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Environmental concerns reemerge over steroids given to livestock Janet Raloff Many cattle are fed the same muscle-building androgens—usually testosterone surrogates—that some athletes consume. Other animals receive estrogens, the primary female sex hormones, or progestins, semiandrogenic agents that shut down a female's estrus cycle. Progestins fuel meat-building by freeing up resources that would have gone into the reproductive cycle. While federal law prohibits people from self-medicating with most steroids, administering these drugs to U.S. cattle is not only permissible but de rigueur. So far, almost all concern about this practice has focused on whether trace residues of these hormones in the meat have human-health consequences. But there's another way that these powerful agents can find their way into people and other animals. A substantial portion of the hormones literally passes through the cattle into their feces and ends up in the environment, where it can get into other food and drinking water. From Science News, Vol. 161, No. 1, Jan. 5, 2002, p. 10. Copyright ©2002 Science Service. All rights reserved.
Keyword: Hormones & Behavior; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1265 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Copyright © 2002 Scripps Howard News Service By LEE BOWMAN Scripps Howard News Service - The critical childhood window for becoming fluent in a language applies to sign language as well as spoken language, according to a new study. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers found different patterns of brain activity in bilingual people who learned American Sign Language before puberty and after puberty. Language researchers have long known that children find it much easier than adults, or even teenagers, to acquire a second language because their brains have more connections between neurons. This makes for an easier time incorporating the new language into their brain networks and allows them to think in the language, rather than translate. Copyright © 2002 Nando Media
Keyword: Language
Link ID: 1262 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Goal is to minimize collateral damage and prevent involvement of second eye. The terms "heart attack" and "brain attack" have become commonplace, but now neuro-ophthalmologists are waging war on the all too common, underreported, and untreated condition referred to as "eye attacks." These attacks, known medically as Ischematic Optic Neuropathy ("ION"), result from a sudden lack of blood flow to the eye. Eye attacks, which are usually painless, can develop quite rapidly--sometimes overnight, often with catastrophic consequences to the vision of the individual, such as a sudden and permanent loss of peripheral or central vision in one eye. The resulting visual impairment and the degree of severity usually varies from patient to patient but can include loss of the bottom half of one's vision and difficulty with light and darkness. University of Pennsylvania Medical Center researchers are working to help educate the public about this condition, which is the most common cause of acute optical nerve disease in adults over 50 years of age.
Rachel Nowak, Melbourne By smothering budgerigars in sunscreen, scientists have discovered that the birds use fluorescence to highlight their sexual attractiveness. Neurobiologist Justin Marshall of the University of Queensland in Brisbane and his colleagues used the sunscreen to block the fluorescence of yellow crown and cheek feathers used by the budgies in courtship displays. The team found that budgies preferred the company of control birds, whose crown and cheeks had been smeared with petroleum jelly, which does not block UV light. The preference only existed for birds of the opposite sex, suggesting the fluorescence highlights mating potential. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.
Keyword: Vision; Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 1260 - Posted: 06.24.2010
An investigation of the activity of individual human nerve cells during the act of memory indicates that the brain’s nerve cells are even more specialized than many people think – no pun intended. Although nerve cells that change activity during the use of memory are widely distributed in the brain, individual neurons generally respond to specific aspects of memory. "For the first time, we’ve been able to show differences within regions of the temporal lobe in the way individual neurons respond to memory. Everything we’ve done to this point was to show that there are individual neurons that change activity --but we hadn’t been able to sort them out in any meaningful way. Now we can," says Dr. George Ojemann, professor of neurological surgery at the University of Washington. The findings appear in the January 2002 issue of Nature Neuroscience.
Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 1258 - Posted: 06.24.2010
By Jenette Restivo [ABCNEWS.com] B O S T O N, Dec. 27 — While most of us think of the typical Tourette's patient as the rare eccentric who barks obscenities and jerks their arms wildly, a recent study says much more subtle symptoms of Tourette's and related tic disorders are far more common than once thought. "[Kids with mild tics] are at a higher risk for developing future school problems. This is a way of identifying children ahead of time so they can be monitored — a clue to how the child's brain is organized," says lead study author Dr. Roger Kurlan, director of the Tourette's Syndrome Clinic and the Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology Clinic at the University of Rochester in New York. Tip of the Iceberg To determine the prevalence of tics and Tourette's Syndrome in school-aged children, Kurlan looked at a group of 1,600 children in both regular and special education classrooms in Rochester. Copyright © 2002 ABCNEWS Internet Ventures.
Keyword: Tourettes
Link ID: 1257 - Posted: 06.24.2010
A gene involved in setting up the mammalian body plan also appears to control grooming behavior in mice. Researchers who knocked out a specific homeobox, or Hox, gene in mice also noted that the mice groomed themselves excessively — creating bald spots and skin wounds. The discovery suggests that the Hox genes, a large family of development-controlling genes, might also serve as behavioral regulators in the adult brain. Studies of the gene family could yield important insights into the genetic basis of compulsive behavior in humans. Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Mario R. Capecchi and colleague Joy M. Greer, both at the University of Utah School of Medicine, reported their findings in an article published in the January 3, 2002, issue of the journal Neuron. ©2002 Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Keyword: Stress; OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Link ID: 1256 - Posted: 06.24.2010
By ERICA GOODE Acupuncture is widely used as a treatment for cocaine addiction. But the results of a large clinical trial suggest that when used alone without other treatments the therapy is not effective in reducing cocaine dependency, researchers report yesterday. Needles inserted into four acupuncture zones in the ear that are commonly used in treating addiction did no more to curtail cocaine use than relaxation exercises or a sham procedure in which needles were inserted into the rim of the ear. The study participants received the acupuncture or the other treatments five times a week for eight weeks. Dr. Arthur Margolin, a research scientist at Yale's School of Medicine and the main author of the study, said that based on the findings, "the recommendation would be that acupuncture not be used by itself as a treatment for addiction, or in a setting where there is only minimal counseling or therapy." Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1254 - Posted: 01.03.2002
Neuroscientists examining the brain activity of people who learned to speak American Sign Language (ASL) at different times in their lives have found the first evidence that there is a critical period for acquiring a non-verbal language, just as there is for spoken languages. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers discovered patterns of brain activity in bilingual people who learned ASL before puberty differed from those who learned it after puberty. The findings are reported in this month’s issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience. They indicate there are regions in the brain’s right hemisphere that are activated when children who learned ASL before puberty are reading sign language. The brains of children who learned ASL after puberty show significantly less right hemisphere activity when they are doing the same activity.
Keyword: Language
Link ID: 1253 - Posted: 06.24.2010
St. Louis, – A second-generation antipsychotic drug lowers the risk of relapse in patients with schizophrenia by nearly half, according to a team of researchers, led by psychiatrists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Results of the two-year, multicenter study are reported in the Jan. 3, 2002 New England Journal of Medicine. Just under one percent of the general population suffers from schizophrenia. The economic burden of the disease was estimated at $33 billion per year in the early 1990s. Much of that cost can be attributed to the consequences of psychotic relapse, which is common among schizophrenic patients. Past studies of antipsychotic drugs tended to be short-term trials, lasting four to eight weeks. They had shown that second-generation drugs helped reduce psychotic symptoms, but longer-term studies were needed in order to determine their long-term effects on the disorder, especially on relapse.
Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 1252 - Posted: 06.24.2010
By IAN AUSTEN AMONG the many things that wearing an artificial leg changed in Curtis Grimsley's life was the simple ritual of going to the office. Before Mr. Grimsley lost his left leg in a car accident five years ago, he would step off a PATH train from New Jersey and stroll across the concourse of the World Trade Center before heading up to his office on the 70th floor of the north tower, where he worked as a computer analyst for the Port Authority. After his accident, Mr. Grimsley, a former competitive runner and a star of the Port Authority's basketball team, was embarrassed to find himself suddenly unable to keep pace with the thousands of other commuters in the vast concourse. "I was kind of a little vain," Mr. Grimsley acknowledged. "So I always came up the back way to get into my office." Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
Keyword: Robotics
Link ID: 1250 - Posted: 01.03.2002
By BBC News Online's Helen Briggs The airports of the future could identify potential terrorists by using a lie detector that spots concealed blushing with a super-sensitive thermal imaging camera. Liars are betrayed by the heat that rushes to their face when they tell a fib, according to scientists in the United States. There is an urgent need to devise technologies to identify individuals intending to perform acts of terrorism (C) BBC
Independent scientific research groups from Pfizer and Harvard Medical School have discovered a critical gene responsible for fat cell development. Obesity affects approximately 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 5 children in the United States. As the epidemic of obesity continues to grow, so does the research effort aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms of fat development. As published in the January 1 issue of Genes & Development, scientists have made a significant advance towards this goal. Drs. Bruce Spiegelman and Heidi Camp from Harvard and Pfizer, respectively, have determined that the gene which encodes the PPARgamma protein is responsible for fat cell development, or adipogenesis. PPARgamma is a nuclear hormone receptor that regulates gene expression in response to extra-cellular signals. The determination that PPARgamma2 is necessary for fat cell development provides a molecular target for rational drug design in the battle against the bulge.
Keyword: Obesity; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 1242 - Posted: 01.01.2002
UCLA researchers are the first to report altered brain function in people who respond favorably to placebo treatment for major depression. In addition, the findings show these changes are different than those found in people who respond to antidepressant medication. The study, appearing in the January edition of the peer-reviewed American Journal of Psychiatry, used quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) imaging to examine brain electrical activity in patients treated for depression with placebo, and others treated with antidepressant medication. The researchers examined QEEG cordance, a measure associated with blood flow in the brain. Patients who responded to placebo — an inert substance, such as a sugar pill — showed increased activity in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, while those who responded to medication showed suppressed activity in that area.
Keyword: Depression; Brain imaging
Link ID: 1241 - Posted: 06.24.2010
By ROBERT PEAR WASHINGTON -- To many, the idea that neuroses or depression could be diagnosed as precisely or treated as effectively as a broken leg or a burst appendix seems counterintuitive, even preposterous. To the layperson, symptoms of psychological ills often seem vaguer, more diffuse than physiological ones. Diagnoses seem more subjective, and many people suspect that a patient has more control over a mental illness than a physical one. But the medical model of mental illness has gained ground in recent years as scientists discover biological, chemical and even genetic explanations for mental disorders. With these discoveries have come a citizens' movement for equivalence, or parity, in the insurance coverage of mental and physical illnesses. That movement has galvanized Congress. Senators Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, and Paul Wellstone, Democrat of Minnesota, have, for more than five years, led a campaign to translate the idea of parity into law. In October, the Senate approved the proposal as an amendment to a spending bill for the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services. But the proposal was dropped this month by a House-Senate conference committee because of opposition from House Republicans, who shared the concerns of employers and insurers that it would drive up costs. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
Keyword: Depression; Schizophrenia
Link ID: 1238 - Posted: 12.31.2001
JEREMY THOMSON The squeaks made by baby mice in the nest are similar to some human infant sounds, new research suggests, hinting that linguistic communication may be based on mechanisms that evolved long ago. Günter Ehret and Sabine Riecke of the University of Ulm, Germany, recorded the wriggling calls baby mice emit when struggling to reach their mother's teat or falling out of the nest. Mother mice respond to some calls by nest building, changing position or licking pups. Ehret and Riecke found that mothers react to the calls that contain word-like groups of at least three clearly separated tones, each of a different frequency. Similarly, the human ear can distinguish vowel sounds easily only if they contain three distinct notes.1 * Ehret, G. & Riecke, S. Mice and humans perceive multiharmonic communications sound in the same way. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99, 479 - 482, (2002). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2001
Keyword: Animal Communication; Language
Link ID: 1237 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Copyright © 2001 Scripps Howard News Service By TRACY CORREA, The Fresno Bee - Daniel Daley dreamed of a normal life, but his 450-pound body made that impossible. The weight restricted the blood in his legs, making it hard to walk. A roofing contractor by trade, he had not been able to work for more than a decade and couldn't even drive. His brother tied his shoes because he couldn't reach them. Two years ago, a doctor in his hometown of Porterville suggested he look into an increasingly popular weight reduction surgery called gastric bypass. A gastric bypass surgery is performed laproscopically, using small puncture sites in which a fiber-optic rod with a light source and video camera is inserted. Daley saw his chance for a new life. He would reshape his 6-foot-3 frame, get buff, land a job. The surgery took place Oct. 3 at Fresno's University Medical Center. The procedure permanently rerouted his digestive system. Daley's stomach, which originally could hold the contents of a 32-ounce Big Gulp, could now handle less than a Dixie cup. He came home three days later. The problems started almost immediately. "He was throwing up black stuff, and his urine looked like motor oil," said his sister, Margaret Bodoh. He returned to UMC twice in the next three weeks. On Nov. 9, he had a second abdominal surgery to repair a leak and clean out an abscess. Daley died a few hours later. He was 52. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media
Keyword: Obesity
Link ID: 1236 - Posted: 06.24.2010
By Janie Nelson DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER Christmas Day was special at the Vines' home in Attapulgus, Ga. Under the tree, Steven Vines found a turkey cooker and lots of new tools. He was surrounded by his family - wife Marilyn and four boys. But he had a lot more to be grateful for. On Dec. 14, his wife drove him to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital for brain "surgery." That afternoon, she drove him home. No scalpels were used in Vines' procedure. No drills cut through his skull. He didn't bleed. Instead, two doctors fitted him with a head frame secured with four screws and zapped the tumor deep inside his head with a massive dose of radiation. Called stereotactic radiosurgery, the procedure was invented in 1950 in Stockholm, Sweden. But it took years to create an instrument that could deliver a precise dose of radiation. All content © 2001 Tallahassee Democrat. All rights reserved.
Keyword: Brain imaging
Link ID: 1234 - Posted: 06.24.2010
Carl W. Bazil, MD, PhD, New York Presbyterian Hospital - Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons Susan T. Herman, MD, University Hospital of Brooklyn Epilepsy Center More than 2.5 million Americans, and nearly 50 million people worldwide, have epilepsy, and despite the numbers of those affected, epilepsy remains a poorly understood disease. Below, two neurologists discuss what is known about epilepsy, and its causes. What is the definition of epilepsy? CARL W. BAZIL, MD, PhD: The definition of epilepsy is very simple. A person who has two or more unprovoked seizures has epilepsy. By "unprovoked" I mean the seizure was not caused by a brain infection or a controlled substance, but came out of nowhere. Why does it have to be two? Can you have one unprovoked, and that's not enough to be declared epilepsy? CARL W. BAZIL, MD, PhD: The reason we define it as two is, if you have one, the chances of having another one are relatively small. If you have two, the chances of going on to have recurrent seizures are a lot greater, and that's when it's considered epilepsy. Copyright © 2001 ABCNEWS Internet Ventures.
Keyword: Epilepsy
Link ID: 1233 - Posted: 06.24.2010
JOHN WHITFIELD Birds tailor their songs to the height of their perches, say researchers. Different species' songs seem to make best use of the acoustic characteristics of different layers of the rainforest. Species that sing close to the ground have slower, lower-pitched songs and use a narrower range of pitches. Sound does not travel as far, or as clearly, near the ground as it does through open air. On the forest floor, a slow song is easier to hear and recognize than the faster, higher-pitched songs of birds that broadcast from the trees. Like composers, birds craft their music to suit their venue, says ornithologist Erwin Nemeth of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, leader of the team that made the discovery. "There's some music that works in cathedrals, and other music that works only in jazz clubs," he says. * Nemeth, E., Winkler, H. & Dabelsteen, T.. Differential degradation of antbird songs in a Neotropical rainforest: adaptation to perch height? Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 110, 3263 - 3274, (2001). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2001