People who binge drink could be causing rapid damage to their brain cells, research suggests. The finding could have implications for the growing legions of young people in the UK who binge drink. It has commonly been thought that brain damage, or neurodegeneration, occurs not when a person is drunk, but over a longer period when the brain has to cope with alcohol withdrawal. However, a new study on rats has shown that just two days of binge drinking is enough to cause damage to an area of the brain called the olfactory bulb, which is responsible for smell. Damage to other regions of the brain occurred after just four days of binge drinking. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1878 - Posted: 04.16.2002

— Researchers have found that neural stem cells isolated from the brains of adult rats can mature into functional neurons. Stem cells, which are found in tissues throughout the body, are immature progenitor cells that give rise to more specialized cells that form tissues and organs. The scientists emphasized that although their studies show that adult stem cells have the capacity to develop into functioning brain cells, their findings do not mean that clinical application of adult neural stem cells is imminent. The studies were published April 15, 2002, in an advance online article in Nature Neuroscience by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator Charles F. Stevens and colleagues Hong-jun Song, an HHMI research associate, and Fred H. Gage at The Salk Institute. According to Stevens, previous experiments showed that adult neural stem cells bear certain molecular markers that suggested that they could become neurons. “It’s absolutely clear that embryonic stem cells can make perfectly good neurons, otherwise there would be no development of the brain,” said Stevens. “But nobody had demonstrated before that adult stem cells can generate fully functional neurons, beyond just having particular protein markers.” ©2002 Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Keyword: Stem Cells; Regeneration
Link ID: 1877 - Posted: 06.24.2010

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Tired and sweaty after sex? A Dutch doctor said on Friday he is studying a rare new syndrome among middle-aged men who complain of flu-like symptoms for up to a week after having an orgasm. Marcel Waldinger, head of the department of psychiatry and neurosexology at Leyenburg Hospital in the Hague (news - web sites), said he planned to publish a report on "post-orgasmic illness syndrome" in the U.S. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy this month. Waldinger has seen five Dutch men in as many years in his surgery complaining of a range of flu-like symptoms, including a sore throat, sweating, extreme fatigue and eye irritation after sex. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1876 - Posted: 06.24.2010

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Laser surgery to control sleep apnea -- interrupted breathing amid heavy snoring -- appears to work in the short term but causes even worse snoring and apnea later on, according to a report published on Sunday. Doctors at Meir Hospital, Sapir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, Israel, said they reached that conclusion after studying 26 patients with obstructive sleep apnea who underwent laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty. The technique uses a laser to shrink the uvula, the conical structure that hangs from the lower edge of the soft palate, which is part of the roof of the mouth. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Sleep
Link ID: 1875 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By BARRY MEIER The federal Drug Enforcement Administration said last week that an expanded review of autopsy data had suggested that the painkiller OxyContin might have played a role in 464 drug overdose deaths in the last two years, a figure sharply higher than the agency's previous estimate. But the drug's manufacturer vigorously challenged the agency's interpretation of that data and an official of another federal agency, the Food and Drug Administration, expressed caution. The company and the F.D.A. said they were also reviewing autopsy reports and the Food and Drug Administration official said that agency's study indicated that OxyContin did not appear to pose a threat when used properly. The latest Drug Enforcement Administration update, which was released on Friday, expands on an earlier review. Last year, the agency asked state and local officials to submit all medical examiner and autopsy reports from 2000 and 2001 in which the narcotic oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin and other painkillers, had been found during autopsies. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1874 - Posted: 04.15.2002

First images of inhalants in the brain reveal why solvents may be so addictive. UPTON, NY -- Inhalant abuse, also known as "huffing," is a rapidly growing health problem, particularly among young people. However, little is known about how inhaled chemicals affect the brain and body. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory -- inspired by schoolchildren who wanted to know more about huffing -- have produced the first-ever images showing what parts of the brain and body are most affected by toluene, a commonly inhaled solvent. The study, which was performed in baboons and mice, appears in the April 26 issue of the journal Life Sciences (available online April 15). The images show that toluene moves into the brain rapidly and initially affects the same brain regions as cocaine and other abused drugs. Then, toluene spreads more generally to the entire brain before clearing the body rapidly via the kidneys. "This affinity for brain regions associated with reward and pleasure, as well as the quick uptake and clearance, may help to explain why inhalants are so commonly abused," said lead author Madina Gerasimov, a Brookhaven chemist.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Brain imaging
Link ID: 1873 - Posted: 04.15.2002

By Alex Kirby BBC News Online environment correspondent A western lowland gorilla born with cataracts in both eyes can now see clearly for the first time. The gorilla, Romina, underwent a successful operation in Bristol, UK, to restore the sight of one eye. The team who operated on her hope to remove the cataract from her other eye. The operation was the first of its kind in Europe on an adult gorilla. Romina, who is 21, came to Bristol Zoo Gardens (BZG) from Rome zoo in Italy, where she had been born and hand-reared. Checks by the staff at Bristol revealed the cataracts, which had left Romina with only minimal peripheral vision. (C) BBC

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 1872 - Posted: 04.15.2002

Extreme climate change has been linked to humanity's giant mental leap forward Robin McKie The Observer Scientists believe climate catastrophes that triggered droughts and forest fires in mankind's African homeland two million years ago were responsible for the evolution of our large brains. Faced with massive, rapid changes to their woodland homes, early humans had rapidly to learn to live in a changing landscape. Only those with the most flexible, adaptive minds survived. 'Climate change is the engine of evolutionary change, and it drove the development of our brains,' said US brain expert William Calvin, of the University of Washington School of Medicine. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 1871 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Trials of cannabis-based medicines are to be extended to see if the drug is effective at reducing pain in a wider range of conditions. GW Pharmaceuticals, based in Salisbury, Wiltshire, is already looking at whether cannabis-based medicines reduce three types of pain, including general pain associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Four new trials will be established to look at how effective the medicines are in treating:- * pain in spinal cord injury * sleep disrupted by pain in multiple sclerosis (MS)sufferers * nerve-damage pain in MS * General nerve-damage pain, specifically allodynia, a condition where people feel pain from something which does not normally hurt, such as clothes brushing across skin The three existing trials look at the medicines' effects on cancer pain and brachial plexus injury - a severe form of nerve-damage pain, as well as general MS pain. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Pain & Touch
Link ID: 1870 - Posted: 04.13.2002

Patient groups are urging the NHS drugs watchdog to recommend a new anti-blindness therapy is made available on the NHS. The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) said up to 20,000 people in the UK could be left to go blind over the next few years if the treatment is not made widely available. Verteporfin is a form of photodynamic therapy designed to treat people with a condition called wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). It causes the retina to wear out, leaving sufferers with only peripheral vision. It affects two million people in the UK alone, including 40% of people over the age of 75. (C) BBC

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 1869 - Posted: 04.13.2002

Proteins, kinase are involved in clock regulation By Karen Young Kreeger Two papers published nearly back-to-back in 2000 pushed the study of mammalian chronobiology light years ahead. The first paper, from the lab of Joseph S. Takahashi, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and the Walter and Mary E. Glass Professor, department of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University, was published April 21st. The second, from the lab of Steven Reppert , chairman of neurobiology and Higgins Family professor of Neuroscience at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, hit the scientific world May 12. Reppert, at Massachusetts General Hospital at the time, and his team showed that the murine circadian clock is orchestrated by positive and negative transcription and post-translation feedback loops. Using mutant mice, they found that the Period2 protein positively regulates the Bmal1 gene loop, and that cryptochrome proteins negatively regulate the Period and Cryptochrome loops. The Takahashi lab paper showed that a mutation of a specific kinase that modifies circadian clock proteins has a clear effect on the mammalian circadian clock. Two previous papers from Reppert's group provided a backdrop for the circadian clock model proposed in their Hot Paper. The first posed the existence of a negative feedback loop in the mouse circadian clock;1 the second provided evidence that the cryptochrome proteins were the negative regulators of such a feedback loop.2 The Scientist 16[8]:32, Apr. 15, 2002 © Copyright 2002, The Scientist, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Biological Rhythms
Link ID: 1868 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Arlene Judith Klotzko Colin Blakemore's boundless energy—physical and intellectual—is quite fitting in a man who has run 18 marathons. His preference to be addressed as Colin (no honorifics please!) is in keeping with his quiet and unassuming manner, which is all the more impressive in a man who has created the equivalent of two parallel careers—one in neuroscience and the other in science communication. Blakemore got off to an exceptionally early and impressive start in both vocations—he completed his PhD in less than 30 months—and he achieved great success while still in his 30s. In 1976, he delivered the Reith Lectures for the BBC, and in 1979, he accepted the Waynflete chair of physiology at Oxford University—both the sorts of honors given to those 20 years his senior. He directs the Medical Research Council Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience. Currently, Blakemore is chairman of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (he was its president, 1997-1998,) and president of the Physiological Society. A long line of broadcasting appearances, along with his books and articles for the general public, have earned him a description by the Royal Society as "one of Britain's most influential communicators of science." For this role, The society presented Blakemore with its Michael Faraday award in 1989. The Scientist 16[8]:51, Apr. 15, 2002 © Copyright 2002, The Scientist, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 1867 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Myasthenia gravis finding may lead to cure and shine light on other autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis GALVESTON, Texas-Researchers here have identified a critical element in the molecular process responsible for the neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis. The discovery could lead to a possible cure for the muscle-weakening disease and to important insights into other autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, lupus and multiple sclerosis. Myasthenia gravis, which afflicts about 36,000 Americans, causes a loss of muscle strength, which at worst can make even the smallest movements difficult. It occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks molecules called acetylcholine receptors that muscle cells use to receive chemical signals from nerves. In an article appearing April 15 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, scientists Premkumar Christadoss, Huan Yang, Elzbieta Goluszko, Teh-Sheng Chan and Mathilde Poussin, all of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), pinpoint the specific part of the human acetylcholine receptor that evokes the strongest response from the human immune cells initiating such "friendly fire" attacks. Copyright © 2001, 2002 The University of Texas Medical Branch.

Keyword: Movement Disorders; Neuroimmunology
Link ID: 1865 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By NICHOLAS WADE Philosophers and theologians may speculate about the essence of human nature, but biologists have a kick-the-tires test that should, in principle, deliver an exact definition. By comparing humans and their close cousin, the chimpanzee, at the finest level possible, they believe, they can find the special ingredient that must be mixed into animal clay to make it human. Pursuing this goal with a sophisticated tool called a gene expression chip, researchers have now compared the genetic activity of the chimp and human brain, the organ that presumably holds the vital difference. Despite reports from anatomists that the two species' brains seemed to differ only in size — the human brain has more than three times the volume — the gene chip has brought to light numerous differences in how the brain cells of the species operate at the genetic level. The finding is reported today in the journal Science by Dr. Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and colleagues in Germany, the Netherlands and the University of California at San Diego. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Evolution; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 1864 - Posted: 06.24.2010

"Married" and "settled down" are two different concepts for some birds. Female collared flycatchers settle their nests with one mate but often lay eggs fathered by a studlier male. Now, researchers maintain that females are in charge of these extra-nest dalliances and time them for when they're most fertile. To the casual observer, most songbirds appear monogamous; DNA testing, however, reveals that anywhere from 10% to 75% of females cheat on their nestmates, depending on the species. Researchers studying the collared flycatcher know that about 40% of females have affairs, typically with males sporting a larger-than-average white spot on their foreheads. These males tend to father plumper offspring. Although previous work suggested that the female picks her paramours, researchers couldn't tell how she arranged the trysts to get the most reproductive bang for her, well, bang. --MARY BECKMAN Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1863 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Discovery Helps Resolve Debate, Could Lead to New Anti-Anxiety Medications BELMONT, Mass., (AScribe Newswire) -- McLean Hospital researchers report in the April 11 Neuron a discovery that could help resolve one of the liveliest controversies in contemporary neuroscience - how the brain changes during learning and memory. In addition, the discovery could lead to a better understanding of a class of psychiatric disorders that affects millions of Americans - namely, anxiety disorders. Researchers have argued that for memory and learning to occur, neurons must become more responsive to one another - so responsive that they will communicate at a high level even when they are no longer being stimulated by an external source, such as input from the senses or other neurons. But so far no one has been able to show that this enduring responsiveness, or long-term potentiation, actually occurs during learning and memory, leading some to doubt a causal link between learning and this physiological change in the brain. McLean Hospital researchers Vadim Bolshakov, PhD, and William Carlezon, PhD, working with Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel, PhD, and other McLean Hospital colleagues, report that they have found clear evidence of a causal link between long-term potentiation and learning - in this case, learned fear - in the brains of rats.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1862 - Posted: 04.12.2002

Bespoke bacteria tackle poisonous organophosphates. HELEN PEARSON Bacteria could digest chemical-weapons stockpiles, say Californian chemists. Their genetically engineered bacteria might also scrub pesticides from farm equipment. A bin full of bugs could make a cheap, green bioreactor to break down residues left in agricultural aircraft, tractors or animal dips, says Ashok Mulchandani of the University of California in Riverside. Mulchandani and his colleagues have given Escherichia coli bacteria the power to break down organophosphates. Developed - but now banned - as chemical-warfare agents, the use of mild forms of these compounds as insecticides has led to concern that they may harm farm workers or contaminate food. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Neurotoxins
Link ID: 1861 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The human brain shows strikingly different patterns of gene expression compared to the chimpanzee brain, a difference that isn't seen in other parts of the body like the liver and white blood cells, an international research team reports. Their study in the 12 April issue of the journal Science , published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, may shed light on why chimps and humans are so genetically similar--humans and chimpanzees share 98.7 percent of their DNA sequences--yet so mentally and physically different. Zeroing in on these differences could also help scientists learn more about the genetics underlying medical traits such as susceptibility to AIDS, malaria, and Alzheimer's disease, say the Science researchers, led by Svante Pääbo of the Max-Planck-Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Keyword: Evolution; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 1860 - Posted: 04.12.2002

COLUMBUS, Ohio - After a little more than three years' effort, psychologists at Ohio State University have taught a pair of young chimpanzees to "read" the names of nearly a dozen objects, to recognize the animals' own printed names and the names of tools they need to acquire their favorite foods. In three more years, they hope to teach the animals to communicate in simple sentences. That may seem a modest accomplishment -- giving a chimp a dozen-word vocabulary. But it is really a major step forward in a 20-year study of how these great apes learn, communicate and handle information. And at the end of this process, these animals may be able to use it to tell us - in their own words - about chimpanzee culture and society.

Keyword: Language; Evolution
Link ID: 1859 - Posted: 04.12.2002

Copyright © 2002 AP Online By ERIN McCLAM, Associated Press ATLANTA - The government said Thursday that each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States costs the nation $7 in medical care and lost productivity. The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the nation's total cost of smoking at $3,391 a year for every smoker, or $157.7 billion. Health experts had previously estimated $96 billion. Americans buy about 22 billion packs of cigarettes annually. The CDC study is the first to establish a per-pack cost to the nation. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1858 - Posted: 06.24.2010