WASHINGTON - People's risk for hypertension associated with having a parental history of hypertension may be influenced by observing how their parents handled stress, says researchers who examined relations among numerous behavioral responses and family history of hypertension. This study, reported on in the May issue of Health Psychology, finds that offspring of hypertensive parents react more negatively, both behaviorally and physiologically, to stressful situations. The reason may in part be because certain behaviors, like conflict avoidance and inadequate expression of feelings, were part of their family environments and have been passed from generation to generation in hypertensive families, says lead author Nicole L. Frazer, Ph.D., and colleagues of West Virginia University. Those offspring who have hypertensive parents not only exhibit exaggerated physiological reactivity to stressors but also exhibit learned maladaptive behavioral responses to stressors, said Frazer. © PsycNET 2002 American Psychological Association

Keyword: Stress; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 2054 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By ANDREW C. REVKIN Scientists working for the Pentagon have trained ordinary honeybees to ignore flowers and home in on minute traces of explosives, a preliminary step toward creating a buzzing, swarming detection system that could be used to find truck bombs, land mines and other hidden explosives. The work is in its early stages, and bees, like bomb-sniffing dogs, have limitations. They do not work at night or in storms or cold weather, and it is hard to imagine deploying a swarm to sniff luggage in an airport. But they also have extraordinary attributes, including extreme sensitivity to scant molecular trails and the ability to cover every nook around the colony as they weave about in search of food. Pentagon officials acknowledge that the idea of bomb-sniffing bees has a public relations problem, a "giggle factor," as one official put it. But that official and scientists working on the project insist the idea shows great potential. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 2053 - Posted: 05.13.2002

Fish use ultraviolet vision to choose mates. VIRGINIA GEWIN To truly appreciate guppy beauty takes vision. Ultraviolet vision. Because scientists and conservationists lack this ability, they may not have fully understood what makes some fish sexy to others, until now. Two species of South American fish, the guppy1 and the amarillo2 , use ultraviolet vision to choose mates, two recent studies have found. Females of both species prefer males that they've seen in ultraviolet to those spied when ultraviolet is filtered out. Reflective body stripes and gill covers probably attract the females only when the sun glints off them, suggests the leader of the amarillo study, Constantino Macias Garcia of the Institute of Ecology at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. "We have been missing out on a whole channel of communication in the animal world," says Macias Garcia. * Smith, E. J. et al. Ultraviolet vision and mate choice in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). Behavioral Ecology, 13, 11 - 19, (2002). * Garcia, C. M. & de Perera, T. B. Ultraviolet-based female preferences in a viviparous fish. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, doi:10.11007/s00265-002-0482-2 (2002). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Vision; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2052 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Barbara Feder Ostrov San Jose Mercury News Fifty years ago, physician-supply catalogs carried sugar pills and tonics in many shapes and colors. Known as placebos, these were sham medicines, inert substances that sometimes made sick patients feel better, especially when they came from a kindly, authoritative family doctor. Physicians no longer dispense sugar pills, of course. But the placebo effect remains a powerful force in modern medicine, a mysterious victory of mind over body that seems to flout the cherished objectivity of medical science. New brain-imaging studies show for the first time how and where the placebo effect kindles changes in the brain, renewing interest in the topic. Researchers are searching for ways healers can work with, rather than against, the effect to help patients. Copyright © 2002 The Seattle Times Company

Keyword: Depression; Pain & Touch
Link ID: 2051 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Societal and lifestyle issues—not biology—appear to have the greatest influences on whether men or women live longer By Karen Young Kreeger For as long as demographic records have existed in the United States, women have outlived men. When flappers were big, a woman's life expectancy at birth was about two years more than a man's. Some 50 years later, when disco started taking over the land, the gap had expanded three-fold, to more than seven years. The widening of last century's life expectancy gap between the sexes has been attributed mostly to smoking—men more than women. But in the last few decades, the number of female smokers has increased relative to their male counterparts, effectively narrowing the gap. In 1999, the latest year for which figures are available, a woman's life expectancy at birth was 79.4, and for a man's, 73.9. These fluctuations are not confined to the United States. For example, while not citing specific reasons, the United Kingdom's Government Actuary's Department reports that in 1971, a man was expected to live until nearly 69; a woman, 75. By 2011, the ages are expected to be 77.4 and 81.6, respectively. The smoking scenario has been an important factor in explaining demographics in developed countries, and now it is becoming important in developing countries as well, notes Ingrid Waldron, professor of biology, University of Pennsylvania.1 The Scientist 16[10]:34, May. 13, 2002 © Copyright 2002, The Scientist, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2050 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Two thirds of teachers in England and Wales think there are more autistic children in primary schools than there were five years ago, according to a report. And the teachers surveyed believe the rate is three times higher in primary than secondary schools. The poll by the National Autistic Society (NAS) also suggests three-quarters of the profession feel there is not enough training offered to teachers in how to deal with autistic needs. The findings, published on the eve of Autism Awareness Week, echo wider public fears that autism cases are on the rise. (C) BBC

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 2049 - Posted: 05.12.2002

John Pickrell Holding back on the chow may be key to prolonging your pet's life. That's the message from a recently completed study of Labrador retrievers. Since the 1930s, researchers have collected evidence that restricting the diets of rodents and invertebrates can extend their lives and delay the onset of age-related illnesses. In tests, the animals are typically fed a nutritionally complete diet that contains up to 40 percent less carbohydrate, fat, and protein than that given to control animals (SN: 10/5/91, p. 215). A handful of experiments in longer-lived animals, mainly rhesus monkeys, have yielded preliminary evidence that the diet-longevity link extends to larger animals, but most of these studies remain years away from completion (SN: 11/25/00, p. 341: http://www.sciencenews.org/20001125/fob3.asp). In the meantime, the Labrador study provides enlightening results. From Science News, Vol. 161, No. 19, May 11, 2002, p. 291. Copyright ©2002 Science Service. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 2047 - Posted: 06.24.2010

by Apoorva Mandavilli, BioMedNet News Doubts about the identity of a key enzyme implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD), which many researchers thought were resolved, surfaced this afternoon when one of the field's leading experts criticized development of inhibitors to the enzyme, gamma-secretase, as a potential therapy. Assuming that the protein presenilin is gamma-secretase, in the face of results to the contrary, is like relying on "three blind men describing an elephant," Peter St George-Hyslop told BioMedNet News. Gamma-secretase enzyme is central in generating beta-amyloid fragments, which are implicated in AD. Several teams have isolated the enzyme's activity to a high molecular weight complex that has several unidentified components. Over the past few years, some high-profile researchers, including Harvard's Dennis Selkoe, have proposed that presenilin 1 (PS1), a member of the complex, is itself the elusive gamma-secretase. © Elsevier Science Limited 2002

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 2046 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Children in a close and loving relationship with their mothers and who have a supportive family life are less likely to become involved in drug or alcohol abuse, a study claims. Child psychiatrist Dr Paul McArdle, at Newcastle University, headed the survey of 4,000 youngsters across Europe which concludes "attachment, particularly to mothers, is a potent inhibitor and that this is true across cultures and substances". The study reveals 14 and 15-year-olds living with both parents in a well supervised and loving atmosphere are less likely to have drug and alcohol habits. Of those without parents at home and without a supportive and supervised homelife, 42% were likely to be involved in drugs but if both factors are present, the figure falls to 17%. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 2045 - Posted: 05.10.2002

MANHATTAN -- We've all known what it's like to have the blues. Depression and anger can make you sick, literally. But a new study at Kansas State University shows that some people take longer to snap out of it -- which can lead to health problems -- while cheerful people tend to stay happy longer. Psychologists have known for a while that some people experience emotions more intensely than others. But little was known about how people differ in the amount of time they experience an emotion before it fades away, said Scott Hemenover, an assistant professor of psychology at K-State. In the past, neurotic people were defined by how strongly they felt depressed or angry, not how long those emotions lasted. Likewise, extroverts were defined by how strongly they felt happy, not how long they felt happy. Extroverts are also associated with sociability and the desire to seek excitement.

Keyword: Depression; Stress
Link ID: 2044 - Posted: 05.10.2002

Researchers present theory of memory and memory loss (Little Rock) Findings published last week in Proceeding of the National Academy of Science (USA) could lead to a better understanding of how our memory changes with age, according to John Hart, Jr., M.D. associate professor in the Reynolds Department of Geriatrics of the UAMS College of Medicine and a co-author of the study. "This new approach to looking at mechanisms of memory via electrical rhythms raises a whole series of questions about how the brain operates and what happens when it doesn't work properly," he explained. The study, conducted by Dr. Hart and co-investigators Scott Slotnick, Ph.D., Lauren Moo, M.D., Michael Kraut, M.D., Ph.D., and R. Lesser, M.D. of Johns Hopkins University, involves a novel explanation for how we recall memories for objects that surround us. The medical researchers suggest that objects occur in your memory by uniting together the different brain regions that make up various parts of the object you are trying to remember. For example, the memory of a dog includes uniting smell, sound, appearance and name.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 2043 - Posted: 05.10.2002

CHARLESTON (AP) — A pilot fighting off sleep struggles to land his multimillion dollar jet on an aircraft carrier. At the front line, soldiers, themselves weary from too many sleepless nights, mistake one of their own tanks for the enemy as they punch in computer coordinates to bring in supporting fire. Scientists at the Medical University of South Carolina on Thursday received a $2 million government grant to develop technology to reduce the chances for mistakes in such situations where the military fights both the enemy and a lack of sleep. Dr. Mark George and Daryle Bohning of the university's Brain Stimulation Laboratory received a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to research development of a brain stimulation device — likely a helmet — to counter the effects of losing sleep.

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 2042 - Posted: 06.24.2010

University of Florida researchers will launch a first-of-its-kind therapy to treat severe traumatic brain injury, a condition for which there is currently no treatment. Many of the million people who sustain severe traumatic brain injuries each year in the United States wind up with severe and lasting disabilities. These injuries occur when a sudden physical assault on the head causes damage that disrupts normal brain function. The major causes of head trauma are motor vehicle accidents, falls and violence. Copyright © 1995-2002 UniSci. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 2041 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition Researchers are planning to use gene technology to stop the fish producing female offspring, forcing the population to crash. But before that can happen, the scientists will have to show that the strategy, which has already been shown to work in lab fish, will not create more problems than it solves. Ron Thresher of the CSIRO, Australia's national research organisation, and his team hope to introduce multiple copies of a gene called daughterless into carp which would be periodically released into the wild. Copies of the gene are carried by the males, ensuring that it spreads though the population. "If you turn everything into a male, sooner or later the population collapses," says Thresher. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 2040 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Four out of five parents are unaware that children who wet their beds may be suffering from a medical condition. A survey of 1,000 parents suggests the vast majority believe children wet the bed because they are stressed or worried, or in some cases simply out of laziness. However, bedwetting or nocturnal enuresis is a recognised medical condition, which is estimated to affect half a million UK children. In most cases, it can be treated with medication. But the survey - published as part of National Bedwetting Day on Thursday - found nearly half of parents are prepared to ignore the problem and hope their child grows out of it. (C) BBC

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 2039 - Posted: 05.09.2002

HOUSTON - A lightweight, imaging cap being designed to assess brain function may go where no MRI has gone before. "On extended space missions, there will be a need to assess brain function as it relates to performance of high-level tasks and in the event of possible illness or injury," said Dr. Jeffrey Sutton, director of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) and leader of its smart medical systems team. "This portable technology will be beneficial on Earth for assessing, diagnosing and monitoring treatment in brain disorders, such as strokes and seizures." The device utilizes diffuse optical tomography (DOT), a technique using near-infrared light and detectors to record brain activity. The light shines through the skull into the brain and records regional differences in blood flow and oxygen levels. These differences are then analyzed to reveal areas of brain activity. Copyright © 2000-2002 National Space Biomedical Research Institute

Keyword: Brain imaging
Link ID: 2038 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Radio-controlled rodents could go places that St. Bernards can't. But that's not why they're important BY MICHAEL D. LEMONICK In one sense, the news last week that scientists have created a "roborat" represents an ingenious technical breakthrough. Engineers have tried for years--without success--to build robots smart enough to cross even a railroad track. Now, by combining off-the-shelf technology with a creature whose maneuvering skills have been honed by millions of years of evolution, physiologists at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn have created remotely piloted rodents that navigate complex terrain at the will of controllers who are more than 500 yards away. Wearing tiny backpacks equipped with radio transmitters and miniature TV cameras, the rats could someday be sent into a collapsed building to find survivors, say the scientists, or into a minefield to sniff out danger or off on a spy mission. But look a little deeper, and the accomplishment is both less and more than meets the eye. It's less in part because the technology involved is so simple. Trainers have known for centuries that you can teach animals to perform all sorts of behaviors with a system of rewards or punishments. Neurophysiologists have known for decades that instead of an external reward like food, you can send electric impulses directly into the brain's pleasure center. Copyright © 2002 Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Robotics
Link ID: 2037 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By GERALD NADLER The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Iodine deficiency, a major cause of mental disabilities and learning difficulties, will be eliminated globally within three years, U.N. officials and salt industry executives predicted Wednesday. Two billion people -- more than 30 percent of the world's population -- still suffer from a deficiency of the chemical element iodine, a leading cause of brain damage in unborn children. The disorder can be alleviated by consuming salt with iodine. By 2005, the deficiency will be completely erased, culminating a 15-year effort by U.N. agencies, civil organizations, and salt producers -- an achievement likened to eliminating smallpox, the United Nations Children's Fund said. Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Intelligence; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 2036 - Posted: 05.09.2002

Kathryn Phillips Most textbooks tell you that primates have a lousy sense of smell, but watch a monkey investigate a piece of food, and the first thing it does is have a good sniff - which doesn't seem like the reaction of an animal with a poor sense of smell. Mattias Laska was intrigued by this apparent conundrum, so he set out to test just how sensitive these animals are to different smells. After testing monkeys with a battery of scents, he's added a selection of alcohols to the primates' repertoire of detected smells, proving that monkeys are better `smellers' than anyone had supposed (p. 1633). Laska has spent the last 15 years training animals to detect specific smells, and most of the time, this isn't easy. Even though dogs have some of the sharpest noses on the planet, very few people have successfully trained dogs in order to test their sensitivity to individual scents. Man is probably the easiest animal to train, so more is known about the human sense of smell. Even then, only 300 monomolecular scents have been tested on us. Having successfully trained a variety of creatures from honey bees up to mammals, Laska was confident that he could successfully train primates to tell him when they could detect smells. He decided to test two primate species' responses to a class of chemicals they encounter in the wild. Ripe fruits emit alcohols at different stages of ripeness, so he tested the animals' sensitivity to eleven alcohol molecules that they might experience in their natural environment. The Journal of Experimental Biology 205, i1101-i1101 (2002) © 2002 The Company of Biologists Limited

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 2035 - Posted: 06.24.2010

NewScientist.com news service Secondhand smoke shaves points off kids' IQ, a study of over 4000 American children suggests. Even those exposed to small amounts of cigarette smoke have slightly lower cognitive abilities. "These levels may not be meaningful for an individual child, but they have huge implications for our society because millions of children are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke," says Kimberly Yolton of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio. Yolton's team looked at levels of a breakdown product of nicotine called cotinine in the blood of 4399 children aged between six and 16. They also examined their scores on a number of intelligence tests, using data from a countrywide survey known as NHANES-III done between 1988 and 1994. To rule out any children who might be smoking themselves, only those with cotinine levels lower than 15 nanograms per millilitre were included. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Intelligence
Link ID: 2034 - Posted: 06.24.2010