Popular Antidepressants Boost Brain Growth
The beneficial effects of a widely used class of antidepressants might be the result of increased nerve-fiber growth in key parts of the brain, according to a Johns Hopkins study being published in the January 2006 issue of the Journal of Neurochemistry.
The study on rats, led by Vassilis E. Koliatsos, M.D., a neuropathologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, found that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) increase the density of nerve-impulse-carrying axons in the frontal and parietal lobes of the neocortex and part of the limbic brain which control the sense of smell, emotions, motivation, and organs that work reflexively such as the heart, intestines and stomach. “It appears that SSRI antidepressants rewire areas of the brain that are important for thinking and feeling, as well as operating the autonomic nervous system,” said Koliatsos.
Ancient Chinese Remedy Shows Potential in Preventing Breast Cancer
A derivative of the sweet wormwood plant used since ancient times to fight malaria and shown to precisely target and kill cancer cells may someday aid in stopping breast cancer before it gets a toehold.
In a new study, two University of Washington bioengineers found that the substance, artemisinin, appeared to prevent the onset of breast cancer in rats that had been given a cancer-causing agent. The study appears in the latest issue of the journal Cancer Letters.
Genes influence risk from second-hand smoke
Children harboring a particular variant in the TNF gene who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at increased risk of frequent respiratory-related absences from school, researchers at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, report.
In a study of more than 1,300 fourth graders, Dr. Frank D. Gilliland and colleagues found the effect of passive smoke exposure on illness differed according to TNF genotype.
Cocaine’s heart-damaging effects likely immediate
California researchers have found no link between cocaine use and hardening of the arteries in a study of more than 3,000 adults. The findings suggest that the drug’s heart-damaging effects likely occur immediately after use, and do not result from any long-term effects, Dr. Mark Pletcher of the University of California at San Francisco, the study’s lead author, told Reuters Health.
Cocaine use is known to boost heart rate and blood pressure, and has been firmly linked to heart attacks and sudden death, Pletcher and his colleagues write in the American Heart Journal.
Radiologists use lights, films to soothe children
Three-year old Jack Law used to be so nervous when he went to hospital for regular scans he had to be sedated, only coming round several hours later. This time it was different, and a lot quicker.
He was the first patient in the world’s first “ambient experience” radiology suite, a special room designed to soothe children that opened in August at the Advocate Lutheran General Children’s Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois in the United States.
Gene Variation Affects Tamoxifen’s Benefit for Breast Cancer
One of the most commonly prescribed drugs for breast cancer, tamoxifen, may not be as effective for women who inherit a common genetic variation, according to researchers at the University of Michigan and the Mayo Clinic. The genetic variation affects the level of a crucial enzyme that activates tamoxifen to fight breast cancer.
The study, co-led by researcher James Rae, Ph.D., at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and Matthew Goetz, M.D., an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic, tested the most common genetic variant responsible for lowering the CYP2D6 enzyme, and found that women with this genetic variant were almost twice as likely to see their breast cancer return. Up to 10 percent of women inherit this genetic trait.
Six Reasons Not to Scrimp on Sleep
A recent survey found that more people are sleeping less than six hours a night, and sleep difficulties visit 75% of us at least a few nights per week. A short-lived bout of insomnia is generally nothing to worry about. The bigger concern is chronic sleep loss, which can contribute to health problems such as weight gain, high blood pressure, and a decrease in the immune system’s power, reports the Harvard Women’s Health Watch.
While more research is needed to explore the links between chronic sleep loss and health, it’s safe to say that sleep is too important to shortchange. The Harvard Women’s Health Watch suggests six reasons to get enough sleep:
