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Hunger Hormone Increases During Stress, May Have Antidepressant Effect

New research at UT Southwestern Medical Center may explain why some people who are stressed or depressed overeat. While levels of the so-called "hunger hormone" ghrelin are known to increase when a person doesn't eat, findings by UT Southwestern scientists suggest that the hormone might also help defend against symptoms of stress-induced depression and anxiety.

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©UT Southwestern Medical Center
While levels of the so-called "hunger hormone" ghrelin are known to increase when a person doesn't eat, new findings by Drs. Jeffrey Zigman (left) and Michael Lutter suggest that the hormone might also help defend against symptoms of stress-induced depression and anxiety.

"Our findings in mice suggest that chronic stress causes ghrelin levels to go up and that behaviors associated with depression and anxiety decrease when ghrelin levels rise. An unfortunate side effect, however, is increased food intake and body weight," said Dr. Jeffrey Zigman, assistant professor of internal medicine and psychiatry at UT Southwestern and senior author of a study appearing online today and in a future print edition of Nature Neuroscience.

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U.S. Hispanic Women Face Osteoporosis Epidemic

Osteoporosis is a disease that can be crippling, leaving bones brittle, weak and easily broken. There are already some 8 million women in the U.S. who suffer from osteoporosis and experts say that number could soon skyrocket.

Comment: It has been proven that fluoride can contribute to osteoporosis:
In some studies, when high doses of fluoride (average 26 mg per day) were used in trials to treat patients with osteoporosis in an effort to harden their bones and reduce fracture rates, it actually led to a HIGHER number of fractures, particularly hip fractures (Inkovaara 1975; Gerster 1983; Dambacher 1986; O'Duffy 1986; Hedlund 1989; Bayley 1990; Gutteridge 1990. 2002; Orcel 1990; Riggs 1990 and Schnitzler 1990). The cumulative doses used in these trials are exceeded by the lifetime cumulative doses being experienced by many people living in fluoridated communities.



Laptop

Flashback Survey Says Tech Pros Worry Too Much

Here's something else to worry about: Tech pros worry too much.

A new study discussed at Information Week says two out of three of you stay awake at night worrying about how things are working at work.

Wine

Red wine's resveratrol may help battle obesity

Resveratrol, a compound present in grapes and red wine, reduces the number of fat cells and may one day be used to treat or prevent obesity, according to a new study. The results will be presented at The Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Past research found that resveratrol protected laboratory mice that were fed a high-calorie diet from the health problems of obesity, by mimicking the effects of calorie restriction. Researchers at the University of Ulm in Germany wanted to know if resveratrol could mimic the effects of calorie restriction in human fat cells by changing their size or function. The German team used a strain of human fat cell precursors, called preadipocytes. In the body, these cells develop into mature fat cells, according to the study's lead author, Pamela Fischer-Posovszky, PhD, a pediatric endocrinology research fellow in the university's Diabetes and Obesity Unit.

Heart

Complex Changes in the Brain's Vascular System Occur after Menopause

Many women experience menopausal changes in their body including hot flashes, moodiness and fatigue, but the changes they don't notice can be more dangerous. In a new study, researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered significant changes in the brain's vascular system when the ovaries stop producing estrogen. MU scientists predict that currently used estrogen-based hormone therapies may complicate this process and may do more harm than good in postmenopausal women.

"Before menopause, women are much more protected from certain conditions such as heart disease and stroke, but these vascular changes might explain why women lose this protection after menopause," said Olga Glinskii, research assistant professor of medical pharmacology and physiology in MU's School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "Because the body eventually will naturally adapt to the loss of estrogen, we advise extreme caution when using estrogen-based therapy in postmenopausal women."

Bulb

Scientists: 115-year-old's brain worked perfectly

Netherlands - A Dutch woman who was the oldest person in the world when she died at age 115 in 2005 appeared sharp right up to the end, joking that pickled herring was the secret to her longevity.

Scientists say that Henrikje van Andel-Schipper's mind was probably as good as it seemed: a post-mortem analysis of her brain revealed few signs of Alzheimer's or other diseases commonly associated with a decline in mental ability in old age.

That came as something of a surprise, said Gert Holstege, a professor at Groningen University, whose findings will be published in the August edition of Neurobiology of Aging.

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©Francois Wieringa / AP
Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper was the world's oldest living person at the time of her death at age 115 in 2005. She is seen here the year before she died at de Westerkim, home for the elderly, in Hoogeveen, Netherlands.

Beer

Concert musicians 'Brahms and Liszt' with stage fright

Doping is not just the preserve of suspiciously muscular Tour de France cyclists and incredibly swift sprinters but also, it seems, earnest frock-coated musicians playing Brahms and Liszt on the world's best concert podiums.

"Between 25 and 30 per cent of musicians regularly take tablets or alcohol to combat performance anxiety," says Helmut Möller, head of Berlin's Kurt Singer Institute for Musical Health. Almost paralysed by stage fright, many musicians - and Professor Möller is not talking about Amy Winehouse or the usual suspects from the rock scene - guzzle beta-blockers, medication usually prescribed for heart problems.

Health

Kennedy preparing to 'do battle,' son says

Senator Edward Kennedy enjoyed Father's Day weekend surrounded by family at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., as he prepared to "do battle" as radiation and chemotherapy treatments for his brain cancer loom in the weeks ahead, his son, Representative Patrick Kennedy, said.

The Rhode Island congressman, speaking to the Associated Press, said that his father had been comforted by the company of friends and family in recent days, but that they were also aware he needed moments of quiet and breaks from entertaining as he fights a cancerous brain tumor.

Comment: The very warmest regards to Senator Kennedy and all his family for now and for the future.


Syringe

No Child Left Undrugged

According to autopsy reports, 4-year-old Rebecca Riley died from an overdose of psychiatric drugs. At age 2, Rebecca was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). At 3, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. By the time she died on Dec. 13, 2006, little Rebecca was taking Clonidine, as well as the anti-convulsant Depakote and the anti-psychotic Seroquel.

What were some of the symptoms that prompted such treatment plans? As her mother described it, Rebecca was "constantly getting into things, running around, not being able to settle down."

Health

Legal Drugs Kill Far More Than all Illegal Drugs combined, Florida Says

MIAMI - From "Scarface" to "Miami Vice," Florida's drug problem has been portrayed as the story of a single narcotic: cocaine. But for Floridians, prescription drugs are increasingly a far more lethal habit.

An analysis of autopsies in 2007 released this week by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission found that the rate of deaths caused by prescription drugs was three times the rate of deaths caused by all illicit drugs combined.