By RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN, M.D. When the first jet hit the north tower of World Trade Center on Sept. 11, my patient Alan was in his office on the 81st floor of the south tower. He remembers the blue sky turning white with a rain of paper and debris. And within minutes, the sight of people jumping to their deaths was burned into his memory. Alan is a chronic worrier, always tense and anxious. So he was not reassured when he heard the announcement that his tower was safe and that he should stay put. Instinctively, he fled, running down all 81 flights of stairs. What had been a lifelong liability, his generalized anxiety disorder, had clearly saved his life that morning. His worrying finally paid off. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Stress; Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1727 - Posted: 03.20.2002

Flamingoes' reflections could help them breed. JOHN WHITFIELD A UK zoo is hoping that mirrors will put its flamingos in a breeding mood, by creating the illusion of company. The lesser flamingos at Flamingo Park, on the Isle of Wight in Hampshire, have laid eggs before. But the birds were dysfunctional parents. "We watched in horror as they tossed the eggs out of nests, played football with them with their beaks and smashed them," says the park's spokesperson Lorraine Adams. At home on the salt lakes of Africa, the lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor ) lives in flocks of thousands. Flamingo Park has just 34 birds. This isolation may be the cause of their odd behaviour. "They're very fragile, timid birds," says Adams. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1726 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The more times an adolescent sees movie characters smoke, the more receptive that child is to the idea of taking up smoking, new research reveals. "Movies are a powerful socializing force for contemporary adolescents, shaping views of what is 'cool,' attractive and grown-up," notes lead author James D. Sargent, M.D., of Dartmouth Medical School. With increasing restrictions on public tobacco use, movies have become "a key way that adolescents learn about the stylistic elements and social context of tobacco use," he adds. Previous studies have demonstrated that the adolescents who most frequently view smoking in movies tend to be the heaviest tobacco users. However, this association does not indicate which comes first, the viewing or the smoking.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1725 - Posted: 03.20.2002

Researchers conclude men are more attracted to women wearing pheromones, resulting in more formal dates, kissing, affection, sexual intercourse SAN FRANCISCO, — Women’s perfume laced with synthetic pheromones acts as a sexual magnet and increases the sexual attractiveness of women to men, San Francisco State University researchers conclude in a study appearing in the current issue of the quarterly journal Physiology and Behavior. The study, the first of its kind to independently test a sex attractant pheromone for women, showed that of the 36 women tested, 74 percent of those wearing their regular perfume with the pheromone saw an overall increase in three or more of the following sociosexual behaviors: frequency of kissing, heavy petting and affection, sexual intercourse, sleeping next to their partner, and formal dates with men. In contrast, only 23 percent of the women who had a placebo added to their perfume saw an increase in these sociosexual behaviors. Researchers conclude from these data that the pheromone users were more sexually attractive to men.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste); Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1724 - Posted: 06.24.2010

by Simon Crompton A BRAIN haemorrhage is bleeding in the brain. It occurs when one or more of the vessels that supply blood to the brain’s tissues is broken, leaks or bursts. This is serious because brain tissue is delicate, and any increased pressure caused by the release of blood or the formation of clots can cause devastating damage. Brain haemorrhages hit about 17,000 people in the UK every year. They strike both young and old and there are three main causes: First, a head injury or the sort of head blows taken by boxers can cause the vessels to break. Secondly, bleeding can occur spontaneously if the blood vessels in the brain were malformed at birth, or an inherent weakness causes the vessel to balloon (an aneurysm). This is why brain haemorrhages can affect very young people. Premature babies are susceptible to bleeding because their vessels are underdeveloped. The third common cause of brain haemorrhage is high blood pressure. This weakens the arteries in the brain and can cause them to bulge and burst. This cause is more likely to affect older people. Other less common causes are brain tumours, degenerative diseases and blood-clotting abnormalities. Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.

Keyword: Stroke; Brain Injury/Concussion
Link ID: 1722 - Posted: 06.24.2010

BY IAN KARLEFF TORONTO - (Reuters) - Drugs used to treat schizophrenia and depression linger in the brain long after they have left the bloodstream, so brain scans might be a better way than blood analysis to judge the correct dose, leading Canadian researchers said on Tuesday. The research, published in the most recent issue of the British journal Molecular Psychiatry, could lead to smarter prescriptions for patients who are notoriously forgetful at taking their much-needed medications. ``You cannot rely on blood levels to give you a complete time course picture of what is happening in the brain,'' said Dr. Shitij Kapur, head of schizophrenia research at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, and one of the lead researchers on the study.

Keyword: Depression; Schizophrenia
Link ID: 1721 - Posted: 03.20.2002

by Justine Hancock As many as one person in 30 experiences a form of vertigo, due to an inner ear problem Most of us think of vertigo as the sweating fear that some people experience at a height. Like fear of flying, it is often seen as a psychological problem — and because it doesn’t cause direct physical harm, many people who suffer from fear of heights simply avoid them. However, to the medical professional, height vertigo, as it is known, may also suggest a balance problem. We use our eyes to help us balance (shut them while you’re standing and notice how your body sways), but some people use vision more than others. Because the visual references are in the distance at a height, their bodies sway more than normal, which makes them unsteady and can lead to anxiety. Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.

Keyword: Hearing
Link ID: 1720 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Neural stem cells are a ready supply of new parts for the constant wiring and rewiring of the brain's circuitry as this complex organ responds to environmental stimuli so that we can learn new skills, interpret new data and rethink old ideas. But if those cells can't migrate to the right place and morph into the right kinds of neural links, our cognitive and psychological functions fail. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have found that a protein called reelin, whose function in the adult brain has long been a mystery, is responsible for directing the migration of neural stem cells to the appropriate location in the brain as it adapts to new information. The results of the study are published in the March 19 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Keyword: Stem Cells; Schizophrenia
Link ID: 1718 - Posted: 03.19.2002

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A new study found that Siberian hamsters boost their immune function during the winter in order to help them cope with the seasonal stresses of cold weather and limited food. Researchers at Ohio State University and their colleagues found that the hamsters had higher levels of certain immune cells in their bloodstream during the short days of winter. In addition, during acute stress, hamsters kept in winter-like conditions launched a more vigorous immune response in preparation for potential injury or infection. Hamsters take a cue from the decreasing length of days as winter approaches as a signal to boost their immune function, according to the study, which will be published in the March 19 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Keyword: Neuroimmunology; Biological Rhythms
Link ID: 1717 - Posted: 03.19.2002

— Scientists have found that a protein resembling snake venom neurotoxin modulates the sensitivity of specific receptors in the brain that are targets of nicotine, the primary addictive drug in tobacco. The researchers say that the protein, lynx1, may be a new tool with which to probe how nicotine and other drugs activate “pleasure centers” of the brain. Although studies of lynx1 and other members of this intriguing “prototoxin” protein family are still in the early stages, the researchers say they may help in understanding nicotine addiction or possibly human genetic diseases caused by defective prototoxins. Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigatorNathaniel Heintz and his colleagues Inés Ibañez-Tallon and Julie Miwa at The Rockefeller University and colleagues at The Mayo Foundation and Columbia University reported in the March 14, 2002, issue of the journal Neuron that lynx1 is an interesting new modulator of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. ©2002 Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1716 - Posted: 06.24.2010

In a study of how human emotional states influence higher mental abilities, cognitive neuroscientists at Washington University in St. Louis have shown that watching even just 10 minutes of classic horror films or prime-time television comedies can have a significant short-term influence on areas of the brain critical for reasoning, intelligence, and other types of higher cognition. Participants in the study had more activity in the prefrontal cortex when doing either a word-based task in an anxious mood, or when doing a face-based task in a pleasant mood. In these conditions, which the participants found more difficult, the two brain areas shown in yellow appeared to be working harder, as shown by greater activity. The same regions were less active -- and possibly more efficient -- during either the word task in a pleasant mood or the face task in an anxious mood. "To have the best mental performance and the most efficient pattern of brain activity, you need a match between the type of mood you are in and thetype of task you are doing," said Jeremy Gray, Ph.D., a Research Scientist in the Psychology Department in Arts & Sciences and lead author of the study. "This is one of the first studies to really show that performance and brain activity are a product of an equal partnership or marriage between our emotional states and higher cognition." Scheduled for publication March 19 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study is co-authored by Gray and Washington University colleagues Todd Braver, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences and director of the laboratory where the study was conducted, and Marcus Raichle, M.D., professor of radiology, neurology, anatomy and neurobiology in the School of Medicine. Copyright ©2002 Washington University in St. Louis. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Emotions; Brain imaging
Link ID: 1715 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Study explores rainbow world of patient with synesthesia ASSOCIATED PRESS — For one middle-aged man, “two” looks blue, but “2” is orange. And while “3” appears pink, ”5” is green. The man has synesthesia — a phenomenon in which printed words and numbers burst with color, flavors take on shapes and the spoken language turns into a mental rainbow. W.O. sees all printed words in colors, sometimes letter-by-letter and sometimes syllable-by-syllable. Short words have a single color while long words may have many. FOR SOME PEOPLE with synesthesia, say researchers, a newspaper is never black and white — it’s red, orange, blue, beige, pink and green all over. “This is an alternate perception,” said Thomas J. Palmeri, a Vanderbilt University psychologist and the first author of a study reporting on the tests given to one man. “He is normal — a highly successful, intelligent man and he suffers no problems from this unique wiring of the brain.” The report, appearing Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, explores multi-chromatic world of a man identified only as W.O. The man, a university professor of medicine, did not respond to requests for a direct interview. • MSNBC Terms, Conditions and Privacy © 2002

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 1714 - Posted: 06.24.2010

We laugh more frequently than we eat, sing or have sex. So why do we know so little about it? David Derbyshire investigates It's a peculiar response. But then laughter is a funny business. It's part of human behaviour all over the world, irrespective of culture. It takes place whenever two or three people meet informally, when somebody else strokes our feet, when a four-month-old baby sees a familiar smiling face. © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002.

Keyword: Emotions; Evolution
Link ID: 1713 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The Internet May Attract Those Who Try To Hide Gambling Behaviors WASHINGTON - People who use the internet to gamble may have more serious gambling problems than those who use slot machines or play the lottery, according to a new study that is among the first to evaluate the prevalence of internet gambling. The study warns that the explosive growth of the internet will likely lead to more on-line gambling opportunities and the health and emotional difficulties that come with gambling disorders, including substance abuse, circulatory disease, depression and risky sexual behaviors. The findings are reported on in the March issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, a journal of the American Psychological Association (APA). Psychologists George T. Ladd, Ph.D., and Nancy M. Petry, Ph.D., of the University of Connecticut Health Center surveyed the gambling behaviors of 389 people seeking free or reduced-cost dental or health care at the university's health clinics. Results show that nearly 11 percent were found to be problem gamblers and over 15 percent met the criteria for pathological gamblers. The most common forms of gambling reported by the participants were lottery (89%), slot machines (82%) and scratch tickets (79%). Next came card-playing forms of gambling (71%), sports betting (57%), bingo (56%) and animal betting (53%). Internet gambling was reported by just over eight percent or 31 of the participants and 14 of those people reported gambling on the internet at least weekly. © PsycNET 2002 American Psychological Association

Keyword: OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Link ID: 1712 - Posted: 06.24.2010

BY NANCY SHUTE When Debra Lunceford-Mikolajczyk saw A Beautiful Mind , she delighted in how the hallucina- tions of the Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash seemed so real. "Everyone feels the psychosis with him. It was so cool." And she knows psychosis. On April Fools' Day 1977, the 22-year-old blond with the perfect pageboy was driving to Kresge's to buy bobby pins when her car radio started sending her secret messages. "Tell us, what would you do if you trapped someone?" "I thought someone was playing a joke on me," she recalls. Terrified, she played along. Soon she was up at 5 a.m., deciphering messages in songs like "Fly Like an Eagle." When she tried to cut off the voices by changing stations, the voices would change, too. Looking back, she says: "I knew something was wrong with how I processed information. I knew I was not a well girl." Indeed. She ended up hospitalized for five weeks. When she got out, she was "an unwed mother with a 2-year-old, basically insane." Lunceford-Mikolajczyk is one of the more than 2 million Americans with schizophrenia. It is the most dreadful of all mental illnesses, striking its victims in their teens and 20s and devastating their minds. The disease has put Mark Hidalgo's life on hold. "My plan is to get a car, get a part-time job, get a girlfriend, go out to dinner, go to the movies, and get married," he says. Instead, the 42-year-old son of a Costa Rican diplomat lives with his mother and spends his days at Liberties Inc., a support center for people with mental illnesses in a strip mall in suburban Detroit. Monthly shots of Haldol, an antipsychotic drug, subdue the paranoia and sleeplessness that tormented him. But anxiety attacks make it impossible for him to drive or work. "It's terrible," Hidalgo says. "You feel like everyone's staring at you, and you can't keep your mind on one thing." © 2002 U.S.News & World Report Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 1711 - Posted: 06.24.2010

This question is central to a study of bioethics that explores the moral foundation of a strictly vegetarian, so-called vegan diet. The research, by Steven Davis, a professor of animal science at Oregon State University, adds a new perspective to a millennia-old debate: Is it right for people to kill animals in order to feed themselves? Davis turns that question on its head. How many animals must die, he asks, in order for people to feed themselves? Davis's research focuses on the work of Tom Regan, a philosophy professor from North Carolina State University and founder of the contemporary animal rights movement. Regan argues that the least harm would be done to animals if people were to adopt a vegan diet - that is, a diet based only on plants, with no meat, eggs, or milk products. What goes unaccounted for in Regan's vegan conclusion, according to Davis, is the number of animals who are inadvertently killed during crop production and harvest. "Vegan diets are not bloodless diets," Davis said. "Millions of animals die every year to provide products used in vegan diets."

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 1710 - Posted: 03.18.2002

When David Beckham scored his momentous equaliser against Greece at Old Trafford in Manchester, chances are his testosterone level was high. Research presented on Saturday suggests levels of the male sex hormone at their highest in footballers when they play a game a home. The study - revealed the British Psychological Society's annual conference - reopens the discussion about testosterone and how much it affects things like performance. That the hormone is linked to aggressive behaviour is still a matter of debate and there was evidence presented at the same conference to dispute this assertion. At the England-Greece match, Beckham was not only playing in his home country, the Manchester United striker was also at his club side's home ground. (C) BBC

Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Aggression
Link ID: 1707 - Posted: 03.16.2002

NewScientist.com news service Rejection can dramatically reduce a person's IQ and their ability to reason analytically, while increasing their aggression, according to new research. "It's been known for a long time that rejected kids tend to be more violent and aggressive," says Roy Baumeister of the Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, who led the work. "But we've found that randomly assigning students to rejection experiences can lower their IQ scores and make them aggressive." Baumeister's team used two separate procedures to investigate the effects of rejection. In the first, a group of strangers met, got to know each other, and then separated. Each individual was asked to list which two other people they would like to work with on a task. They were then told they had been chosen by none or all of the others. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Intelligence
Link ID: 1706 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Bruce Bower Progressively larger brains evolved in primates of all stripes, not just humans. We can thank a common capacity for solving a broad range of problems, from coordinating social alliances to inventing tools, according to a new study. This conclusion challenges a popular theory that big, smart brains arose primarily because they afforded advantages when it came to negotiating complex social situations during human evolution. "The ability to learn from others, invent new behaviors, and use tools may have [also] played pivotal roles in primate-brain evolution," say Simon M. Reader of McGill University in Montreal and Kevin N. Laland of the University of Cambridge in England. In an upcoming report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the two zoologists chronicle links between an array of intelligent behaviors and enhanced brain size in primates. Reader, S.M., and K.N. Laland. In press. Social intelligence, innovation, and enhanced brain size in primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Abstract available at http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/062041299v1. From Science News, Vol. 161, No. 11, March 16, 2002, p. 166. Copyright ©2002 Science Service. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 1705 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Peering at the molecular machinery of the human body, researchers have determined that fragments of cocaine alter critical proteins, even when the drug is no longer detectable in the bloodstream. This newly revealed chemical activity may explain some of cocaine's long-lasting and insidious effects. Although cocaine stays in the blood for less than an hour, its ill effects can linger. Some people who've ceased using cocaine may suffer persistent inflamed blood vessels and other autoimmune conditions. Yet researchers don't understand how cocaine causes these long-term ailments. Previously, organic chemist Donald Landry of Columbia University in New York City and his colleagues had studied how cocaine breaks down in water. The work led him to suspect that in the body, the drug might break down by attaching a piece of itself to proteins. Copyright © 2002 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1704 - Posted: 06.24.2010