Migraine associated with high-normal sex drive
For some individuals prone to migraine, this susceptibility may not necessarily interfere with their sex life and may in fact improve their libido, according to research published in the journal Headache.
“The goal of this research was to understand migraine better,” lead author Dr. Timothy T. Houle told Reuters Health. “By better understanding how the brain is altered with this syndrome, we can develop better drugs in the future.”
“Migraineurs have other commonly associated symptoms, such as sleep abnormalities and a higher risk of depression. Altered sex drive may be another quirk of being a migraineur,” he added.
Restricting carbohydrates may prevent Alzheimer’s disease
A recent study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggests that experimental dietary regimens might calm or even reverse symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).
The study, which appears in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, is the first to show that restricting caloric intake, specifically carbohydrates, may prevent AD by triggering activity in the brain associated with longevity.
“Both clinical and epidemiological evidence suggests that modification of lifestyle factors such as nutrition may prove crucial to Alzheimer’s Disease management,” says Giulio Maria Pasinetti, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Director of the Neuroinflammation Research Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “This research, however, is the first to show a connection between nutrition and Alzheimer’s Disease neuropathy by defining mechanistic pathways in the brain and scrutinizing biochemical functions. We hope these findings further unlock the mystery of Alzheimer’s and bring hope to the millions of Americans suffering from this disease.”
Early insecurity risk factor for eating disorders
Insecure attachment plays a key role in promoting the development of a negative body image in women with eating disorders, a new study shows. This suggests that the prevention and treatment of eating disorders might be strengthened by a greater concentration on early separation anxiety and insecure attachment to caregivers.
The theory of attachment, Dr. Alfonso Troisi and colleagues explain in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, holds that early experiences shape adult personality. Infants who are emotionally cared for “develop a model of the self as loved and valued and a model of the other as loving.”
Infants, on the other hand, who experience neglect and/or rejection at the hands of a caregiver, and come to believe that they cannot depend on their caregiver, may begin to feel that they are unworthy of love.
T-shirt mask could help in flu pandemic
The world may be unprepared for a bird flu pandemic, but U.S. researchers said on Wednesday they had come up with one low-tech answer to widespread shortages of medical equipment—a mask made out of a T-shirt.
Their mask fit comfortably over the face and appeared to filter out potentially infectious particles, the team at the University of Pittsburgh said.
“A simple, locally made, washable mask may be a solution if commercial masks are not available,” Virginia Dato, David Hostler and Michael Hahn wrote in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Helping a Friend - and Her Children - Through an Illness
Your friend or your sister has just learned that she has cancer. She’s more worried about her children getting through this, than about herself. How should she tell them what’s going on? How can she keep life normal for them during her treatment?
You can offer practical help, suggests Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child When a Parent is Sick (McGraw Hill, 2006). Co-authored by two Harvard psychiatrists, the book describes a decade of experience from Massachusetts General Hospital’s Parenting at a Challenging Time (PACT) program, which helps seriously ill parents of young children.
Scientists reveal two paths of neurodegeneration
Wiring the developing brain is like creating a topiary garden. Shrubs don’t automatically assume the shape of ornamental elephants, and neither do immature nerve cells immediately recognize the “right” target cell.
Abundant foliage, either vegetal or neuronal, must first sprout and then be sculpted into an ordered structure.
Neurons extend fibers called axons to target cells in an exuberant manner--some branch to the “wrong” cells while others shoot past their target cells. Axon pieces that went astray degenerate, effectively being “pruned” back. Similarly, when axons are forcibly severed or seriously injured by disease in adults, they die and are removed by degeneration.
Elevation of fat-derived molecule foretells early insulin resistance
A study in the June 15 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) reveals that elevated levels of a molecule called RBP4 (retinol binding protein 4) can foretell early stages in the development of insulin resistance, a major cause of type 2 diabetes as well as cardiovascular disease.
The new findings, led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), offer a potential new target for the development of anti-diabetic therapies to lower serum RBP4 levels as well as an early means of identifying individuals who are at risk of developing diabetes - before the onset of overt disease.
“Type 2 diabetes is a rapidly increasing epidemic in the Western world,” explains senior author Barbara Kahn, MD, Chief of the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at BIDMC and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Since it is now occurring even in childhood, predictions indicate that it could shorten lifespan in the U.S. for the first time in more than a century.”
Pesticides increase risk of developing Parkinson’s disease
Mayo Clinic researchers have found that using pesticides for farming or other purposes increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease for men.
Pesticide exposure did not increase the risk of Parkinson’s in women, and no other household or industrial chemicals were significantly linked to the disease in either men or women.
Findings will be published in the June issue of the journal Movement Disorders.
