addicted to alcohol. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 3130 - Posted: 12.08.2002

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON,— A company that says its weight-loss product burns away fat while dieters sleep was sued today by the federal government and two states, which accused it of deceptive advertising. The company, Mark Nutritionals Inc., based in San Antonio, used radio disc jockeys on more than 650 stations in 110 cities to sell its Body Solutions Evening Weight Loss Formula, the Federal Trade Commission said. The agency said the false claims included statements that the product would "cause substantial weight loss even if users eat substantial amounts of high-calorie foods such as pizza, beer, tacos, nachos, cheese grits and doughnuts." Copyright The New York Times Company

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 3129 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Alison Palkhivala Alcohol consumption and alcoholism do not appear to impact on the risk of a first symptomatic epileptic seizure. Researchers, led by M. Leone M from the Clinica Neurologica, Universita A. Avogadro, Novara, Italy, explored whether chronic alcoholism plays a role in the development of first symptomatic epileptic seizures. For this multicentre, case-control study, the researchers collected medical data on 293 patients with a first seizure that was symptomatic of acute or remote head trauma, stroke or brain tumour. They compared these data to information on 444 hospital patients who were matched to the reference group with respect to the centre they were treated in, sex, age and underlying pathology. All contents Copyright (c) 1995-2002 Doctor's Guide Publishing Limited.

Keyword: Epilepsy; Drug Abuse
Link ID: 3128 - Posted: 12.08.2002

LONDON—The sense of fear is a necessary instinct, but fear in the absence of danger can be crippling. Now, researchers in Puerto Rico say their experiment with fear moderation in rats holds promise for treating anxiety attacks and post-traumatic stress by delivering an electrical charge to a specific area of the brain. Gregory Quirk and Mohammed Milad of the Ponce School of Medicine report in the science journal Nature that laboratory rats conditioned to associate a sound with a small electrical shock experienced less fear when an area of their prefrontal cortex was stimulated, inhibiting the amygdala, a hub of fear memory deep in the brain. Copyright 1996-2002. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 3127 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The implant could be available within three years Scientists are developing an electronic eye implant which they believe could help millions of people to see again. The microchip works by stimulating cells around the retina. This in turn stimulates cells in the brain, helping people to see once more. Tests on animals have shown that the tiny microchip can restore sight. US Government scientists, who are spearheading the project, believe they could have a human implant within three years. The microchip, which acts as an artificial retina, would be surgically implanted into the eye. The electronic device stimulates surrounding cells that have not been damaged. This enables sight to be restored. (C) BBC

Keyword: Vision; Robotics
Link ID: 3126 - Posted: 12.07.2002

Susan Milius Borneo's tree-hole frog may come as close to playing a musical instrument as any wild animal does, according to new tests. Plenty of animals make structured sounds, but this inch-long rain forest frog adjusts its vocal performance to create a specific quality—resonance—from an object in its environment, says Björn Lardner of the University of Lund in Sweden. That object is a tree with a cavity holding a puddle of water. Courting males of Metaphrynella sundana sit partly submerged in these puddles while chirping nighttime advertisements for females. When starting his call, the male raises and lowers the pitch until it hits the frequency that resonates in his particular cavity. Then he lengthens individual calls and shortens the time between them as he settles down for serious chirping, report Lardner and Maklarin bin Lakim of Sabah Parks Research and Education Division in Malaysia. From Science News, Vol. 162, No. 23, Dec. 7, 2002, p. 356. Copyright ©2002 Science Service.

Keyword: Hearing
Link ID: 3125 - Posted: 06.24.2010

How do migrating birds know where to go? By Karen Wright The term "birdbrain" sounds like an insult until you learn a few things about migrating birds. Arctic terns, for example, somehow steer an 11,000-mile course each autumn from their breeding grounds north of the Arctic Circle to the antipodes of the Southern Hemisphere. They locate favorite stopovers on the Bay of Fundy, fly three days nonstop over the blank face of the northern Atlantic, negotiate the west coast of Africa, and home in on their habitual winter haunts on the Antarctic pack ice. Then, come spring, they head back north again—along a different route up the eastern coast of South and North America. "These birds are making the longest journeys among animals on earth," says ecologist Thomas Alerstam of Lund University in Sweden. Whether migrating or homing, birds are unsurpassed as navigators. Yet scientists still haven't found the mechanisms in bird brains that account for the birds' skill. The cues birds rely on to orient themselves aren't simple or obvious. People, for example, often use geographical cues—landmarks—to navigate. But homing pigeons can get back to their lofts from unfamiliar territory even if they're anesthetized on the outbound trip. They can find their way even while wearing frosted contact lenses that blur anything farther than a few yards beyond their beaks. © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company

Keyword: Animal Communication; Animal Migration
Link ID: 3124 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Warning: This article could make you sick to your stomach By Josie Glausiusz A crowd has gathered at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Manhattan. Before them sits an intricate ramble of tubes, flasks, cogs, wires, and gauges 33 feet long and more than six feet high. The structure mimics all the digestive processes of the human gut. Twice daily, local chefs prepare meals that are fed to the machine, which quietly churns them through six glass vats that contain a carefully calibrated mix of enzymes, acids, bile, and bilirubin. Now the moment has arrived. As two little red-haired girls stare, bug-eyed, a long brown lump of excrement emerges silently from the end of the apparatus. It rolls a few feet along a green conveyor belt, and stops. A Japanese tourist solemnly snaps a photo. Designed by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye, the exhibit, known as Cloaca, arouses strong emotions. Some people are derisive. Many are disgusted. But all are fascinated. Indeed, the line that divides disgust from fascination would seem to be a slim one. Disgusting objects fascinate. So, too, does the emotion of disgust itself. It fascinated Charles Darwin, who wrote about its origins in his 1872 book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. It fascinates Valerie Curtis, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who travels the world with a lump of artificial feces in her suitcase. It fascinates neuroscientists, who are pinpointing the areas of the brain that process it. And it fascinates psychiatrists, who want to know what happens when we can no longer recognize it. © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company.

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 3123 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Eric Haseltine Grab a pen or pencil and quickly make a list of things you couldn't do if you suddenly lost your right hand (or left hand if, like one in 10 people, you're a southpaw). Next, taking the same amount of time, write down what you couldn't do if you still had the use of your dominant hand but your other hand abruptly vanished. In all likelihood, your first list is longer than the second. Conventional wisdom would suggest that your dominant hand does all the really important stuff (like preparing lists of what it couldn't accomplish without itself), leaving your nondominant hand to watch helplessly from the sidelines. But conventional wisdom doesn't take into account the subtle role your brain plays in completing manual tasks, as you'll soon discover. Experiment 1 With the same pen or pencil you just used, make a note of whatever random thoughts pop into your head. If you've got writer's block, perhaps you could start by describing how you'd feel if the world lost the IRS or telemarketers. As your pencil flies across the page, notice what your nondominant hand is doing. Odds are it's holding down the page and occasionally repositioning it to keep your dominant hand from having to wander too far from its comfort zone. To appreciate fully the contribution of your nondominant appendage, keep it in your lap as you continue to write. Awkward, isn't it? © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company

Keyword: Laterality
Link ID: 3122 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Martin Hutchinson BBC News Online Health Reporter It is hard to imagine worse news than being told that your teenage child has vCJD. And it is even harder to contradict doctors who say there is absolutely nothing medical science can do to help. At the High Court on Thursday, two sets of parents who have refused to accept that verdict are desperately hoping that the law will help their children receive an experimental treatment which might help them. One of them told BBC News Online about his campaign to get the best for his 18-year-old son, made more urgent week by week as his condition worsens. He found details of pentosan polysulphate on the internet, and has found doctors prepared to help his son get it. But obstacles have been placed in his way at every turn. He has met each one head on - unafraid to demand answers both from leading doctors and government ministers, and eventually taking the matter to the High Court this week. (C) BBC

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 3121 - Posted: 12.06.2002

By NICHOLAS WADE An analysis of the mouse genome by an international consortium of scientists, a landmark event in biology, shows it is so similar to that of people that it should speed efforts to understand the human genome and the genetic roots of disease. This is the first time that the reasonably complete genomes of two mammals, mouse and man, have become available for comparison. While the genome of a mammal even closer to the human, like the chimpanzee, may someday be decoded, the mouse is both genetically close and also an ideal laboratory animal. Man and mouse are cousins, each descended from a small mammal that split into two species toward the end of the dinosaur era. Despite 75 million years of separate evolution, only about 300 genes — 1 percent of the 30,000 possessed by the mouse — have no obvious counterpart in the human genome, according to the new analysis published in today's issue of Nature. Copyright The New York Times Company

Keyword: Genes & Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 3120 - Posted: 06.24.2010