— Beginning with cultured mouse embryonic stem cells, researchers have administered a precise mix of chemical signals to coax the cells to differentiate into functioning motor neurons. The achievement was made possible by a decade of work in deciphering the signals that trigger differentiation of motor neurons, which are responsible for controlling the movement of muscles. The experiments represent an important step in applying that knowledge to grow functioning neurons from stem cells — undifferentiated cells that have the potential to become many different types of adult cells. According to the researchers, the success of the experiments with mouse cells suggests that the same type of approach might be used to grow human motor neurons from stem cells. Such neurons could enable regeneration of nerve tissue lost to disease or trauma. ©2002 Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2333 - Posted: 06.24.2010

— By studying gene mutations in patients with the complex set of behavioral and neurological symptoms that accompany Rett syndrome, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Huda Zoghbi and her colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine have designed a mouse model that faithfully recapitulates the disease down to its distinctive hand-wringing behavior. The development of the mouse, reported in the July 18, 2002 issue of the journal Neuron, provides a springboard into the study of Rett syndrome, the leading cause of mental retardation in girls. First recognized as a syndrome in the 1980s, the disorder affects one in 10,000-15,000 girls. It is particularly devastating for families with affected children because infants are seemingly normal at birth and achieve the usual developmental milestones for the first few months of life. Then, as the infant reaches toddlerhood, a sudden and dramatic decline in physical and mental capabilities takes hold, accompanied by onset of seizures, irregular breathing, awkward gait, and hand-wringing. “I know of no other neurological disease that gives this distinctive stereotypic behavior — this hand-wringing these girls do basically all the time they are awake,” said Zoghbi. “With this mouse model we can now ask, ‘Why is that?’” ©2002 Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Keyword: Genes & Behavior; Intelligence
Link ID: 2332 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Elephants may be listening to and communicating with each other through their feet. Recent research by US scientists supports previous claims that elephants can interpret slight vibrations they pick up in the ground. Speaking to BBC World Service, Stanford University biologist Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, said: "For people who have spent time studying elephants, this is a relief. "They finally understand some strange things that were happening with elephants and they really are excited about it." (C) BBC

Keyword: Animal Communication; Hearing
Link ID: 2331 - Posted: 07.18.2002

How to distinguish a phony grin from the real thing By Eric Haseltine and Andrew Epstein You've probably seen driver's license photos in which the subjects looked anything but happy, even though they were smiling. Apparently, a smile by itself is not enough to convey genuine joy. But what distinguishes a real grin from a fake one? And what goes on in the brain to produce genuine versus ersatz expressions in the first place? To find out, click on the camera on the left, then the box on the right. When a photographer asks you to name an aged, fermented dairy product, the part of your cerebral cortex that controls voluntary movements in your lower face gets busy, instructing the muscles around your mouth to contract into a forced smile. © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 2330 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Functional MRI scans have revealed a "biologically embedded" basis for altruistic behavior, with several characteristic regions of the brain being activated when players of a game called "Prisoner's Dilemma" decide to trust each other and cooperate, rather than betray each other for immediate gain, say researchers from Emory University. They report on their study in the July 18 issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press. For many years, evolutionary biologists, behaviorists, economists and political scientists have attempted to understand why cooperation exists between human beings, even though that cooperation may not result in a direct or immediate reward. This unselfish behavior called "altruism" is almost uniquely a human trait. Up until now, almost all brain imaging experiments that have studied the social brain have done so by exposing subjects to static 2-D images inside the scanner. "This study represents an attempt to learn about the social brain by scanning people as they are engaged in a true social interaction," said James K. Rilling, Ph.D., principal investigator in the Emory study, who is currently serving a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University.

Keyword: Brain imaging
Link ID: 2329 - Posted: 07.18.2002

Copyright © 2002 AP Online By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer WASHINGTON - Cancer patients often suffer needlessly because the nation's medical system does a poor job of treating pain that is a common part of the disease, according to experts who produced a study for the National Institutes of Health. "Cancer-related pain, depression and fatigue are undertreated and this situation is simply unacceptable," said Dr. Donald Patrick, a medical professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, and chairman of the committee. "We have to move to the point that patient comfort and care are a part of the cancer treatment agenda," said Dr. Andrew T. Turrisi III, a radiation oncologist at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston. "Some patients are more fearful of pain than they are of death itself." Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 2328 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Copyright © 2002 AP Online By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer WASHINGTON - The notorious date-rape drug GHB won government approval Wednesday to treat a rare but dangerous complication of the sleep disorder narcolepsy - but it will be sold under some of the most severe restrictions ever imposed on a medicine. The Food and Drug Administration approval puts the chemical in a peculiar position. Throughout the 1990s, the government cracked down on illegal use of GHB - abused as a party drug, sex and athletic enhancer and - because it can knock people out - a date-rape drug. Several dozen deaths are blamed on the chemical's abuse. Now the maker of the only FDA-approved version, Orphan Medical Inc., will have to balance how to get GHB to the relatively few patients who qualify while keeping it from falling into the wrong hands. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Narcolepsy; Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2327 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Kathleen Fackelmann, USA TODAY Researchers next week will report on the first human studies of a brain-scanning technique that may soon allow doctors to reliably test for Alzheimer's disease before symptoms emerge. The brain scans reveal the abnormal deposits of senile plaque that over time can cause memory loss and other symptoms of Alzheimer's, which afflicts 4 million Americans. Right now, doctors can diagnose Alzheimer's after a battery of tests rules out other conditions that can cause memory loss. But there's no way to see the brain-damaging senile plaques until an autopsy is performed. © Copyright 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Brain imaging
Link ID: 2326 - Posted: 06.24.2010

St. Paul, MN – A drug that boosts memory for Alzheimer's patients may also augment the performance of airplane pilots, according to a study published in the July 9 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study involved 18 pilots with an average age of 52. First, the pilots conducted seven practice flights on a flight simulator to train them to perform a complex series of instructions. Then half of them took the drug donepezil for 30 days and half took a placebo. They then took the flight simulator test twice more to see if they had retained the training. The pilots who had taken the drug retained the training better than those who had taken placebo did. Researchers were testing the theory that declines in cognitive abilities due to aging are caused in part by loss of functioning of acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that relays messages between cells in areas of the brain important for memory and thought. Donepezil is a cholinesterase inhibitor, which blocks the action of an enzyme responsible for breaking down acetylcholine.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 2325 - Posted: 06.24.2010

DALLAS, – Giving patients aspirin within 48 hours of the onset of an acute ischemic stroke can reduce death and severity of stroke, according to a joint scientific statement from the American Stroke Association and the American Academy of Neurology. An ischemic stroke is caused by a blood clot and is the most common type of stroke. The statement, published in the July issues of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, and Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology, aims to define the roles of the drugs such as aspirin – which is in a class of drugs called antiplatelet agents that prevent blood clot formation – and drugs such as heparin, a type of anticoagulant that slows blood clotting.

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 2324 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A new source of insulin-producing cells could improve the chances of an operation which could cure diabetes in some patients. People with type-1 diabetes have lost the ability to make the vital hormone insulin because "beta cells" in the pancreas have been destroyed. They rely on regular insulin injections to control their blood sugar levels and keep them healthy. They also have to avoid very sugary foods. However, scientists now say that certain cells found in adult diabetics can be transformed into fully-functioning beta cells. This paves the way for a treatment which would replace the missing beta cells and reduce or completely remove the need for extra insulin. In addition, because the source of the cells is the patient, there would be no danger of conventional immune system rejection. (C) BBC

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 2323 - Posted: 07.17.2002

By MARIAN BURROS FOR some people, a glass of red wine is an invitation to a roaring headache. After a few such episodes, which usually include a feeling of queasiness, those who suffer them may banish wine from their tables for life. The symptoms are part of a syndrome known as Red Wine Headache, or R.W.H. "The red wine headache is a real if poorly understood phenomenon," says an article in the June issue of the Harvard Health Letter. That is a masterpiece of understatement. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 2322 - Posted: 07.17.2002

By JODI WILGOREN SPRINGFIELD, Ill., — Michael Krygowski curses his shortness of breath while coaching his 10- year-old son's baseball team. He dreads dying before his three children finish college. And the 40-cent tax rise that took effect July 1 brings his two packs of Marlboro Lights to $8.70 a day — $269.70 this month. "That's a pretty big car payment," Mr. Krygowski, 39, who lives in Hirscher, Ill., lamented during a call to a smokers' "quit line" today. "I am just sick of smoking. I'm tired of the way I feel. "I wanted to quit even before the price went up," he added. "The cost just kind of sealed the deal." Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2321 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Writing in the July 12 issue of the journal Science, Hopkins-led researchers say they have identified in neurons a novel form of "programmed" cell death unlike those already known -- apoptosis and necrosis. The finding, in mouse cells, defines for the first time a window of opportunity to prevent a neuron's death and perhaps find new targets to try to treat Parkinson disease, stroke and traumatic brain injury, says Valina Dawson, Ph.D., of Hopkins' Institute for Cell Engineering and professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. "All cell death is 'programmed' in that it results from a particular series of events," says Dawson. "But up to a certain point, the outcome is not inevitable and interference with the process can prevent or delay cell death. Knowing when that window of opportunity closes is critical."

Keyword: Apoptosis; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2320 - Posted: 07.17.2002

A new study by UCLA neuroscientists shows for the first time that a unique pattern of cellular activity found in early brain development also triggers repairs to damaged adult brains. The findings, appearing in the July 15 edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Neuroscience, hold implications for treating brain damage caused by stroke and other disorders. Researchers in the Department of Neurology and Brain Research Institute at UCLA used rat models to show how cells in brains damaged with stroke-like lesions, caused by interruption of blood flow, develop slow synchronous activity. This activity triggers cells to sprout new connections into areas of the brain disconnected by the lesion. "Our research shows for the first time that this activity works to trigger repairs in adult brains," said Dr. Marie-Francoise Chesselet, professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and study co-author. "Previously this activity has been identified as a key component of brain development."

Keyword: Regeneration
Link ID: 2319 - Posted: 07.17.2002

By Marc Kaufman Washington Post Staff Writer The Navy won approval yesterday to deploy two ships that use controversial low-frequency sonar to detect faraway submarines, despite continuing questions about whether the system's loud blasts will injure whales and other ocean mammals. The ruling by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grants the Navy an exemption from federal rules that guard marine mammals from incidental injury. The agency concluded that protective measures required of the Navy will ensure that the effects of the sonar will be "negligible" and will not undermine the long-term health of whales and other ocean mammals. However, the five-year authorization requires the Navy to investigate unanswered questions regarding how the low-frequency sonar affects whale behavior, and whether it can silence the songs of large whales in particular. It also forbids the Navy from using the system when ocean mammals are within 1.1 nautical miles, since the force of the noise can damage their hearing and disrupt their activities within that range. © 2002 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Hearing; Animal Communication
Link ID: 2317 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Bacterial infections can trigger high levels of a brain steroid that can make infants too drowsy to awaken when they encounter difficulty breathing, suggests new research on lambs. Although a link between infections and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has been previously suspected, this is the first time a clear mechanism has been found that might explain such a link. SIDS usually occurs while an infant is sleeping at night. An emerging theory holds that the condition is caused by bacterial toxins, encountered by virtually all infants in the first year of life. Researchers have proposed several theories to explain how these toxins might kill infants, but so far there has been little experimental evidence to back them up. Now, physiologist Saraid Billiards of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, has found that even a mild bacterial infection can cause brain steroid levels to rise dramatically, leading lambs to become extremely drowsy and difficult to wake. In a trial involving 12 lambs, a mild infection with Escherichia coli caused levels of the steroid allopregnanolone in the blood to rise by 50%. Results were even more dramatic in the brain, where levels of allopregnanolone, which is known to have sedative and anaesthetic properties, increased two- to threefold. If the same occurs in humans, even a mild infection could blunt infants' ability to awaken, Billiards says. "If they develop breathing problems while they're asleep that cause their blood oxygen to fall, they don't have the appropriate arousing response that allows them to wake." Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Sleep
Link ID: 2316 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service A theory portraying children as start-up companies and middle-aged adults as their investors has been proposed to explain why humans have such big brains and long life spans. Evolutionary biologists have puzzled for decades over why humans live twice as long as chimpanzees and gorillas and have brains three to four times larger than their closest living relatives. "We're thinking of the brain as an investment," says economist Arthur Robson, at the University of Western Ontario. Robson and anthropologist Hillard Kaplan, at the University of New Mexico, believe this investment is so substantial that it requires a longer human life span to give it the time to pay off. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 2315 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Chillies keep elephants out of African farmers' fields. JOHN WHITFIELD Growing chilli peppers could keep elephants and crops apart, say researchers. Elephants avoid chilli plants, and burning the peppers keeps the animals away from other crops. Chillies are also a cash crop - one project is already selling 'elephant' chilli sauce. Crop raiding is a huge problem anywhere farmers and elephants come together. Entire fields can be destroyed overnight. Botswana, one of the few African countries to compensate farmers for elephant damage, pays out more than US$1 million each year. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 2314 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Gift will expand programs, sow seeds of national depression network ANN ARBOR, MI -- A new $750,000 gift to the University of Michigan Depression Center will accelerate new programs to help people with depression get the treatment they need, and sow the seeds for a potential future network of depression centers across the United States. The unrestricted, three-year gift from the Lilly Foundation is the largest ever given to a U-M program by the foundation, the nonprofit philanthropic arm of Eli Lilly and Company. "With this gift, we will be better able to reach out to patients and their families in primary care and community settings, find ways to help improve patients' adherence to treatment, and share the U-M Depression Center model with other institutions across the country," says John Greden, M.D., executive director of the U-M Depression Center and Rachel Upjohn Professor and chair of psychiatry at the U-M Medical School. "We're tremendously grateful to the foundation for sharing and supporting our vision of improving depression care for everyone."

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 2313 - Posted: 07.16.2002