http://www.sott.net Signs of the Times, featuring news and commentary on world events. Never wavering in our unending search for the light of truth in a pathocracy driven world! en-us Original content Copyright 2010 by Signs of the Times. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:08:54 -0500 http://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net http://www.sott.net http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202722-Mediterranean-Diet-May-Be-Key-To-Avoiding-Stroke-Dementia Dieters Show Healthier Brain Scans A new study reveals that adhering to the Mediterranean diet may help seniors avoid strokes, and ultimately dementia. The diet, which has made headlines in recent years for its heart and dietary benefits, was shown in a new study to reduce strokes in the brain -- visible on MRI scans. Recent evidence has suggested that these strokes can reduce cognitive function in later years. The Mediterranean diet has a number of incarnations, but focuses heavily on whole grains, fruits and vegetables, olive oil and nuts, while eliminating meats and many of the fats in a conventional American diet. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202722-Mediterranean-Diet-May-Be-Key-To-Avoiding-Stroke-Dementia Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:08:49 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202720-Brain-Area-Responsible-for-Fear-of-Losing-Money-Discovered Neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their colleagues have tied the human aversion to losing money to a specific structure in the brain - the amygdala. The finding, described in the latest online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), offers insight into economic behavior, and also into the role of the brain's amygdalae, two almond-shaped clusters of tissue located in the medial temporal lobes. The amygdala registers rapid emotional reactions and is implicated in depression, anxiety, and autism. The research team that made these findings consists of Benedetto de Martino, a Caltech visiting researcher from University College London and first author on the study; Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics; and Ralph Adolphs, the Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and professor of biology. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202720-Brain-Area-Responsible-for-Fear-of-Losing-Money-Discovered Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:03:33 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202719-Morality-Research-Sheds-Light-On-The-Origins-Of-Religion The details surrounding the emergence and evolution of religion have not been clearly established and remain a source of much debate among scholars. Now, an article published by Cell Press in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences on February 8 brings a new understanding to this long-standing discussion by exploring the fascinating link between morality and religion. There is no doubt that spiritual experiences and religion, which are ubiquitous across cultures and time and associated exclusively with humans, are ultimately based in the brain. However, there are many unanswered questions about how and why these behaviors originated and how they may have been shaped during evolution. "Some scholars claim that religion evolved as an adaptation to solve the problem of cooperation among genetically unrelated individuals, while others propose that religion emerged as a by-product of pre-existing cognitive capacities," explains study co-author Dr. Ilkka Pyysiainen from the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. Although there is some support for both, these alternative proposals have been difficult to investigate. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202719-Morality-Research-Sheds-Light-On-The-Origins-Of-Religion Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:01:38 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202718-Inflammatory-Bowel-Disease-Hikes-Blood-Clots Study finds people with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis face highest risk during flare-ups People with inflammatory bowel disease are at an increased risk of developing blood clots, and this risk is highest during a flare-up, researchers report online February 9 in the Lancet. Although hospitalized IBD patients have been known to have problems with clotting, the new study finds a surprisingly high risk in people dealing with an episode outside the hospital setting. IBD includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Although medication can bring IBD under control and keep it in remission temporarily, relapses of the disease are common and can debilitate a person. Patients often require steroid medication to knock back inflammation that causes the abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting and blood in the stool that mark the condition. In the new study, Matthew Grainge and his colleagues at the University of Nottingham in England analyzed medical records dating from 1987 to 2001 of more than 13,000 IBD patients and a control group of 71,000 people who didn't have IBD. People in both groups were in their mid-40s on average and had comparable weights and smoking histories, factors that also influence blood clot formation. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202718-Inflammatory-Bowel-Disease-Hikes-Blood-Clots Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:01:30 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202717-Sugary-Soft-Drinks-Linked-to-Pancreatic-Cancer A 14-year study of 60,000 people in Singapore found that those who consume two or more sweetened soft drinks per week have an 87 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer. Published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, the study was led by Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota who said, "The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth." Nearly 38,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the United States each year, and over 34,000 die from the disease each year. This research points to what may be the common culprit of all those preventable deaths: Sugary soft drink consumption. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202717-Sugary-Soft-Drinks-Linked-to-Pancreatic-Cancer Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:52:34 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202716-Research-Suggests-Marine-Oil-May-Prevent-Alzheimer-s-Disease While doctors are prescribing expensive drugs that can have devastating side effects to slow the progress of Alzheimer's, new research shows it might be possible to prevent the onset of this cruel disease by something as simple, inexpensive, and safe as a dose of marine oil every day during our younger years. In the US, as many as 5.3 million people live with Alzheimer's. That number is predicted to double every 20 years.(1) The latest medical thinking is that the escalating rate of Alzheimer's disease has its roots in chronic inflammation that's a result of the modern diet deficient in omega 3 fatty acids. The first symptoms of Alzheimer's generally appear after age 60. Such symptoms include memory problems, loss of motor control, and problems with one's sense of smell. But according to the National Institute on Aging, the damage that eventually turns into Alzheimer's disease can begin to occur 20 years before the first symptoms appear. It makes sense, therefore, to do whatever one can to prevent the process from beginning. The good news is that a substance found in nature could offer the best new hope for prevention. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202716-Research-Suggests-Marine-Oil-May-Prevent-Alzheimer-s-Disease Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:52:29 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202715-After-Horrible-Deaths-Caused-by-Medical-Radiation-Mistakes-Are-Uncovered-Medical-Group-Issues-Sort-of-an-Apology In late January, the New York Times published a startling and groundbreaking series of reports by investigative reporter Walt Bogdanich who has uncovered case after case of people who suffered devastating consequences -- including horrendously painful, torture-like deaths -- because of medical mistakes related to radiation treatment. In response to these articles, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) just issued a statement saying the group and its members "deeply regret that these events have occurred, and we continue to work hard to reduce the likelihood of similar events in the future." Nowhere in the statement does the AAPM acknowledge specifically what events they are talking about -- and they do not even mention the almost incomprehensible human suffering connected to these unnamed "events". Instead, the AAPM is clearly most interested in pacifying the public so they won't be worried about the dangers associated with medical radiation. As the statement puts it, the AAPM "seeks to reassure the public on the safety of radiation therapy, which is safely and effectively used to treat hundreds of thousands of people with cancer and other diseases every year in the United States. Medical physicists in hospitals and clinics across the United States are board-certified professionals who play a key role in assuring quality during these treatments." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202715-After-Horrible-Deaths-Caused-by-Medical-Radiation-Mistakes-Are-Uncovered-Medical-Group-Issues-Sort-of-an-Apology Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:52:23 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202714-Breast-Cancer-Virtually-Eradicated-with-Higher-Levels-of-Vitamin-D In a gathering of vitamin D researchers recently held in Toronto, Dr. Cedric Garland delivered a blockbuster announcement: Breast cancer can be virtually "eradicated" by raising vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is "the cure" for breast cancer that the cancer industry ridiculously claims to be searching for. The cure already exists! But the breast cancer industry simply refuses to acknowledge any "cure" that doesn't involve mammography, chemotherapy or high-profit pharmaceuticals. Vitamin D is finally gaining some of the recognition it deserves as a miraculous anti-cancer nutrient. It is the solution for cancer prevention. It could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year in the U.S. alone. Even Dr. Andrew Weil recently raised his recommendation of vitamin D to 2,000 IU per day. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202714-Breast-Cancer-Virtually-Eradicated-with-Higher-Levels-of-Vitamin-D Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:40:36 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202713-Vitamin-D-Cuts-Premature-Birth-Risk Taking a high daily dose of vitamin D during pregnancy can significantly reduce a woman's risk of giving birth prematurely, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Medical University of Charleston, South Carolina, and funded by the National Institutes of Health. "I'm telling every pregnant mother I see to take 4,000 IUs and every nursing mother to take 6,400 IUs of vitamin D a day," said researcher Bruce Hollis. "I think it is medical malpractice for obstetricians not to know what the vitamin D level of their patients is. This study will put them on notice." Pregnant women in the United Kingdom and the United States are currently advised to take 400 IU of vitamin D per day. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202713-Vitamin-D-Cuts-Premature-Birth-Risk Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:40:32 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202674-Hello-Botox-Bye-Bye-Sadness-But-Not-for-the-Reasons-You-Think Paralyzing the "frown" muscles also inhibits the ability to understand anger and sadness. And here I thought my Botoxed friends were happy, mellow, and sweet-tempered because a couple of injections of a neurotoxin had eliminated their frown lines, knocked years off their apparent age, and made them no longer look "tired and unapproachable," as the company's Web site cheerfully puts it. (If someone starts selling makeup named "Unapproachable," send me a case. But I digress.) But no! According to an amusing little study, by paralyzing the frown muscles that ordinarily are engaged when we feel angry, Botox short-circuits the emotion itself. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202674-Hello-Botox-Bye-Bye-Sadness-But-Not-for-the-Reasons-You-Think Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:29:49 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202673-The-Ecologist-A-Guide-to-Detox It's easy to dismiss 'detox' as a fad, as some product claims are exaggerated. But detoxing, as a practice, has been around for centuries For some, a detox means giving up booze for a few weeks in January. For others, it means colonic irrigation, supplements, super healthy food and/or juices and saying 'no' to meat, dairy, wheat, sugar and caffeine and other substances considered 'toxins'. The problem with 'detox' is that the word is used to cover a wide array of both products and diets - from 'detox' shampoos and teabags to weekend juice fasts and two-week detox plans. Although sceptics dismiss detox as a 'fad', various forms of detox have been practiced for centuries by many cultures around the world. The Ayurvedic medicine system, for instance, advocates a detox once or twice a year. Far from being a quick fix it lasts between 7-21 days and as well as a special diet it involves colonics, massage, meditation and yoga. Those who promote detox diets and products claim that cleansing your body of toxins and helping your 'organs of elimination' to function properly will bring increased energy, vitality and improved overall health. So is it worth it? And if so, what type of detox should you go for? http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202673-The-Ecologist-A-Guide-to-Detox Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:15:11 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202668-Hand-Grip-Strength-Associated-With-Poor-Survival Poor or declining handgrip strength in the oldest old is associated with poor survival and may be used as a tool to assess mortality, found an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The fastest growing segment of the elderly population is the group older than 85 years, classified as the oldest old. Low handgrip strength has been consistently linked to premature mortality, disability and other health complications in middle-aged and older people. Handgrip strength, a simple bedside tool, can be an alternative way of measuring overall muscular strength. This study included 555 individuals from the Leiden 85-plus survey of all 85 year olds in Leiden, The Netherlands. Their handgrip strength was measured at 85 years and then again at 89. The CMAJ study, led by researchers from The Netherlands, found that low handgrip strength, both at 85 and 89 years, and a greater decline in strength over time are associated with increased all-cause mortality. The researchers also found that handgrip strength has a greater impact on mortality as people age. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202668-Hand-Grip-Strength-Associated-With-Poor-Survival Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:17:58 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202667-Mice-Shed-New-Light-on-Causes-of-Childhood-Deafness Deafness is the most common disorder of the senses. Tragically, it commonly strikes in early childhood, severely damaging an affected child's ability to learn speech and language. In many cases, children gradually lose their hearing to become profoundly deaf over a long period of months to years, but scientists know very little about how this progressive loss happens, making prospects for prevention and cure very slim. Over half the cases of childhood deafness are estimated to be due to defects in just one gene passed from either the mother or father, and many of these deafness genes have been identified. However, as the way we hear is so complicated, it has been really difficult to work out exactly how these genes cause such wholesale effects. Dr John Oghalai, of Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, has been wrestling with this problem for his whole career. His work as a clinician, directing a busy team performing cochlear implants and corrective surgery on the ear and cranium, has armed him with crucial clinical insights which inform his laboratory's research into the causes and treatment of deafness. Together with a team spearheaded by postdoctoral fellow Anping Xia, he has now created mice which carry a mutation in one of the genes, called alpha tectorin, known to cause progressive childhood deafness. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202667-Mice-Shed-New-Light-on-Causes-of-Childhood-Deafness Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:17:53 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202659-UK-You-Really-Can-Be-Bored-to-Death-Study-Shows It really is possible to be bored to death, scientists have found, after research showed those who live tedious lives are twice as likely to die young. People who complain of "high levels" of boredom in their lives are at double the risk of dying from from heart disease or a stroke than those who find life entertaining, researchers at University College London found. Of more than 7,000 civil servants who were monitored over 25 years, those who said they were bored were nearly 40 per cent more likely to have died by the end of the study than those who did not. People who are bored are more likely to turn to unhealthy habits like drinking and smoking, which can cut their life-expectancy, the scientists said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202659-UK-You-Really-Can-Be-Bored-to-Death-Study-Shows Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:42:09 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202658-UK-More-People-Fear-Losing-Independence-in-Old-Age-than-Death-Survey-Says More people are afraid of losing their independence in old age and being forced to move into a nursing home than they are of dying, a survey has found. As elderly care becomes more expensive, more than two in three Britons fear becoming a burden on friends or family in their old age, it found. While three in four people said they feared getting ill in their old age, just 29 per cent said they feared dying, according to the survey. The research, from the national Disabled Living Foundation charity, also found almost half of people feared moving into an aged care facility. The government has previously warned the health care system was facing a "time bomb" due to Britain's ageing population. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202658-UK-More-People-Fear-Losing-Independence-in-Old-Age-than-Death-Survey-Says Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:38:32 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202657-Scandalous-Abuse-of-the-Elderly-Being-Killed-With-Psychiatric-Medications Elderly dementia patients are being subjected to "scandalous abuse" by being drugged with dangerous antipsychotic drugs, according to a letter by ten influential health organizations, published in The Daily Telegraph. "[One hundred thousand] people with dementia in care homes are being inappropriately prescribed a damaging chemical cosh of antipsychotic drugs and new research suggests that there is a significant problem in hospitals too," the letter reads. "Antipsychotics should only ever be a last resort. This over prescription is abuse and it must stop. ... We cannot stand by while this scandalous abuse of vulnerable citizens continues." Although antipsychotic drugs are intended for people with medical conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and are not approved for the treatment of dementia, studies show that nursing homes and hospitals regularly prescribe them to these patients as sedatives, in order to make them easier for doctors and nurses to handle. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202657-Scandalous-Abuse-of-the-Elderly-Being-Killed-With-Psychiatric-Medications Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:33:00 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202656-UK-Primary-Schoolgirls-Getting-Pregnant-Aged-10 Primary schoolgirls as young as 10 are getting pregnant, according to new figures released under the Freedom of Information Act. Since 2002, a total of 15 ten year olds and 39 aged 11 have fallen pregnant in England and Wales. The figures come as a shock as until now the UK's youngest known mother, from Scotland, was 11 when she conceived and 12 when she gave birth. And they could be higher still since the number of illegal abortions and miscarriages - more prevalent among very young women - are not known. Government statistics show 60 per cent of under-age pregnant girls have an abortion. Around 300 girls aged 13 or under become pregnant every year in England and Wales. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202656-UK-Primary-Schoolgirls-Getting-Pregnant-Aged-10 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:30:54 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202652-Soft-Drink-Consumption-May-Increase-Risk-of-Pancreatic-Cancer Consuming two or more soft drinks per week increased the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by nearly twofold compared to individuals who did not consume soft drinks, according to a report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Although relatively rare, pancreatic cancer remains one of the most deadly, and only 5 percent of people who are diagnosed are alive five years later. Mark Pereira, Ph.D., senior author on the study and associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, said people who consume soft drinks on a regular basis, defined as primarily carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages, tend to have a poor behavioral profile overall. However, the effect of these drinks on pancreatic cancer may be unique. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202652-Soft-Drink-Consumption-May-Increase-Risk-of-Pancreatic-Cancer Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:12:23 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202641-Warning-Your-Cell-Phone-May-Be-Hazardous-to-Your-Health Ever worry that that gadget you spend hours holding next to your head might be damaging your brain? Well, the evidence is starting to pour in, and it's not pretty. So why isn't anyone in America doing anything about it? Earlier this winter, I met an investment banker who was diagnosed with a brain tumor five years ago. He's a managing director at a top Wall Street firm, and I was put in touch with him through a colleague who knew I was writing a story about the potential dangers of cell-phone radiation. He agreed to talk with me only if his name wasn't used, so I'll call him Jim. He explained that the tumor was located just behind his right ear and was not immediately fatal - the five-year survival rate is about 70 percent. He was 35 years old at the time of his diagnosis and immediately suspected it was the result of his intense cell-phone usage. "Not for nothing," he said, "but in investment banking we've been using cell phones since 1992, back when they were the Gordon-Gekko-on-the-beach kind of phone." When Jim asked his neurosurgeon, who was on the staff of a major medical center in Manhattan, about the possibility of a cell-phone-induced tumor, the doctor responded that in fact he was seeing more and more of such cases - young, relatively healthy businessmen who had long used their phones obsessively. He said he believed the industry had discredited studies showing there is a risk from cell phones. "I got a sense that he was pissed off," Jim told me. A handful of Jim's colleagues had already died from brain cancer; the more reports he encountered of young finance guys developing tumors, the more certain he felt that it wasn't a coincidence. "I knew four or five people just at my firm who got tumors," Jim says. "Each time, people ask the question. I hear it in the hallways." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202641-Warning-Your-Cell-Phone-May-Be-Hazardous-to-Your-Health Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:42:56 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202639-Cancer-and-Pesticides-Victims-Fight-for-Justice After long battles, three farmers in France have won legal claims that their cases of cancer and Parkinson's disease were caused by working with pesticides. Now they want to help others fight similar cases Paul François says he is lucky to be alive. In April 2004, he went to clean out what he thought was the empty tank in his agricultural spraying machine. When he opened the cap, noxious fumes of some remaining pesticides escaped. He was not wearing a mask and therefore breathed in a lungful. Immediately admitted to hospital, he fell into a coma. Since then his illness continues to affect his kidneys and nervous system and he has again fallen into comas on several occasions. Today, he is working on his case against Monsanto, the company that produced Lasso, the culprit pesticide that was taken off the market in 2007. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202639-Cancer-and-Pesticides-Victims-Fight-for-Justice Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:08:05 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202637-Huge-Range-of-Salt-Found-in-Processed-Foods New York - Many processed foods contain too much salt, and sauces, spreads, and processed meats are the top offenders, new research shows. People who consume lots of salt are more likely to see their blood pressure rise as they get older, with a corresponding increase in their heart disease risk. Public health officials are increasingly looking to the food industry for help in cutting people's salt intake; the United Kingdom and France, for example, have been able to achieve significant reductions in salt consumption through industry collaborations, while New York City has just launched a campaign to cut U.S. salt intake by 25 percent over the next five years. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202637-Huge-Range-of-Salt-Found-in-Processed-Foods Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:20:34 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202624-Brain-Dopamine-Receptor-Density-Correlates-With-Social-Status People have typically viewed the benefits that accrue with social status primarily from the perspective of external rewards. A new paper in the February 1st issue of Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier suggests that there are internal rewards as well. Dr. Martinez and colleagues found that increased social status and increased social support correlated with the density of dopamine D2/D3 receptors in the striatum, a region of the brain that plays a central role in reward and motivation, where dopamine plays a critical role in both of these behavioral processes. The researchers looked at social status and social support in normal healthy volunteers who were scanned using positron emission tomography (PET), a technology that allowed them to image dopamine type 2 receptors in the brain. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202624-Brain-Dopamine-Receptor-Density-Correlates-With-Social-Status Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:43:49 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202623-Study-Linking-Autism-Child-Vaccine-Retracted Twelve years after Dr. Andrew Wakefield published his research in the international medical journal The Lancet purporting that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine causes autism, the journal formally retracted the paper yesterday. The action came less than a week after the U.K. General Medical Council's Fitness to Practice Panel concluded that Wakefield had provided false information in the report and acted with "callous disregard" for the children in the study. The council is considering whether Wakefield is guilty of serious professional misconduct. A positive finding could cause him to lose his medical practice. Wakefield's study, conducted on only 12 children, concluded that the MMR vaccine was a primary cause of autism. He subsequently said that he could not, in good conscience, recommend that parents have their children vaccinated. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202623-Study-Linking-Autism-Child-Vaccine-Retracted Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:36:04 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202622-UK-Medical-Authorities-Blast-Vaccine-Autism-Researcher The British doctor whose suggestion of a link between the MMR shot and autism caused vaccination rates to plunge conducted his now-discredited research in a dishonest and irresponsible manner, British medical authorities have concluded. It was the latest development in a long-running controversy. Measles has made a comeback among British children after being all but wiped out. The General Medical Council, Britain's medical regulator, found that Andrew Wakefield acted unethically in the way he collected blood samples from children and in his failure to disclose payments from lawyers representing parents who believed the vaccine had hurt their children. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202622-UK-Medical-Authorities-Blast-Vaccine-Autism-Researcher Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:36:00 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202616-Founders-of-British-obstetrics-were-callous-murderers- William Hunter and William Smellie commissioned a regular supply of corpses so they could study the physical effects of pregnancy, argues a respected historian They are giants of medicine, pioneers of the care that women receive during childbirth and were the founding fathers of obstetrics. The names of William Hunter and William Smellie still inspire respect among today's doctors, more than 250 years since they made their contributions to healthcare. Such were the duo's reputations as outstanding physicians that the clienteles of their private practices included the rich and famous of mid-18th-century London. But were they also serial killers? New research published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (JRSM) claims that they were. A detailed historical study accuses the doctors of soliciting the killing of dozens of women, many in the latter stages of pregnancy, to dissect their corpses. "Smellie and Hunter were responsible for a series of 18th-century 'burking' murders of pregnant women, with a death total greater than the combined murders committed by Burke and Hare and Jack the Ripper," writes Don Shelton, a historian. "Burking" involved murdering people to order, usually for medical research. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202616-Founders-of-British-obstetrics-were-callous-murderers- Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:31:21 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202598-Andrew-Wakefield-Scientific-Censorship-and-Fourteen-Monkeys-A-statement-by-Jenny-McCarthy-and-Jim-Carrey When it comes to vaccines, Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey get it. They see how the pharma industry is engineering a campaign to silence Dr. Andrew Wakefield in order to suppress the publication of startling new evidence linking vaccines to severe neurological damage. At great risk to their professional careers, Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey have found the courage to dare to tell the truth about vaccines and autism. Despite the vicious attacks by the pro-vaccine zealots who will stop at nothing to destroy anyone who challenges conventional vaccine mythology, McCarthy and Carrey have issued a powerful, inspired statement that reveals the truth behind the Big Pharma smear campaign that is intent on destroying the reputation of Dr. Andrew Wakefield before he can publish the final results of this important new study. NaturalNews reprints that statement here, unedited: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202598-Andrew-Wakefield-Scientific-Censorship-and-Fourteen-Monkeys-A-statement-by-Jenny-McCarthy-and-Jim-Carrey Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:00:43 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202583-Cholesterol-s-Link-to-Heart-Disease-Gets-Clearer-and-More-Complicated By considering molecular-level events on a broader scale, researchers now have a clearer, if more complicated, picture of how one class of immune cells goes wrong when loaded with cholesterol. The findings reported in the February 3rd issue of Cell Metabolism, show that, when it comes to the development of atherosclerosis and heart disease, it's not about any one bad actor -- it's about a network gone awry. The new findings also highlight a pretty remarkable thing, Heinecke says: "Despite 30 years of study, we still don't know how cholesterol causes heart disease." But, with the new findings, scientists are getting closer. Earlier studies had shown that heart disease is about more than just high LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Cells known as macrophages also play a critical role. Macrophages are part of the innate immune system that typically gobble up pathogens and clear away dead cells. But they also take up and degrade cholesterol derivatives. When they get overloaded with those lipoproteins, they take on a foamy appearance under the microscope to become what scientists aptly refer to as foam cells. Those foam cells are the ones that seem to have critical importance in the development of atherosclerosis. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202583-Cholesterol-s-Link-to-Heart-Disease-Gets-Clearer-and-More-Complicated Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:10:33 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202553-Melatonin-Precursor-Stimulates-Growth-Factor-Circuits-in-Brain Scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have discovered unexpected properties for a precursor to melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep cycles. Melatonin is produced from the neurotransmitter serotonin in a daily rhythm that peaks at night. Melatonin's immediate precursor, N-acetylserotonin, was not previously thought to have effects separate from those of melatonin or serotonin. Now an Emory team has shown that N-acetylserotonin can stimulate the same circuits in the brain activated by the growth factor BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). The results will be published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202553-Melatonin-Precursor-Stimulates-Growth-Factor-Circuits-in-Brain Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:39:52 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202552-Blacks-with-MS-Have-More-Severe-Symptoms-Decline-Faster-than-Whites-New-Study-Shows Fewer African Americans than Caucasians develop multiple sclerosis (MS), statistics show, but their disease progresses more rapidly, and they don't respond as well to therapies, a new study by neurology researchers at the University at Buffalo has found. Magnetic resonance images (MRI) of a cohort of 567 consecutive MS patients showed that blacks with MS had more damage to brain tissue and had less normal white and grey matter compared to whites with the disease. Results of the study appear in the Feb. 16 issue of the journal Neurology. Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, UB associate professor of neurology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is first author on the study. Weinstock-Guttman directs the Baird Multiple Sclerosis Center in Kaleida Health's Buffalo General Hospital. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202552-Blacks-with-MS-Have-More-Severe-Symptoms-Decline-Faster-than-Whites-New-Study-Shows Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:39:47 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202550-Big-Pharma-Executive-Murders-8-Year-Old-Son-with-Xanax-and-Ambien I've always said that Big Pharma executives were guilty of crimes against humanity. Now one of their wealthiest and most successful executives has been caught trying to pull off a murder-suicide in an upscale NY hotel. Gigi Jordan, who ran pharmaceutical companies selling pills to treat cancer, murdered her 8-year-old son by force-feeding him ground-up pharmaceuticals which included Xanax and Ambien. Let's just stop right there for a moment and consider what this says about the pharmaceutical industry: Even its own executives know their drugs are toxic enough to commit murder. Jordan had been planning the murder-suicide for some time, it seems. She had left a suicide note in the hotel room, alongside thousands of pills scattered about the room. Jordan is reportedly worth $100 million -- money she accumulated largely by selling toxic pills that harmed other people. Now, it seems, she chose to turn those pills on herself and her own family. Why is this not surprising? http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202550-Big-Pharma-Executive-Murders-8-Year-Old-Son-with-Xanax-and-Ambien Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:18:17 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202539-Did-Clean-Room-Chemicals-Cause-Birth-Defects- Ethelyne Glycol Ether Used To Manufacture Semiconductor Chips Phoenix -- The picture of Bob and Janice Numkena's wedding day is old and faded, but Bob's memory of the day is clear. From the beginning, they worked as a team. They didn't have a choice. "I worked the day shift and my wife worked the night shift," Bob Numkena said, as he sat in his Tempe living room. They worked for the same company and raised two daughters, achieving the American dream. Another picture of the family shows them smiling while on vacation. But it doesn't show the real life, day-in and day-out struggle that has been their reality. Both of their daughters were born with severe birth defects. Angela, the youngest who is now 27, demands round-the-clock care. She suffers from Cerebral Palsy. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202539-Did-Clean-Room-Chemicals-Cause-Birth-Defects- Sat, 06 Feb 2010 10:59:11 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202524-British-woman-receives-incompatible-kidney-with-ground-breaking-operation A British woman has undergone a life-saving kidney transplant after having her blood plasma frozen and filtered to ensure that the organ was not rejected. Maxine Bath, 41, is the first person in the world to have the groundbreaking operation, which allowed her to receive an "incompatible" donor kidney from her sister despite having dangerously low blood pressure. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202524-British-woman-receives-incompatible-kidney-with-ground-breaking-operation Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:54:43 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202511-Ancient-Human-Teeth-Show-That-Stress-Early-in-Development-Can-Shorten-Life-Span Ancient human teeth are telling secrets that may relate to modern-day health: Some stressful events that occurred early in development are linked to shorter life spans. "Prehistoric remains are providing strong, physical evidence that people who acquired tooth enamel defects while in the womb or early childhood tended to die earlier, even if they survived to adulthood," says Emory University anthropologist George Armelagos. Armelagos led a systematic review of defects in teeth enamel and early mortality recently published in Evolutionary Anthropology.The paper is the first summary of prehistoric evidence for the Barker hypothesis -- the idea that many adult diseases originate during fetal development and early childhood. "Teeth are like a snapshot into the past," Armelagos says. "Since the chronology of enamel development is well known, it's possible to determine the age at which a physiological disruption occurred. The evidence is there, and it's indisputable." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202511-Ancient-Human-Teeth-Show-That-Stress-Early-in-Development-Can-Shorten-Life-Span Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:59:45 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202509-Moms-Depression-in-Pregnancy-Tied-to-Antisocial-Behavior-in-Teens Children from urban areas whose mothers suffer from depression during pregnancy are more likely than others to show antisocial behavior, including violent behavior, later in life. Furthermore, women who are aggressive and disruptive in their own teen years are more likely to become depressed in pregnancy, so that the moms' history predicts their own children's antisocial behavior. That's the conclusion of a new longitudinal study conducted by researchers at Cardiff University, King's College London, and the University of Bristol. The research appears in the January/February 2010 issue of the journal Child Development. The study considered the role of mothers' depression during pregnancy by looking at 120 British youth from inner-city areas. "Much attention has been given to the effects of postnatal depression on young infants," notes Dale F. Hay, professor of psychology at Cardiff University in Wales, who worked on the study, "but depression during pregnancy may also affect the unborn child." The youths' mothers were interviewed while they were pregnant, after they gave birth, and when their children were 4, 11, and 16 years old. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202509-Moms-Depression-in-Pregnancy-Tied-to-Antisocial-Behavior-in-Teens Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:42:50 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202508-Early-Abuse-Tied-to-More-Depression-in-Children Although children can be depressed for many reasons, new evidence suggests that there are physiological differences among depressed children based on their experiences of abuse before age 5. Early abuse may be especially damaging due to the very young age at which it occurs. Those are the findings of a new study of low-income children that was conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota and the University of Rochester, Mt. Hope Family Center. The study appears in the January/February 2010 issue of the journal Child Development. Children who experience maltreatment, including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse or neglect, grow up with a lot of stress. Cortisol, termed the "stress hormone," helps the body regulate stress. But when stress is chronic and overloads the system, cortisol can soar to very high levels or plummet to lows, which in turn can harm development and health. The researchers studied more than 500 low-income children ages 7 to 13, about half of whom had been abused and/or neglected, to find out whether abuse early in life and feelings of depression affected their levels of cortisol. High levels of depression were more frequent among children who were abused in the first five years of their lives than among maltreated children who weren't abused early in life or children who weren't maltreated at all. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202508-Early-Abuse-Tied-to-More-Depression-in-Children Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:37:22 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202501-Alternative-Medicine-Sales-Soar-in-the-U-K- Analysts say the market has grown by 18 per cent in two years and is worth £213million a year. And they predict sales will increase by 33 per cent to £282million over the next four years as more patients reject prescription drugs in favor of natural remedies. Even relatively unknown treatments such as ayurveda - the Indian holistic system of diet, yoga, massage and herbs - are picking up in popularity. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202501-Alternative-Medicine-Sales-Soar-in-the-U-K- Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:37:03 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202488-Airport-Body-Scanning-Raises-Radiation-Exposure-Committee-Says Air passengers should be made aware of the health risks of airport body screenings and governments must explain any decision to expose the public to higher levels of cancer-causing radiation, an inter-agency report said. Pregnant women and children should not be subject to scanning, even though the radiation dose from body scanners is "extremely small," said the Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety report, which is restricted to the agencies concerned and not meant for public circulation. The group includes the European Commission, International Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear Energy Agency and the World Health Organization. A more accurate assessment about the health risks of the screening won't be possible until governments decide whether all passengers will be systematically scanned or randomly selected, the report said. Governments must justify the additional risk posed to passengers, and should consider "other techniques to achieve the same end without the use of ionizing radiation." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202488-Airport-Body-Scanning-Raises-Radiation-Exposure-Committee-Says Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:17:41 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202483-Green-Tea-Extracts-Halt-Growth-of-Prostate-Cancer-Tumors An extract made from one of the main antioxidants found in green tea may be able to slow the progression of prostate cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers from Louisiana state University and published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Researchers gave 26 prostate cancer patients between the ages of 41 and 68's four capsules of day of Polyphenon E, an extract of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) made by Polyphenon Pharma. EGCG is a powerful antioxidant to which many of the health benefits of green tea have been attributed. The dosage given to the participants in the study was equivalent to that acquired from drinking 12 cups of green tea per day. After 12 weeks, the researchers found that levels of the prostate cancer markers Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) had fallen by an average of 18.9 percent, 9.9 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively, indicating a slowed progression of the disease. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202483-Green-Tea-Extracts-Halt-Growth-of-Prostate-Cancer-Tumors Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:00:07 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202482-Goji-Berries-Enjoy-an-Antioxidant-Packed-Superfood Goji berries, also known as Wolfberries, are one of the most nutritionally dense superfoods on the planet. They contain a vast array of unique carotenoids, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Among these it is also believed by many to be one of the best sources of antioxidants on the planet. Antioxidants Antioxidants help to protect our DNA from damage by free radicals and radiation. Without an ample supply of antioxidants our body becomes open to illness and accelerated aging. Free radicals are generated as a byproduct of normal metabolism and exposure to toxins and radiation. This eventually results in an early cell death which has been contributed to a variety of diseases and to the accelerated development of mutated cells that may lead to cancer. All of this is countered with the help of antioxidants. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202482-Goji-Berries-Enjoy-an-Antioxidant-Packed-Superfood Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:57:33 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202467-The-U-S-Industrial-Organic-Milk-Swindle On some bureaucrat's desk in President Obama's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), sits a document that has the power to either destroy the nation's 1,800 family-operated organic dairy farms or come to their rescue. In the early 2000s, virtually all of the nation's organic dairy farmers - not to mention the millions of consumers willing to pay a premium for organic products - agreed that milk certified as organic by the United States Department of Agriculture had to come from cows that had access to pasture. As government regulations go, it sounds pretty straightforward: room to roam, clean air to breathe, fresh grass to eat. And that was the general consensus on what the National Organic Standards required. But beginning in the mid-2000s, at about the time when it became evident that the green "USDA Organic" label translated into bigger profits, huge Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) with herds of up to 10,000 cows located in western states got into the organic milk business. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202467-The-U-S-Industrial-Organic-Milk-Swindle Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:03:14 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202459-Traditional-Chinese-Medicine-Enters-the-Mainstream Vancouver library worker Todd Wong knows better than most that life occasionally delivers a rude surprise. In 1989, Wong came back from a trip to New York feeling rundown. At first, his doctor diagnosed a recurrent viral flu. Only after visiting an oncologist did Wong, then 29 years old, learn that he had a germ-cell tumour related to testicular cancer. It required emergency chemotherapy to deal with a growth in his chest the size of a large grapefruit. "The first night I'm in the hospital, the doctor tells my parents, 'There is a 60-percent chance your son will survive because we only discovered this very, very late,' " Wong told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. "I was 29 years old, really active, and the doctors never suspected anything." Wong, a fifth-generation Chinese Canadian, was visited regularly by his mother, who wanted to give her son therapeutic touching to help him heal. She asked about doing energy work known as Reiki, because this is what she had practiced at home. "The doctor told her, 'If you want to do that, you can take your son out of the hospital,' " Wong recalled. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202459-Traditional-Chinese-Medicine-Enters-the-Mainstream Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:37:18 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202454-BPA-May-Increase-Kids-Asthma-Risk The industrial, estrogenic chemical bisphenol A - BPA - has been in the news recently for its connection to a wide variety of adverse effects. An issue since BPA is in an enormous variety of consumer products, including products geared to infants and young children. Now, Science Daily reported that based on emerging studies out of the University of Texas medical branch at Galveston, BPA could be linked to increased pediatric asthma risks. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was concerned about "the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and young children," quoted Science Daily. This month, recent research has linked a mother's exposure to BPA could be linked to an increased likelihood that her children will develop asthma, said Science Daily. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202454-BPA-May-Increase-Kids-Asthma-Risk Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:18:54 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202452-Stress-Linked-to-Cancer Scientists have discovered that everyday emotional stress is a trigger for the growth of tumors. Any sort of trauma, emotional or physical, can act as a "pathway" between cancerous mutations, bringing them together in a potentially deadly mix. The findings seem to show for the first time that the conditions for developing the disease can be affected by your emotional environment, including everyday work and family stress. Until now, scientists believed more than one cancer-causing mutation needed to take place in a single cell in order for tumors to grow. But researchers showed that mutations can promote cancer even when they are located in different cells, because stress opens up "pathways" between them. Sources: The Telegraph January 14, 2010 Nature January 13, 2010 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202452-Stress-Linked-to-Cancer Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:07:07 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202433-Nearly-17-000-Chemicals-Remain-Corporate-Secrets-Even-the-EPA-Doesn-t-Know-What-They-Are The 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires that manufacturers of products containing potentially toxic chemicals disclose their ingredients to the federal government, however a loophole in the requirement allows manufacturers to arbitrarily withhold information that they deem sensitive to their business. As a result, over 17,000 product chemicals remain secret not only from the public but from government officials. Each year, over 700 new chemicals are introduced by manufacturers, many of which do not get disclosed either to the public or to government agencies. About 95 percent of new chemical notices submitted to the government request some kind of secrecy. Critics allege that manufacturers are exploiting the original intent of TSCA, abusing it to hide sensitive information about ingredients that are likely toxic and may otherwise get banned. For the first time in many years, Congress is addressing the issue of disclosure abuse with promises of reforming the regulatory provisions. Consumer and environmental groups, in conjunction with many government officials, are demanding that all ingredient information be made public with no exceptions. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202433-Nearly-17-000-Chemicals-Remain-Corporate-Secrets-Even-the-EPA-Doesn-t-Know-What-They-Are Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:10:42 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202432-Magnesium-Found-to-Boost-Learning-and-Memory Magnesium, as NaturalNews has reported through the years, is an essential nutrient that benefits health in many important ways. For example, research has shown it helps to prevent heart disease, slashes the risk of cerebral palsy, and can even treat age-related hearing loss. Now a study by Chinese scientists, published in the in the January 28th issue of the journal Neuron, shows magnesium could have a powerful impact on the brain, too -- and boost learning and memory. In a statement to the media, the researchers noted that diet can affect cognitive capacity. Because learning and memory tend to decline with age and disease, they decided to search for dietary factors that could prevent these changes by having a positive influence on the sites of communication between brain cells (neurons) called synapses. Professor Guosong Liu, Director of the Center for Learning and Memory at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, led the new study to see whether supplementing the diet with magnesium could boost brain power in this way. The results suggest increasing magnesium intake could be a successful, drug-free way to improve brain function. It also supports the idea that too-low levels of magnesium could result in increased deterioration of memory in aging humans. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202432-Magnesium-Found-to-Boost-Learning-and-Memory Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:05:27 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202418-Trace-of-Thought-Is-Found-in-Vegetative-Patient He emerged from the car accident alive but alone, there and not there: a young man whose eyes opened yet whose brain seemed shut down. For five years he lay mute and immobile beneath a diagnosis - "vegetative state" - that all but ruled out the possibility of thought, much less recovery. But in recent months at a clinic in Liège, Belgium, the patient, now 29, showed traces of brain activity in response to commands from doctors. Now, according to a new report, he has begun to communicate: in response to simple questions, like "Do you have any brothers?," he showed distinct traces of activity on a brain imaging machine that represented either "yes" or "no." Experts said Wednesday that the finding could alter the way some severe head injuries were diagnosed - and could raise troubling ethical questions about whether to consult severely disabled patients on their care. The new report, posted online by The New England Journal of Medicine, does not suggest that most apparently unresponsive patients can communicate or are likely to recover. The hidden ability displayed by the young accident victim is rare, the study suggested. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202418-Trace-of-Thought-Is-Found-in-Vegetative-Patient Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:31:47 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202390-President-Obama-And-The-Congress-Must-Take-Action-On-Cancer-Prevention President Obama has pledged to reform the national health care system. Central to this, as the President has stressed, is containing the spiraling costs of health care -- costs which are soaring at about six percent each year. Most experts agree that this is not possible without any plan to prevent Americans from getting cancer in the first place. This year, 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer. Of them, 562,000 people, over 1,500 every day, will die. The cancer epidemic now strikes as many as one in three Americans and takes the life of one in four. After nearly 40 years of losing the war against cancer, a war that President Nixon declared in December 1971, we are taking grossly inadequate action to protect us from this menace. Based on recent estimates by the National Institutes of Health, the total costs of cancer are $219 billion a year. The annual costs to taxpayers of diagnosis and treatment amount to $89 billion; the annual costs of premature death are conservatively estimated at $112 billion; and the annual costs due to lost productivity are conservatively estimated at $18 billion. And these are the quantifiable, inflationary costs. The human costs surely are of far greater magnitude. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202390-President-Obama-And-The-Congress-Must-Take-Action-On-Cancer-Prevention Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:27:15 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202386-SIDS-Linked-to-Low-Levels-of-Serotonin The brains of infants who die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) produce low levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that conveys messages between cells and plays a vital role in regulating breathing, heart rate, and sleep, reported researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. SIDS is the death of an infant before his or her first birthday that cannot be explained after a complete autopsy, an investigation of the scene and circumstances of the death, and a review of the medical history of the infant and of his or her family. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, SIDS is the third leading cause of infant death, claiming more than 2,300 lives in 2006. The researchers theorize that this newly discovered serotonin abnormality may reduce infants' capacity to respond to breathing challenges, such as low oxygen levels or high levels of carbon dioxide. These high levels may result from re-breathing exhaled carbon dioxide that accumulates in bedding while sleeping face down. The findings appear in the Feb. 3 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202386-SIDS-Linked-to-Low-Levels-of-Serotonin Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:59:37 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202384-Scientists-Discover-Alterations-in-Brain-s-Reward-System-Related-to-Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity-Disorder Until now, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was related to alterations in the brain affecting attention and cognitive processes. Researchers at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital have now discovered anomalies in the brain's reward system related to the neural circuits of motivation and gratification. In children with ADHD, the degree of motivation when carrying out an activity is related to the immediacy with which the objectives of the activity are met. This would explain why their attention and hyperactivity levels differ depending on the tasks being carried out. Susanna Carmona, researcher at the Cognitive Neuroscience Unit of the UAB Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine (URNC-IAPS-Hospital del Mar), has worked in collaboration with clinical researchers of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital on the first research which relates the structure of the brain's reward system, the ventral striatum, with clinical symptoms in children suffering from ADHD. Models describing the origin of ADHD tend to emphasise the relevance of attention processes and of the cognitive functions which guide our mental processes in achieving proposed objectives. Nevertheless, recent research has focused on neural gratification/pleasure circuits, which can be found in what is known as the brain's reward system, with the nucleus accumbens as the central part of this system. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202384-Scientists-Discover-Alterations-in-Brain-s-Reward-System-Related-to-Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity-Disorder Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:35:42 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202378-Study-Suggests-Obesity-May-Delay-Boys-Puberty Reasons For Maturity Delay Unclear, Implications May Be Far-Reaching Researchers may have found yet another reason not to let boys become obese -- it could delay their puberty. A study following over 400 boys shows that those who are obese are twice as likely as their normal-weight counterparts not to have started puberty by the age of 11 and a half. While previous studies in girls had shown the opposite phenomenon -- girls who are obese tend to hit puberty earlier than their normal-weight counterparts -- it seems obesity may cause a maturity delay in boys, a situation with unknown and possibly far-reaching effects. "With the epidemic of childhood obesity, there's concern this is going to have a negative effect on growth and development," said Dr. Joyce Lee, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Michigan and the study's lead author. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202378-Study-Suggests-Obesity-May-Delay-Boys-Puberty Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:40:00 -0500