Septum Induces Theta Rhythm, Reduces Epileptic Seizures
The brain’s septum helps prevent epileptic seizures by inducing rhythmical electrical activity in the circuits of another area of the brain known as the hippocampus, according to a new study in the Journal of Neurophysiology. The researchers found that, by imposing a normal “theta” rhythm on chronically epileptic rats, they could reduce epileptic seizures by 86-97%.
The study “Septo-hippocampal networks in chronically epileptic rats: Potential antiepileptic effects of theta rhythm generation,” by Luis V. Colom, Antonio Garci’a-Herna’ndez, Maria T. Castan~eda, Miriam G. Perez-Cordova and Emilio R. Garrido-Sanabria, The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, appears in the June issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology, published by The American Physiological Society.
Stalking Poses Serious Public Health Problem
Stalking is as much a public health issue as a criminal justice problem, according to the authors of a new national study.
Of the nearly 10,000 adults surveyed, 4.5 percent reported having been stalked at some time in their lives, which extrapolates to more than 7 million women and 2 million men in the United States, say the authors in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Most stalkers aren’t strangers, said lead researcher Kathleen Basile, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist with the Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
Older women get mammograms less often than thought
Older U.S. women are less likely to undergo mammography breast cancer screening than experts have believed, according to a study published Tuesday.
The findings, based on Medicare claims data, show that in 2000-2001, fewer than half of women age 65 or older had a mammogram within a two-year period.
That figure is much lower than health officials have estimated based on federal surveys. In those surveys, as many as 80 percent of women in their late 60s said they’d undergone screening mammography in the past two years.
In vitro fertilisation could be causing genetic errors in embryo
The conditions in which embryos are cultured in the laboratory during in vitro fertilisation could be causing genetic errors that are associated with certain developmental syndromes and other abnormalities in growth and development, such as low birth weight.
Researchers told the 22nd annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology that preliminary work investigating genetic imprinting in mouse embryos had shown that certain culture media and concentrations of oxygen altered the expression of several imprinted genes.
Imprinting is the process by which some genes are activated or inactivated depending on whether they have been inherited in chromosomes from the mother or the father.
USDA trains foreign scientists on diagnostic testing for highly pathogenic Avian Influenza
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Administrator Ron DeHaven today announced the training of 24 scientists from 19 countries on diagnostic testing for highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
The workshop is scheduled for June 19-23 at USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa. It is the third in a series of train-the-trainers workshops on HPAI testing and diagnostics.
“This is just one example of how we are working to prevent or slow the spread of high pathogencity avian influenza,"said DeHaven. “The goal is to assist senior-level veterinarians and poultry disease experts from countries that either have discovered HPAI, or are at high risk for the disease. When they return to their countries, they are better equipped to train their colleagues in lab procedures and protocols.”
