By NICHOLAS BAKALAR The older a man is, the more likely he is to father children who develop bipolar disorder as adults, a large Swedish study reports. Previous studies have found an association between paternal age and both autism and schizophrenia, but this is the first time a connection with bipolar illness has been suggested. The study appears in the September issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry. The researchers examined highly accurate Swedish government health records of more than seven million people with known biological parents to find 13,428 with bipolar disorder diagnosed at two or more separate hospital admissions. They matched each case with five controls, people of the same age and sex but without bipolar illness. They divided the fathers into five-year age categories beginning at 20. After statistically adjusting for the age of the mother, family history of psychotic disorders, education level and other factors, they found consistently increasing risk as fathers aged. The highest risk was in fathers 55 and older. For mothers, after adjusting for the father’s age, they found a statistically significant increase in only the 35 to 39 age group. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Schizophrenia
Link ID: 12022 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Telling someone you fancy 'I really like you' could make him or her find you more attractive, research suggests. Making eye contact and smiling have a similar effect, says Aberdeen University psychologist Dr Ben Jones. His study, involving 230 men and women, found such social cues - which signal how much others fancy you - play a crucial role in attraction. The work will appear in Psychological Science and will be presented at the BA Festival of Science in Liverpool. Dr Jones said singletons could use his findings to help prevent wasting time chatting up people who were clearly not interested. "Combining information about others' physical beauty with information about how attracted they appear to be to you allows you to allocate your social effort efficiently," he said. In other words, avoid wasting time on attractive individuals who appear unlikely to reciprocate. In the study, 230 men and women were asked to look at flash cards picturing a face with different expressions - making eye contact or not and smiling or not. The volunteers were then asked to rate how attractive the faces were. The preference for the attractive face was much stronger when people were judging those faces that were looking at them and smiling. (C)BBC

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 12021 - Posted: 09.08.2008

By Bruce Bower Count on evolution to play favorites. When it comes to math achievement, some kids may start out with an inherent advantage. A portion of 14-year-olds deftly estimate approximate quantities of items without counting, whereas others do so with either moderate or limited success, a new study finds. The ability is evolutionarily ancient and cannot be taught, but tends to get better with age. Large variations in this number sense closely parallel youngsters’ mathematics achievement scores from kindergarten to sixth grade, concludes a team reporting in the Sept. 7 Nature and led by psychologist Justin Halberda of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Earlier studies indicated that a faculty for rapidly estimating approximate quantities appears by age 4 months, long before any math instruction. How precisely a child can estimate amounts may influence math learning and achievement, Halberda proposes. He and his colleagues are now assessing this ability in 3-year-olds whose math achievement in elementary school will be tracked. It’s also possible that high-quality or intensive math instruction may increase the accuracy of a person’s number estimates. Halberda suspects that if such effects exist, they’re relatively small. © Society for Science & the Public 2000 - 2008

Keyword: Intelligence; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 12020 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Christian Hoppe and Jelena Stojanovic Within hours of his demise in 1955, Albert Einstein’s brain was salvaged, sliced into 240 pieces and stored in jars for safekeeping. Since then, researchers have weighed, measured and otherwise inspected these biological specimens of genius in hopes of uncovering clues to Einstein’s spectacular intellect. Their cerebral explorations are part of a century-long effort to uncover the neural basis of high intelligence or, in children, giftedness. Traditionally, 2 to 5 percent of kids qualify as gifted, with the top 2 percent scoring above 130 on an intelligence quotient (IQ) test. (The statistical average is 100. See the box on the opposite page.) A high IQ increases the probability of success in various academic areas. Children who are good at reading, writing or math also tend to be facile at the other two areas and to grow into adults who are skilled at diverse intellectual tasks [see “Solving the IQ Puzzle,” by James R. Flynn; Scientific American Mind, October/November 2007]. Most studies show that smarter brains are typically bigger—at least in certain locations. Part of Einstein’s parietal lobe (at the top of the head, behind the ears) was 15 percent wider than the same region was in 35 men of normal cognitive ability, according to a 1999 study by researchers at McMaster University in Ontario. This area is thought to be critical for visual and mathematical thinking. It is also within the constellation of brain regions fingered as important for superior cognition. These neural territories include parts of the parietal and frontal lobes as well as a structure called the anterior cingulate. © 1996-2008 Scientific American Inc.

Keyword: Intelligence
Link ID: 12019 - Posted: 06.24.2010

When my own daughter was born by cesarean section delivery, I was surprised how uninvolved I was in the process. My body was numb, and my view of the surgery was blocked by a sheet. When I finally heard a baby cry, it took a minute for me to realize that the sound belonged to my own baby. That’s why I was particularly interested to read of new research showing that the method of delivery seems to influence how a mother’s brain responds to the cries of her own baby. The brains of women who have natural childbirth appear to be more responsive to the cries of their own babies, compared to the brains of women who have C-section births. The finding is based on brain imaging scans conducted two to four weeks after delivery among just 12 women, half of whom had vaginal births and half of whom gave birth by C-section. The study, published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, found that the cry of a woman’s own baby triggered significant responses in several parts of the brain related to sensory processing, empathy, arousal, motivation, reward and habit-regulation. The effect was greatest in the brains of women who had delivered vaginally compared to those women who delivered their babies by C-section. The conclusions that can be drawn from the study are limited because it involved so few women. However, it does support the theory that C-section birth may result in slight delays in attachment, putting those women at slightly higher risk for postpartum depression. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Depression
Link ID: 12018 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Tabitha M. Powledge Researchers have discovered that the same nerve cells involved in forming memories also are involved in replaying them. The finding, published today in the online edition of Science, provides new insight into how complex memories are laid down in a single neuron (nerve cell) and how neural firing, or communication, patterns created during memory formation are maintained during recall. Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, (U.C.L.A.) showed 13 volunteers—epilepsy patients with therapeutic electrodes implanted in their brains—several five- to 10-second clips from videos such as The Simpsons. The researchers found that a small sample comprising some 50 neurons in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex (memory centers in the brain) fired in distinctive repeatable patterns that differed for each clip. "The results were quite astounding," says senior study author Itzhak Fried, director of the U.C.L.A. Health System's Epilepsy Surgery Program. The same neuron that activated during the original viewing of a specific snippet also fired during recall, and the action began a second or so before the patient reported seeing the clip. That means, Fried says, that "the very neuron that was selectively active during the encoding, during the original viewing, suddenly came to life. It essentially replayed that memory by firing." © 1996-2008 Scientific American Inc.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 12017 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Jennifer Viegas -- Harmonious bird songs may sound pleasant to people, but a new study has found that at least some birds fight by singing, using melodic tweets to defend their relationships and territories. The study, published in the latest issue of Current Biology, was made possible by eight microphones positioned strategically throughout the dense tropical forests of Costa Rica. The microphones fed the song duets of rufous-and-white wrens into a single laptop computer, enabling researchers to pinpoint the exact positions of the colorful songbirds. "The first time I heard a rufous-and-white wren song, I was completely captivated by its voice," lead author Daniel Mennill told Discovery News. "They have low-pitched, flute-like sounds that are really quite beautiful." Mennill, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Windsor, and colleague Sandra Vehrencamp conducted two experiments on breeding pairs of the birds, which can sing such closely matched duets that human listeners think they're hearing a solo performance. They first recorded the birds in a passive context. "This is analogous to recording you as you go about your daily routine of making your lunch, tidying your house, etc.," explained Mennill. © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC

Keyword: Sexual Behavior; Language
Link ID: 12016 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Amber Dance Infectious prion proteins from hamsters can change normal proteins from mice into new, infectious forms of prion - simply by mixing the proteins together in a test tube. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston suggest their discovery could be turned into a useful test for whether a given prion strain is transmissible from one species to another. Prion proteins are responsible for Creutzfeld-Jakob disease and "mad cow" disease. But they also found that when a prion jumps species, it produces a new kind of prion. "This is very worrisome," says Claudio Soto, who led the research, published in Cell1. "The universe of possible prions could be much larger than we thought." Normal prion protein, or PrP, is found throughout the body but is concentrated in the brain. Its exact role is not known, although it has been linked to cell signalling2, metal-ion transport3, and blood-cell manufacture4. The protein can adopt malformed shapes that cause disease. Those proteins, which are resistant to degradation, bind and convert normal protein to their troublesome conformation. Over time, the diseased protein builds up and forms fibrils in the brain, causing neurodegeneration and ultimately death. © 2008 Nature Publishing Group

Keyword: Prions
Link ID: 12015 - Posted: 06.24.2010

As little as 20 minutes a day of aerobic exercise could help people over 50 improve their memory, a new study suggests. Results of the randomized control trial study appear in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Nicola Lautenschlager of the University of Melbourne and her colleagues tested whether exercise would reduce the rate of cognitive decline among 138 people over 50 at increased risk for dementia. Half were randomly assigned to an education group, and the rest participated in a 24-week physical activity program. "What our trial tells us is that older people who take up some form of aerobic exercise for as little as 20 minutes a day will be more likely to remember things like shopping lists, family birthdays and friends' names," said study author Prof. Leon Flicker of the Western Australian Institute for Health and Aging. "What's interesting about this study is that physical activity doesn't just have benefits for memory and preventing Alzheimer's disease, it highlights the importance of exercise to boost overall well-being and mental health." Medications approved to aid mental function in Alzheimer's disease had "no significant effect on mild cognitive impairment at 36 months," the researchers said, while physical activity not only helped cognitive function, but also depression, quality of life and cardiovascular function. © CBC 2008

Keyword: Learning & Memory; Alzheimers
Link ID: 12014 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By SARAH KERSHAW AS sisters only four months apart, Julie and Sara Curry grew up being peppered with questions from confused classmates. Your mom was in labor for four months? asked one friend, said Sara, 19. How is it possible? others inquired. The Curry sisters, college sophomores who live with their parents in this high desert town on the outskirts of San Diego, are what Dr. Nancy L. Segal, a psychologist who is researching behavioral differences among twins, refers to as virtual twins. By her definition, virtual twins are unrelated children born within nine months of each other who enter a family, through birth or adoption, in the first year of life. Since 1991, Dr. Segal has been studying 137 such sets of siblings, whose average age difference is three months. As scientific subjects, virtual twins provide a rich pool of material for researchers tackling the nature-versus-nurture question. In Dr. Segal’s studies, as in so many involving biological twins, it seems that nature is winning. Raised together essentially from birth, or at least since infancy, virtual twins may be genetic strangers, but they share an environment from an early point in life. A twin herself, Dr. Segal runs the Twin Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton, and is the author of two books on twins. She said her work has shown that virtual twins have less in common in terms of behavior, intelligence and decision-making than fraternal or identical twins, including those reared apart, or even biological siblings several years apart in age. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 12013 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Last week, the scientific journal NeuroImage published an article arguing that ‘by and large animal models offer very limited insights into the complex clinical picture of pain’ (1). The authors claimed that new procedures with humans, especially functional neuroimaging, should be more broadly adopted instead of animal-based studies into the nature and causes of pain. BBC News, and several anti-vivisectionists who were invited to comment on the report on various radio stations, interpreted this as a call to end animal pain-research (2). The publication of the article came in a week (17 to 22 August) when the World Congress on Pain was taking place in Glasgow (3). I was there, along with several of the authors of the NeuroImage paper and hundreds of students, clinicians and academics who treat patients with pain or who research the causes and effects of pain. ‘Animal models’ try to recreate disease in an animal in order to study the progress and treatment of the disease in a highly controlled fashion. There are, without doubt, many problems with this approach to disease (4). Even the best animal models cannot hope to mimic all the facets of human disease. How, for example, can we model frustration at no longer being able to play football by using rats in a laboratory? We can’t, and the same is true for almost all psychological reactions to disease. © spiked 2000-2008

Keyword: Animal Rights; Pain & Touch
Link ID: 12012 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Erin Wayman "You have such full lips, just like my mom." That pickup line probably won't get a guy many dates--but it's likely to be true. A new study of facial features adds to mounting evidence that a man tends to choose a girlfriend who resembles his mother, and a woman picks a boyfriend who looks like her father. Researchers are on to something, says Randy Thornhill, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque: "It's more than just a little fluke." The findings have their roots in studies of geese carried out in the 1930s. Ethologist Konrad Lorenz found that when he raised the birds, they followed him around like a mother. He could even convince goslings that a ball was mom if the ball "led" the flock of tiny birds within days of hatching. Since then, the behavior, known as imprinting, has also been linked to mate choice. Male lambs raised by goats, for example, grow up as rams that battle for the affection of goats, not sheep. Imprinting seems to exist in humans too. Studies show that men and women born to older parents find older faces more attractive, and women will favor photographs of men whose faces resemble their fathers. People have also judged photos of men and their fathers-in-law as looking similar, further suggesting that women marry men who look like their dads. © 2008 American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Sexual Behavior
Link ID: 12011 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By Nikhil Swaminathan You've probably heard the news: Measles, once banished, is back in a big way. The reason, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): children are increasingly not being vaccinated against the highly contagious virus because of fears that ingredients in the injection may cause autism, a mysterious neurological disorder that affects one out of 150 children born each year in the U.S. But new research by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health did not find a connection. "We are confident that there is no link between [the measles vaccine] and autism," says lead study author W. Ian Lipkin, an epidemiologist. The researchers hope their findings, published in the journal PLoS ONE, will put the issue to rest and persuade parents to vaccinate their children—a move that could stop measles and other, previously controlled serious illnesses such as mumps and whooping cough from making comebacks. "We need to ensure the vaccine recommendations are followed to not only protect those who are immunized," says CDC researcher Larry Pickering," but to also provide herd protection for people in the United States and throughout the world who may not be able to receive the vaccine because of their age or respond to the vaccine because of an underlying immunodeficiency." © 1996-2008 Scientific American Inc.

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 12010 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Gursharan Randhawa Chandelier neurons are the latest candidates for "the uniqueness of being human", the thing that gives us the edge over other mammals in our ability to think and use language. The cells are found exclusively in the cerebral cortex – the part of the brain responsible for functions such as language, thought, sensation and spatial reasoning – and named for their resemblance to old-fashioned candlesticks. Gábor Tamás at the University of Szeged, Hungary, and colleagues have for the first time demonstrated just how powerful chandelier cells are, by showing that a single cell can trigger a whole series of neuronal signals in human brain tissue. As this has not been seen in other mammals, it may explain why we humans are so much brighter. Tamás's team investigated how chandelier cells make connections with other nerve cells using brain tissue removed during surgery that would otherwise have been "wasted". "We used tissue from patients having surgery for deep brain tumours," he says. "On the way to these deep brain tumours surgeons have to remove some healthy cortical tissue above the troubled area. We used this little piece of healthy tissue which would have otherwise been discarded." © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd

Keyword: Language
Link ID: 12009 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Deep brain stimulation, a surgical technique often viewed as a last resort for people with Parkinson's disease, halts the progression of dopamine-cell loss in animal models, according to preliminary research by scientists at the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and University Hospital. The scientists also discovered clues to why the technique works. The act of stimulating neurons with electrodes boosted the amount of an important protein in animals' brains. The protein, a trophic factor known as BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), is a nurturing, growth-promoting chemical. Parkinson's disease is a degenerative neurological disorder involving the death of dopamine-producing brain cells, or neurons. "Demonstrating that deep brain stimulation halts the progression of dopamine-cell loss was basically a confirmation and extension of previous findings," says Caryl Sortwell, PhD, associate professor of neurology at UC and the study's lead investigator. "But finding the mechanism is a novel discovery that is even more critical. We now know not only that it works, we also are beginning to understand how it is working." Sortwell recently announced her team's results at a professional conference held by the Cleveland Clinic and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The research holds important implications for patients with Parkinson's disease and could alter the current recommended timetable for surgical intervention.

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 12008 - Posted: 09.04.2008

By JANE E. BRODY If you’ve ever had butterflies in your stomach or an attack of nerves that sent you racing for the bathroom, you already know that the intestinal tract has a mind of its own. The millions who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, or I.B.S., perhaps know it best. I.B.S., with its symptoms of bloating, abdominal pain, flatulence, diarrhea or constipation or an alternating cycle of the two, can seriously impair the ability to work and enjoy leisure activities. Up to 15 percent of the population is affected, though only half seek medical help. The gut and brain are intimately connected, with more nerve cells in the intestines than in the central nervous system. The gut has been called the body’s second brain, containing 95 percent of the body’s neurotransmitter serotonin and direct nerve connections to the brain. So it is no surprise that this common disorder of intestinal function has a strong mind-body connection. This does not mean I.B.S. is a psychosomatic condition caused by emotions, but rather that emotional upsets can aggravate symptoms in someone with a hyper-reactive bowel. It also means that learning to minimize stress and emotional disturbances can reduce the symptoms of I.B.S., perhaps more effectively than medications, recent research has indicated. Yet much educational material about this condition underplays the mind-body connection and the vital role that emotional retraining can play in controlling it. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Stress
Link ID: 12007 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Scientists have pinpointed seasonal changes in brain chemistry which may cause some people to suffer from the winter blues. Seasonal affective disorder, which can be debilitating, is linked to lack of light exposure on short winter days. The latest study suggests this might make proteins which clear the brain of the mood-regulating chemical serotonin more active. The University of Toronto study appears in Archives of General Psychiatry. Seasonal affective disorder is linked to lack of energy, fatigue, overeating and a tendancy to sleep longer as well as depressed mood. The condition affects thousands of people in the UK. Writing in the journal, the researchers said it was common for people living in temperate zones to feel happier and more energetic on bright and sunny days, with many experiencing a decline in mood and energy during the dark winter season. The researchers carried out brain scans on 88 volunteers between 1999 and 2003. The scans were designed to assess the activity of a protein known as a serotonin transporter, which binds to serotonin and clears it from the spaces between brain cells. The more active the protein, the lower the levels of serotonin in the brain, and the greater the likelihood of a depressed mood. The researchers found that the protein was significantly more active in all areas of the brain examined by the scans in the autumn and winter. They believe light may have a direct effect on the activity of the protein. (C)BBC

Keyword: Biological Rhythms; Depression
Link ID: 12006 - Posted: 09.02.2008

Moran Ben-David was proud of his infant daughter Shaya when she said her first word around the age of one year: "Aba," which is Hebrew for "dad." The Toronto resident doesn't doubt that she associates the word to him. "When she said it, she meant it," he said. "It was me." But he also acknowledges that it's an easy word to say, particularly because it ends with an "a." Ben-David is likely on to something, according to a University of British Columbia study. Judit Gervain of the psychology department's Infant Studies Centre has examined why babies are so efficient and fast when learning to speak. The study hypothesized that babies start to learn immediately after birth. Babies may learn through structural patterns Gervain and a team of researchers studied 22 newborns, exposing them to a recording of made-up words, half with repeated syllables and half without. © CBC 2008

Keyword: Language; Development of the Brain
Link ID: 12005 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By SALLY SATEL, M.D We’ve heard it before. “Drug abuse is an equal opportunity destroyer.” “Drug addiction is a bipartisan illness.” “Addiction does not discriminate; it doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, famous or unknown, a man or woman, or even a child.” The phrase “addiction doesn’t care” is not meant to remind us that addiction casts a long shadow — everyone knows that. Rather, it is supposed to suggest that any individual, no matter who, is vulnerable to the ravages of drugs and alcohol. The same rhetoric has been applied to other problems, including child abuse, domestic violence, alcoholism — even suicide. Don’t stigmatize the afflicted, it cautions; you could be next. Be kind, don’t judge. The democratization of addiction may be an appealing message, but it does not reflect reality. Teenagers with drug problems are not like those who never develop them. Adults whose problems persist for decades manifest different traits from those who get clean. So while anyone can theoretically become an addict, it is more likely the fate of some, among them women sexually abused as children; truant and aggressive young men; children of addicts; people with diagnosed depression and bipolar illness; and groups including American Indians and poor people. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse; Genes & Behavior
Link ID: 12004 - Posted: 06.24.2010

By NATALIE ANGIER As anybody who has grieved inconsolably over the death of a loved one can attest, extended mourning is, in part, a perverse kind of optimism. Surely this bottomless, unwavering sorrow will amount to something, goes the tape loop. Surely if I keep it up long enough I’ll accomplish my goal, and the person will stop being dead. Last week the Internet and European news outlets were flooded with poignant photographs of Gana, an 11-year-old gorilla at the Münster Zoo in Germany, holding up the body of her dead baby, Claudio, and pursing her lips toward his lifeless fingers. Claudio died at the age of 3 months of an apparent heart defect, and for days Gana refused to surrender his corpse to zookeepers, a saga that provoked among her throngs of human onlookers admiration and compassion and murmurings that, you see? Gorillas, and probably a lot of other animals as well, have a grasp of their mortality and will grieve for the dead and are really just like us after all. Nobody knows what emotions swept through Gana’s head and heart as she persisted in cradling and nuzzling the remains of her son. But primatologists do know this: Among nearly all species of apes and monkeys in the wild, a mother will react to the death of her infant as Gana did — by clutching the little decedent to her breast and treating it as though it were still alive. For days or even weeks afterward, she will take it with her everywhere and fight off anything that threatens to snatch it away. “The only time I was ever mobbed by langurs was when I tried to inspect a baby corpse,” said the primatologist Sarah Hrdy. Only gradually will she allow the distance between herself and the ever-gnarlier carcass to grow. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Intelligence; Animal Rights
Link ID: 12003 - Posted: 06.24.2010