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Study on sheep shows link between personality, survival, and reproductive success

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 16 (ANI): Canadian researchers have established a link between personality, survival, and reproductive success by carrying out a study on male bighorn sheep.

Denis Reale, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at UQAM and Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Ecology, says that the new study offers insight into personality differences in animals and humans, from an evolutionary perspective.

Since 1969, several teams of researchers have been studying this population of bighorn sheep in Alberta, Canada. They have collected considerable data over the years.

Working in collaboration with researchers from the University of Sherbrooke and the University of Alberta, Reale identified the rams in terms of boldness and docility.

The researchers then conducted paternity tests to determine which rams were reproducing.

They point out that in a system like that of bighorn sheep where there is strong competition among the males for impregnating females, large size and high dominance status are normally key factors in a male’s success.

Males usually attain these conditions in the prime of life, between 6 and 12 years, the researchers say.

However, the paternity tests showed that some young males manage to fertilize females.

The researchers also concentrated on the risk associated with participation in the rut-males can be injured or fall from a cliff in fighting.

Reale and his colleagues hypothesized that the young males that manage to reproduce would be the boldest and most combative, and analysis of the data confirmed it.

However, in exchange for sexual precocity and risk-taking, these rams often die younger than their more docile peers. The latter, instead, invest in the long term, breed later and reach an older age.

Based on their observations, the researchers came to the conclusion that their findings indicate a variation in the personalities and life histories of the population, with two extreme types: one that could be characterised as “live fast and die” and the other as “slow and steady wins the race”.

Depending on their personality, the males managed to breed and to transmit their genes, but in different ways.

The study demonstrates that personality has a direct influence on the lifestyle of individuals.

A research article describing the study has been published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. (ANI)

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How some people maintain weight loss, others don’t

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep 16 (ANI): Ever wondered how some people successfully maintain a significant weight loss, while others tend to regain the weight? Well, researchers at The Miriam Hospital attribute such tendencies to a difference in brain activity patterns.

The researchers showed that when individuals who had kept the weight off for several years were shown pictures of food, they were more likely to engage the areas of the brain associated with behavioural control and visual attention, as compared to obese and normal weight participants.

The findings of the study suggest that successful weight loss maintainers may learn to respond differently to food cues.

“Our findings shed some light on the biological factors that may contribute to weight loss maintenance. They also provide an intriguing complement to previous behavioral studies that suggest people who have maintained a long-term weight loss monitor their food intake closely and exhibit restraint in their food choices,” said lead author Dr. Jeanne McCaffery.

Long-term weight loss maintenance continues to be a major problem in obesity treatment.

Participants in behavioural weight loss programs lose an average of 8 to 10 percent of their weight during the first six months of treatment, and will maintain approximately two-thirds of their weight loss after one year.

However, despite intensive efforts, weight regain appears to continue for the next several years, with most patients returning to their baseline weight after five years.

The researchers used functional magnetic resource imaging (fMRI) to study the brain activity of three groups- 18 individuals of normal weight, 16 obese individuals (defined as a body mass index of at least 30), and 17 participants who have lost at least 30 lbs and have successfully maintained that weight loss for a minimum of three years.

When the participants were shown pictures of food items after a four-hour fast, it was found that those in the successful weight loss maintenance group responded differently to these pictures compared to the other groups.

Specifically, researchers observed strong signals in the left superior frontal region and right middle temporal region of the brain – a pattern consistent with greater inhibitory control in response to food images and greater visual attention to food cues.

“It is possible that these brain responses may lead to preventive or corrective behaviors – particularly greater regulation of eating – that promote long-term weight control. However, future research is needed to determine whether these responses are inherent within an individual or if they can be changed,” said McCaffery.

The study has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (ANI)

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Maternal stress key to behavioural problems in kids

August 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 9 (ANI): A new study has revealed that maternal stress both prenatal and early post-partum may lead to conduct problems in kids, which is likely to continue into adolescence.

Partner cruelty to the mother, harsh parenting and high levels of under-controlled temperaments in the children’s first years of life were also identified by the researchers as increasing the risk of conduct problems continuing into adolescence.

“… maternal anxiety, both prenatal and early post-partum, is critical in differentiating youths with persistent conduct problems from youths with childhood-limited conduct problems,” said Dr. Edward D.

“Ted” Barker, an assistant professor and researcher in UA’s Canter for the Prevention of Youth Behaviour Problems.

However, less than 50 percent of young children exhibiting high levels of conduct problems, including fighting, stealing and lying, will continue displaying these problems in adolescence.

“The results support intervention efforts that ‘start at the beginning’ and offer high-risk mothers health and psychological support beginning with their first obstetric screening,” said the researchers.

The study appears in the American Journal of Psychiatry. (ANI)

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Obesity links found between mothers and daughters, fathers and sons

July 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 13 (ANI): Scientists have found a strong obesity link between mothers and daughters and fathers and sons, but the link was absent across the gender divide.

In a study of 226 families by Plymouth’s Peninsula Medical School, researchers found that obese mothers were 10 times more likely to have obese daughters and for fathers and sons, there was a six-fold rise.

But in both cases children of the opposite sex were not affected.

According to the researchers, it was “highly unlikely” that genetics was playing a role in the findings, as it would be unusual for them to influence children along gender lines.

On the other hand, they attributed the link to some form of “behavioural sympathy” where daughters copied the lifestyles of their mothers, and sons copied the lifestyles of their fathers.

And, thus, experts believe that the government policy on tackling obesity should be re-thought.

To date, researchers have focussed on younger age groups in the belief that obese children become obese adults.

But the new findings indicate that obese adults led to obese children.

“It is the reverse of what we have thought and this has fundamental implications for policy,” the BBC quoted study leader Professor Terry Wilkin as saying.

He added: “We should be targeting the parents and that is not something we have really done to date.”

The researchers took weight and height measurements for children and parents over a three-year period.

It was found that 41 percent of the eight-year-old daughters of obese mothers were obese, as compared to four percent of girls with normal-weight mothers.

However, there was no difference in the proportion for boys.

For boys, 18 percent of the group with obese fathers were also obese, compared to just three percent for those with normal-weight fathers.

And again, there was no difference in the proportion for girls.

The findings of the study have been published in the International Journal of Obesity. (ANI)

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Genetic region linked with rare ability to recognize, name musical notes identified

July 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 3 (ANI): Scientists at the University of California-San Francisco (UNSF) say that they have identified a particular region of genes on human chromosome eight that is linked to perfect pitch, the rare ability to recognize and name musical notes without any reference pitch for comparison, at least in people of European ancestry.

Reporting their work in American Journal of Human Genetics, the researchers say that their next step will be to identify a specific gene.

The finding, part of a larger examination of families of various ancestries – Europeans, Ashkenazi Jews, Indians and East Asians – is the first significant genetic evidence of a role of genes in perfect pitch.

The researchers say that it is likely that multiple genes are involved in all cases of perfect pitch, and that different genes could be associated with different ethnic backgrounds.

But despite that, they say, the finding is an important advance in their effort to move in on the relative roles of early musical training and genetic inheritance on perfect pitch.

Professor Jane Gitschier, the senior author of the study who is a singer herself, says that it is an advance in the team’s effort to explore the relative contributions of environmental factors and genes on learning and other behaviours.

“Perfect pitch is a window into the way in which multiple genes and environmental factors influence cognitive or behavioural traits,” she says.

The team has learnt over the last decade that both factors contribute to perfect pitch.

“What’s exciting now is that we now have made the first foray into teasing out the genes that may be involved,” she says.

Besides continuing to identify and collect data on families with multiple cases of perfect pitch, the researchers plan to analyse candidate genes for variations that might be associated with perfect pitch in participants of European ancestry.

For this purpose, the team plans to recruit and study individuals of European ancestry without perfect pitch, but with equivalent early musical training.

The ongoing effort is supported in part by a grant by the NAMM Foundation, which was established by the international music products industry association with the aim of promoting “active participation in music making across the lifespan,” in part by supporting scientific research. (ANI)

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Stress during pregnancy can lead to behavioural, emotional problems in kids

June 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 30 (ANI): British researchers have advised expectant mothers to reduce their anxiety and stress levels to protect their kids from developing behavioural and emotional problems later.

The researchers from Imperial College London hope that it will raise families’ awareness of the importance of reducing levels of stress and anxiety in expectant mothers.

They say that reducing stress during pregnancy could help prevent thousands of children from developing emotional and behavioural problems.

According to Professor Vivette Glover, the lead researcher behind the exhibit from the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College London, maternal stress and anxiety can alter the development of the baby’s brain. This in turn can result in a greater risk of emotional problems such as anxiety or depression, behavioural problems such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and being considerably slower at learning. S

It can also increase the likelihood of later violent or criminal behaviour.

The findings have suggested that the effects of stress during pregnancy can last many years, including into adolescence.

“We all know that if a mother smokes or drinks a lot of alcohol while pregnant it can affect her fetus,” said Glover.

“Our work has shown that other more subtle factors, such as her emotional state, can also have long-term effects on her child.

“Our research shows that stress due to the mother’s relationship with her partner can be particularly damaging,” Glover added.

The researchers say that the stress hormone cortisol may be one way in which the fetus is affected by the mother’s anxiety during pregnancy.

Usually the placenta protects the unborn baby from the mother’s cortisol, by producing an enzyme that breaks the hormone down.

When the mother is very stressed, this enzyme works less well and lets her cortisol through the placenta.

The researchers suggested higher the level of cortisol in the womb, the lower the toddler’s cognitive development or “baby IQ” at 18 months. (ANI)

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Music ‘soothes pain of premature babies’

May 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 28 (ANI): Playing music to babies can help reduce pain and encourage better oral feeding, a new study suggests.

The research, published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, claimed that increasing numbers of neonatal units are using music as a method to help improve behavioural and physiological outcomes or to manage pain during common procedures such as circumcision.

The benefits are said to be calmer infants and parents, a stable condition in the child’s functions, higher oxygen saturation, faster weight gain and shorter hospital stays.

In the study, researchers from the University of Alberta in Canada reviewed nine existing randomised trials published between 1989 and 2006 to see how effective and worthwhile it was using music in this way.

The trials they studied covered a diverse range of populations studied in different ways, which made it difficult to have definitive conclusions, but they found much preliminary evidence for therapeutic benefits of music for specific indications.

Outcomes most often reported in the trials were physiological measures such as heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and pain.

One of the high quality studies reviewed that looked at using music during circumcision, showed music did have benefits for infants’ heart rate, oxygen saturation, and pain.

In three of the studies that looked at heel prick – a common procedure for taking a blood sample from the heel of newborn infants – there was evidence that using music could have benefits for behaviour and pain.

The authors conclude: “There is preliminary evidence to suggest that music may have beneficial effects in terms of physiological parameters, behavioural states and pain reduction during painful medical procedures.

“While there is preliminary evidence for some therapeutic benefits of music for specific indications, these benefits need to be confirmed in well-designed, high quality trials.” (ANI)

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Cell phone viruses poised to reach epidemic proportions

May 22, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 22 (ANI): Unlike computer viral epidemics, no major outbreaks of mobile phone viral infection have been reported to date. Ever wondered why?

Well, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, director of the Center for Complex Network Research at Northeastern University, says that it is because a highly fragmented market share has effectively hindered outbreaks thus far.

He warns that cell phone viruses will pose a serious threat once a single mobile operating system’s market share grows sufficiently large, and that that may not be far off considering the 150 percent annual growth rate of smart phones.

“We haven’t had a problem so far because only phones with operating systems, so-called ‘smart phones’, are susceptible to viral infection,” said Marta Gonzalez, one of the authors of a study report published in the journal Science.

“Once a single operating system becomes common, we could potentially see outbreaks of epidemic proportion because a mobile phone virus can spread by two mechanisms: a Bluetooth virus can infect all Bluetooth-activated phones in a 10-30 meter radius, while Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) virus, like many computer viruses, spreads using the address book of the device. Not surprisingly, hybrid viruses, which can infect via both routes, pose the most significant danger,” Gonzalez added.

The experts reckon that Bluetooth viruses eventually start infecting all susceptible handsets.

Given that human behavioural patterns have been restricting the spread of such infections thus far, the experts believe that there should be sufficient time to deploy countermeasures like antiviral software to prevent major Bluetooth outbreaks.

Although human behavioural patterns do not restrict the spread of MMS viruses, they are still constrained because the number of susceptible devices is currently much smaller.

The experts say that the unprecedented challenges will surface once people become increasingly connected.

They think that studies categorized as computational social science are necessary to understand group behaviour and organization, assess potential threats, and develop solutions to the issues faced by our ever-changing society. (ANI)

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Monkeys and humans share ‘diet control’ habits

May 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 20 (ANI): In a new research, behavioural ecologists working in Bolivia have found that wild spider monkeys control their diets in a similar way to humans, contrary to what has been thought up to now.

Rather than trying to maximize their daily energy intake, the monkeys tightly regulate their daily protein intake, so that it stays at the same level regardless of seasonal variation in the availability of different foods.

Tight regulation of daily protein intake is known to play a role in the development of obesity in humans, and the findings from this research suggest that the evolutionary origins of these eating patterns in humans may be far older than suspected.

The research also provides valuable information about which trees are important for the monkeys’ diet, which is relevant to conservation.

In addition, it may help to improve the care of captive primates, which can be prone to obesity and related health problems due to their diet.

Dr Annika Felton, a Departmental Visitor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, spent a year in the Bolivian rainforest, familiarizing the Peruvian spider monkeys to her presence and then observing their feeding habits.

She followed 15 individual monkeys (7 adult males, 8 adult females), conducting continuous observations of the same animal from dawn to dusk, and following each of the monkeys for at least one whole day a month.

During observations, she recorded everything they did and ate and for how long.

Where possible, she counted every fruit and leaf they ate, and collected samples of what they had eaten from the actual trees the monkeys had chosen.

The samples were then dried and sent to the laboratory in Australia where they were analysed for their nutritional content.

It is unusual for a study of feeding habits in wild primates to be conducted in this detailed way.

It enabled Dr Felton and her colleagues to calculate how much an individual monkey had consumed and the nutrients involved.

According to Dr Felton, “We found that the pattern of nutrient intake by wild spider monkeys, which are primarily fruit eaters, was almost identical to humans, which are omnivores.”

“What spider monkeys and humans have in common is that they tightly regulate their daily protein intake, that is, they appear to aim for a target amount of protein each day, regardless of whether they only ate ripe fruit or mixed in other vegetable matter as well,” she said. (ANI)

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Women with high emotional intelligence ‘have more fun in bed’

May 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 12 (ANI): Women with high emotional intelligence (EI) have better sex lives, according to a new study.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor and manage emotions in oneself and others.

The study by a research team at King’s College London showed that those with greater EI had more orgasms. It also suggests that low EI is a risk factor for female orgasmic disorder.

“These findings show that emotional intelligence is an advantage in many aspects of your life including the bedroom. This study will help enormously in the development of behavioural and cognitive therapies to improve women’s sexual lives,” the Independent quoted Professor Tim Spector, director of the Twin Research Department at King’s College London and co-author of the study, as saying.

For the study, a total of 2,035 female volunteers from the TwinsUK registry were recruited, ranging in age from 18 to 83.

The registry consists of adult twins who agreed to take part in studies to investigate the causes of common disorders. Using twins makes it possible to disentangle genetic and environmental risk factors.ll participants completed questionnaires giving details of their sexual behaviour and performance and also answered questions designed to test their emotional intelligence.

Researchers found a significant association between EI and frequency of orgasm both during masturbation and sexual intercourse.

Women in the bottom 25 percent of the emotional intelligence range had twice the normal risk of infrequent orgasm.

Lead author, psychologist Andrea Burri, also from King’s College, said: “Emotional intelligence seems to have a direct impact on women’s sexual functioning by influencing her ability to communicate her sexual expectations and desires to her partner.

She also said that there was a possible association with a woman’s ability to fantasise during sex.

“Emotional intelligence seems to have a direct impact on women’s sexual functioning by influencing her ability to communicate her sexual expectations and desires to her partner,” said Burri.

The results of the study appear in The Journal of Sexual Medicine. (ANI)

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Recession drives South Africa to ‘naughty sexuality’

May 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Cape Town, May 8 (ANI): The ongoing credit crunch has liberalised people’s attitude towards sex, at least that’s what a research panel at a recent Sexpo suggests.

The world’s largest health, sexuality and lifestyle expo, Sexpo, claims that the gloomy economic climate has seen a move back to “naughty sexuality”, reports 24.com.

“A research panel at a recent Sexpo noted a marked change in taste and naughty choices over the past two years,” organiser Silas Howarth said in a statement.

On the panel were Howarth, behavioural psychologist Dr Kris Launer, Reverend Daniel Brits, Miss Nude SA Bella Anderson and “mind power specialist” Alain D Woolf.

He said: “The global recession, job losses and bleak forecasts have had a major influence on sexuality in 2009… [This indicates] a move back to a naughty sexuality.”

“The global economic crisis, job insecurity and other stress factors will cause in increase in sexual activity between couples, acting as a stress release valve and escape clause from realities,” he added.

According to Howarth, Sexpos around the country had seen a dramatic increase in visitor numbers since the debut event in 2007.

“In some instances attendance has grown by 50 percent. A clear sign that sexuality has come out into the open in South Africa,” he said. (ANI)

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Anger ‘is down to genes’

May 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 04 (ANI): Do you often get angry? Well, then, blame your genes, says a new study.

German researchers say that a gene called DARPP-32 may help explain why some people fly into a rage at the slightest provocation, while others can remain calm.

The researchers, from the University of Bonn, asked over 800 people to fill in a questionnaire designed to study how they handle anger.

The team also administered a DNA test to determine which of three versions of the DARPP-32 gene people were carrying.

The gene affects levels of dopamine, a brain chemical linked to anger and aggression.

Researchers found that those who had the “TT” or “TC” versions of the gene portrayed significantly more anger than those with the “CC” version.

They also found that those who display more anger have less grey matter in the amygdala, a part of the brain that helps keep our emotions balanced.

“In other words, they are not able to control their feelings as well as those without the mutation,” the Telegraph quoted Martin Reuter, one of the researchers, as saying.

The researchers said that genetics only account for around half of our disposition towards anger, while DARPP-32 is one of several genes involved.

The study has been reported in the journal Behavioural Brain Research. (ANI)

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Kids of depressed fathers ‘more likely to have psychological problems’

May 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 04 (ANI): Fathers’ mental health problems could be harmful for their kids, a new research has warned.

Researchers at University of Oxford said that such kids are more likely to have psychiatric or behavioural disorders.

They also said that boys in particular could be affected if their father had depression or was an alcoholic.

Te peak age for men to be affected by psychiatric disorders is the same as the peak age for becoming a father – between 18 and 35.

Paternal depression during the postnatal period, measured at eight weeks after birth, has been linked to increasing the chance of the child subsequently developing behavioural and emotional problems from 10 percent to 20 percent.
During the study, researchers found that teenage offspring of depressed fathers also have an increased risk of various psychological problems, including depression and suicidal behaviour.

Researchers said that around 2 percent of men are affected by generalised anxiety disorder, and children whose parents have anxiety disorders have a two-fold increased risk of developing such disorders themselves,

Paternal alcoholism is also linked to an increased risk of mood disorders, depressive symptoms, poor performance at school, low self-esteem and problems forming relationships.

The research team, led by psychiatrist Professor Paul Ramchandani, said more studies were needed on how fathers’ psychiatric disorders affect their children’s development.

“Men’s roles in bringing up children have changed significantly over the last century, with many dads now taking on an active ‘nurturing role’ so it’s important that there is more research into the relationship between fathers’ mental health problems and how these may affect their children,” the BBC quoted Emily Wooster, policy and campaign manager for the mental health charity Mind, as saying.

The study is published in The Lancet. (ANI)

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Scary anti-drinking ads don’t work, says leading expert

May 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Apr 28 (ANI): Advertising campaigns designed to tackle problems such as alcohol among youngsters fail to work, says a prominent communications expert.

Noel Turnbull, adjunct professor in the School of Applied Communications at RMIT University, who is now a director of DrinkWise Australia, said that young people “think they’re immortal”.

“They simply don’t believe the risks are as great as other people say,” News.com.au quoted him as saying.

Pushing for a longer-term approach to tackling alcohol abuse, Turnbull has warned against approaches that “generate widespread community hostility and seek to control the bulk of moderate consumers of alcohol as if they were people with significant alcohol problems”.

While ridiculing on draft guidelines the National Health and Medical Research Council issued last year, he said that the Australian politicians might have been misled by their own campaign advertisements.

He said: “One of the reasons why governments like fear is that is the sort of advertising they do in a political context.

“They’ve demonstrated that negative advertising works when it comes to elections and assume that it also works when it comes to other forms of behavioural change, but the evidence for that is not quite so strong.”

On the other hand, Turnbull insisted that using social marketing to change behaviour would be a better approach.

He said: “We’re not going to solve social problems purely and simply by regulating them out of existence. We have to actually build social capital.

“It’s no good telling people this is the wrong thing to do. Long-term solutions are about building social capital and people’s own capacity to change.”

Turnbull will present his ideas at the forum of DrinkWise- an education body funded by the federal Government and the liquor industry. (ANI)

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Little sleep could make kids hyperactive

May 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 28 (ANI): Children’s short sleep duration even without sleeping difficulties increases the risk for behavioural symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), says a new study.

The study, led by researchers at the University of Helsinki and National Institute of Health and Welfare, Finland, examined whether decreased sleep leads to behavioral problems similar to those exhibited by children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

280 healthy children (146 girls and 134 boys) participated in the study. The researchers tracked the children’s sleep using parental reporting as well as actigraphs, or devices worn on the wrist to monitor sleep.

The children whose average sleep duration as measured by actigraphs was shorter than 7.7 hours had a higher hyperactivity and impulsivity score and a higher ADHD total score, but similar inattention score than those sleeping for a longer time.

In multivariate statistical models, short sleep duration remained a statistically significant predictor of hyperactivity and impulsivity, and sleeping difficulties were associated with hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention. There were no significant interactions between short sleep and sleeping difficulties.

“We were able to show that short sleep duration and sleeping difficulties are related to behavioral symptoms of ADHD, and we also showed that short sleep, per se, increases behavioral symptoms, regardless of the presence of sleeping difficulties”, says researcher Juulia Paavonen, MD, PhD.

“The findings suggest that maintaining adequate sleep schedules among children is likely to be important in preventing behavioral symptoms. However, even though inadequate sleep seems to owe potential to impair behaviour and performance, intervention studies are needed to confirm the causality,” Paavonen added. (ANI)

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Autism linked to older moms, breech births

May 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 28 (ANI): Kids, who are born first or have had breech births or whose mothers are 35 or older at the time of birth, face a greater risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder, according to a new study.

Autism is a complex brain disorder that impairs social, communicative, and behavioural development and often is characterized by extreme behaviour.

Researchers at University of Utah School of Medicine have showed that women who give birth at 35 or older are 1.7 times more likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), compared with women between the ages of 20-34.

Also, the researchers found that children diagnosed with ASD also were nearly 1.8 times more likely to be the firstborn child.

Although the researchers didn’t identify a causal relationship between breech births and autism, children diagnosed with the disorder were more than twice as likely to have been a breech presentation-meaning they were not born head first.

“The results of this study give us an opportunity to look more closely at these risk factors for children across the autism spectrum, and not only those diagnosed with autism. This shows that further investigation of the influence of prenatal factors is warranted,” said first author Deborah A. Bilder, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry.

For the study, the researchers examined the birth records of Utah children who had been identified as having an autism spectrum disorder in a 2002 epidemiological study by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That study looked at 8-year-old children in Utah’s three most populous counties-Salt Lake, Davis, and Utah-and used nationally accepted criteria for an ASD classification.

They then compared birth records for children identified with an ASD with unaffected children born in those three counties in 1994.

Of that group, 196 were identified with an ASD. Birth certificates were available for 132 of those children, and the researchers examined those records for possible prenatal, perinatal, and neonatal risk factors related to ASD. The investigation showed that the mother’s age when giving birth (older than 34), breech presentation, and being firstborn were significant risk factors for the development of an ASD.

The researchers also identified a small but significant relationship between the increased duration of education among mothers of those children.

A possible explanation for the correlation of firstborn children might be that parents are reluctant to have a second child if the first is diagnosed with ASD. And increased risk associated with advanced maternal age could be because the changes in genes occurring over time may contribute to autism spectrum disorders.

The association found between breech presentation and ASD most likely indicates a shared cause, such as neuromuscular dysfunction. The vast majority of children born breech, however, are healthy.

The study has been published in the online issue of the journal Pediatrics. (ANI)

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The biological basis for the 8-hour work-shift

April 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, April 24 (ANI): Your usual nine to five office shift has a biological reason behind it, and now scientists have found that some genes in the body are switched on once every 12 or 8 hours, which in turn keeps us actively involved in the work, according to a new study.

The findings by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies indicated that shorter cycles of the circadian rhythm are also biologically encoded.

Already, scientists know that some genes are controlled by the clock and are turned on only one time during each 24-hour cycle.

In the new study, researchers looked at gene activity in the mouse liver every hour for 48 hours using a novel time-sampling approach.

They also found 10-fold more genes controlled by the 24-hour clock than previously reported.

This the first report where researchers have found other periodicities than the 24-hour cycle functioning in a live animal.

According to researchers, these findings have implications for better understanding disruptions to normal circadian rhythms that contribute to a host of pathologies such as cardiovascular and metabolic disease, cancer, and aging-related disorders.

“The principal frequency, which is not a surprise, is the 24-hour cycle, and it is the most prevalent. What was a surprise to us – although we set up the experiment to see exactly this – are the 12-hour and the 8-hour cycles,” said senior author John Hogenesch, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology in the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at Penn.

To uncover these shorter oscillations, researchers isolated RNA from the livers of mice every hour for 48 hours.

Microarray analysis showed that more than 3,000 genes were expressed on a circadian rhythm – which account for approximately 4 percent of all of the genes expressed in the liver.

In addition, 260 genes were expressed on a 12-hour cycle and 63 genes were expressed on an 8-hour cycle.

The researchers saw similar 12-hour gene expression patterns in five other tissues.

“There is an obvious biological basis to a 12-hour rhythm. The 12-hour genes predicted dusk and dawn. These are two really, really stressful transitions that your body goes through and your mind goes through. Anybody who has young children realizes that they are more likely to cry around those times – and you’re more likely to cry with them,” said Hogenesch.

The shift in gene expression controlled by these harmonics can help an animal prepare for the behavioural and physiological changes that accompany the shift from light to dark and back.

“We have less of a handle on the 8-hour rhythms, but the fact that we can see them reliably means to me there is the possibility that there could be a biological basis to an 8-hour cycle,” he said.

The study appears in the April issue of PLoS Genetics (ANI)

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NASA to study sleep movements on Everest

April 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

A team of NASA scientists, along with their Indian and Nepalese aides, is set to leave for the Everest base camp on Monday to carry out experiments on “sleeping and waking movements” for future space programmes.

The team of 25 scientists from NASA, who arrived in Kathmandu on Saturday in a research mission, includes doctors, pilots and scientists.

Besides the American and European scientists there also six Indian and 11 Nepalese aides in the team.

“Quality sleep is crucial to daytime alertness and performance on critical tasks, and can also impact long-term health. Lack of sleep could even affect safety,” Steve Vander Ark, Section Manager, Behavioural Health NASA said.

Chris J Johnson, who is the NASA Orion Landing System Integration Manager, is the leader of the expedition. They wanted to do some serious research to help the astronauts.

Equipped with the Actiwatch and Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System, the team members would record the sleeping and waking movements and light exposure of the subjects.

“Actiwatch resembles a wristwatch and records the wearer’s sleeping and waking movements. It also measures light exposure. Several members of our group will be wearing an Actiwatch during the hike. In general, these devices will show how well the hikers sleep during the trip,” Ark said.

Vander Ark is taking a device up Mount Everest to monitor what happens with the sleep/wake cycle when the human body is subjected to long periods in challenging environments.

The Lab-On-a-Chip, which can detect bacteria and fungi on surfaces inside the International Space Station, will be used to look for snow algae, he added. Former NASA astronaut Scot Parazynski has already left for Everest as a member of an expedition towards the summit.

“We expect to meet Scott at the base camp,” Chris said. If his attempt is successful, he’ll become the first person ever to have gazed up at space from the pinnacle of Earth’s tallest mountain, and gazed down on that same pinnacle from the black vacuum of space, he said.

Steve said trekking to the base camp will be comparable in some ways to what astronauts face while engaging in a long spacewalk or an excursion on the surface of the moon or Mars adding Mt Everest provides a good space analog.

The team’s research would benefit future space travellers, they claim. The outcomes of the research would aid future research projects of the NASA, he said. The research could help scientists develop efficient procedures for future field studies on moon and Mars.

The team also collected more than $1500 to support the Prisoners Assistance Nepal. The team plans to leave for Lukla, gateway to the Everest on Monday and is scheduled to return to Kathmandu on May 2.

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EU Commission to probe UK’s failure to protect citizens from secret surveillance

April 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Apr.15 (ANI): Britain’s failure to protect its citizens from secret surveillance on the Internet is to be investigated by the European Commission.

According to The Independent, the move will fuel claims that Britain is sliding towards a Big Brother state and could end with the Government being forced to defend its policy on internet privacy in front of judges in Europe.
The legal action is being brought over the use of controversial behavioural advertising services that were tested on British Telecom’s Internet customers without their consent.

Yesterday, the EU said it wanted “clear consent” from Internet users that their private data was being used to gather commercial information about their web shopping habits.

Under the programme, the UK-listed company Phorm has developed technology that allows Internet service providers (ISPs) to track what their users are doing online. ISPs can then sell that information to media companies and advertisers, who can use it to place more relevant advertisements on websites the user subsequently visits.

The EU has accused Britain of turning a blind eye to the growth in this kind of Internet marketing.

The Commission is also critical of the Government’s implementation of the European electronic privacy and personal data protection rules. They state that EU countries must ensure the confidentiality of communications by banning the interception and surveillance of Internet users without their consent. (ANI)

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12yr-old school kids engaging in risky sexual activity

April 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 9 (ANI): A new study by researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health has shown that school kids as young as 12 are engaging in risky sexual activity.

A team led by Dr. Christine Markham, assistant professor of behavioural science at the UT School of Public Health, examined sexual risk behaviours among middle school students in a large southeastern U.S. urban public school district.

“This is one of the few school-based studies conducted with this age group to look at specific sexual practices in order to develop more effective prevention programs,” Markham said.

“This study shows that although most seventh graders are not engaging in sexual risk behaviours, a small percentage are putting themselves at risk,” she stated.

Markham and colleagues define sexual intercourse as vaginal, oral or anal sex.

And as per their research, by age 12, 12 percent of students had already engaged in vaginal sex, 7.9 percent in oral sex, 6.5 percent in anal sex, and 4 percent in all three types of intercourse.

“These findings are alarming because youth who start having sex before age 14 are much more likely to have multiple lifetime sexual partners, use alcohol or drugs before sex and have unprotected sex, all of which puts them at greater risk for getting a sexually transmitted disease (STD) or becoming pregnant,” Markham said.

The study found one-third of sexually active students reported engaging in vaginal or anal sex without a condom within the past three months, and one-fourth had four or more partners.

The more experienced students in all three types of intercourse were more likely to be male and African-American.

“We need to develop prevention programs that address the needs of students who are not yet sexually active in order to promote skills and attitudes to help them wait until they are older to have sex,” Markham said.

“And we need to provide skills and knowledge related to condoms and contraception for youth who are already sexually active.”

The study recommends that sexually active students also need to receive accurate and factual information and services related to STDs and pregnancy testing, as well as skills for future abstention and risk reduction for those who intend to remain sexually active.

More than one-third of youth in the study reported engaging in precoital touching behaviours. Among the students who engaged in precoital behaviour, 43 percent reported having engaged in sexual intercourse.

“We need more research to develop effective interventions, in particular for youth of color living in underserved areas,” Markham said.

“A common misperception among adolescents is that oral or anal intercourse is not as risky for STD transmission.

“But transmission of non-viral and viral STDs can occur through all three types of intercourse when condoms are not used.

“It is critical that health education teachers and school nurses feel comfortable addressing these issues with their students and that their efforts are supported by parents and the school administration,” she added.

The study has been published in the Journal of School Health. (ANI)

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