Sham: Should we allow drugs to tamper with our memories?

In a move reminiscent of the film "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," one drug company is pursuing research for a new psycho-drug with the aim of lessening the impact of long-term bad memories.

Have a car wreck you'd like to forget? Or, a bad date that you just can't get out of your mind? Well, if that's the case, we've got just the dandy new drug to sell you . . .

A US and Canadian team used a drug called propranolol to target unwanted memories, while leaving others intact. They injected the drug, which is more often used to treat heart patients, while a volunteer was asked to recall a painful memory. (Propranolol is commonly marketed by Wyeth under the trade name Inderal.)

The Journal of Psychiatric Research study found that this seemed to disrupt the way the memory was then stored.

The researchers, from McGill University, in Montreal, and Harvard University in Boston, hope their work could lead to new treatments for patients with psychiatric disorders, such as post-traumatic stress. However, others have warned the research is still at a very early stage - and expressed concern that it could potentially be abused easily.

The researchers believe that memories are initially stored in the brain in a malleable, fluid state before becoming hard-wired into the circuitry. They believe propranolol disrupts the biochemical pathways that allow a memory to "harden" after it has been recalled.

The BBC (link in headline of this post) quotes one expert as saying "One does not know what effect such a drug could have in the long term . . . After all, fear reactions are there to protect people from danger in the future."

This sounds to me like one of the worst ideas I've ever seen for selling quantities of pharmaceutical chemicals.

Dave

Wham: Probiotics for Faster Ulcer Healing

An animal study from Hong Kong seems to show strong evidence that people with stomach ulcers may benefit from probiotics to speed up recovery.

This research, published in the European Journal of Pharmacology, looked at the effects of Lactobacillus, one of the most extensively studied strains of probiotics, on gastric ulcers. Here is more detail from the report:

"In this study, we demonstrate for the first time that a probiotic strain L. rhamnosus GG is capable of accelerating gastric ulcer healing," wrote lead author Emily Lama from the University of Hong Kong.

Stomach or peptic ulcers are a small hole or erosion in the gastrointestinal tract. Most stomach cancers are caused by Helicobacter pylori bacteria, with some studies already showing that probiotics may have benefits against these types of bacteria. According to statistics from the US National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse, peptic ulcers affect 14.5 million Americans.

Lama and co-workers used acetic acid to induce ulcers in rats and the animals were then given L. rhamnosus GG intragastrically for three days. It was observed that the probiotics successfully colonised in the stomach lining, especially around the ulcer.

A mechanistic study suggested that the probiotics influenced protein expression in the stomach wall cells, which led to increases in the formation of new blood cells and increased healing of the ulcer.

The new research, if it can be reproduced in humans, suggests that probiotics may also offer benefits for people already suffering from stomach ulcers.

Dave

Wham: Watermelon, Delicious and Healthy

Did you know that Watermelon is a rich source of Lycopene, the same phytochemical found in the tomato, which has been reported to be such a healthy cancer-fighter? Many people think that a watermelon is just sugar and water -- and while it is a sweet treat indeed, that melon doesn't have all THAT much sugar in it. A cup of diced watermelon contains only about 50 calories. It is about 90% water, as well.

Here are some tips from Spoofee.com about how to choose a terrific, sweet watermelon this summer:

Summer is here and I always have a hard time picking a watermelon at the groceries. I did a little research and here is what you should watch for to get a sweet watermelon.

- Tap the watermelon with your knuckles and listen for a hollow sound
- There should be little color contrast between the green stripes
- The end should be going from white to light yellow
- Press your thumbs into the skin from all angles. It should be hard all around.

Enjoy a great, healthy watermelon this weekend!

A great article about watermelons is linked to the headline of today's post, and a reader named Patrick suggested another GREAT link in the commments box today,

Dave

Study finds no link between soft drinks and obesity in kids

A new study from the UK suggests that children consumption of soft drinks between age five and seven is not linked to obesity later in childhood, challenging previous studies that have targeted soft drinks as a major driver in the obesity epidemic.

The research used data from a sub-sample of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, and found that consumption of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) during childhood was not associated with fatness at age nine.

Writing in the journal Nutrition, researchers from MRC Human Nutrition Research, Cambridge and the University of Bristol report that heavier children tended to consume more low-energy beverages, possibly as a result of parental attempts to curb their child's calorie intake.

"Our analysis shows no evidence for an association between SSB consumption at age 5 or 7 y and fat mass at age 9 y in this cohort of British children," wrote lead author Laura Johnson.

"In this prospective analysis the relation between consumption of low-energy beverages and high fat mass at age 9 y, which is explained by overweight at 5 and 7 y, suggests that heavier children may consume low-energy beverages as part of an ineffective weight-control program," she added.

The rate of childhood obesity is set to double by the end of the decade, says new forecasts by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF). The alarming figures on childhood obesity estimate that by 2010 almost 287 million kids will be obese, and the overall obese population could rise to 700 million by 2015.

The overall number of overweight people worldwide could top two billion, said the task force - without taking account a lower overweight threshold set for Asians.

Johnson and co-workers report that 33 per cent of the five-year olds and 38 per cent the seven year olds consumed sodas, and the drink accounted for three per cent of the total energy intake for both age groups.

The researchers no evidence that consumption of the sodas at either age five or seven was associated with fatness at age nine, measured using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry.


Dave

An Early Test for Alzheimers?

I've always wanted to know if there was an "early warning system" for Alzheimers disease. Because we have a family member who has Alzheimers, it is important to us all to recognize, as early as possible, if the disease has been passed along. Recently I discovered some new research, about how older adults who have difficulty identifying common odors may have a greater risk of developing problems with thinking, learning and memory. This report is in the July issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

Mild cognitive impairment—or a decline in thinking, learning and memory abilities—is increasingly recognized as a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease, according to background information in the article. Impairments in the ability to recognize odors have been associated with more rapid cognitive decline and also with the development transition from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease. However, little is known about factors that predict the development of this cognitive impairment. Here is more from the research:

Robert S. Wilson, Ph.D., of Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, and colleagues studied 589 older adults (average age 79.9) who did not have cognitive impairment in 1997. At that time, the participants took a smell identification test, during which time 12 familiar odors were placed under their nose. They were asked to match each odor to one of four possible alternatives, and were scored from one to 12 based on the number of correct responses. At the beginning of the study and again every year for up to five years, the participants underwent a clinical evaluation that included a medical history, neurological examination and testing of their cognitive function.

During the study, 177 individuals (30.1 percent) developed mild cognitive impairment. Risk of developing mild cognitive impairment increased as odor identification decreased, so that those who scored below average (eight) on the odor identification test were 50 percent more likely to develop the condition than those who scored above average (11). This association did not change when stroke, smoking habits or other factors that might influence smell or cognitive ability were considered. Impaired odor identification was also associated with lower cognitive scores at the beginning of the study and with a more rapid decline in episodic memory (memory of past experiences), semantic memory (memory of words and symbols) and perceptual speed.

Evidence suggests that even before the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease develop, hallmark tangles develop in certain areas of the brain that may be associated with the processing of smells. “Among older persons without manifest cognitive impairment, difficulty in identifying odors predicts subsequent development of mild cognitive impairment,” the authors conclude. “The findings suggest that olfactory dysfunction can be an early manifestation of Alzheimer’s disease … and that olfactory assessment may be useful for early disease identification.”

Dave

Cat allergen found bad for all allergy sufferers

I hate to be the one to break the bad news . . . Your little pussycat, Fluffy, may be making your allergies far worse than they need to be, even if you aren't allergic to cats. New discoveries from researchers in London have found that reduced exposure to cats may be beneficial for allergic individuals, regardless of their specific allergies.

These new findings have just been reported in the July 2007 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society. Dr. Susan Chinn, of the Imperial College in London, and 12 other researchers from the United Kingdom did this study.

“This was an unexpected finding,” said Chinn, lead author of the study. Her team presupposed that they would find allergy problems only in those individuals who were exposed to cat allergen and whose blood tests showed that they were allergic to cats. "But our studies suggest that all allergic individuals have signs of asthmatic responses if exposed to cat allergens--even if blood tests show that they are not allergic to cats.”

“Based on the current research, it appears that many individuals could benefit from reduced cat ownership and exposure,” says Dr. Chinn. The researchers could not rule out the possibility that cat allergen exposure or cat ownership could be a proxy for exposure to endotoxin, known to be an immune stimulant marginally associated with asthmatic symptoms, which is found in higher concentrations in cat owners’ homes.

Bad news for cat owners with allergy symptoms, regardless of what you're allergic to.

Dave

Wham: Blueberries reduce neurodegenerative effects of aging

If results from an animal study can be translated into humans, eating a diet rich in blueberries may reduce the severity of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or cognitive disorders relating to aging. What a wonderful food the blueberry is turning out to be based upon the last several years of research.

Appearing in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, these findings suggest a diet enriched in blueberry might attenuate degenerative processes due to oxidative or inflammatory stressors. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and currently affects over 13 million people worldwide. The direct and indirect cost of Alzheimer care is over $100 Billion in the US alone.

The researchers, from the National Institute on Aging (National Institutes of Health), Tufts University, and Louisiana State University System, randomly assigned Young male rats a diet containing blueberry extract (two per cent) or a control diet for at least eight weeks. After this the rats were then randomly assigned a similar neuronal loss to that experienced by people suffering a neurodegenerative disease.

Behavioural studies were then performed and brain functioning was studied to determine any differences in neuronal loss.

The researchers reported that the rats that were fed a blueberry supplemented diet had enhanced behavioural performance as measured using performance in a 14-unit T-maze. These scientists also report that the blueberry-fed animals experienced significantly less brain cell loss, and had more viable brain cells following oxidative stress. The lead author, Dr. Duffy, reports that "a blueberry enriched diet provided significant protection against these decrements in performance."

While further research is required in the area, these results suggest that fruits rich in antioxidants, such as blueberries, could play a role in the prevention and possible treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Dave