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Estrogen Controls How The Brain Processes Sound


Science Daily
Wed, 06 May 2009 16:40 UTC
Scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered that the hormone estrogen plays a pivotal role in how the brain processes sounds.

The findings, published in the May 5 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, show for the first time that a sex hormone can directly affect auditory function, and point toward the possibility that estrogen controls other types of sensory processing as well. Understanding how estrogen changes the brain's response to sound, say the authors, might open the door to new ways of treating hearing deficiencies.

"We've discovered estrogen doing something totally unexpected," says Raphael Pinaud, assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester and lead author of the study. "We show that estrogen plays a central role in how the brain extracts and interprets auditory information. It does this on a scale of milliseconds in neurons, as opposed to days, months or even years in which estrogen is more commonly known to affect an organism."
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Wine

Alcohol Drinkers Not Only Zone Out -- But Also Are Unaware That They Do


Science Daily
Wed, 06 May 2009 16:31 UTC
A new study out of the University of Pittsburgh suggests that a moderate dose of alcohol increases a person's mind wandering, while at the same time reducing the likelihood of noticing that one's mind has wandered.

The study provides the first evidence that alcohol disrupts an individual's ability to realize his or her mind has wandered, suggesting impairment of a psychological state called meta-consciousness. These findings suggest that distinct processes are responsible for causing a thought to occur, as opposed to allowing its presence to be noticed.
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Blackbox

Prison Pandemic Preparedness - Flu Pandemic In Prison?


Science Daily
Wed, 06 May 2009 16:27 UTC
When pandemics occur, correctional facilities are not immune. With more than 9 million people incarcerated across the globe 2.25 million in U.S. jails and prisons alone it is vital that correctional officials and health professionals be prepared for a worst-case scenario that involves pandemic influenza reaching inmates and staff.

With collaborative planning and training, prison and public health officials can help control influenza outbreaks behind bars, according to an article in the April issue of the Journal of Correctional Health Care.

A two-day conference on prison pandemic preparedness held in Georgia in 2007 could serve as a model for such training. Administrators, medical doctors, registered nurses, physician assistants, and pharmacists were among the participants, as well as state and local public health officials.
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Family

Orthodox Jewish Community Struggles With Abuse Allegations

Scott Michels
American Broadcasting Company
Wed, 06 May 2009 12:05 UTC
Alleged Victims and Advocates Say Sex Abuse Common, Rarely Discussed

Image
© (Courtesy Joel Engelman and Tamir Weissberg)Joel Engelman, pictured as a child, and Tamir Weissberg said they were victims of sexual abuse by members of the Orthodox Jewish community. They said they were told not to discuss the alleged abuse.
When Joel Engelman was 8 years old, he says, he was called from his Hebrew class to the principal's office at his Brooklyn yeshiva, a Jewish religious school. His parents had recently told Rabbi Avrohom Reichman that their son had been abused by an older boy at the school, he says.

But he says the rabbi was not offering to help that day.

When Engelman arrived at the principal's office, he says, Reichman told him to close the door. He told the boy to sit on his lap and began swiveling his chair back and forth, Engelman says. Reichman then touched him, moving from his shoulders down, Engelman claims.
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Syringe

Best of the Web: Researchers Question Nature, Cause and Treatment of "Swine Flu" Outbreak


PRLog
Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:03 UTC
swine Flu
© Bruce Eagle"Swine Flu"
An independent researcher has collated a set of key questions regarding the Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico. The questions relate to recent events before the outbreak and corporate interests involved with the supply of 'vaccine'.

It was stated by the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) that the first case of "Swine Flu" was diagnosed in Mexico on the 17th of April. In the last few weeks, several researchers have sent information to Andrew Johnson, an independent lay researcher who runs a free website called "Check the Evidence". Johnson explains "I was sent information that includes commentary provided by Alternative Health figures such as Dr Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, and Dr Leonard Horowitz, a Harvard Graduate of Dental Medicine. Their commentaries vigorously challenge mainstream reports about the Swine Flu scares."

On his website, Dr Mercola states "this isn't the first time the public has been warned about swine flu. The last time was in 1976, right before I entered medical school and I remember it very clearly. It resulted in the massive swine flu vaccine campaign. Do you happen to recall the result of this massive campaign? Within a few months, claims totalling $1.3 billion had been filed by victims who had suffered paralysis from the vaccine. The vaccine was also blamed for 25 deaths."

Suspicions have also been raised about the actual nature of the virus itself , following comments by a WHO Official that the current strain contains both Avian and Swine Flu characteristics. Johnson states, "Some would say this was only possible if the virus had been genetically manipulated in a laboratory".
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Wine

Wine consumption lengthens life expectancy


redOrbit.com
Wed, 06 May 2009 07:47 UTC
Red Wine
© RedOrbit.com
New research shows that very light wine consumption over the long term appears to lead to a longer life.

As part of the Zutphen Study, a group of randomly selected Danish men were repeatedly monitored between 1960 and 2000, and long-term light wine consumption was associated with an increase in life expectancy of nearly 5 years.

Dr. Martinette T. Streppel from Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and colleagues report in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health that the benefit was independent of total alcohol consumption.
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Toys

Holy Mole-y! Bare Naked Birthmarks

Allison Ford
Divine Caroline
Tue, 05 May 2009 07:07 UTC
baby
© unknown
All pregnant women spend nine months hoping and praying that their children will be born healthy and normal. Ten fingers and ten toes is the standard baby wish, and anything beyond that is a blessing. I was born with all my digits, but imagine my parents' surprise when they turned me over to find my lower back covered with an angry red splotch. I was one of the one in ten children born every year with a vascular birthmark.

There are many different types of birthmarks, which can appear on almost every part of the body. I sometimes felt self-conscious about my own, but growing up, very few of my friends didn't have some sort of birthmark, whether it was a brown smear on an arm, a red port wine stain on the face, or in one friend's case, a single purple toe. Birthmarks are extremely common, and luckily, they're usually harmless. It's not clear why some people get them and some don't, but they occur most often in Caucasian children and up to five times more often in girls. They are sometimes apparent at birth, but some types of birthmarks develop soon after.
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Arrow Down

Children who view adult TV may become sexually active earlier in life


EurekAlert
Wed, 06 May 2009 06:38 UTC
Longitudinal study tracked content viewed during childhood and adolescence

Early onset of sexual activity among teens may relate to the amount of adult content children were exposed to during their childhood, according to a new study released by Children's Hospital Boston. Based on a longitudinal study tracking children from age six to eighteen, researchers found that the younger children are exposed to content intended for adults in television and movies, the earlier they become sexually active during adolescence. The findings are being presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies meetings on Monday, May 4 in Baltimore.

"Television and movies are among the leading sources of information about sex and relationships for adolescents," says Hernan Delgado, MD, fellow in the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston and lead author of the study. "Our research shows that their sexual attitudes and expectations are influenced much earlier in life."
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Magnify

Study finds common genetic variations among people with autism

Trine Tsouderos
Chicago Tribune
Wed, 06 May 2009 06:35 UTC
Researchers have found that many people with autism share common genetic variations, a discovery that may improve diagnosis and offers the promise of developing treatments for the frustratingly mysterious disorder.

Their findings, published in the journal Nature, compared the genomes of thousands of autistic people to those of thousands of people without the disorder - a massive task that new technology has only recently made possible. The genome is the complex system of DNA coding that builds and runs the human body.

The review showed that most autistic people have a genetic variation in a portion of their DNA that affects the way brain cells connect with one another. Scientists also reported a link between autism and small "mistakes" in another DNA segment involved with cell communication.

Both reports add weight to the idea that autism is related to problems with the way brain cells connect.
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Ambulance

New flu kills 2nd person in US, spreads globally

Chris Baltimore
Reuters
Wed, 06 May 2009 06:32 UTC
A Texas woman with the new H1N1 flu died earlier this week, state health officials said, the second death outside of Mexico, where the epidemic appeared to be waning.

Officials said on Tuesday the woman, who was in her 30s, had chronic health problems. U.S. health officials have predicted that the swine flu virus would spread and inevitably kill some people, just as seasonal flu does.

Last week a Mexican toddler visiting Texas also died. Mexican officials have reported 29 confirmed deaths.
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