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

A probabilistic strategy based on past experience explains the remarkable difference between what we see and physical reality Dale Purves, R. Beau Lotto and Surajit Nundy Abstract: The visual information that reaches the eye cannot uniquely describe the physical world. Because light arising from different physical objects can stimulate the retina in the same way, the source of a light stimulus is inevitably ambiguous. For example, a large object far away and a small one closer by can generate exactly the same retinal image. The visual port of the brain resolves this ambiguity by assigning appropriate values of brightness, color and geometry to the things we see. Purves, Lotto and Nundy argue that this assignment is made on a wholly probabilistic basis: What observers see in any circumstance is simply what the stimulus has typically signified in the past, indicated by behavioral success or failure.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 1857 - Posted: 04.12.2002

By Ben Hirschler, European Pharmaceuticals Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - A pill to stop you getting fat is an enticing prospect for couch potatoes and drug companies alike. With more than 300 million people around the world affected, obesity is the Western world's fastest-growing health problem and one of the hottest areas of pharmaceutical research. But despite the multi-billion-dollar prize, producing effective treatments for a condition that can cause diabetes and heart disease is proving a long, difficult and risky business. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Copyright © 2002 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 1856 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Doctors believe that the abuse of anabolic steroids by gym users amounts to a public health risk. A report from the British Medical Association to be published on Thursday is expected to say that up to a third of GPs encounter patients who have used steroids but who have little knowledge of the damage they may be doing to their health. Anabolic steroids have been used to cheat in professional sport for years and they now appear to be widespread in gyms for amateur fitness fanatics and bodybuilders. One survey found that one in 10 gym enthusiasts admitted taking steroids to boost their training capacity and body appearance. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 1855 - Posted: 04.11.2002

By Eric Haseltine It's hard to be a productive member of the human race unless you can recognize faces and facial expressions, so our brains have evolved special circuits for processing facial information. These facial image processors are so aggressive that they often report the presence of faces where none are present. Examine these slabs of marble for a moment and you'll probably perceive several visages in both front and side views. Click on the "Play" button to see an area where a face suggested itself to me, then click on the button again to see the exact facial contours my brain perceived. You might see a different face. Usually, the people we are looking at are rightside up; when they're not, our face processing neurons struggle to do their job. © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 1854 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Some parts of your brain get along better than others By Eric Haseltine Just as countries often have better relations with distant nations than with those on their borders, local regions of the brain coexist more peacefully with far-off patches of neural tissue than they do with those right next door. For example, performing a difficult verbal task, such as memorizing poetry, will impair motor coordination more on your right side more than your left, because language is almost always processed in the left cerebral hemisphere, which also controls movement on the right side of the body. It is as if the closer two regions of the brain are, the more they compete for limited computational resources. Below is a test designed to engender competition between certain parts of your brain that process visual information. In order to avoid biasing the results, I won’t explain exactly which regions are competing with which until you'redone with the experiment. © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company.

Keyword: Pain & Touch; Laterality
Link ID: 1853 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Kathy A. Svitil "I felt like a dog on a leash," says Franklin Audis, 39, who remained tethered to electroencephalograph monitors throughout a seven-day stay at an epilepsy ward in Phoenix. Audis awaits the day when a chip implant could provide advance warning of a seizure: "It would be great to have medication automatically kick in." For 50 million epileptics in the world, daily life can be sheer terror. Will I seize when I'm driving? Will I collapse while I'm bathing my baby? Some epileptics are lucky enough to get a warning, such as seeing a weird light or tasting something funny or hearing something odd. These auras allow them to prepare for a firestorm in the brain that can cause convulsions, muscle spasms, and loss of consciousness. Others say their dogs can sense an attack on the way. For the vast majority of epileptics, however, there is no warning—ever. And for more than 12 1/2 million epileptics, even heavy daily doses of antiseizure medication will not keep the disease at bay. The day when epileptics will be able to fend off the frenzied neural discharges is fast approaching, say researchers at a special observation ward at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. Most of the patients in this ward suffer seizures every day. Signs posted at the nurses' stations ask visitors not to stare. Each person has wires sprouting from his or her head. Each is constantly connected to electroencephalograph (EEG) monitors. There is a general atmosphere of dread here as each person waits for the next seizure. Nevertheless, their seizures have added to a growing body of important data. © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company.

Keyword: Epilepsy
Link ID: 1852 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Bacterial enzyme chews through nerve growth barrier. HELEN PEARSON An enzyme that clears a path for growing nerves can help damaged spinal cord to repair itself, researchers have found. The enzyme could one day help to treat paralysing injuries, in conjunction with other therapies. Damaged nerves in the spinal cord do not normally recover. The surrounding cells multiply to form a dense scar, and secrete a thicket of barrier molecules that nerves cannot cross. Like a miniature lawnmower, the bacterial enzyme chondroitinase ABC trims back these obstructing molecules, Elizabeth Bradbury of King's College London and her team have shown1. Rats with damaged spinal cords injected with the enzyme partly recover from their injury. * Bradbury, E. J. Chondrotinase ABC promotes functional recovery after spinal cord injury. Nature, 416, 636, (2002). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Regeneration; Brain Injury/Concussion
Link ID: 1851 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Individual males rule large prides CHICAGO— Tsavo lions, famous for man-eating at the end of the 19th century, are also novel for being maneless. Now, the first scientific peer-reviewed study of the ecology of Tsavo lions reveals that they have a unique social system. Tsavo lions are the only lions known to live in large groups of females ruled by a single male. The scientists surveyed the lion population of Tsavo East National Park in eastern Kenya, documenting the size and composition of each group and the condition of manes on males. The five resident groups of females they documented had an average of 7.4 adult females per group, large for prides in general. However, each was attended by only one male rather than a coalition of two-to-four males, typical of large prides elsewhere.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 1850 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Young marijuana smokers more likely to have the opportunity to use hallucinogens A study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health provides the first epidemiological evidence that young marijuana smokers are substantially more likely than non-smokers to be presented with the opportunity to try hallucinogens. Once the opportunity for hallucinogen use occurs, marijuana smokers are more likely than non-smokers to actually try it. The study appears in the April issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence. "Research in the past has focused on the causal relationships of drugs, but our study is the first to support the idea of two separate mechanisms linking marijuana and hallucinogen use -- that of increased opportunity and increased use once given the opportunity," says lead author Holly Wilcox, a doctoral candidate in the department of mental hygiene at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Insight into this area teaches us about mechanisms that might help guide new progress for prevention of drug problems."

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1849 - Posted: 04.11.2002

The anti-smoking drug Zyban has been approved for NHS use - but only for smokers who have made a commitment to give up. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has issued guidance on Zyban, and nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) such as patches and gum. The guidance, for doctors in England and Wales, says smokers must have a target date for when they will quit before NRT or Zyban can be prescribed. Health campaigners have welcomed NICE's decision. Zyban acts on the brain to quash the craving nicotine tobacco products produce, and was hailed as a "wonder-drug" when it was launched in the UK two years ago. But there have since been concerns about the drug. There have been 58 deaths after suspected adverse reactions to Zyban, though the Medicines Control Agency said the link between the drug and the deaths was unproven. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1848 - Posted: 04.11.2002

Medications also linked to malformations and developmental delay By Nicolle Charbonneau HealthScoutNews Reporter (HealthScoutNews) -- Pregnant women who take anti-epileptic medications face a significant risk that their children will have problems ranging from congenital defects to slow development. A new British study adds to growing evidence that many commonly prescribed anti-epileptic drugs carry this risk, but the researchers caution that not taking the anti-seizure drugs could be even more harmful. Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder in which misfiring electrical impulses in the brain lead to seizures. About 2.3 million Americans have epilepsy, and more than a million are female. SOURCES: John C.S. Dean, M.D., clinical consultant, department of medical genetics, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, U.K.; Patricia McElhatton, Ph.D., head, National Teratology Information Service, and consultant teratologist and lecturer in reproductive teratology, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, U.K.; April 2002 Journal of Medical Genetics Copyright © 2002 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Epilepsy; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1847 - Posted: 06.24.2010

New technique might prevent blindness in thousands of people, researchers say By Robert Preidt HealthScoutNews Reporter (HealthScoutNews) -- American researchers are working on a new way to repair detached retinas. They've developed a magnetic fluid that pushes damaged retinas back into place -- a technique they say could prevent blindness in thousands of people who can't be helped with current treatments. Human trials may begin within a year, and the procedure could be ready for patient use within a few years, says Dr. J.P. Dailey, an ophthalmologist with Erie Retinal Surgery in Erie, Pa., and an assistant clinical professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. SOURCES: J.P. Dailey, M.D., ophthalmologist, Erie Retinal Surgery, Erie, Pa., and assistant clinical professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland; Michael Gorin, M.D., Ph.D., interim chair, ophthalmology department, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; April 10, 2002, presentation, national meeting, American Chemical Society, Orlando, Fla. Copyright © 2002 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Vision
Link ID: 1846 - Posted: 06.24.2010

One test is genetic, the other looks at performance By Serena Gordon HealthScoutNews Reporter WEDNESDAY, (HealthScoutNews) -- While little can currently be done to halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease, the ability to diagnose the disease early will likely be key to effective treatments in the future. To that end, two new studies in the current issue of the journal Neuropsychology report possible new ways of detecting Alzheimer's before typical symptoms have appeared. Using simple neuropsychological tests, the first study found that people who later developed Alzheimer's disease showed subtle differences in their performance on these tests several years before their diagnosis. Meanwhile, the second study examined how variations in a common gene can signal an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease. SOURCES: Mark Jacobson, Ph.D., research psychologist, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System; Ben Seltzer, M.D., director, Alzheimer's Center, and professor of neurology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans; April 2002 Neuropsychology Copyright © 2002 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 1845 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Study in rats points to potential human therapy By Nicolle Charbonneau HealthScoutNews Reporter A study by British researchers reports that rats with partial spinal cord injuries regained neurological function and their ability to walk normally after treatment with the enzyme, known as chondroitinase ABC (ChABC). Their findings appear in tomorrow's issue of Nature. While previous research had shown this enzyme could make nerve fibers regenerate in the brain, co-author Dr. James W. Fawcett, a professor at the University of Cambridge's Centre for Brain Repair, says this study is the first demonstration of the enzyme's effect on the spinal cord. SOURCES: James W. Fawcett, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Department of Physiology, Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England; Lars Olson, Ph.D., professor, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; April 11, 2002, Nature Copyright © 2002 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Regeneration; Brain Injury/Concussion
Link ID: 1844 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Jessie Dean Goodison/Messenger Post Staff April 10, 2002 When autism is a part of your life, how do you deal with it? Nicholas Turco is a special 7-year-old. Turco has Down Syndrome, and was diagnosed about a year ago with autism. He will only eat food that's beige. Autism is a serious, lifelong developmental disability typically diagnosed within the first three years of life. It is a physical disorder due to a neurological defect affecting brain function. However, autism is treatable with early diagnosis and appropriate assistance, which are essential to a child's future development, according to Lisa Polvina, service coordinator from the Health Association in Rochester. This month is National Autism Awareness Month. Copyright © 1995 - 2002 PowerAdz.com LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Keyword: Autism; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1843 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By TOM SIEGFRIED / The Dallas Morning News You'll never read a best seller called The Joy of Smelling Skunks. It's a title that sounds as repulsive as skunk odor itself. Yet not everybody finds skunk odor so unpleasant. In fact, claims psychologist Rachel Herz, most odors are inherently neither pleasant nor unpleasant. Odors are like the ABCs; you have to learn them, and you usually learn them young. You might even learn to like the smell of skunks. Dr. Herz, of Brown University in Providence, R.I., confesses her feelings for Pepé Le Pew in the latest issue of Cerebrum, a quarterly published by The Dana Forum on Brain Science – an appropriate venue, as smell is, after all, the shortest route to the brain. A bit of the brain actually protrudes into the nostrils, in the form of small nerve cells that extend tiny cilia into the mucus that covers the nasal membrane. The cilia receive chemical messages that come from the air in the form of molecules carrying the essence of odors. ©2002 Belo Interactive

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste); Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1842 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The Laughter Circuit: In search of the cerebral funny bone By Eric Johnson One winter morning in 1931, at a cemetery in London, Willy Anderson solemnly bowed his head and watched his mother's casket descend into the earth. Suddenly, and to the collective horror of those in attendance, he began to laugh. The outburst was muffled at first, as Anderson desperately covered his mouth, but it soon grew so intense that he had to leave the grave. Hours later, when Anderson still couldn't contain himself, his family took him to a hospital emergency room. The attending doctor checked his pupils and vital signs and could find nothing wrong but recommended that the patient be kept for observation. Two days later, Anderson died. The postmortem revealed that a large aneurysm in an artery at the base of his brain had ruptured, compressing part of his hypothalamus and other adjacent structures. The science of comedy is rooted in such tragedies. For centuries, thinkers from Aristotle to Darwin tried to discern the nature and origins of humor, only to have their ideas trail off without a punch line. But studies of brain-damaged patients like Willy Anderson (his real name is unknown; the medical literature mentions only this pseudonym) have recently been bolstered by sophisticated brain scans of living subjects. Humor researchers, after decades of study—and some ridicule from their colleagues—have zeroed in on the brain's laughter circuit at last. © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company.

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 1841 - Posted: 06.24.2010