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By RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN, M.D. Everyone knows that creative geniuses are all mad. At least that is what the time-honored notion linking creativity and mental illness holds. Recently, this was underscored by "A Beautiful Mind," the film about the Nobel Prize-winning mathematician Dr. John Forbes Nash Jr., who struggled with schizophrenia. Bedeviled by hallucinations and delusions, Dr. Nash is seen scribbling mathematical formula on his Princeton dorm window and doing pioneering work on game theory in a pub. But in real life, Dr. Nash accomplished his greatest mathematics before his illness really took hold. As a psychiatrist, I have treated several highly creative people, all relieved to be rid of the symptoms of their mental illnesses. So I was feeling confident when it came to understanding the connection between mental illness and creativity. Simply put, psychiatric illness rarely confers creativity and treatment would not impair it. At least, that was my cherished theory until I met Sheryl. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
Keyword: Depression; Intelligence
Link ID: 2204 - Posted: 06.05.2002
Head Start programs designed for infants and toddlers from low-income families enhance thinking, language, and behavior by age 3, according to the first evaluation of Early Head Start graduates. What's more, the program fosters parenting practices that support healthy development. Although the long-term effects of the program are unknown, many experts think that the combined impact on both children and their parents may mean the benefits will accumulate. Early Head Start, an extension of the decades-old Head Start program, was established in 1995 on a wave of academic and political interest in brain development during early childhood. Early Head Start offers services such as classes for children and parents, health care, nutrition education, and family counseling. Around the country, 55,000 children take part--a small fraction of those eligible. Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 2203 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Australian research has led to clinical trials of a drug that could provide a painless and non-destructive way to treat blindness in diabetics. The University of Melbourne-led pre-clinical research prompted the world-wide, multi-centre clinical trial following the announcement of their results at an international conference last year. The drug blocks a crucial pathway whose end products cause blindness and eye damage in diabetics, the leading cause of new blindness in adults around the world. The trial will begin later this year. The research team's success also caught the attention of funding agencies. The US-based Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the world's leading non-profit, non-governmental funder of diabetes research and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) have granted the University of Melbourne team $4.7 million in funding over five years. The funds will help refine their understanding of the chemical pathways that lead to blindness (diabetic retinopathy) and kidney failure (diabetic nephropathy) in diabetics and to find new drugs to combat the disease.
By Jim Kling UPI Science Writer From the Science & Technology Desk The drug methamphetamine dramatically increases the ability of feline immunodeficiency virus, or FIV, to reproduce itself in a type of brain cell in cats, new research reveals. If the finding holds true in humans, it could help explain why AIDS progresses more rapidly in drug abusers. FIV is a close relative to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The research team, led by Michael Podell, professor veterinary clinical sciences and neurosciences at Ohio State University in Columbus, had been investigating cats as animal models for the neurological stages of HIV infection in humans. In late stages of the disease, infection of brain cells often causes dementia. Copyright © 2002 United Press International
Keyword: Drug Abuse; Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 2201 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Fondness for Plants And Animals May Be Hard-wired, Healthy By Beth Baker Special to The Washington Post Intuitively, we know something in us responds to nature, even as most of us live our workaday lives further and further removed from flora and fauna. Why else are adolescents with depression, substance abuse, attention deficit disorder and other behavioral and psychological problems referred to more than three dozen "wilderness therapy" programs around the country? Why, in the aftermath of Sept. 11, did authorities put "comfort" dogs on the boat ferrying victims' families and rescue workers to the World Trade Center site? © 2002 The Washington Post Company
Keyword: Stress; Depression
Link ID: 2200 - Posted: 06.24.2010
With Recent Studies Taking Some of the Glow Off HRT, What Other Choices Do Women Have for Symptoms of Menopause? By Sally Squires Washington Post Staff Writer Recent research has cast critical new light on estrogen replacement therapy, which over the past few decades has been prescribed to one in three menopausal women seeking relief from hot flashes, vaginal dryness and bone loss. Given the treatment's purported extra benefits, ranging from heart health to improved mood, the decision to take estrogen was often easy. But that common practice is now being called into question. First came a study casting doubt on the ability of estrogen to prevent and treat heart disease. Other research questioned whether estrogen helps protect against Alzheimer's disease. As continuing research clarifies estrogen's corresponding risks, women and their doctors are looking with new urgency at the question of how -- and whether -- to treat symptoms of menopause. "Women come into my office these days, and look me straight in the eye, and say, 'Are you for or against estrogen?' " says Wolf Utian, executive director of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS) and a consultant to the Cleveland Clinic. "It's like saying, 'Are you a Republican or a Democrat?' I'm not for or against estrogen replacement therapy. It's just one of the tools that I have at my disposal." © 2002 The Washington Post Company
Keyword: Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 2199 - Posted: 06.24.2010
By ERIC NAGOURNEY Cocaine overdose deaths have often been linked to the drug's ability to raise the body temperature through a jolt to the metabolism. But a study released yesterday reports that it is more complicated than that. Not only does cocaine raise the body temperature, researchers wrote in The Annals of Internal Medicine, it also diminishes the body's ability to cool itself down. It even makes it hard for users to tell that they are overheating and, perhaps, take steps to stop it, like seeking a cooler location. "It really is a double-edged sword," said the lead author, Dr. Craig G. Crandall of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2198 - Posted: 06.04.2002
Hollywood may soon be able to craft acoustic illusions that sound even better than the real thing. New experimental findings reveal that scientists can generate imitations of real-life sounds significantly more convincing than actual recordings of the events they are intended to mimic--results that also shed light on how the brain extracts meaning from experiences. Sound effects technicians, known as Foley artists after Hollywood pioneer Jack Foley, create the noises that bring to life the soundscapes of radio, film, and television. Because giant explosions and other, less extraordinary activities often prove impractical to record in a studio, Foley artists traditionally relied on props. For instance, the sound of a crackling fire can be imitated by twisting cellophane, and squeezing a box of cornstarch can duplicate the sound of footsteps in snow. Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Keyword: Hearing
Link ID: 2197 - Posted: 06.24.2010
First fruits of the genome project identify genes in flies bred for a behavioral preference SAN DIEGO – From Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew to Yorkshire ‘lowfat' pigs, people have been breeding animals and plants for desirable traits since prehistoric times. But there has been no easy way of telling which genes have been favored by the selective breeding. Until now. By making use of the new technique of DNA microarrays ("chips"), a team of scientists lead by Ralph J. Greenspan at The Neurosciences Institute has discovered a way of solving the conundrum of identifying which genes have changed when breeding for a particular trait. In their study of two strains of the common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), selected for differences in their response to gravity ("geotaxis”), they have found that the difference is due to small contributions from many genes, and they have identified several of the genes, two of which have human genetic counterparts.
Keyword: Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 2196 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Laboratory rats that have been repeatedly depleted of salt become sensitized to amphetamine, exhibiting an exaggerated hyperactive response to the drug and an unusual pattern of neuronal growth in a part of their brains, neuroscientists have found. The researchers, headed by University of Washington psychologist Ilene Bernstein, discovered that nerve cells in the nucleus accumbens of sensitized rats have more branches and were 30 percent to 35 percent longer than normal. The nucleus accumbens, located in the forebrain, is involved in the reward and motivation system in rats and in humans. It is associated with regulating motivated behaviors of such natural drives as those for food and salt, and for artificial rewards provided by drugs. The findings are published in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Keyword: Obesity; Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2195 - Posted: 06.04.2002
Scientists say they have discovered how a strong smell or a song can sometimes trigger a vivid memory. Researchers in the US say they have pinpointed the precise region of the brain that sparks such recollections. They say the discovery may explain why what appears to be a simple song or a random perfume can lead us to remember evenings with friends or holidays abroad, for instance. According to scientists at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, the CA3 region of the hippocampus is key to this process. It has long been known that this part of the brain plays a key role in long term memory development. It is essential for initial storage of memories before they are transferred for storage elsewhere. As a result, a person whose hippocampus is injured cannot form new memories. (C) BBC
Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 2193 - Posted: 06.04.2002
By CLIFFORD J. LEVY When state officials moved in March to close Seaport Manor in Brooklyn, long one of New York's most notoriously troubled adult homes for the mentally ill, they pledged to do all they could to protect the safety and well-being of its nearly 300 residents. But the home's discharge records and interviews with officials show that the state, in coordination with Seaport's management, has merely been relocating many of the profoundly ill residents to other adult homes that have their own histories of neglect. In one instance, the records show, a resident was delivered to a homeless shelter. At least 18 residents have been sent from Seaport to the 240-bed King Solomon Manor in Jamaica, Queens, where state inspectors discovered last year that one resident wore urine-soaked clothing for days, while another was so poorly supervised that he had to be taken to an emergency room suffering from dehydration, according to an August 2001 report. One resident's room was infested with gnats, the report said, concluding that the home's care and cleanliness were chronically deficient. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 2192 - Posted: 06.03.2002
New research shows that what falls below the horizon line in ambiguous figure-ground pictures is most often seen as the 'figure' WASHINGTON - Every student of introductory psychology has seen figure-ground pictures, those ambiguous illustrations that demonstrate the flexibility of human perception. Is it a light goblet or two dark profiles? An elegant lady with a feather in her hat, or a vase? These figure-ground pictures are important to understanding how people make sense out of their visual environments, and act on what they perceive. Now, three University of Iowa psychologists have systematically documented that people usually see what falls in the lower region of a figure-ground picture as the "figure," not the "ground." They report their findings in the June issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , published by the American Psychological Association (APA). The article covers eight experiments whose results consistently confirmed that people pick what constitutes the lower, not upper, region of a display as the "figure," not the "ground," at rates greater than chance. © PsycNET 2002 American Psychological Association
Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 2191 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Why do we worry ourselves sick? Because the brain is hardwired for fear, and sometimes it short-circuits
By Christine Gorman
It's 4 a.m., and you're wide awake — palms sweaty, heart racing. You're worried about your kids. Your aging parents. Your 401(k). Your health. Your sex life. Breathing evenly beside you, your spouse is oblivious. Doesn't he — or she — see the dangers that lurk in every shadow? He must not. Otherwise, how could he, with all that's going on in the world, have talked so calmly at dinner last night about flying to Florida for a vacation?
How is it that two people facing the same circumstances can react so differently? Why are some folks buffeted by the vicissitudes of life while others glide through them with grace and calm? Are some of us just born more nervous than others? And if you're one of them, is there anything you can do about it?
By Kim Painter, special for USA TODAY ARLINGTON, Va. — Thomas DeBaggio reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a crisp, neatly folded piece of white paper. He holds it out, exhibit A. Next, he reaches in and pulls out a pen, exhibit B. "This is what I carry with me," he says. "These two are now my brain. This is how I remember things. I write them down." Except this morning, the paper is blank, the pen capped. A lot of days lately are like that. © Copyright 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 2189 - Posted: 06.24.2010
NewScientist.com news service A cellular version of a traffic jam may be what causes neurodegenerative diseases like the one suffered by the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. Using a genetically engineered mouse, researchers in Pennsylvania have shown that clogging up the routes between motor neurons and the muscles they control can be a cause, rather than a symptom, of lost motor control. Motor neurons reside in the brain and spinal cord but control movements in body parts as far away as our toes and fingers. To do this, they have very long projections, or axons, which sometimes stretch up to a metre in length. Good motor control depends on these axons acting as supply routes, to transport proteins and other molecules back and forth. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.
Keyword: ALS-Lou Gehrig's Disease
Link ID: 2188 - Posted: 06.24.2010
By GINA KOLATA Until recently, a patient like Carolyn E. Hoard would never have been told she was progressing toward Alzheimer's disease. A 61-year-old mental health counselor in Kittanning, Pa., she reported nothing more than a mild loss of memory, particularly when it came to recalling what someone had said in conversation a few minutes ago. Her first neurologist told her she was fine. But the memory lapses persisted, and Ms. Hoard went to a second neurologist, who gave her the news she had been dreading: she suffered from mild cognitive impairment, usually the first sign of Alzheimer's disease. The term is new, having entered the vocabulary of memory specialists in the late 1990's. Now more and more doctors, combining tools as sophisticated as brain imaging and as simple as a short test of word recall, are making the diagnosis. Researchers and drug companies say the new category will enable them to track the progression of Alzheimer's disease and understand it better. They are already testing a wide array of treatments in these patients — from vitamins to hormones to new drugs as well as drugs already approved for Alzheimer's. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 2187 - Posted: 06.24.2010
By WILLIAM J. HOLSTEIN TARRYTOWN, N.Y. -- LEONARD S. SCHLEIFER, the son of a sweater manufacturer who grew up in the Rego Park section of Queens, was on his way to becoming a distinguished scientist. But after he earned an M.D. and a Ph.D. and started a research career in 1984 at Cornell University, he became fascinated with the biotechnology revolution. Though he had never held what he jokingly calls a "real job," he decided to build a company that delivered better drugs to people. So in 1988, he assembled a group of Nobel Prize winners and other researchers and created Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a former Union Carbide laboratory here. Dr. Schleifer, 49, is now on the brink of one of the biggest victories in the biotechnology race — or one of the most humiliating defeats. His company has consumed hundreds of millions of dollars in investors' capital and has never had a profitable quarter. It developed a protein in the early 1990's to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig's disease, but patients lost too much weight as a side effect. The company halted trials in 1993. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
Keyword: Obesity; ALS-Lou Gehrig's Disease
Link ID: 2186 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Doctors say they have found further evidence to suggest television programmes encourage eating disorders among teenage girls. It follows a major study examining the impact of the introduction of television in two towns in the Pacific islands of Fiji. Dr Anne Becker and colleagues from Harvard Medical School found that levels of poor body image and incidents of eating disorders among girls have increased since they were first exposed to television. In a country where girls traditionally have good appetites and larger body shapes, many girls now vomit to control their weight, are on diets and believe they are too fat. (C) BBC
Keyword: Anorexia & Bulimia
Link ID: 2185 - Posted: 06.01.2002
Bruce Bower Naps aren't just for the very young, old, and slothful. Daytime dozing may enhance a person's capacity to learn certain tasks. That, at least, is the eye-opening implication of a new study in which college students were challenged to detect subtle changes in an image during four different test sessions on the same day. Participants improved on the task throughout the first session, says psychologist Sara C. Mednick of Harvard University and her colleagues. The students' speed and accuracy then leveled off during the second session. From Science News, Vol. 161, No. 22, June 1, 2002, p. 341. Copyright ©2002 Science Service. All rights reserved.
Keyword: Sleep; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 2184 - Posted: 06.24.2010