Living near a busy road may stop a child doing well at school, say scientists. The noise is bad for mental health, according to a study of schoolchildren in Austria. A child's academic performance, behaviour and attention span could all be affected by the hum of traffic or other sounds. Being constantly surrounded by everyday noise appears to be the main factor. It has "very subtle influences on children's motivation and cognitive development", says research leader Dr Peter Lercher of the University of Innsbruck. (C) BBC

Keyword: Hearing; Intelligence
Link ID: 2160 - Posted: 05.29.2002

Tennis and golf players, at least the good ones, experience it with every shot: Their brains compute the velocity and direction of a flying ball with high precision in real-time. But under dim light, when the contrast is low, even the pros misjudge. Now theoretical neuroscientists show that such errors are not due to sloppy neuronal computation, but the result of educated--but erroneous--guesses as the brain struggles under difficult conditions. Dim light can lead to some strange errors. In one classic example, a rhombus moving horizontally with the four corners covered appears to move vertically at low contrast (see link below with interactive animation). Similarly, car drivers underestimate their speed in foggy weather and tend to drive faster than on a sunny day. Cognitive neuroscientists have tried to exploit such observations to figure out how the brain perceives motion. Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 2159 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Penn researchers design disc to deliver medication for up to 12 months (Philadelphia, PA) -- One of the greatest difficulties in treating schizophrenia has always been helping patients to stay on their medication. Now, that problem is closer to being solved. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine have designed an implantable device capable of delivering anti-psychotic medication for a period of five months, and continuing work at Penn indicates that such devices may work for up to a full year. The device has been proven effective in initial laboratory studies, and more research is underway (in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine) to lead to potential clinical trials. Findings from the small-mammal study appear in the current issue of the scientific journal Neuropsychopharmacology. If the device can be demonstrated to work effectively in human subjects in future trials, it will offer a medical alternative that may relieve many patients of the threat of psychosis and chronic social instability.

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 2158 - Posted: 05.29.2002

NIDA-supported researchers from Brookhaven National Laboratory and the State University of New York at Stony Brook have found evidence in humans that dopamine plays a role in the conditioned cue response to food. Cues—seeing, smelling, and tasting something enjoyable—increase the desire for the reward without necessarily enhancing the pleasure of the reward itself. Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to measure changes in dopamine in the brains of 10 healthy adults (eight men and two women) during food and neutral stimulations. Food stimulation consisted of the participants viewing, smelling, and tasting their favorite foods but not actually eating the foods. For neutral stimulation, participants described their family genealogy in detail. Prior to and during food stimulation, participants were instructed to rate their feelings of "hunger," "desire for food," "alertness," "stimulation," and "talkativeness" on a scale of 1 to 10. Participants had fasted 16-20 hours before PET scans were conducted.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2157 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Neuronal differences in brain regions involved in decision-making and other functions observed for the first time in chronic users of cocaine Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have detected differences in areas of the brain in chronic cocaine users. These differences were detected in regions involved in decision making, behavioral inhibition, and emotional reaction to the environment. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other brain mapping techniques, the researchers, led by Dr. Teresa R. Franklin, examined 13 men who had used cocaine for an average of 13 years each. They found that, compared to controls who had never used cocaine, select regions of the brains of the cocaine users had less gray matter. This decrease in critical working brain tissue ranged from 5 to 11 percent. This is the first time in either animal or human studies that differences in gray matter concentrations have been found in chronic cocaine users.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2156 - Posted: 05.29.2002

MAASTRICHT, Netherlands, (UPI) -- People with depression are more than three times as likely to develop Parkinson's disease than people who are not depressed, a new study reveals. "This raises the question of whether depression is the first symptom of Parkinson's disease ... that appears before patients have other symptoms and a diagnosis," said Agnes Schuurman, one of the study's authors, a researcher at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Parkinson's disease is characterized by reduced mobility, tremors and muscular rigidity. Although Parkinson's sufferers are often affected by depression, Schuurman said this is the first study to track people with depression to see how many develop Parkinson's. Copyright © 2002 United Press International

Keyword: Depression; Parkinsons
Link ID: 2155 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Folic acid may help forestall the disease By Jennifer Thomas HealthScoutNews Reporter -- Heard of homocysteine? If not, you will soon, health experts say. New research is finding homocysteine (ho-mo-SIS-teen), an amino acid, may play a role in the onset of dementia. The good news is that vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid may reduce the levels of homocysteine in the blood, says Dr. James Toole, a professor of neurology and public health science at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Copyright © 2002 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 2154 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer, Is evolution like a well-tuned car that purrs down the road at a steady pace? Or is it more like an aging, rattling jalopy that often lurches forward? The aging jalopy is a handy metaphor for the evolutionary theory popularized by Stephen Jay Gould, who died of cancer last week at age 60. Thanks to Gould's numerous popular writings, his theory known as "punctuated equilibrium" has been at the center of a major scientific debate since the early 1970s. Gould and his colleague Niles Eldredge argued that the evolution of life isn't a slow, steady, gradual process, as conventional scientific wisdom held. Rather, they said, evolution is a multi-million-year saga usually characterized by brief, sudden shifts separated by long periods of little or no change. ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 2153 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By JOHN O'NEIL A change is as good as a rest for a brain worn down by working too long on one task, according to a study released yesterday in the journal Nature Neuroscience. A group of researchers tried to find out why too much practice could make performance slump. Led by Dr. Sara C. Mednick, a Harvard psychologist, the researchers put 30 well-rested people through the same set of tasks — distinguishing between shapes that were displayed very briefly — four times in the course of day, starting at 9 a.m. and ending at 7 p.m. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Attention; Sleep
Link ID: 2152 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By JANE E. BRODY I slowed down as I approached a fork in the highway, unsure of which arm to take. The driver behind me was on my tail, so impatient that he tried to pass me on the right just as I headed for the right fork, forcing him to slam on his brakes. He became so infuriated that he pulled right in front of my car and each time I moved he repeatedly slammed on his brakes, forcing me to brake suddenly again and again, endangering not only me but himself and the driver behind me. While his road rage was short of a shooting, it was rage nonetheless and extremely unnerving. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Aggression; Emotions
Link ID: 2151 - Posted: 05.28.2002

Statistical analysis applied to fraternal birth order effect by Jessica Whiteside -- Roughly one in seven gay men may owe his sexual orientation to the fact he has older brothers, say U of T researchers. Earlier studies have shown that each additional older brother increases the odds of homosexuality in a younger brother. "This phenomenon, known as the fraternal birth order effect, was first shown by Professor Ray Blanchard [of U of T's Department of Psychiatry and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health] and has since been confirmed by other scientists," says CAMH post-doctoral fellow James Cantor. Cantor is co-author of a new study to determine the proportion of gay men whose sexual orientation is due to this effect. "This latest study demonstrates just how important that link is," says Cantor.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2150 - Posted: 05.28.2002

CHAPEL HILL – About 10 years ago, Dr. Robert Golden and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill colleagues discovered an important new clue to the cause of depression, one that other researchers eventually confirmed. They found that depressed people showed a blunted hormonal response to a test he developed that boosts serotonin, an important neurotransmitter chemical in the brain. "This neuroendocrine challenge test, which involved giving depressed volunteer patients a medicine called clomipramine, indicated that depressed patients’ serotonin systems were sluggish in response and not working efficiently," Golden said. "An analogy I use is that their serotonin ‘engine’ needs a tune-up because they aren’t getting much mileage out of the gas being burned."

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 2149 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By AAP Are women responsible for the intelligence of the human race because they consistently pick brain over brawn when choosing mates? A study by German geneticists supports the controversial theory that women approach brains as a sexual ornament - much like a lion's mane or a peacock's tail - according to a report in New Scientist magazine. Developments in genetics allowed the German team to build on previous studies by finding more evidence that the X chromosome carries intelligence.

Keyword: Intelligence; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2148 - Posted: 05.28.2002

NewScientist.com news service People who have trouble controlling their anger might be suffering from a mild form of brain dysfunction, say US researchers. Their tests suggest that being prone to aggressive, even violent, outbursts is linked to impairments in a region of the brain called the orbital/medial prefrontal cortex circuit. Psychiatric diagnoses of the condition, known formally as Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) are rare. But Mary Best at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia says: "Even individuals who do not meet full criteria for the disorder can still have frequent uncontrollable episodes of impulsive aggression, and they can impact society through their violent behaviour. An example would be a spousal abuser." The disorder usually starts in adolescence, and most cases probably go undiagnosed, says Best. Some psychologists have blamed IED episodes for recent cases of school pupils massacring fellow students. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Aggression; Emotions
Link ID: 2147 - Posted: 06.24.2010

MRI measures size of key memory center in brain By Adam Marcus HealthScoutNews Reporter MONDAY, (HealthScoutNews) -- Head scans that measure the size of a key memory center in the brain may help doctors predict Alzheimer's disease decades before a patient's mental ability falters, new research has found. The findings involve an area deep in the brain called the hippocampus, one of the earliest sites to be affected by Alzheimer's. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the researchers showed that at death women with dementia linked to the degenerative disorder had markedly smaller hippocampus volume compared with women who died with normal brain function intact. More modest changes were also evident in women with the cellular scars of early Alzheimer's but no memory loss when they died. "We wanted to see if we looked at people who were not demented and had no memory impairment, could we identify which had Alzheimer's by looking at the volume of the hippocampus," said James Mortimer, director of the Institute on Aging at the University of South Florida in Tampa and a co-author of the study. "We can do it with great accuracy." Copyright © 2002 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Brain imaging
Link ID: 2146 - Posted: 06.24.2010

A treatment which uses "master cells" from the muscles could eventually help patients with the muscle-wasting illness muscular dystrophy. The experiments - although so far only in mice - restored some muscle strength. People with muscular dystrophy do not have the ability to make a protein called dystrophin - which is vital to keep muscles working properly. Doctors used stem cells taken from the muscles of healthy newborn mice. These were then transplanted into the muscles of mice bred to simulate muscular dystrophy. Scientists found that the stem cells turned not only into muscle cells, but also into nerve and blood vessel cells. (C) BBC

Keyword: Muscles; Stem Cells
Link ID: 2145 - Posted: 05.27.2002

By JANE E. BRODY My father died suddenly of his second heart attack while shopping for groceries. Though he was a very sweet and caring man, patience was not his strong suit, and my mother was convinced that his irritation over being stuck behind a garbage truck on the way to the store ultimately did him in. There have been countless reports seeking to link heart disease and sudden death to various personality traits: aggressiveness, nervousness, anxiety, impatience, irritability, hostility, as well as the whole package of such characteristics labeled Type A behavior. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Stress
Link ID: 2142 - Posted: 05.27.2002

Science pioneering technology that will help restore vision By Jim Krane, Associated Press NEW YORK -- When 68-year-old Robert Rosene became a bionic-eyed man, he didn't get the Six Million Dollar Man's telescoping vision. Rosene, of St. Charles, Ill., was all but pitch-black blind before getting a microchip slipped into his retina last year. He now sees globs of light and shadow, but not his wife's face. For Cora Jean Kleppe, 73, who got a bionic ear last month, silence has been upended by a cascade of sounds: the ding of the microwave oven, the eager chatter of her grandkids and the tweeting of birds in her San Mateo, Calif. garden. © The E.W. Scripps Co.

Keyword: Robotics; Vision
Link ID: 2141 - Posted: 06.24.2010

UK scientists have found strong evidence suggesting that diabetes is caused by a virus. The finding raises the possibility of developing a vaccine for the disease. The researchers have discovered a marked difference between the way the bodies of healthy individuals and those newly diagnosed with diabetes respond to a virus known as Coxsackie B4. Dr Mark Peakman led the three-year-study at the Department of Immunology at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine. He said: "The implications are clear: if viruses have a proven role in the disease, there is the future possibility of developing vaccines to prevent infection and therefore Type 1 diabetes." Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body lacks insulin, the hormone which controls the sugar levels in the bloodstream. People with the condition have to inject insulin daily instead. (C) BBC

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 2139 - Posted: 05.25.2002

A pioneering technique using dogs to detect prostate cancer is being developed in Cambridgeshire. Researchers at Cambridge University have applied for funding to test their theory that a dog's sense of smell could provide a better early warning system for some cancers than modern science. They hope to train dogs to react to cancer cells in urine samples, revolutionising the screening process for conditions like prostate cancer. If the university gets funding it will ask professsional dog trainer Charlie Clarricoates, of Soham, Cambridgeshire, to carry out the experiment. Dr Barbara Sommerville, of the University's Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, said: "If there is a consistent change in odour the dogs will be able to detect it, of that we are in no doubt. (C) BBC

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 2138 - Posted: 05.25.2002