The baby's smile that gladdens a mother's heart also lights up the reward centers of her brain, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in a report that appears in the journal Pediatrics today.
The finding could help scientists figure out the special mother-infant bond and how it sometimes go wrong, said Dr. Lane Strathearn, assistant professor of pediatrics at BCM and Texas Children's Hospital and a research associate in BCM's Human Neuroimaging Laboratory.
"The relationship between mothers and infants is critical for child development," said Strathearn. "For whatever reason, in some cases, that relationship doesn't develop normally. Neglect and abuse can result, with devastating effects on a child's development."
The chemical dopamine induces both desire and dread, according to new animal research in the July 9 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Although dopamine is well known to motivate animals and people to seek positive rewards, the study indicates that it also can promote negative feelings like fear. The finding may help explain why dopamine dysfunction is implicated not only in drug addiction, which involves excessive desire, but in schizophrenia and some phobias, which involve excessive fear.
"This study changes our thinking about what dopamine does," said Howard Fields, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, an expert unaffiliated with the study. "There is a huge body of evidence out there to support the idea that dopamine mediates positive effects, like reward, happiness, and pleasure. This study says, it does do that, but it can also promote negative behaviors through actions in an adjacent brain area," Fields said.
Kent Berridge, PhD, and his colleagues at the University of Michigan, identified dopamine's dual effect on the nucleus accumbens, a brain region that motivates people and animals to seek out pleasurable rewards like food, sex, or drugs, but is also involved in fear. They found that inhibiting dopamine's normal function prevented the nucleus accumbens neurons from inducing both rewarding and fearful behaviors, suggesting that dopamine is important in both.
Scientific evidence has long suggested that moderate drinking offers some protection against heart disease, certain types of stroke and some forms of cancer.
But new research shows that stopping drinking - including at moderate levels - may lead to health problems including depression and a reduced capacity of the brain to produce new neurons, a process called neurogenesis.
The findings from the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill appear online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
"Our research in an animal model establishes a causal link between abstinence from alcohol drinking and depression," said study senior author Clyde W. Hodge, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and pharmacology in the UNC School of Medicine. "In mice that voluntarily drank alcohol for 28 days, depression-like behavior was evident 14 days after termination of alcohol drinking. This suggests that people who stop drinking may experience negative mood states days or weeks after the alcohol has cleared their systems,"
Maggie Fox
ReutersTue, 08 Jul 2008 16:55 UTC
A new type of vaccine that sneaks into the body and then self-destructs -- all without needles -- may offer a new way to protect against a range of diseases, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
New questions are being raised about the safety of a drug used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder amid reports that more than 40 Canadian children have attempted suicide after taking it.
The issue highlights a long-brewing debate over the decision to prescribe powerful drugs to treat complex psychiatric problems among children.
"It does raise some concerns," said Roger McIntyre, head of the Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit at Toronto's University Health Network.
"Childhood psychiatric disorders, I think, are an area [that] in and of itself remain a controversial topic."
Health Canada said it received 189 reports of adverse reactions associated with atomoxetine, sold under the name Strattera, from the time it was put on the market in February, 2005, to the end of last year.
California - The federal government is subjecting veterans to long delays in obtaining mental health care and medical benefits, but the power to change the system rests with officials and Congress, not the courts, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Wednesday in dismissing a lawsuit by veterans' advocates.
U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti said veterans' groups had failed to show a "systemwide crisis" in mental health care that would justify the courts intervening in the workings of the Department of Veterans Affairs. And he said courts lack authority to order the sweeping changes the plaintiffs seek, such as forcing the VA to make quick decisions on whether veterans are eligible for care and ordering the agency to promptly improve suicide prevention programs and mental health care.
Comment: So another blatant scheme of "passing the buck" and nothing gets done. And this is how the U.S. shows its appreciation for the unfortunate men and women, who having been lied to, have put their lives and sanity on the line for a country run by psychopaths who don't really give a damn about any of them.
This should be a wake up call for those who really want to support their troops. As you can see, the only real way to support them is to get them out of Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever else they are fighting for the crime lords of the West, and bring them home.
Matt McGrath
BBCFri, 04 Jul 2008 15:46 UTC
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A Nobel Prize-winning scientist has hit out at what he terms the "moral corruption" of the medical industry.
Britain's Sir John Sulston says that profits are taking precedence over the needs of patients, particularly in the developing world.
He was speaking at the launch of a new research institute into science, ethics and innovation.
Sir John shared the 2002 Nobel Prize for medicine for his work on the genetics controlling cell division.
He is well known for his commitment to public medicine and his opposition to the privatisation of scientific information.
Eight years ago he led the fight to keep the data being derived from the Human Genome Project open and free to any scientist who wanted to use it.
Have you ever considered swapping your morning glass of fresh orange for freshly squeezed beetroot? Thought not - but in light of a remarkable discovery, it may be worth downing the inky, purple-red stuff with your cornflakes. And, thanks to the launch this month of a scrumptious new juice, getting your daily dose won't require a pinch of the nose or scrubbing stubborn, deep purple stains off your chopping board.
WINONA, Minnesota - On the morning after the house party on Johnson Street, Jenna Foellmi and several other twentysomethings lay sprawled on the beds and couches. When a friend reached over to wake her, Foellmi was cold to the touch.
On June 26 the town of Drayton Valley officially shut off the fluoride tap in our water treatment plant.
Comment: Good for you Drayton County.
All municipalities need to deeply consider the dangers of adding this poison to their water. The evidence is available. Read it!
Comment: So another blatant scheme of "passing the buck" and nothing gets done. And this is how the U.S. shows its appreciation for the unfortunate men and women, who having been lied to, have put their lives and sanity on the line for a country run by psychopaths who don't really give a damn about any of them.
This should be a wake up call for those who really want to support their troops. As you can see, the only real way to support them is to get them out of Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever else they are fighting for the crime lords of the West, and bring them home.