November 21, 2008, 8:40 PM CT

Ability to quit smoking may depend on ADHD symptoms

Tobacco use is more prevalent and smoking cessation less likely among persons with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (A.D.H.D.) In a study of smokers with attention deficit and hyperactivity symptoms, those who exhibited elevated hyperactivity and impulsivity, with or without inattention, showed lower quit rates after 8 weeks than those with inattention symptoms alone or those without the A.D.H.D. symptoms. The study, now available online in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, could help smokers and physicians to better tailor cessation therapy for individuals with A.D.H.D.

"Greater understanding of the divergent associations that exist between the different kinds of A.D.H.D. have important public health consequences for smoking cessation and decreased tobacco-related mortality in this population," said the study's lead author Lirio Covey, Ph.D., professor of clinical psychology (in psychiatry) at Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

"The effect of A.D.H.D. by itself on smoking cessation has rarely been examined; the effects of the individual A.D.H.D. symptoms on smoking cessation, even less so. To our knowledge, the effects of inattention or hyperactivity at baseline as separate domains of A.D.H.D. on cessation therapy outcome have never been examined," Dr. Covey reported......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 19, 2008, 8:18 PM CT

Adults Need Vaccines

A number of adults are unaware of the potential risks of vaccine-preventable diseases, the need for booster doses to maintain maximum protection, and the availability of newer vaccines.

Philadelphia, November 19, 2008 - The American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) have released a joint statement on the importance of adult vaccination against an increasing number of vaccine-preventable diseases. The statement has been endorsed by 17 other medical societies representing a range of practice areas.

As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 95 percent of vaccine-preventable diseases occur in adults and more than 46,000 adults die of vaccine-preventable diseases or their complications.

"It is crucial for physicians - internists, family physicians, and subspecialists who provide primary and preventive care services for patients, particularly those with chronic diseases - to discuss and review their adult patients' vaccination status and either vaccinate them or provide a referral for recommended vaccines," said Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, FACP, president of ACP. "We think that the Patient-Centered Medical Home model of care - which in coordination with the other components of the health care delivery system is the future of health care - will help to increase immunization rates among adults."........ Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 19, 2008, 6:21 PM CT

Early HIV testing and treatment for infected infants

Testing very young babies for HIV and giving antiretroviral treatment (ART) immediately to those found infected with the virus dramatically prevents illness and death, as per a report in the New England Journal (NEJM) The study observed that giving ART to HIV-infected infants beginning at an average age of 7 weeks made them four times less likely to die in the next 48 weeks, compared with postponing ART until signs of illness or a weakened immune system appeared--the standard of care when the study began.

These findings come from the "Children with HIV Early Antiretroviral Therapy" (CHER) study, the first Phase III randomized clinical trial to study the best time to begin ART in infants. Launched in South Africa in July 2005, CHER is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the departments of health of the Western Cape and Gauteng in South Africa.

"HIV devastates the nascent immune systems of infants very quickly, yet too a number of HIV-infected infants do not get tested for the virus, get tested too late or get tested but lack access to lifesaving antiretroviral drugs," says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., the director of NIAID. "The results of CHER are a clarion call to scale up widespread early HIV testing of at-risk infants and to make ART immediately accessible to all infants who test positive." ......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 14, 2008, 5:41 AM CT

Novel regulatory step during HIV replication

A previously unknown regulatory step during human immunodeficiency (HIV) replication provides a potentially valuable new target for HIV/AIDS treatment, report scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Their study, published in this week's early online edition of the Public Library of Science, PLoS Pathogens, describes a new biological function for sulfonationa type of chemical modificationwhich ensures that viral genes can be expressed efficiently after HIV successfully integrated into the host genome.

"The early steps of HIV infection are highly dependent on cellular processes and represent a time when the virus is especially vulnerable to antivirals and host defense mechanisms," said John Young, Ph. D., a professor in the Infectious Disease Laboratory at the Salk Institute, who co-led the study with Paul Ahlquist, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "Drugs that block the sulfonation pathway might render host cells resistant to HIV infection," adds Ahlquist.

HIV begins its assault by injecting its core that contains a single-stranded RNA into a host cell. Once inside, the viral RNA is converted into double-stranded DNAa process known as reverse transcriptionand the original viral RNA is degraded. Another enzyme, integrase, mediates the final step of the genome conversion, where the viral double-stranded DNA slips into the host's DNA, allowing it to take advantage of the host cell's genetic machinery to replicate and propagate itself......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 14, 2008, 5:32 AM CT

Key contributor to Alzheimer's disease process

Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, is the lead author of a paper identifying, for the first time, a specific function of a fragment of ribonucleic acid (RNA), once believed to be no more than a byproduct, in regulating inflammation and the development of Alzheimer's disease. The paper, An NF-kB-sensitive micro RNA-146a-mediated inflammatory circuit in Alzheimer's disease and in stressed human brain cells, would be reported in the November 14, 2008 issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry

Dr. Lukiw's lab at the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence has shown that this tiny piece of RNA, or microRNA, called miRNA-146a is found in increased amounts in stressed human brain cells and in Alzheimer's disease, and that it plays a crucial role in the regulation of inflammation and disease-related neuropathology believed to be integral to the Alzheimer's disease process. Dr. Lukiw's research team, which also included LSUHSC's Jian Guo Cui, MD, PhD and Yuhai Zhao, a post doctoral student in the lab, demonstrated in human brain cells in primary culture that MiRNA-146a targets the messenger RNA of an important anti-inflammatory regulator called complement factor H (CFH). Testing both control cells and Alzheimer's disease-affected tissues, they observed that miRNA-164a appears to reduce the amount and bioavailability of CFH, promoting the inflammation of brain cells and contributing to the development of Alzheimer's disease......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 14, 2008, 5:31 AM CT

'Cascading effect' of childhood experiences

Adverse experiences early in life can lead to minor childhood behavior problems, which can grow into serious acts of teen violence, as per new research. This "cascading effect" of repeated negative incidents and behaviors is the focus of an article in the November/December edition of the journal Child Development

Using a novel approach that went beyond simply identifying risk factors, a research team led by a Duke University psychology expert measured how violent behavior develops across the life span, from early childhood through adolescence. The scientists tracked 754 children from preschool through adulthood and documented that children who have social and academic problems in elementary school are more likely to have parents who withdraw from them over time. That opens the door for them to make friends with adolescents exhibiting deviant behaviors and, ultimately, leads them to engage in serious and sometimes costly acts of violence.

The developmental path toward violent outcomes was largely the same for boys and girls, said Kenneth A. Dodge, the lead author of the study and director of the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.

Dodge and colleagues in the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group also observed that the cascade could be traced back to children born with biological risks or born into economically disadvantaged environments, both of which make consistent parenting a challenge. They determined biological risk by assessing the temperaments of the children in infancy, based on mothers' reports; those at risk were irritable, easily startled and difficult to calm. These children are more likely to exhibit minor social and cognitive problems upon entering school. From there, the behavior problems begin to "cascade," he said......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 12, 2008, 10:38 PM CT

Wide public support for nationwide study of genes

Four in five Americans support the idea of a nationwide study to investigate the interactions of genes, environment and lifestyle, and three in five say they would be willing to take part in such a study, as per a survey released recently. The research was conducted by the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University with funding from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

In a plenary session at the American Society of Human Genetics' annual meeting in Philadelphia, and in a paper reported in the advance online edition of Genetics in Medicine, scientists presented results of their survey that sought public opinions about the prospect of a national study that would bank DNA and other biological samples from thousands of volunteers and track the volunteers' health over time. Scientists often refer to this type of study as a cohort study, with one of the best-known examples being the Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts.

"Our survey observed that widespread support exists in the general public for a large, genetic cohort study. What's more, we found little variation in that support among different demographic groups," said David Kaufman, Ph.D., lead author of the paper and project director at the Genetics and Public Policy Center, which is located in Washington......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 12, 2008, 10:31 PM CT

Hormones and brain activity

Researchers have long known that women's preferences for masculine men change throughout their menstrual cycles. A new study from Indiana University's Kinsey Institute is the first to demonstrate differences in brain activity as women considered masculinized and feminized male faces and whether the person was a potential sexual partner.

The scientists identified regions of the brain that responded more strongly to masculine faces and demonstrated that differences between masculinized and feminized faces appeared strongest when the women were closer to ovulating.

The study, published in an online edition of the journal "Evolution and Human Behavior," sheds light on the link between women's hormone levels and their brain responses to masculinized versus feminized male faces, potentially offering insights into female mate preferences. The current study points towards enhancements of both sensory discrimination and risk processing around ovulation in response to masculine faces as possible mediators of women's mate preferences.

"One area of the brain in which we observed a difference in activation in response to masculinized versus feminized faces -- specifically during the follicular phase -- was the anterior cingulate cortex, which is a region involved in decision-making and the evaluation of potential reward and risk," said neuroscientist Heather Rupp, research fellow at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University. "Activation in this region has been previously reported to correlate with 'high risk' nonsocial choices, specifically monetary risk, so it is interesting that it is observed to be more active in response to masculinized male faces, who may be both riskier but more rewarding to women."........ Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 9, 2008, 9:58 PM CT

Simple brain mechanisms explain arbitrary human visual decisions

Mark Twain, a skeptic of the idea of free will, argues in his essay "What Is Man?" that humans do not command their minds or the opinions they form.

"You did not form that [opinion]," a speaker identified as "old man" says in the essay. "Your [mental] machinery did it for youautomatically and instantly, without reflection or the need of it".

Twain's views get a boost this week from scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and University of Chieti, Italy. In Nature Neuroscience, researchers report that a simple decision-making task does not involve the frontal lobes, where a number of of the higher aspects of human cognition, including self-awareness, are thought to originate. Instead, the regions that decide are the same brain regions that receive stimuli relevant to the decision and control the body's response to it.

Other scientists had already demonstrated the same principle in primates. But a number of still assumed that the more complex human brain would have a more general decision-making module that involved the frontal lobe independently of the neural systems for perception and action.

"It is important to understand how the brain makes decisions under normal conditions to gain insight into diseases like Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury or stroke in which decision-making is disrupted," says senior author Maurizio Corbetta, M.D., the Norman J. Stupp Professor of Neurology. "We like to think of our decisions as willful acts, but that may be an illusion. A number of decisions may be much more directly and automatically driven by what our brain is sensing"......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

November 4, 2008, 9:46 PM CT

Molecular Regulation of Fat-Cell Genetics

A research team led by Mitchell Lazar, MD, PhD, Director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has used state-of-the-art genetic technology to map thousands of positions where a molecular "master regulator" of fat-cell biology is nestled in DNA to control genes in these cells. The findings appear online this week in Genes & Development.

The international obesity epidemic is leading to major health risks, including increased rates of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Obesity is caused by increased numbers of fat cells that store more fat than normal. "This research has the potential to lead to new ways to think about therapies aimed at reducing the number of fat cells or altering fat cell function in ways that reduce the complications of obesity," says Lazar.

The master molecule is called PPAR gamma, a gene regulator that is also the target of a major class of antidiabetic drugs, which include Actos® and Avandia. PPAR gamma binds directly to DNA, regulating the production of proteins by turning genes on or off. Actos® and Avandia are effective in treating diabetes, but their side effects, which include weight gain, prevent them from being recommended as a first-line treatment. The drugs bind to PPAR gamma in the nucleus of fat cells, which affects the expression of a number of genes, about twenty of which were previously known......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source