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Let's rock! Even newborns can follow a rhythm

Robin Nixon
Live Science
Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:30 UTC
Infant brain responds with error signal when beat is disturbed, study finds

Newborns can follow a rhythm, a new study has found, suggesting rocking out is innate.

The finding, published in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to growing evidence that the newborn brain is not the blank slate it was once thought to be.

Rather, scientists have shown, at birth we already have sophisticated methods for interpreting the world. Discrimination may be crude, explained lead researcher István Winkler of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, but "the basic algorithms are in place already."
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USA

U.S. school children need less work, more play: study

Michael Conlon
Reuters
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:33 UTC
All work and no play may be a hazard for some U.S. school children. Researchers reported on Monday that a growing trend of curbing free time at school may lead to unruly classrooms and rob youngsters of needed exercise and an important chance to socialize.

A look at more than 10,000 children aged 8 and 9 found better classroom behavior among those who had at least a 15-minute break during the school day compared to those who did not, Dr. Romina Barros and colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York reported.

The behavior assessments were general in nature and not made at any particular time of the school day, their report said.
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Cow

US: Healthy soil is a must for healthy people, according to speakers at Frozen River film fest

Mark Sommerhauser
Winona Daily News
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:50 UTC
Deborah Garcia
© Fred Schulze/Winona Daily NewsAngie Tagtow, left, David Cavagnaro, center, and Deborah Koons Garcia answer questions about their presentation during the Frozen River Film Festival on Sunday at Winona State University.
Most Americans don't consider soil more valuable than oil, but filmmaker Deborah Koons Garcia wants them to think otherwise.

Garcia - widow of the late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia - spoke in Winona, Minnesota on Sunday afternoon during the final day of the Frozen River Film Festival, and previewed her upcoming film on the relationship between healthy soil and healthy people. The preview suggested that while emerging technologies may replace oil as the fuel of the future, soil is irreplaceable - and increasingly at risk.

Erosion, sprawling development and short-sighted farming techniques are imperiling America's best dirt, including the soil that supports agriculture in the Upper Midwest, said Garcia and other food experts at Sunday's panel discussion. That loss and degradation of soil, in turn, drains the nutrients needed to continue growing healthy food for years to come, the speakers suggested

Comment: When a government is run by the rich elite (big agriculture for one), you can forget about said government caring one iota for the health and welfare of the people. They care only for profit and power.

So if you want to be healthy, you pay more taxes!

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Health

Canada: Blackville, New Brunswick wants arsenic mystery solved

Kris McDavid
Times & Transcript
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:42 UTC
It doesn't take long for the rumour mill to heat up in a tightly-knit community like Blackville.

Suspicion, worry and frustration have been commonplace in the village of about 900 residents, since word began to spread that the tiny Miramichi River community might have a problem with arsenic and that neither the Department of Health nor Health Canada can seem to find a source.

Throw in the fact that dozens of residents have been waiting an almost unheard of 10 weeks to get their blood and urine test results back, and anxiety has been mounting steadily.
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Health

US: University of Alaska scientist works to defeat silent killer of infants

Christi Hang
Newsminer
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:18 UTC
Fairbanks - As devastating as it is mysterious, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome claims the lives of more than 4,500 American children every year, and the problem is even more intense in Alaska.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 60 SIDS cases per 100,000 births in the United States. Michael Harris, an associate professor with the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Specialized Neuroscience Research Program, said the SIDS rate for Caucasian babies in Alaska is 2.3 times the national average, and the rate for Alaska Native infants is five times the national average.
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People

Surrounded By Friends? It's All In Your Genes

Maggie Fox
Reuters
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:24 UTC
Are you a social butterfly, or do you prefer being at the edge of a group of friends? Either way, your genes and evolution may play a major role, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

While it may come as no surprise that genes may help explain why some people have many friends and others have few, the researchers said, their findings go just a little farther than that.

"Some of the things we find are frankly bizarre," said Nicholas Christakis of Harvard University in Massachusetts, who helped conduct the study.
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Pills

ADHD Drugs: Hallucinations Not Uncommon

Salynn Boyles
WebMD
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:14 UTC
Treatment-related hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be more common than previously thought, FDA officials report in the latest issue of the journal Pediatrics.

In an earlier investigation, FDA researchers identified more than 850 separate incidences of hallucinations and other psychotic episodes among children taking stimulants used to treat ADHD.

The investigation prompted federal officials to require new labeling on the drugs, including Ritalin LA, Concerta, Adderall XR, Focalin, Focalin XR, Metadate CD, Daytrana, and Strattera, warning of possible psychiatric side effects.

Comment: Of course hallucinations would accompany amphetamines, which are used in treating ADHD. From the horses' mouth.



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Magnify

Nicotine Activates More than Just the Brain's Pleasure Pathways


PhysOrg
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:11 UTC
Duke University Medical System researchers have discovered there are differing taste pathways for nicotine, which could provide a new approach for future smoking-cessation products.

"We learned some of nicotine's secrets," said Albino Oliveira-Maia, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow of the Duke Department of Neurobiology. "This is the first study to explore both the peripheral taste pathways activated by nicotine, and how these pathways are integrated in sensory areas of the brain." The peripheral nervous system refers to nerves that are outside of the brain and spinal cord.

Using genetic engineering and measurements of nervous system activity in mice, the researchers found that nicotine sends signals directly to the brain's sensory systems by several pathways, similar to the way taste is perceived.

These findings complement what is known about the effects of nicotine in the dopamine pathway. This is the classic pleasure pathway in the brain, much studied by addiction experts. "Our study in no way contradicts prior findings about nicotine and dopamine," Oliveira-Maia said. "Our findings add to what is known and suggest new approaches for further study."
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Ambulance

What TV does to your brain


Brasscheck TV
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:14 UTC
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Family

New Research Finds Breastfeeding Stops Neglect


PhysOrg
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:06 UTC
When a mother breastfeeds she is essentially protecting her child from herself, according to UQ researcher and developmental paediatrician, Dr Lane Strathearn.

By linking data from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy - Australia's largest longitudinal study tracking mothers and their children - with reports of maltreatment recorded by the Department of Child Safety, Dr Strathearn found mothers who breastfed were less likely to neglect their children.

"Mothers who didn't breastfeed were almost four times more likely to be reported for maternal neglect than mothers who breastfed for four of more months," he said.

"For mothers who breastfed for less than four months, the risk was about 2.3 times."
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