New Hampshire Health News Digest

Estrogenic Stimulation of Hypothalamic-Limbic System Metabolism in Ageing Diabetic C57BL/KsJ Mice : "The therapeutic influences of estrogen treatment on age- and diabetes-related declines in regional brain glucose utilization (RBGU) rates were evaluated in 8- to 20-week-old female C57BL/KsJ normal ( /?) and diabetic (db/db) mice. [...] A gradual decline in the basal rate of brain glucose utilization was observed in all control (oil- and E-treated) groups between 8 and 20 weeks. Expression of the hyperglycemic-obese diabetes syndrome in db/db mice resulted in a significant reduction in regional brain glucose utilization RBGU rates between 8 and 20 weeks relative to control values. [...] These data demonstrate that the normal development-related decline in regional brain carbohydrate metabolism is accelerated by the diabetes syndrome, and that Estrogen therapy can modulate the syndrome-associated suppression of glucose utilization in steroid-sensitive CNS loci. These data suggest th...

Behaviour in Fronto-temporal dementia and Semantic dementia FTD - The frontal lobes The frontal lobes develop later in maturity. They help to control incoming information from the environment, and to guide our actions and behaviour (see diagram). When the frontal lobes don’t work as they should, the system of control begins to break down. This can affect behaviour in a number of ways. Planning and foresight People with FTD may lose the ability to plan future actions and anticipate the consequences of their actions. This lack of planning may lead to the following behaviours: * Inertia, apathy, lack of motivation – people with damage to the frontal lobes can become less proactive * Purposeless activity, impulsivity – sometimes people act quickly without thinking things through * Neglect of self care and personal responsibilities – lack of motivation to carry out simple tasks * Behaviour governed by immediate wants – lack of foresight may result in inappropriate judgeme...

The role of emotion in decision-making: Evidence from neurological patients with orbitofrontal damage Most theories of choice assume that decisions derive from an assessment of the future outcomes of various options and alternatives through some type of cost-benefit analyses. The influence of emotions on decision-making is largely ignored. The studies of decision-making in neurological patients who can no longer process emotional information normally suggest that people make judgments not only by evaluating the consequences and their probability of occurring, but also and even sometimes primarily at a gut or emotional level. Lesions of the ventromedial (which includes the orbitofrontal) sector of the prefrontal cortex interfere with the normal processing of ‘‘somatic’’ or emotional signals, while sparing most basic cognitive functions. Such damage leads to impairments in the decision-making process, which seriously compromise the quality of decisions in daily life. [...] OK, so here th...

Cigarette smoking exacerbates alcohol-induced brain damage Heavy alcohol consumption is known to cause brain damage. A new imaging study has compared 24, one-week-abstinent alcoholics (14 smokers, 10 nonsmokers) in treatment with 26 light-drinking "controls" (7 smokers, 19 nonsmokers), and found that cigarette smoking can both exacerbate alcohol-induced damage as well as independently cause brain damage. The damage is most prominent in the frontal lobes (important in planning, decision-making, and multi-tasking among other functions). Independent of alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking also had adverse effects on brain regions involved in fine and gross motor functions and balance and coordination. Roughly 80% of alcohol-dependent individuals report smoking regularly.

Orbitofrontal Cortex and Social Behavior: Integrating Self-monitoring and Emotion-Cognition Interactions -- Beer et al. 18 (6): 871 -- The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience The role of the orbitofrontal cortex in social behavior remains a puzzle. Various theories of the social functions of the orbitofrontal cortex focus on the role of this area in either emotional processing or its involvement in online monitoring of behavior (i.e., self-monitoring). The present research attempts to integrate these two theories by examining whether improving the self-monitoring of patients with orbitofrontal damage is associated with the generation of emotions needed to guide interpersonal behavior. Patients with orbitofrontal damage, patients with lateral prefrontal damage, and healthy controls took part in an interpersonal task. After completing the task, participants' self-monitoring was increased by showing them a videotape of their task performance. In comparison to healthy controls and patien...

Molecular Switch in Brain May End Smokers’ Cravings - Health News - Health.com Blocking a neuropeptide receptor in the brain may be one way to quickly lessen the desire for a cigarette, a new study suggests. Hypocretin-1, or Orexin A, a short chain of amino acids found in nerve tissue, appears to initiate a series of closely linked biochemical reactions that makes lab rats crave nicotine, the addictive chemical in tobacco, according to researchers at the Scripps Florida research institute in Jupiter. If duplicated in humans, the finding could be lead to new smoking-cessation treatments, the researchers said. “Blocking hypocretin-1 receptors not only decreased the motivation to continue nicotine use in rats, it also abolished the stimulatory effects of nicotine on their brain reward circuitries,” study leader Paul Kenny, a scientist at Scripps Florida, explained in a news release issued by the institute. “This suggests that hypocretin-1 may play a major role in driving tobacco use in sm...

Drug/diet synergy for managing malignant astrocytoma in mice: 2-deoxy-D-glucose and the restricted ketogenic diet. - 7thSpace Interactive Astrocytomas are largely dependent on glycolysis to satisfy their bioenergetic requirements for growth and survival. Therapies that target glycolysis can potentially manage astrocytoma growth and progression. Dietary restriction of the high fat/low carbohydrate ketogenic diet (KD-R) reduces glycolysis and is effective in managing experimental mouse and human astrocytomas [...] The results suggest that management of malignant astrocytoma with restricted ketogenic diets could be enhanced when combined with drugs that inhibit glycolysis.

Fasting intermittently reduces cell proliferation, a marker for cancer risk, s...( Berkeley -- An apple a day keeps the do...) A new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, raises such a possibility. It shows that healthy mice given only 5 percent fewer calories than mice allowed to eat freely experienced a significant reduction in cell proliferation in several tissues, considered an indicator for cancer risk. The key was that the mice eating 5 percent fewer calories were fed intermittently, or three days a week. What is encouraging about the findings is that the reduction in cell proliferation from that intermittent feeding regimen was only slightly less than that of a more severe 33 percent reduction in calories. Until now, scientists have been certain only of a link between a more substantial calorie reduction and a reduction in the rate of cell proliferation.

Bottoms Up: Individualists More Likely To Be Problem Drinkers ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2008) — What makes residents of certain states or countries more likely to consume more alcohol? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, high levels of individualism lead to more problem drinking. "We looked at the extent to which consumer levels of individualism (vs. collectivism) were related to their beer and problem alcohol consumption," write authors Yinlong Zhang and L.J. Shrum (both University of Texas-San Antonio). "We found that the higher a region scored on valuing individualism, the greater their beer and alcohol consumption, and this was true even when taking into account the effects of other variables such as income, climate, gender, and religion." [...] The researchers found that people with more interdependent mindsets were less likely to over-consume when they were with peers. "The results suggest that people with collectivistic cultural or...

Calorie Restriction And Exercise Show Breast Cancer Prevention Differences In Postmenopausal Women Epidemiological data has suggested that inducing a so-called "negative energy balance" (where less energy is taken in than expended) through eating a low-calorie diet or increasing exercise levels, decreases the postmenopausal breast cancer risk associated with obesity. Although the mechanism responsible for these anti-obesity strategies was unknown, scientists have suspected hormone alteration plays a critical role. Increased fat tissue is known to be associated with alterations in adipokines, proteins secreted by fat tissue that help modify appetite and insulin resistance. For example, increased levels of leptin and decreased levels of adiponectin have been associated with breast cancer risk. [...] The calorie-restricted mice and the exercised mice showed no significant difference in percentage of body fat, but both groups had significantly less body fat than the sedentary mic...

Type 2 diabetes may slow mental processing speed | Health | Reuters Diabetes may slow brain processing Some studies have linked diabetes and cognitive dysfunction, but a new study suggests that mental processing speed may be the brain function most severely affected by diabetes. Researchers looked at data from the AGES Reykjavik Study and found that people who had been diagnosed with diabetes were slower to process information than people who didn’t have diabetes. People with undiagnosed diabetes had similar problems, but those with pre-diabetes had mental functioning similar to people without diabetes. Both memory and “executive function or the ability to plan and multitask, were comparable in people with and without diabetes, though people who’d had diabetes more than 15 years also had impaired executive function, according to the report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Want To Know What Is In Fast Food, Lots Of Corn! : ChattahBox : "Washington (ChattahBox) - According to a new study, a key ingredient in fast food is apparently corn! The study focused on three main fast food chains in Boston, Baltimore, Denver, San Francisco, Detroit, as well as Los Angeles. The study was led by A. Hope Jahren from the University of Hawaii, along with colleague Rebecca Kraft, and found the key ingredient to be corn. Using a special technique to analyze the food, they found high levels of both carbon and nitrogen, which means corn . The corn is able to fatten the cattle in a very short period of time. This could explain why fast food causes obesity at such a high rate. Their findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

Metabolic Syndrome and Psychiatric ... - Google Book Search Major depression It has long been known that a disproportionately large percentage of patients with diabetes also suffer major depression. The prevalence of major depression in diabetics, regardless of whether their diabetes is type 1 or type 2, is roughly 3 times that seen in the general population. However, the likelihood of depression is often increased in individuals dealing with serious and potentially disabling illnesses. Plus, the significance of the high prevalence of depression in diabetics, and whether it reflects some interaction between the two seemingly disparate conditions has not been entirely clear. Over recent years it has become apparent that there is a relationship between major depression and metabolic syndrome, which is frequently the precursor of diabetes type 2. Men and women with depression are more likely than those without depression to develop metabolic syndrome. People with depression often have ...

HowStuffWorks "How Nicotine Works" Effects of Nicotine Nicotine changes how your brain and your body function. The net results are somewhat of a paradox: Nicotine can both invigorate and relax a smoker, depending on how much and how often they smoke. This biphasic effect is not uncommon. Although the actions of nicotine and ethanol in the body are quite different, you also see dose-dependent effects when you drink alcoholic beverages. Your first drink may loosen your inhibitions and fire you up, but after several drinks, you're usually pretty sedate. Nicotine and the Body Nicotine initially causes a rapid release of adrenaline, the "fight-or-flight" hormone. If you've ever jumped in fright at a scary movie or rushed around the office trying to finish a project by your deadline, you may be familiar with adrenaline's effects: * Rapid heartbeat * Increased blood pressure * Rapid, shallow breathing Adrenaline also tells your body to dump some of ...

Insulin's Brain Impact Links Drugs And Diabetes Insulin, long known as an important regulator of blood glucose levels, now has a newly appreciated role in the brain. Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers, working with colleagues in Texas, have found that insulin levels affect the brain's dopamine systems, which are involved in drug addiction and many neuropsychiatric conditions. In addition to suggesting potential new targets for treating drug abuse, the findings raise questions as to whether improper control of insulin levels -- as in diabetes -- may impact risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or influence the effectiveness of current ADHD medications.

The antidepressant properties of the ketogenic diet . Biological Psychiatry , Volume 56 , Issue 12 , Pages 981 - 983 P . Murphy , S . Likhodii , K . Nylen , W . Burnham Elsevier Article Locator Background The ketogenic diet is used to treat epilepsy refractory to anticonvulsant medication. Individuals with epilepsy often have behavioral problems and deficits in attention and cognitive functioning. The ketogenic diet has been found to effect improvements in these domains. It has also been suggested that the ketogenic diet may act as a mood stabilizer. Methods The present research used the Porsolt test, an animal model of depression, to determine whether the ketogenic diet has antidepressant properties. Porsolt test scores of rats on the ketogenic diet were compared with those of rats on a control diet. Results The rats on the ketogenic diet spent less time immobile, suggesting that rats on the ketogenic diet, like rats treated with antidepressants, are less likely to e...

Wiley InterScience :: JOURNALS :: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society ABSTRACT Objectives: To evaluate the association between insulin resistance (IR) and executive dysfunction in a large, population-based study of older persons without diabetes mellitus (DM) or dementia. [...] Measurements: Anthropometric measurements; plasma fasting levels of glucose, insulin, cholesterol (total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1); homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) to estimate degree of IR; Trail Making Test (TMT) A; TMT-B; TMT-B minus TMT-A (DIFF B–A); and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results: IR (HOMA) was associated with longer TMT-B (correlation coefficient (r)=0.11; P=.006) and DIFF B–A times (r=0.10; P=.022). Subjects in the upper tertile of IR were older and had longer TMT-B and DIFF B–A than participants in the lowest tertile. After adjusting for age, sex, and years of forma...

Erectile Dysfunction Linked To Smoking Men who smoke cigarettes run an increased risk of experiencing erectile dysfunction, and the more cigarettes smoked, the greater the risk, according to a study by Tulane University researchers published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Frontal Lobe Injury Consequences of Frontal Lobe Injury The major role of the frontal lobes is the regulation of behavior. They coordinate attention, memory, language, perception, motor functions, and social behavior as we go about our daily living and vocational activities. In short, they put the human machine to work. When function is impaired, all of the other cognitive systems are affected even though they remain individually intact. The frontal lobes have been likened to the pilot of a Boeing 747, without whom millions of dollars worth of highly complex technology would sit idle at the airport. Recognition and appreciation of these deficits is critical to rehabilitation efforts with the closed head injured population. These deficits can be classed generally and include: * Problems of Starting--This may manifest as decreased spontaneity and initiation. Such individuals seem to lack motivation and may sit silently without apparent interest in or curiosity about surroundin...

USATODAY.com The number of children who take medication for chronic diseases has jumped dramatically, another troubling sign that many of the youngest Americans are struggling with obesity, doctors say. The number of children who take pills for type 2 diabetes — the kind that's closely linked to obesity — more than doubled from 2002 to 2005, to a rate of six out of 10,000 children. That suggests that at least 23,000 privately insured children in the USA are now taking diabetes medications, according to authors of the new study in today's Pediatrics. Doctors also saw big increases in prescriptions for high cholesterol, asthma and attention deficit and hyperactivity. There was smaller growth for drugs for depression and high blood pressure. "We've got a lot of sick children," says author Emily Cox, senior director of research with Express Scripts, which administers drug benefit programs for private insurance plans. "What we've been seeing in adults, we'...