When it comes to making tools, crows on the Pacific island of New Caledonia are mostly right-handed--or perhaps "right-billed" is the term. Researchers studying how these birds fashion tools for foraging have found that most of them prefer using their right eye and the left part of their brain--just like most humans do. The vast majority of humans use their right hands for tasks demanding strength or precision. Only recently have researchers started to discover consistent handedness, or laterality, in many other creatures--from chimps and toads to chicks and pigeons. Last year, ecologist Gavin Hunt of the University of Auckland in New Zealand was the first to show that handedness also plays a role in animal toolmaking. Hunt studied New Caledonian crows, a species that snips carefully tapered strips off leaves from the pandanus tree and uses them to retrieve beetle grubs from crevices. Some crows tend to snip tools from the left sides of leaves, using their right eye to guide their behavior, while others prefer to work from the other side, Hunt found. Copyright © 2001 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Laterality; Evolution
Link ID: 1178 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Both HIV and Alzheimer’s disease can damage the brain, but most people think the similarity between the two ends there. Recent research from San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (SFVAMC) suggests a closer connection -- the brain damage from both diseases appears to involve inflammation, suggesting that anti-inflammatory drugs could help. The latest findings to support this link show that AIDS dementia, like Alzheimer’s, may now be a chronic condition. The study, published in the latest issue of the journal AIDS, shows that immune cell markers of AIDS dementia remain even after a patient is treated with anti-retroviral drug cocktails. These same markers are elevated in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, said lead author Lynn Pulliam, PhD, chief of microbiology at SFVAMC and UCSF professor of laboratory medicine and medicine.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 1177 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The volume of gray matter in certain brain regions has been found to be highly heritable, that is, increasingly similar in persons with increasing genetic similarity (Thompson et al., 2001). This study also showed that differences in the amount of gray matter in the frontal lobes correlates closely with differences in intelligence quotient (IQ).

Keyword: Brain imaging; Newsletter
Link ID: 1176 - Posted: 12.19.2001

A new research report supports the idea that the brain is organized into subcomponents or modules, each dedicated to processing and representing a particular type of visual information (Downing, Jiang, Shuman, and Kanwisher, 2001). But other new reports support the idea that brain processing and representation are distributed, that is, any information is processed by many different parts of the brain and any brain region is likely to represent many classes of information (Haxby et al., 2001; Vaina et al., 2001).

Keyword: Vision; Newsletter
Link ID: 1175 - Posted: 12.19.2001

While comedians have spent a great deal of time focusing on humor and laughter, scientists mostly ignored the subject. In recent years, however, several groups of researchers started to scrutinize this form of merriment. Their investigations are shedding light on how the brain processes humor and prompts laughter. Researchers believe that uncovering the brain and body's specific response to positive stimuli like humor and laughter may lead to new therapies. What do you get if you cross a student with an alien? Something from another universe-ity! You'll also get unique activity in the brain if you think this joke is funny, according to increasing evidence. The new investigations into how humor and laughter influence the brain are leading to: Copyright © 2001 Society for Neuroscience. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Brain imaging
Link ID: 1174 - Posted: 12.19.2001

Finding may have implications for treatment of both diseases Los Angeles,––Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and their colleagues have found that two enzymes involved in the production of amyloid-ß protein-the protein that makes up the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer patients-are increased inside the muscle cells of patients with the most common, progressive muscle disease of older people, in which amyloid-ß is also increased. The finding has implications for developing treatments for the muscle disease-called inclusion-body myositis or IBM-and, possibly, for Alzheimer disease as well. The study was published in the December 8 issue of The Lancet. BACE1 and BACE2 are enzymes that selectively snip the amyloid precursor protein to create the presumably toxic amyloid-ß; they are found in normal tissues at very low levels. But, until now, they had not been shown to be increased in any diseased tissue. "We have found an increase at the protein level of these two enzymes for the first time ever in a human disease," explains the paper's principal investigator, Valerie Askanas, M.D., Ph.D.

Keyword: Alzheimers
Link ID: 1170 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The female sex hormone appears to be critical in controlling the cellular process at the basis of learning and memory, says Michel Baudry, USC professor of biological sciences. by Matthew Blakeslee USC neuroscientists have shown that the basic mechanisms of learning in the female brain wax and wane with the menstrual cycle. Though the data came specifically from studies of the rat brain, it is very likely that the same rhythmic relation between estrogen levels and memory acuity also occurs in women, the researchers said.

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Hormones & Behavior
Link ID: 1169 - Posted: 12.14.2001

Emma Young A massive and co-ordinated research effort to identify the causes of autism is urgently needed, say the authors of a major UK Medical Research Council review of autism research. The review concludes that autism and related disorders are far more common than previously thought - and that there is no firm evidence to date linking any environmental trigger with the disease. Autism and related disorders affect six in every 1000 children aged under eight, the team found. The previous figure accepted by the MRC was between one and two per 1000. The increase is down to altered ideas about what constitutes an "autism spectrum disorder", as well as increased awareness of the condition, the group says. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 1167 - Posted: 12.13.2001

Study finds recognizing people by race a reversible way of detecting social groups Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer Racial stereotyping may seem to be such a prevalent habit of the human species as to suggest that the disease of discrimination is incurable. But a new study released today finds reason to be more optimistic. Anthropologists and geneticists have long argued that the concept of "race" is a misleading way of dividing people into rigid groups that makes no sense from any scientific standpoint. Today's study, appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers fresh evidence to bolster the idea that race is not "hard- wired" into the brain. ©2001 San Francisco Chronicle

Keyword: Evolution; Brain imaging
Link ID: 1165 - Posted: 12.13.2001

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A drug used widely to treat alcoholism worked no better than sugar pills for long-term heavy drinkers, a new study finds. The study, to appear in The New England Journal of Medicine this week, examined the effects of the drug, naltrexone, with 600 veterans. "Our data raise doubts about the current use of naltrexone for patients with chronic severe alcohol dependence," wrote the researchers, led by Dr. John H. Krystal of the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Health Care System. The veterans, who averaged 49 years old and began drinking regularly in their 20's, reported that they drank about three days out of four and consumed an average of 13 drinks on the days when they drank. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1163 - Posted: 12.13.2001

By ANDREW POLLACK IRVINE, Calif. - As debate again heats up over cloning and stem cell research, several biotechnology companies are trying to develop a far less controversial approach to cell regeneration. The companies are actively working on drugs that stimulate the brain and other organs to grow new cells and repair themselves. Drugs do not face the same problems with rejection by a recipient's immune system that cells and tissues often do. And in most cases, giving drugs would not require the surgery that might be needed to implant new cells grown from stem cells. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Stem Cells; Neurogenesis
Link ID: 1162 - Posted: 12.13.2001

by George A. Rekers, Ph.D., and Mark D. Kilgus, M.D., Ph.D. Psychiatric Times December 2001 Vol. XVIII Issue 12 From the age of 2, "Craig" repeatedly cross-dressed in girl's clothes and played with cosmetic items (Rekers and Lovaas, 1974). He frequently displayed pronounced feminine mannerisms, gestures and gait. He repeatedly projected his voice into an artificially high "feminine" inflection and predominantly talked about feminine objects and concerns to the exclusion of masculine topics. Craig totally avoided any play with boys his age and any boyish play activities. Instead, Craig persistently played with little girls. When playing "house" with them, he always insisted on being the "mommy," refusing to play the part of "daddy." Craig also repeatedly expressed his strong dissatisfaction with his penis, and he insisted on sitting to urinate. He tucked his penis between his legs to hide it when taking a bath. Craig habitually insisted on being called Wendy. Copyright 1995-2001 CME, Inc.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 1161 - Posted: 12.12.2001

by Carl I. Cohen, M.D. Psychiatric Times Vol. XVIII Issue 12 A crisis is emerging in mental health care. It involves the care and treatment of older people with schizophrenia, who represent the majority of the approximately 1 million people aged 55 and older with severe and persistent mental illness. Their numbers can be expected to double over the next 30 years (Goldman and Manderscheid, 1987; Gurland and Cross, 1982). Moreover, unlike previous generations of people with schizophrenia, they will have spent most of their lives outside of institutions. Indeed, an estimated 85% of people with schizophrenia currently live in the community. Unfortunately, this population has been largely invisible to researchers, policy-makers and service providers. For example, only 1% of the literature on schizophrenia has been devoted to aging; mental health care services for the elderly are currently fragmented and underutilized; and geriatric long-term care programs focus primarily on those with physical disabilities and dementia. Copyright 1995-2001 CME, Inc.

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 1160 - Posted: 12.12.2001

Startle reflex defends the body against strong impact stimuli, not noises by Megan Easton U of T researchers have discovered that the main purpose of the startle reflex -- the mechanism that makes people twitch at sudden loud noises -- is to protect the body against blows. Everyone has experienced the muscle contraction associated with the startle response, a feeling that is most often linked to sounds such as balloons popping or cars backfiring. Yet new studies show that the primary role of the startle reflex is to defend the body against strong impact stimuli, not noises. "Before now, researchers have concentrated on studying the auditory pathways for the startle reflex, so the discovery that startle is best evoked when noises are combined with tactile stimuli is a surprising conclusion," says psychology professor John Yeomans, the lead author of a study published in the November issue of Neuroscience.

Keyword: Hearing; Evolution
Link ID: 1157 - Posted: 12.12.2001

Following positive tests on Finnish and Austrian cattle, Sweden is the last "BSE-free" European Union country. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease better known as BSE or "mad cow disease", has infected cattle herds in Finland and Austria for the first time since early reports of British infections put EU consumers on edge a decade ago. The two countries, along with Sweden, had boasted that their regulations on animal feed warded off the threat. But it now appears that the disease slipped through anyway, making Sweden the only EU state never to have detected a case. © DW 2001

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 1156 - Posted: 12.12.2001

By JANE E. BRODY The obituaries all said that George Harrison died of cancer. But, in fact, what killed Mr. Harrison was smoking. Although public reports of his medical history are somewhat scanty, certain facts are clear. In 1997 he was treated for throat cancer, which he himself attributed to many years of smoking. He said at the time that he had quit smoking and that his doctors anticipated a complete cure. But just four years later, he underwent surgery for lung cancer, followed by radiation therapy for a tumor in his brain, where lung cancer commonly spreads. A few months later, Mr. Harrison was dead. Some 440,000 Americans succumb each year to the deadly effects of tobacco smoke. As the nation's single leading cause of death and disability, smoking costs our economy some $70 billion a year. Up to half of all long- term smokers will prematurely develop a debilitating disease, most often heart disease, chronic lung disease or cancer. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 1152 - Posted: 12.11.2001

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG WASHINGTON, - After years of denying any link between illness and service in the Persian Gulf war, military officials said today that veterans of the conflict were nearly twice as likely as other soldiers to suffer the fatal neurological illness known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The joint announcement by the Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments was based on the preliminary findings of a study of more than 2.5 million veterans. Officials said they would immediately offer disability and survivor benefits to affected patients and families. Forty cases have been identified so far. "The hazards of the modern-day battlefield are more than bullet wounds and saber cuts," Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi said in releasing the results of the study. "We have to be conscious of that and act accordingly." Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company

Keyword: ALS-Lou Gehrig's Disease
Link ID: 1151 - Posted: 12.11.2001

By ERIC NAGOURNEY The sophisticated brain-scanning devices known as functional M.R.I.'s can sometimes be thrown off by something as simple as a few cups of coffee, a new study reports. The brain scans are largely used in research and on people who have suffered serious strokes, so the immediate implications for patient care are limited, the researchers said. But the implications may change as the M.R.I.'s become more widely used, they added. The results of the study, done at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, were presented at a recent conference of the Radiological Society of North America by Dr. Aaron S. Field, now of the University of Wisconsin. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Brain imaging
Link ID: 1150 - Posted: 12.11.2001

Copyright © 2001 AP Online The Associated Press WASHINGTON - A schizophrenic man charged with killing two officers in the Capitol in 1998 lost his case Monday in the Supreme Court when justices refused to consider the constitutionality of forcing mentally ill defendants to take drugs just to make them fit for trial. Justices could have used Russell Eugene Weston's case to restrict when people facing criminal charges can be drugged against their will. Their refusal to intervene, done without comment, puts the government back on track to try Weston in the July 24, 1998, killings at the Capitol. He was wounded after crashing through a metal detector and making his way to a congressman's office. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 1149 - Posted: 12.11.2001

Copyright © 2001 AP Online By LAURA MECKLER, Associated Press WASHINGTON - In the first acknowledgement of a link between service in the Gulf and a specific disease, the government reported Monday that soldiers who served in the Gulf War were nearly twice as likely to develop Lou Gehrig's disease as other military personnel. The Veterans Administration said it would immediately offer disability and survivor benefits to veterans who served in the Persian Gulf during the conflict a decade ago. "The hazards of the modern day battlefield are more than bullet wounds and saber cuts," said Anthony Principi, secretary of Veterans Affairs. The results released Monday have not yet been reviewed by other scientists or published in an academic journal, but officials said they were releasing them now to prevent further delay in compensating victims of the progressive, fatal disease. Copyright © 2001 Nando Media

Keyword: ALS-Lou Gehrig's Disease
Link ID: 1148 - Posted: 12.11.2001