by Patrick Oakley, B.Med., FRACP Psychiatric Times January 2002 Vol. XIX Issue 1 The exact therapeutic mechanism of lithium in bipolar disorder (BD) remains unclear, due in part to its many actions on the cells of the central nervous system. The same complexity applies to the interactions between lithium and the thyroid. Lithium is widely known to impair the function of the thyroid through a variety of mechanisms. In 1998, Lazarus listed impaired thyroidal uptake of iodine, impaired iodination of tyrosine, altered thyroglobulin structure and impaired release of thyroxine from the thyroid gland as the mechanisms by which lithium induces hypothyroidism. Impaired release of thyroxine is considered the most clinically significant, and this phenomenon has been used to enhance the effectiveness of radioactive iodine when treating thyrotoxicosis (Bogazzi et al., 1999). Lithium has also been used, with reported success, to treat refractory hyperthyroidism (Dickstein et al., 1997). (C) 1995-2002, CME, Inc.

Keyword: Depression; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 1392 - Posted: 01.23.2002

by Willem H.J. Martens, M.D., Ph.D. Psychiatric Times January 2002 Vol. XIX Issue 1 Psychopathy is characterized by diagnostic features such as superficial charm, high intelligence, poor judgment and failure to learn from experience, pathological egocentricity and incapacity for love, lack of remorse or shame, impulsivity, grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, manipulative behavior, poor self-control, promiscuous sexual behavior, juvenile delinquency, and criminal versatility among others (Cleckley, 1982; Hare et al., 1990). As a consequence of these criteria the psychopath has the image of a cold, heartless, inhuman being. But do all psychopaths show a complete lack of normal emotional capacities and empathy? Like healthy people, many psychopaths love their parents, spouse, children and pets in their own way, but have difficulty loving and trusting the rest of the world. Furthermore, psychopaths do suffer emotionally as a consequence of separation, divorce, death of a beloved person or dissatisfaction with their own deviant behavior (Martens, 1997). (C) 1995-2002 CME, Inc.

Keyword: Schizophrenia; Emotions
Link ID: 1391 - Posted: 01.23.2002

by Donald Rogers, Pharm.D. Psychiatric Times January 2002 Vol. XIX Issue 1 By presidential proclamation, the 1990s became known as the Decade of the Brain (Bush, 1990). It is an appropriate descriptor, since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved some 20 different psychotropic medications during that time. Advances occurred in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, seizure disorders, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia. Two medication classes that have clearly expanded are the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and the atypical antipsychotics. Unlike the SSRIs, the atypical antipsychotic medications are each unique and differ on more than pharmacokinetic properties (e.g., chemical structure, spectrum of receptor binding affinities, in vivo neuroimaging profiles). As this class continues to expand, it becomes more difficult to determine which agent to use and when. None of these atypical agents have been approved based on equivalent or superior efficacy as compared to other antipsychotics. (C) 1995-2002 CME, Inc.

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 1390 - Posted: 01.23.2002

Ravel's last music bears the mark of his deteriorating brain. JOHN WHITFIELD Brain disease influenced Ravel's last compositions including his Boléro , say researchers. Orchestral timbres came to dominate his late music at the expense of melodic complexity because the left half of his brain deteriorated, they suggest1. Timbre is mainly the province of the brain's right hemisphere. French composer Maurice Ravel suffered from a mysterious progressive dementia from about 1927 when he was 52 years old. He gradually lost the ability to speak, write and play the piano. He composed his last work in 1932, and gave his last performance in 1933. He died in December 1937. Neurologists have puzzled over his illness ever since. Many have suggested Alzheimer's disease. But François Boller, of the Paul Broca Research Centre in Paris, believes the symptoms began too young, and that too much of Ravel's memory, self-awareness and social skills were preserved for this diagnosis to be correct. * Amaducci, L., Grassi, E. & Boller, F. Maurice Ravel and right-hemisphere musical creativity: influence of disease on his last musical works?. European Journal of Neurology, 9, 75 - 82, (2002). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Laterality; Hearing
Link ID: 1389 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By JOHN O'NEIL A new study suggests that M.R.I. scans may be able to identify which patients with atherosclerosis are most in need of immediate surgery to prevent strokes. Atherosclerosis causes strokes when pieces of fatty deposits lining the neck artery break off and lodge in the brain. Earlier research had found that such strokes were more likely when a layer of fibrous tissue capping the fat was thin or ruptured. In the study, published in the journal Circulation, researchers from the University of Washington sought to apply recent developments in high-resolution M.R.I.'s that make it possible to determine the condition of the fibrous cap without surgery. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Stroke
Link ID: 1388 - Posted: 01.22.2002

By JANE E. BRODY Chronic pain suffered by 30 million Americans robs people of their dignity, personality, productivity and ability to enjoy life. It is the single most common reason people go to doctors, contributing to an overall cost to the economy of billions of dollars a year. Yet chronic pain, whether caused by cancer or a host of nonmalignant conditions, is seriously undertreated, largely because doctors are reluctant to prescribe — and patients are reluctant to take — the drugs that are best able to relieve persistent, debilitating, disabling pain that fails to respond to the usual treatments. These drugs are called opioids, which are natural and synthetic compounds related to morphine, generally known as narcotics. Many studies have indicated that ignorance and misunderstanding seriously impede their appropriate use. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Pain & Touch
Link ID: 1387 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By NICHOLAS WADE Is true harmony between lovers forged not in the conscious mind but in the deep recesses of the genes? And could it be that people ferret out the compatible genetic status of prospective mates by something so animal as their odor? Evidence that women prefer the odor of men who are genetically similar to themselves — though not too similar — has emerged from a study at the University of Chicago reported in today's issue of Nature Genetics. A further twist in the study, which was based on having women sniff T- shirts that a man had worn for two days, is that their preferences were based on the man's genetic match to each woman's paternal genes, not genes from her mother. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 1386 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Emma Young Doses of testosterone might prevent a key brain abnormality associated with Alzheimer's disease, say US researchers. Their work in rats suggests that older women as well as men should be given testosterone to help prevent or treat the disease, they say. Sozos Papasozomenos and Alikunju Shanavas at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School first induced a process called tau hyperphosphorylation in female rats. In people, this chemical over-reaction can create so-called tau tangles - bundles of tau protein. These bundles, along with plaques of beta amyloid protein, are a key characteristic of the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Papasozomenos and Shanavas found that safe doses of testosterone prevented tau hyperphosphrylation in the rats by blocking the action of an enzyme involved in the process. Oestrogen in combination with testosterone - but not oestrogen alone - had the same effect. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Alzheimers; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 1385 - Posted: 06.24.2010

THE WOODLANDS, Texas, -- Lexicon Genetics Incorporated (Nasdaq: LEXG) today announced that the Company has discovered and validated in vivo a new drug target, named LG527, to develop potential treatments for depression. Lexicon scientists discovered the human gene encoding the new target using Lexicon's gene trap technology. The Company found that mice lacking the enzyme LG527 showed a dramatic increase in activity levels and mobility. This type of response indicates a potential role for the new enzyme in the treatment of depression because typical symptoms of the disease include decreased energy, activity and mobility. Scientists at Lexicon are currently working to discover a drug that inhibits the LG527 enzyme, which could lead to new therapy for depression. "We are very pleased to announce this latest target from our drug discovery pipeline and to further substantiate the critical mass of in vivo validated targets that we are advancing into our pharmaceutical division for drug screening," said Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Lexicon. "This discovery demonstrates the power of our gene knockout technology to determine how genes function to control the physiology of the mammalian brain. Our pipeline of targets in cardiology, immunology, neurology, oncology, and metabolism demonstrates the broad applicability of our gene knockout technology for the discovery of new therapeutics."

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 1384 - Posted: 01.22.2002

This Neuropsychiatrist Thinks a Lot About the Mind. Just Ask His Parrot. By Linton Weeks Washington Post Staff Writer You can tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps. Richard Restak, for instance, is pals with a parrot. Neuropsychiatrist, expert witness, professor at George Washington University Medical Center and card-carrying magician, Restak is also the author of more than a dozen books, including the just-published "Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot: Unleashing Your Brain's Potential," and the companion book to the five-part TV series "The Secret Life of the Brain," which begins tonight on PBS. But enough about Restak. What about his parrot, a 15-year-old African gray named Toby? For some reason, he seems to be one of Restak's best friends. The two spend large amounts of time together. The workaholic Restak, 59, does much of his writing in the loft office of his home, which is just off Foxhall Road. Toby's cage is nearby and the two talk. © 2002 The Washington Post Company

Keyword: Language; Animal Communication
Link ID: 1383 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Researchers have come up with hard evidence that what women really want from a mate is somebody who reminds them of their father. They have discovered that women sniff out men whose body odour is similar to that of their fathers. The theory is that a man who smells similar to a woman's father is likely to have a compatible immune system. The nature odours that all humans produce are called pheromones. They are influenced to a degree by a cluster of genes related to the immune system called the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC). (C) BBC

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 1382 - Posted: 01.21.2002

Betsy Mason Female baboons' cries during sex are longer and livelier when their partner is a higher-ranking male, researchers have discovered. One possible explanation for the baboon behaviour is that the female is trying to avoid being harassed by other potential suitors while she is mating with a choice male, says lead researcher Stuart Semple of the Institute of Zoology in London. However, the reason for the spirited shouting may be purely physical. The females could simply be more stimulated by larger, dominant males, says Semple. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Evolution
Link ID: 1381 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Genes mean ladies like friends and partners that smell like their father. HELEN PEARSON Bachelors - ditch the Old Spice and don your prospective father-in-law's clothes. Women prefer the scent of their dad, a study shows, and may choose their friends and partners accordingly. Nervous new boyfriends can live or die by the nod of a date's daunting dad. But Carole Ober and her team at the University of Chicago in Illinois have found a more fundamental fatherly influence: women prefer the smells of men whose gene selection matches their dad's1. Could this be a female Oedipus complex? "It's possible we would choose someone who smells like our dad," says team member Martha McClintock. If so, it could help women choose partners who share a selection of their own healthy genes, rather than a total stranger, whose vigour is unknown. * Jacob, S., McClintick, M.K., Zelano, B., & Ober, C. Paternally inherited HLA alleles are associated with women's choice of male odor. Nature Genetics, DOI: 10.1038/ng830 (2002). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 1380 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Deficits linger months into abstinence WASHINGTON — Although women are less likely than men to abuse alcohol, those that do suffer the same kinds of neuropsychological problems as alcoholic men, according to a new study published in the January issue of Neuropsychology. And, the problems, including impaired working memory and visuospatial abilities, remain months after alcoholic women stop drinking. With this research, a team from Stanford University and consulting company SRI International’s Neuroscience Program (based in Menlo Park, Calif.) has further clarified sex differences in alcoholism, which affects about 4.6 million U.S. women (about one third of the estimated U.S. alcohol-abusing or alcohol-dependent population). Neuropsychology is published by the American Psychological Association (APA). Scientists have known how alcoholism damages the nervous system (including the brain) for decades, but primarily in men for two reasons. First, early researchers studied patients at Veterans Administration hospitals, far more likely to be men; second, more men than women abuse alcohol.

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1379 - Posted: 06.24.2010

James Randerson Monkeys at the bottom of the social dominance hierarchy are more prone to cocaine addiction, say researchers. But they caution against making direct comparisons with humans. "The positive spin on our findings is that enriching the environment can produce large and robust changes in the brain," says Michael Nader at Wake Forest University. "These lower the propensity for using drugs." But he rejects the simplistic interpretation that the changes he has identified might underlie any link between cocaine use and social exclusion in humans. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1378 - Posted: 06.24.2010

'Togo shiccho sho' to replace term deemed misleading Japan's psychiatric society decided Saturday to change the Japanese name of schizophrenia to help dispel prejudice against people with the disorder, sources close to the society said. The Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology will announce the change of the name from "seishin bunretsu byo" (split-mind disorder) to "togo shiccho sho" (loss of coordination disorder) at the World Congress of Psychiatry to be held late August in Yokohama, they said. Schizophrenia is typically characterized by disorganized speech and behavior, hallucinations and delusions. While the cause of the disorder is not known, a dominant theory attributes the illness to an imbalance of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. The Japan Times: 2002 (C) All rights reserved

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 1377 - Posted: 01.21.2002

Fom a lecture given at the University of Kent by the professor of pharmacology at Oxford University No one would deny that in this coming century people are going to end up living healthier and longer lives as everybody gives up smoking, takes up regular exercise, eats brown rice, and, with increasing ease, engages in organ transplants – below the neck at least. Clearly we are going to be squaring up to being on this planet for longer. Moreover, with the advent of all the gizmos that come on to the market to wow us almost daily, we shall have more leisure time. In itself, this sounds a really good thing; surely all of us would want to spend more time on the beach or at the bar. But do we really want to do that all the time? Just think how we feel sorry for the jaded pop stars, those who through sexual or eating excesses end up prematurely dead. Most of us feel that there is "more to life" – some kind of individual fulfilment. I predict, therefore, that we are going to be asking the kinds of questions that were previously restricted to student rooms late at night, or one's teenage years – we shall be looking introspectively at what our purpose is, expecting to be happy. This means that at centre stage will be the one organ that we would not wish to exchange, the brain. © 2002 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 1376 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By the time they reached adulthood, very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants born in the late 1970s lagged behind their normal birth weight counterparts in I.Q. scores and educational achievement, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The researchers also found that, as adults, the VLBW infants were less likely than their peers to engage in drug or alcohol use and less likely to become pregnant before age 20. The study is the largest, most comprehensive followup to date of the first group of very low birth weight infants whose survival was made possible by the advances in newborn care technology that began in the late 1970s. "These results underscore the importance of the NICHD research quest to find the causes of and means to prevent preterm labor," said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the NICHD. "Although we don't have all the answers yet, it's encouraging that these adults are doing better in some respects than their counterparts. It's very probable that their avoidance of risky behaviors is due to more attentive parenting. Other NICHD research has shown that children whose parents are actively involved in their lives are less likely to engage in risky behaviors than children whose parents are less involved."

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1375 - Posted: 01.20.2002

By JODI WILGOREN HERCULANEUM, Mo., Jan. 18 — Carol Miller's family lives in the world of no. No playing on the swing set until someone washes off the black dust. No barbecues at Grandma's, where the view from the picnic table is of an enormous slag pile. No digging in the backyard. No using the ceiling fan or opening windows in the Millers' cramped house here in the shadow of the nation's largest lead smelter, whose 550-foot smokestack towers over this Mississippi River town 30 miles south of St. Louis. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Neurotoxins
Link ID: 1370 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By BARRY MEIER Moving against what law enforcement officials say is a boom in "pill mills," prosecutors are charging doctors with murder or manslaughter in the deaths of patients from overdoses of prescription drugs, including the powerful painkiller OxyContin. In a Florida courtroom this week, Dr. James Graves went on trial on manslaughter charges stemming from the overdose deaths of four people for whom he had prescribed OxyContin and other drugs; next month in a California state court, a similar case is to begin against Dr. Frank B. Fisher. Last year, Florida prosecutors charged Dr. Denis Deonarine with first-degree murder in connection with a fatal overdose. Legal experts said it was extremely rare for a doctor to be charged with murder or manslaughter because of their prescribing practices. Doctors accused of improperly dispensing drugs have usually been charged with fraud or with illegally prescribing controlled substances. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1369 - Posted: 01.19.2002