The male hormone, testosterone, does more than you think. Its claim to fame once was its effect on a man's reproductive system. Now, new research indicates that it also can influence the brain. It aids memory and protects the brain from the memory-impairing disorder, Alzheimer's disease, according to the studies. The findings may lead to new therapies, particularly for older men. For a while it seemed that women had a leg up in the battle of the sexes. Over the years, much research on estrogen indicated that, in addition to influencing a woman's reproductive functions, this "female" hormone also helps a variety of brain functions, including memory. Now, recent studies find evidence that evens the playing field. The "male" hormone, testosterone, known for its role in maintaining a man's reproductive system, shares estrogen's double duty. The research is leading to: * Possible new brain-aiding therapies, particularly for older men who, like older women, appear to experience a hormone decrease as they age. * A better understanding of how testosterone interacts with other players in the brain to carry out many tasks. Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Apoptosis
Link ID: 1819 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Earlier risk assessment -- by examining the balance of cognitive abilities -- may allow for intervention that forestalls or minimizes brain damage WASHINGTON - New research points toward the use of neuro-psychological testing to identify people at risk for Alzheimer's Disease (AD), well ahead of the onset of clinical signs. Understanding heredity's role in cognitive abilities, and its link to Alzheimer's-type attention deficits, may also aid early diagnosis. The sooner, the better: Early detection could allow doctors to intervene with drugs that have the potential to protect against significant brain damage. Currently, there are no reliable ways to detect and treat the disease before the brain has been significantly damaged by AD, a form of dementia that is believed to afflict up to four million Americans. Two different studies that attack the problem from the standpoint of both cognitive abilities and genetics appear in the April issue of Neuropsychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 1818 - Posted: 04.07.2002

By C. CLAIBORNE RAY Q. What goes wrong in progressive supranuclear palsy, the disease that led to the death of the comedian Dudley Moore? A. Progressive supranuclear palsy, or P.S.P., which affects about 20,000 Americans, is of unknown cause. It destroys cells in many areas of the brain, leading to poor coordination, stiffness, weakness of certain muscle groups and slowed thought, explained Dr. Lawrence I. Golbe, professor of neurology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J. P.S.P. typically begins with loss of balance. Nearly all sufferers eventually develop the characteristic difficulty in moving the eyes up and down, the sign that often arouses a doctor's suspicion of the correct diagnosis. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Movement Disorders
Link ID: 1817 - Posted: 04.07.2002

By BARBARA STEWART Once, the animals at the Bronx Zoo spent their days in idleness and boredom, pacing their small cages, eating meals handed to them on a platter. But that made for some listless animals. "They'd put primates alone in cages," Dr. Diana Reiss, a senior scientist at the New York Aquarium, which is affiliated with the zoo, said of the old zookeepers, "and the keeper would say: `That gorilla's O.K.,' when any pet owner could tell it was terribly bored." But nowadays, the animals stave off boredom by working for their supper. Vultures, once simply tossed dead rats, now get them wrapped in brown paper, which they must shred apart before dining. Dolphins press a symbol on an underwater keyboard to choose a particular snack or toy and will soon be able to watch film clips of other dolphins at play. In the spring, Wyoming toads are encouraged to become romantic, with piped-in mating songs and mist showers that simulate seasonal rain. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1816 - Posted: 04.06.2002

Researchers have identified an Australian poison frog that makes its own toxin rather than getting it from food sources. It is the first documented case of a vertebrate that generates its own poison alkaloids, complex chemicals that are usually associated with plants, the researchers said. Poison frogs release alkaloids from their skin to defend against predators. Until now, the researchers believed that all obtained their alkaloids from eating insects. The discovery was reported in the April 3 Web edition of the Journal of Natural Products, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. The discovery will also be described April 8 in Orlando, Fla., at the Society’s 223rd national meeting.

Keyword: Neurotoxins
Link ID: 1815 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Copyright © 2002 AP Online By MATT SLAGLE, Associated Press DALLAS - Implanting minute pellets of medicine into the brain may prevent a potentially dangerous complication that often affects victims of a certain type of stroke. Patients who undergo surgery to repair a ruptured blood vessel after a kind of stroke called a subarachnoid hemorrhage, or SAH, often develop a vasospasm, in which arteries in the head shrink, starving the brain of blood. A vasospasm is most likely to cause brain damage but can sometimes be deadly. In a study of 20 SAH patients, Japanese researchers inserted two to 10 pellets the size of a grain of rice next to arteries they suspected would develop vasospasms. The pellets contained nicardipine, a type of medicine called a calcium channel blocker often used to treat high blood pressure. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 1814 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Toni Clarke and Ben Hirschler NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - An experimental drug derived from the saliva of the venomous Gila monster is one of a growing crop of new drugs that are being developed to improve memory and learning. The bite of the Gila monster -- a native lizard to the southwest United States and Mexico -- can be deadly, but its saliva also contains a chemical which acts on a previously unknown receptor pathway in the brain that affects memory. The findings were presented on Thursday at the 7th International Geneva/Springfield Symposium on Advances in Alzheimer Therapy in Switzerland. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1813 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Stammering may be a physical, rather than a psychological condition, US researchers suggest. The finding could lead to the development of drugs to treat the condition. Professor Gerald Maguire of the University of California believes a stammer is like epilepsy or schizophrenia, and that is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. "Our research with brain scans, which measures brain activity, shows that stuttering may be related to an area deep within the brain, the striatum, an area of the brain that may allow us to time, and properly allow, or initiate or start our speech. "We also believe this area might be too high in dopamine, a brain chemical, in people who stutter." Professor Maguire hopes his research will lead to drugs to treat stammering. Research in the 1970s showed a drug called Haloperidol, used for serious brain disorders such as schizophrenia, was able to reduce symptoms in people who stammered. (C) BBC

Keyword: Language
Link ID: 1812 - Posted: 04.05.2002

BOSTON -— Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have found that a pair of recently discovered genes enables the brain of vertebrate animals, including humans, to grow large and complex. The findings, published in the April 5 issue of Cell, shed light on how the Olig 1 and Olig 2 genes direct the formation of a key type of supporting cell required by nerve cells to transmit their signals efficiently over long distances. (Cell selected the study for early publication and has already posted the paper on its Web site.) Called oligodendrocytes, these cells wrap a kind of biological insulation around nerve cells. By learning how oligodendrocytes normally develop, scientists say they may uncover clues to diseases ranging from multiple sclerosis to mental retardation to brain tumors. The earliest fruits of the work may include more accurate diagnosis of certain brain tumors, say the researchers. “We reason that some of the genes required to develop a normal, functioning brain may contribute to cancer of the brain if their expression is perturbed by mutation,” says Charles Stiles, PhD, co-chair of the Cancer Biology Department at Dana-Farber and one of two senior authors on the paper. “With the discovery of new cancer-causing genes comes the opportunity to develop ‘smart drugs’ that can now be directed towards cells that express these mutant genes.” Copyright © 1995-2002 ScienceDaily Magazine

Keyword: Evolution; Glia
Link ID: 1809 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Missile-tracking technology may spot symptoms of learning impairment. VIRGINIA GEWIN Eye-tracking glasses developed to reduce fighter pilots' workload by enabling their eyes to direct weapons could help to diagnose dyslexia. Qinetiq, part of the British government's former Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, has just received a grant to create child-size prototype glasses. Some scientists think that eye movements offer clues as to why dyslexics struggle to read and write. Dyslexia affects between five and ten per cent of the world's population. "Many of the problems are due to failure of the eyes to remain steady when they're trying to take in the visual form of words," says dyslexia researcher John Stein of the University of Oxford, who is working with Qinetiq. Until now, he says, "we've lacked a means of measuring eye movements accurately". © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Dyslexia
Link ID: 1808 - Posted: 06.24.2010

IF YOUR daughter starts puberty early, you might want to check her shampoo. Unbeknown to many parents, a few hair products-especially some marketed to black people-contain small amounts of hormones that could cause premature sexual development in girls. The evidence that hair products containing oestrogens cause premature puberty is largely circumstantial, and the case is still unproven. But Ella Toombs, acting director for the Office of Cosmetics and Colors at the US Food and Drug Administration, told New Scientist: "No amount [of oestrogen] is considered safe and can be included in an over-the-counter product." Under FDA regulations, over-the-counter products containing hormones are drugs, and thus require specific approval. However, there appears to be a grey area regarding products marketed before 1994. The FDA failed to respond to a request to clarify the position. At least five companies are still making hormone-containing hair products, a source within the industry-who preferred not to be named-told New Scientist.

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1807 - Posted: 04.05.2002

EAST LANSING, Mich. - On appearance alone, one wonders how the eel-like sea lamprey could ever get a date. Now scientists at Michigan State University have made ground-breaking discoveries of how male lampreys attract mates. According to a paper published in the April 5 edition of Science Magazine, Weiming Li, MSU assistant professor of fisheries and wildlife, and his research team have devised revolutionary new methods to isolate and understand the chemicals that the fish release to lure females. Their discoveries have the potential to lead to new ways to control sea lamprey populations in areas where they are destroying sport fish populations. The research also could help boost populations in places where lampreys are considered a delicacy.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste); Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1806 - Posted: 04.05.2002

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - Results from the first head-to-head study comparing ARICEPT® (donepezil HCl tablets) and Reminyl® (galantamine HBr tablets) demonstrated significantly greater improvements in cognition and activities of daily living (ADLs) in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients treated with ARICEPT® vs. Reminyl®. ARICEPT-treated patients showed significant benefit over patients receiving Reminyl® as measured by the modified 13-item Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (modified ADAS-cog), achieved significant improvements on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and had significantly greater improvements in ADLs, as measured by the Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD) scale total score. The study was primarily designed to evaluate safety and tolerability. The first-ever presentation of these data took place at the 7th International Geneva/Springfield Symposium on Advances in Alzheimer Therapy (AAT) in Geneva, Switzerland. "By comparing two available Alzheimer's disease medications, physicians now have clinical evidence that will help them prescribe the most appropriate treatment for their patients," said study investigator Roy Jones, MD, Research Institute for the Care of the Elderly, St Martin's Hospital, Bath, United Kingdom.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 1805 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Copyright © 2002 AP Online By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP Science Writer - Illnesses as diverse as Alzheimer's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and adult-onset diabetes may be caused by proteins that fold themselves into defective shapes rather than proteins that have undergone harmful chemical changes, new research suggests. As they develop, these aberrant protein forms can clump together and wreak molecular havoc on healthy cells, according to two studies in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. Previously, scientists believed that misfolding was an unusual occurrence limited to perhaps 20 or more protein types. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Prions; Alzheimers
Link ID: 1804 - Posted: 06.24.2010

As a Google user, you're familiar with the speed and accuracy of a Google search. How exactly does Google manage to find the right results for every query as quickly as it does? The heart of Google's search technology is PigeonRank™, a system for ranking web pages developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University. Building upon the breakthrough work of B. F. Skinner, Page and Brin reasoned that low cost pigeon clusters (PCs) could be used to compute the relative value of web pages faster than human editors or machine-based algorithms. And while Google has dozens of engineers working to improve every aspect of our service on a daily basis, PigeonRank continues to provide the basis for all of our web search tools. Why Google's patented PigeonRank™ works so well PigeonRank's success relies primarily on the superior trainability of the domestic pigeon (Columba livia) and its unique capacity to recognize objects regardless of spatial orientation. The common gray pigeon can easily distinguish among items displaying only the minutest differences, an ability that enables it to select relevant web sites from among thousands of similar pages. ©2002 Google

Keyword: Vision; Robotics
Link ID: 1802 - Posted: 06.24.2010

At issue: What inflamed patients' brains? By Douglas Steinberg One cutting-edge neuroscience issue is whether a vaccine can cure Alzheimer disease (AD). A much-ballyhooed clinical trial recently sought an answer. But a mistrial was soon declared, and scientific sleuths now face a fresh mystery: Why did 15 trial subjects get sick? The vaccine, developed by Elan Corp., contained Ab, the peptide widely believed to trigger AD by forming brain-clogging amyloid plaques. When Elan researchers vaccinated transgenic mice that had developed AD-like pathology, plaques melted away. Two-and-a-half years of animal experiments yielded further encouraging results. The vaccine prevented and possibly reversed cognitive deficits.1 Last September, Dublin-based Elan and its partner, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, began a Phase II trial of the vaccine, AN-1792, injecting 375 mildly to moderately afflicted AD patients. In mid-January, the companies suspended further dosing because four patients showed signs of central nervous system inflammation. On March 1, the companies halted the study after 11 more troubling cases turned up. The Scientist 16[7]:22, Apr. 1, 2002 © Copyright 2002, The Scientist, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 1801 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Sleepless nights are the bane of every new parent's life. But in some cases the nightmare drags on for years, not months. Jane Elliott spoke to one mother about her battle for sleep. For two years Holly Muirhead kept her parents awake. Refusing to sleep in her own bed, crying and staying awake, she was not an easy child. Her mother Alison didn't have a life of her own. Holly needed constant attention at night and the one time her mother did try leaving her with a baby sitter she cried so much she made herself sick. Holly ruled the roost and her sleeping patterns looked set to ensure she remained an only child. (C) BBC

Keyword: Sleep; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1800 - Posted: 03.30.2002

Mind-altering drugs may be so popular because they were once used by our ancestors to survive, two leading anthropologists have argued. Dr Roger Sullivan, of the University of Auckland, and Edward Hagen, of the University of California at Santa Barbara, say there is plenty of evidence that humans have sought out so-called psychotropic drugs over millions of years. These plants are rich in alkaline substances such as nicotine and cocaine that produce a stimulant effect and may have helped to make life bearable in the most harsh of environments. For example, until recently Australian Aborigines used the nicotine-rich plant pituri to help them endure desert travel without food. And Andeans still chew coca leaves to help them work at high altitudes. (C) BBC

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Evolution
Link ID: 1799 - Posted: 03.30.2002

Bruce Bower Archaeologists, by definition, uncover the remnants of past human activity. With the first excavation of chimpanzee stone tools at an African site, however, the scope of their work has entered virgin terrain. Chimps transported suitable pieces of stone to the undated site and used them to crack open nuts placed on thick tree roots, according to Julio Mercader of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. "At least some wild chimpanzees have produced stone [artifacts] and left behind an archaeological record of their nut-cracking behavior," says Mercader, who directed the excavation. He described the recent discoveries at the annual meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society, held last week in Denver. From Science News, Vol. 161, No. 13, March 30, 2002, p. 195. Copyright ©2002 Science Service. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 1798 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The case has long baffled medical researchers. The years following World War II saw a sharp rise in the incidence of a rare brain disease called lytico-bodig among the Chamorro people of Guam. Until 1970, the disease--whose effects include dementia, the slow paralysis associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and the tremors of Parkinson's disease--struck more than a hundred times more often than other types of ALS elsewhere. New research suggests that the consumption of toxin-laden bat meat was to blame. The leading hypothesis had focused on flour ground from toxin-containing seeds of cycad plants. However, lab animals that were fed the flour failed to develop neurological disease. In the March 26 issue of Neurology, ethnobotanist Paul Cox, director of the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Kalaheo, Hawaii, and neurologist Oliver Sacks of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City point the finger at another possible culprit. They blame the Chamorros' consumption of "flying foxes," bats that ingest large quantities of the seeds and store the toxins in their fat. Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 1797 - Posted: 06.24.2010