July 2004

Burning mouth syndrome Proper diagnosis helps patients extinguish flames CHICAGO (June 14, 2004) - A burning sensation on your tongue or lips that gets worse as the day goes on, may drive you crazy, and it may mean you have Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS), a difficult to diagnose condition. BMS affects approximately one percent of the population, but it could be as high as five percent, according to an article in the June 2004 issue of AGD Impact, the newsmagazine of the Academy of General Dentistry. In approximately 30 percent of the cases, systemic problems, such as diabetes, vitamin deficiency, gastrointestinal reflux disorder, anemia or side effects from medications that cause dry mouth, may cause BMS. In 70 percent of the cases, doctors are unable to pinpoint the source, but know that it occurs more often in women than in men. "Patients ask how BMS is diagnosed, how it is treated and if it's related to cancer," says Andres Pinto, DMD, lead author of a BMS recent report found in General Dentistry, the AGD's clinical, peer-reviewed journal. "Dentists diagnose BMS by ruling out chronic problems," says Dr. Pinto. He assures patients that BMS is not and cannot cause cancer. For the 70 percent of the population where no diagnosis can be pinpointed, your dentist will treat the symptoms through topical rinses, anesthetics, anti-depressants in low doses or capsaicin (a red pepper derivative). "Your dentist may place you on an antidepressant, which masks the burning sensation that occurs on the tongue by changing the brain chemicals," says Trey Petty, DDS, FAGD and AGD spokesperson. "Capsaicin, another alternative, works by overwhelming the mouth by providing the pain with a distraction." Both experts agree, while BMS is hard to diagnose and is relatively rare, the symptoms may eventually disappear. Patients experiencing an ongoing burning sensation should immediately see their dentist. Do You Have BMS? Check For: Burning sensations in mouth area Dry mouth Altered taste perception Changes in eating habits Irritability Depression Changes in medications Celiac disease too often missed; report highlights unusual symptoms by LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Celiac disease isn't nearly as rare as once thought: millions may have the severe digestive disorder, most undiagnosed and thus suffering unnecessarily, an expert panel told the U.S. National Institutes of Health on Wednesday. On average, patients suffer symptoms for 11 years before they're diagnosed, because the disease, triggered by the gluten protein found in certain grains, is so little understood even by physicians, the panel found. Simple new blood tests can help diagnose celiac more easily today than just a few years ago, but only if doctors know to order them - and many patients complain of symptoms very different than those long taught in medical school. ``We have a very effective treatment - a gluten-free diet,'' said Dr. Charles Elson of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the panel chairman. ``But if physicians don't recognize when to test for the disease, patients are going to suffer needlessly.'' The panel urged NIH to launch a major education campaign for doctors and the public to improve awareness of the myriad symptoms, a recommendation that won applause from celiac advocacy groups. While the federal agency had no immediate comment on an education campaign, it convened the three-day meeting in part to raise the profile of the little-known disease, and reports from such NIH-convened panels often influence physician practices. Celiac disease occurs in people with a genetically spurred intolerance of gluten, found in such grains as wheat, barley and rye. When they eat gluten, the immune system reacts improperly and damages the inner lining of the small intestine, blocking proper nutrient absorption. Untreated, it can lead to serious vitamin deficiencies, bone-thinning osteoporosis, occasionally even gastrointestinal cancers. Doctors long thought of celiac as a childhood ailment - as one NIH panelist put it, too-small youngsters with large pot bellies. But it can show up at any age, and is most often diagnosed in middle-aged Americans. Classic symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal pain, gas, bloating and weight loss. But many patients don't experience those signs and instead report so-called atypical symptoms, including a blistering, itchy skin rash, anemia, short stature, delayed puberty, infertility and tooth enamel defects. In fact, patients without the classic intestinal symptoms may be the most common celiac sufferers today - and recognition of that fact, thanks in part to the new blood tests, has spurred higher prevalence estimates, Elson explained. Most at risk are relatives of celiac sufferers, people with Type 1 diabetes or Down syndrome, and people with other autoimmune disorders. Most patients recover with a gluten-free diet for life. But gluten can be hidden in foods not commonly associated with grains, such as some candies and soups, making adherence difficult. The panel also urged better testing and labeling of gluten in foods. A bill to improve food labeling is pending in Congress.   Diet helps kids with epilepsy Provided by AAP on 6/21/2004 by David Stringer, PA News A revolutionary low-carbohydrate diet could dramatically ease the effects of epilepsy in children and reduce the need for sufferers to take drugs, researchers claimed. Pioneering work at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital has shown that almost half of youngsters following a high-fat Ketogenic diet have reported a 50% reduction in seizures. Preliminary results of the two-year study reveal that 42% of epileptic children on the diet for three months have at least 50% fewer seizures. A total of 19% report a reduction in seizures of 75% or more. Paediatric neurologist Dr Helen Cross, of the hospital, told ITV1's Tonight with Trevor McDonald: "Following these results, we hope the Ketogenic diet will be recognised as an established alternative treatment for any child with challenging and resilient epilepsy. "If the diet was introduced more widely across the UK it could have huge benefits in the future by reducing the need for medications. "Unfortunately, there are only a handful of dieticians in the UK who have the expertise and resources to deliver it." In trials involving 31 children, doctors were able to reduce the anti-epileptic medication of 42% of patients after three months. Parents also reported improvements in alertness, awareness and responsiveness in three quarters of the youngsters. The tests, conducted with the Institute of Child Health and the National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy, have involved children adhering to either a classical version of the Ketogenic diet or one which includes prescription-only medium chain triglyceride supplements. Both diets encourage the children to eat cream, butter, eggs or other fats with proteins, whilst avoiding portions of carbohydrates such as pasta or potatoes. Wendy Winful's six-year-old daughter Francesca suffered from between 60 and 70 seizures a week before starting the diet, but now suffers only around six a week. "She is so much more alert, much more responsive. Last week she had six seizures, she used to have twice that in a day," said Mrs Winful, of London. "Francesca will now answer much more quickly, she told a joke the other day and that was fantastic. She's never done that before." Doctors believe that the diet is suitable only for children with drug resistant epilepsy and admit that the treatment is not effective for every child.     Maternal Thyroid Disorder Linked With Children's Learning Disabilities; Experts Call for Thyroid Testing for Expectant Mothers; Provided by AScribe Newswire on 6/30/2004 by Environmental Media Services WASHINGTON, June 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- Citing a scientific study linking abnormal thyroid-related hormone levels in expectant mothers with developmental problems in their babies, a panel of experts today recommended thyroid screening as part of routine health care for all pregnant women and women who are planning to have children. The experts referred to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine finding that children 7-8 years old had I.Q. scores 7 points lower if their mothers had slightly low thyroid hormone levels or even normal thyroid hormone with slightly elevated levels of thyroid stimulating hormone- a condition known as subclinical hypothyroidism - during pregnancy. "Thyroid hormone is essential for fetal brain development," said Ted Schettler, a physician at the Boston Medical Center and science director for the Science and Environmental Health Network. "We've known for a long time that obvious thyroid deficiency can impair normal brain development but it's the children of mothers without symptoms that we need to worry about as well. We ought to be more aggressively looking for subclinical hypothyroidism in mothers because it's affecting the neurological development of babies." In subclinical hypothyroidism, the mother does not exhibit symptoms of hypothyroidism but the fetus may still be affected. Two and one-half percent of pregnant women are subclinically hypothyroid and 100,000 babies are born each year to these women, Schettler said. James Haddow, professor of pediatrics at the University of Vermont School of Medicine and lead author of the study in the New England Journal of Medicine, said that, once detected, the problem can be easily corrected with a daily pill. "Hypothyroidism is a perfect example of something that's easy and inexpensive to detect and to treat once it's detected," said Haddow. "It makes good sense to incorporate [thyroid screening] into prenatal care." Jane Browning, executive director of the Learning Disabilities Association of America, called on doctors to make thyroid screening a routine part of a well-woman exam, and said it should be part of every pre-pregnancy and pregnancy exam. Browning discussed her experience raising a developmentally disabled child. Her son recently graduated with a high school certificate at age 21. Because of his disability, he requires a professional companion and assistance with basic tasks such as showering and shaving. "You think it's hard to find a job without a college degree. Try finding work without a high school diploma," said Browning. "The cost to families is high. The cost to society is high. It's twice as expensive, for society, to school someone who has a learning disability." "Moms and moms-to-be, please make sure you get your thyroid level tested," Browning urged. She said home testing kits are available for expectant mothers who cannot find a doctor to provide a test. The panelists said synthetic chemicals in the environment may be contributing to reduced levels of maternal thyroid hormones or abnormal thyroid hormone function. "There are classes of compounds in the environment that affect thyroid function in ways we could not have imagined 10 years ago. In the lab we're seeing what appear to be links between some of these compounds and brain development which could result in learning and developmental disabilities in humans," said Thomas Zoeller, professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. PCBs, perchlorate from rocket fuel, and a class of flame retardants called PBDEs are all known to interfere with thyroid function or thyroid hormone action. PBDEs in particular have received a great deal of attention in the press, as studies have found high levels of the chemicals in household dust and in the human body. "We have had an extraordinary rise in PBDEs throughout the population," said Schettler, referring to the presence of these synthetic chemicals in the human body. Schettler said that PBDEs are very similar to PCBs, which have been banned in the United States since 1976, and should be treated as an equal threat and replaced with safer alternatives. "There's no need to repeat the same mistake we made with PCBs," he said.   Stress does not exist in a vacuum Provided by Saint Paul Pioneer Press on 7/1/2004 Stress management as now practiced is a failure. How's that for a statement from the Director of the Institute for Stress Management? I now believe that I and many other professionals in the field have missed the point. Or have approached it from the wrong direction and emphasis. Yes, stress exists and has become epidemic. Yes, it weakens our immune system and contributes to the development of mental and physical diseases. Yes, stress accounts for as much as 80 percent of all visits to primary physicians. So, why do I say stress management has failed? We have emphasized the wrong approach and have treated symptoms instead of causes. Stress is the result of something. It does not exist in a vacuum. It is how we live and metabolize our lives that causes the stress we experience. It is a combination of how we allow events and situations to affect us. And, how we respond to those events and situations appropriately or inappropriately. Thus, the solution is to concentrate on the causes, not the effects, of stress. That calls for behavior changes, for developing better life management skills. If we change the behaviors that result in stress, if we develop the skills that lower or stop stress, there is no stress to manage. Many who suffer from high levels of stress want magic bullets or quick fix solutions. When asked about changing how they live, what they believe and how they respond to stress, they balk. Many like the adrenaline rush and excitement of a fast-paced life. They know the importance of a healthy diet, regular exercise, planned relaxation, time off and the perils of anxiety and anger. Still, they believe, given how they choose to live, they have no choice. They feel they must accept the stress they experience as the price for the life they want. If they will not change behaviors and attitudes, they are right. That is how traditional stress management has failed. Magazines at store checkout lines trumpet "10 ways to conquer stress." When you read the articles or look at their quickie checklists, they all name the same approaches. If the solution to stress is so common, why are so many of us stressed out? Because we want to have our cake and eat it, too. The irony is, we can. If: We will make some trade-offs, exert some discipline and take responsibility for our beliefs and actions. The reality is, that is why so many fail. They do not want to make trade-offs. They want life as they want it, on their terms, at their pace. Discipline and responsibility are unwelcome words in the vocabulary of those wanting quick fixes. So, what is the solution? There is none for those unwilling to change and take responsibility for their current situation. There is a solution for those willing to look realistically at their current situation. They must identify what they want to experience and plan how to close the gap between the current reality and the desired state of expression. The solution will probably involve changing stress-inducing behaviors and attitudes. It will likely include learning new coping skills, adjusting or dropping old response patterns, and recognizing limits and making trade-offs.

ALZHEIMER NEWS

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Alzheimer's May Leave Some Forms of Memory Intact by Howard Hughes Medical Institute CHEVY CHASE, Md., June 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers have made the surprising discovery that people with Alzheimer's disease retain the capability for a specific form of memory used for rote learning of skills, even as their memories of people and events are extinguished. The scientists' discovery suggests new strategies to improve training and rehabilitative programs that may bolster the retained cognitive function of those with Alzheimer's disease as well as healthy older people. "From this and other studies we have done, it appears that a number of brain systems are more intact in Alzheimer's than we had anticipated," said Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher Randy L. Buckner at Washington University in St. Louis. "The findings suggest that if we can help people use these brain systems optimally by providing the right kinds of cues or task instructions, we may be able to improve their function." In an article published in the June 10, 2004, issue of the journal Neuron, Buckner and Cindy Lustig, also at Washington University, compared implicit memory capabilities in young adults, healthy older adults and those in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Buckner said that although researchers have used behavioral studies to distinguish implicit memory -- that used to recall procedures like tying a shoe -- from the explicit memory -- that used to recall past associations and events -- the neurobiology underpinning implicit memory remains a mystery. In anatomical terms, the kind of explicit memory that is severely impaired in Alzheimer's disease depends on the condition of the medial temporal lobe, including the hippocampus, said Buckner. "The form of memory that enables us to learn a cognitive skill is less well understood, although it is thought to depend on areas of the cerebral cortex," said Buckner. For their study, Lustig and Buckner recruited 34 young adults, 33 healthy older adults, and 24 older adults in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. They designed their study to compare the implicit memory capabilities of younger and older people both with and without Alzheimer's symptoms. Lustig and Buckner presented the subjects with a series of words and asked them to decide whether the words represented living or non-living objects. They also hoped that their studies would provide a clearer picture of the regions of the brain that are employed in such tasks. "For this task, we found that all three groups showed a significant reduction with practice in the time required to decide on a word, which is the hallmark of implicit learning," said Buckner. While the younger adults were faster in performing the tasks, all three groups showed a robust reduction in time with practice, he said. The researchers next asked the subjects to repeat the classification task as their brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging. "What was surprising and novel in this study is that the brain region with the greatest activity during the task was the high-level region of the frontal cortex," said Buckner. "We didn't expect this because high-level cognition is affected in Alzheimer's disease. These results suggest that despite the damage to these areas in Alzheimer's, certain memory processes that seem to depend on them remain fundamentally intact." The researchers found that the reduction in time required to perform the classification task correlated with a reduction in activity in frontal cortex. This reduction is a characteristic property of a brain region that is adjusting its activity to function more efficiently as it becomes accustomed to a particular task. "This finding suggests there is a link -- although it doesn't prove it -- between activity reductions in frontal cortex and this type of learning," said Buckner. Although the findings are preliminary, Buckner believes the studies point to a promising approach for training and rehabilitation. "Our hope is that by demonstrating the availability of these systems, this knowledge will be translated to cognitive training programs for the healthy elderly and those with forms of dementia, which we just had not anticipated when we began this work," Buckner said. At this point it appears that structured training programs might be the most effective approach. "Our earlier work had shown that if you leave older adults to form their own approach to a task spontaneously, that's perhaps the least helpful situation," he said. "Whereas, if you constrain the task and give very directed goals, it helps older adults recruit those remaining neural areas. In this study, we've shown that it is possible to tap into high-level cognitive areas that show preserved memory function." Further research, said Buckner, will include studies to understand the neural mechanisms underlying implicit memory, to pinpoint how they are compromised in both the healthy elderly and those with Alzheimer's disease. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute was established in 1953 by the aviator-industrialist. HHMI's principal mission is conducting basic biomedical research, which it carries out in collaboration with more than 66 universities, medical centers and other research institutions throughout the United States. Its more than 300 investigators, along with a scientific staff of more than 3,000, work at these institutions in Hughes laboratories. The Institute also has a philanthropic grants program that is strengthening science education and training, from elementary school through graduate and medical school. It also supports the work of biomedical researchers in many countries around the globe.

ALLERGY NEWS

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Antioxidants Linked to Lower Asthma Risk American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine A large study of survey data on youths under 17 has shown that increases in intakes of antioxidants serum beta-carotene, vitamin C, and the trace mineral selenium were associated with a lower risk of asthma prevalence. The results were reported in the February 1, 2004, issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Even stronger asthma associations for these antioxidants were found in subgroups of young people exposed to passive smoke. Researchers studied U.S. national survey data on 6,153 young people four to 16 years old. They found that serum vitamin E had little or no association with asthma, but an increase in beta-carotene was associated with a 10% reduction in asthma prevalence in those not exposed to smoke and a 40% reduction in those who were exposed to passive smoke. The pattern for vitamin C was similar. An increase in selenium was associated with a 10-20% decrease in asthma prevalence. In youths with passive smoke exposure, investigators found a 50% reduction in asthma associated with selenium. The study was conducted by Dr. Rachel N. Rubin and colleagues at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY, USA).

BRAIN RESEARCH

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MOODY BRAINS: Music, art, food and more really do turn people on and off Provided by Detroit Free Press on 6/27/2004 by ROBERT S. BOYD Love chocolate? Hate being snubbed? Turned on by sexy pictures? Turned off by an ugly face? Scientists are making rapid strides in identifying where and how your brain handles such feelings, from the overwhelming flush of romantic love to the shivers a favorite piece of music sends down your spine. Brain researchers are using technologies that measure blood flow, electromagnetic radiation and other events going on in your head when you experience strong emotions. They believe their work can help deal with problems such as obesity, drug addiction, sex crimes and mental disease. Their effort has also inspired a new field of "behavioral finance" or "neuromarketing," which studies what happens in the heads of consumers, investors and gamblers as they decide whether and how much risk to take. "Studies of the brain are teaching us how, why and when investors make decisions to buy and sell," said Dr. Richard Peterson, a psychiatrist and financial consultant in San Francisco. Advertising agencies are beginning to use brain imaging to study what goes on in consumers' minds when they look at a product or an ad, Peterson said. The goal is to help create more effective commercials. Justine Meaux, the research director of the BrightHouse Neurostrategies Group in Atlanta, described a neuromarketing experiment recently at the "Human Brain Mapping 2004" conference in Budapest. Magnetic brain scans of 13 volunteers showed that one area of their brains, the medial prefrontal cortex, lit up when they viewed images of fruits, cars, sports or hobbies that they especially liked, Meaux reported. Pictures of other objects didn't have the same effect. Neuromarketing worries critics such as Gary Ruskin, the executive director of Commercial Alert, an organization founded by independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader that works to block advertising in schools and public areas. "It is wrong to use a medical technology like brain scans for marketing," Ruskin said. More effective marketing of food or tobacco products could lead to more obesity or smoking, he cautioned. Brain researchers' most powerful tools are Positron Emission Tomography and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, two complementary technologies that reveal the living brain at work. Both are found in most hospitals and neurological laboratories. In the PET system, a person lies in a scanner while a mild radioactive fluid traces the flow of blood through his or her brain. More blood flows to brain cells, or neurons, that are most active at the time. A radiation detector identifies the cells that are turned on when a person experiences emotions such as fear, hunger, pleasure or disgust. An fMRI, in contrast, uses powerful magnets and radio waves to create pictures of the brain in action. The extra blood flowing to activated brain cells carries more oxygen, which alters the magnetic field in that area. Radio waves pin down the exact location of the magnetism. Color images -- red for high intensity, yellow, green and blue for lower levels -- identify which brain structures are busier than others. An even newer technique is magnetoencephalography (MEG, for short), which identifies tiny magnetic fields generated by electrical activity in neurons. MEG can time events to thousandths of a second, far more precisely than fMRI. Researchers say knowing when things occur in the brain is as important as knowing where they happen. Studies have shown that certain brain structures play relatively greater roles in one emotion compared with another. For example, the amygdala, a walnut-sized organ buried deep in the brain, is associated with fear. The caudate nucleus, a tail-shaped mass of brain cells linked to movement, lights up when a person feels disgust. Researchers point out that these structures don't act in isolation. Rather, the brain cells in each area influence -- and are influenced by -- other regions through networks of complex circuits linking billions of neurons. Antonio Tataranni, a nutrition expert at the National Institutes of Health's branch office in Phoenix, is trying to unravel the connections between human brain activity and obesity. He found that six different regions in the brains of 55 volunteers responded in different ways depending on whether the subjects were hungry or full, fat or thin. Tataranni took PET scans of the volunteers after they had gone without food for 36 hours, and again after they were fed a hearty meal. He discovered significant changes in the way six different sites in the volunteers' brains responded to hunger and fullness. "Different regions of the brain work in concert to orchestrate normal eating behaviors and conspire to produce obesity and other eating disorders," he said. Of special interest were 11 formerly obese men and women. Tataranni said this group is "at high risk for relapse" because their brain scans resembled those of fat people more than thin ones. "We are now working on the vastly more important and complicated questions of which of these neural differences may cause obesity in the first place," Tataranni said. In another experiment, Dana Small, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., took PET scans of volunteers while feeding them pieces of chocolate. Five areas in their brains lit up while the participants were still hungry, but three different regions were activated when they had eaten too much. Small concluded that the brain has separate motivational systems -- one that's active when a person is hungry and the other for when he or she is full.

CHINESE MEDICINE

Acupuncture Needles Away Wrinkles Provided by The Gazette on 6/7/2004 by BILL RADFORD THE GAZETTE An ancient discipline is providing an alternative to face-lifts as aging baby boomers seek to turn back the clock. Facial acupuncture, or the acupuncture face-lift, is nothing new in China, where acupuncture originated thousands of years ago. But it's gaining popularity in the United States, part of a trend toward quick, nonsurgical cosmetic treatments. "Women don't want surgery," says Martha Lucas of the Colorado Center of Traditional Medicine in Denver. "They want something not too invasive, so they're looking into alternatives." According to traditional Chinese medicine, good health is the result of the free and balanced flow of life energy, or qi (pronounced "chee"), through pathways called meridians. Needles are placed at certain points to correct the flow of qi, alleviating pain and other ailments. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, states that research shows acupuncture is beneficial in treating a variety of health conditions. The National Council on Health Fraud, though, calls it an unproven treatment based on "primitive and fanciful concepts of health and disease." As a cosmetic treatment, "acupuncture can rejuvenate the skin cells, get rid of fine lines, bring more energy and blood flow to the face," says Nawei Jiang, of Nawei's Acupuncture Clinic in Colorado Springs. The results are not as dramatic as a surgical face-lift, but there's also no downtime or pain, and it costs less. "It's a subtle change, but you can see the wrinkles are less and the face looks and feels more vibrant," says Randel Wing, of the Acupuncture Clinic in Colorado Springs. Kay Atwood, who is in her 50s, considered getting surgery, "but when I talked to the plastic surgeon, he said I'm really not that bad yet, that I'm not sagging enough yet to make it worthwhile." The Woodland Park woman also looked into Thermage, which uses radio-frequency waves to tighten the skin, but she was scared off by reports of how painful it can be. So she turned to acupuncture, which gave her relief from shoulder pain years ago. She also uses it for overall health. "I like to pretty much go natural and holistic in my health care," she says. "I don't even take aspirin." Less than midway through the eight treatments by Wing, Atwood was seeing improvement. She says the crease between her eyes had diminished, as had other fine lines. The process is not painful, she says. "You don't really feel anything when he puts the needle in. Then he'll twirl it a bit to get the qi flowing and then you feel like kind of a little charge." The acupuncture face-lift is a small part of Wing's practice, but cosmetic acupuncture is a primary focus of Lucas' business in Denver. Wing uses less than a dozen needles on the face, but Lucas uses 60 or more. "I have specific points with specific needling techniques that I use every time," Lucas says. "It's kind of like follow this recipe, get good results." The process involves placing needles elsewhere on the body as well as on the face. As a result of accessing the qi, "people feel an overall body rejuvenation," Lucas says. One of her patients, who entered menopause a couple of years ago, says she stopped having hot flashes and night sweats after undergoing the facial-acupuncture treatments. "As far as I can tell," Lucas says, "this is the only cosmetic treatment that improves your health."

MEMORY

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How Brain Gives Special Resonance to Emotional Memories by Duke University DURHAM, N.C., June 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- If the emotional memory of a traumatic car accident or the thrill of first love are remembered with a special resonance, it is because they engage different brain structures than do normal memories, Duke University researchers have discovered. Their new study provides clear evidence from humans that the brain's emotional center, called the amygdala, interacts with memory-related brain regions during the formation of emotional memories, perhaps to give such memories their indelible emotional resonance. The researchers said their basic insights could contribute to understanding of the role that the neural mechanisms underlying emotional memory formation play in post traumatic stress disorder and depression. The study by Florin Dolcos, Kevin LaBar and Roberto Cabeza was reported in the June 10, 2004, issue of the journal Neuron. Dolcos is a research associate in the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center and LaBar and Cabeza are, respectively, assistant and associate professors of psychological and brain sciences. They are also faculty in the Center for Cognitive Neurosciences. Their research was supported by the National Institutes of Health. According to Dolcos, in their experiments the researchers were seeking evidence for the "modulation hypothesis," which holds that the brain's emotional and memory centers interact during the formation of emotional memories. "The basic idea was simple: to find evidence supporting the notion that the brain's emotional region modulates activity in the memory regions to form an emotional memory," said Dolcos. "This idea was supported by animal research, but the evidence from neurologically intact humans was scarce and indirect. So, our goal was to find the right method that would allow us to demonstrate that this phenomenon happens in humans, too," he said. In their study, the researchers sought to establish that the memory-enhancing effect of emotion is due to interaction between emotion- and memory-related brain regions. Thus, they first exposed volunteer subjects to a collection of pictures that evoked both positive and negative emotions and those that were neutral. Emotional pictures depicted such negative events as aggressive acts or injured people and such positive events as romantic scenes or sporting triumphs. Neutral pictures included such subjects as buildings or scenes of routine shopping. While viewing the emotional and neutral pictures, participants' brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Such imaging involves the use of harmless magnetic fields and radio signals to measure blood flow to individual brain regions, which reflects greater activity in those regions. Then, following the scanning session, the researchers tested participants' memory for the images they viewed during the scanning. Two important features distinguish the new study from previous functional neuroimaging studies, said the researchers. First, to identify the brain regions associated with the memory-enhancing effect of emotion, the study linked behavioral memory performance for emotional and neutral pictures to brain activity during memory formation. Second, to delineate the contribution of the emotion and memory-related regions during emotional memory formation, the study used precise anatomical methods, which involved tracing of these regions on each subject's brain image. As expected, analysis of the behavioral data revealed evidence that the memories of emotional images were more strongly encoded than the neutral ones. And importantly, the brain scans showed that the emotional memories evoked activity in the amygdala as well as the "medial temporal lobe memory" structures. Specifically, these structures include the hippocampus and associated regions. Moreover, according to Dolcos, the analysis revealed a significant correlation between the strength of activity in the emotion- and memory-related brain regions. "We found evidence that the interaction between the emotional and memory regions occurred more systematically and consistently during the formation of emotional memories than during the formation of neutral memories," Dolcos said. "More specifically, we found that the subjects showing greater successful encoding activity in the emotional region also had greater activity in the memory regions," said Dolcos. Said Cabeza of the findings, "Other studies have focused on the general enhancing effects of emotion on memory, and the evidence for the modulation hypothesis was disparate and inconclusive. Thus, this is the first direct evidence for the modulation hypothesis in humans; and the first report of differences in sensitivity of the medial temporal lobe regions to encoding of emotional versus neutral stimuli." What's more, said Cabeza, "We also found indications that some regions within the medial temporal lobe may actually be more specialized for encoding neutral information. We don't know exactly what the processes involved are, or why these regions are engaged. But we speculate that the regions that were more activated for emotional stimuli are involved in semantic processing of the meaning of the images, whereas those that are more activated by neutral stimuli reflect perceptual processing." Thus, said Cabeza, the findings not only establish the functional link between the emotional and memory areas; but also hint at differences within the memory areas that should be explored with further studies. As part of their research, the authors are now exploring the role of these brain regions during the retrieval of well-consolidated emotional memories. While such studies are basic in nature, said Cabeza, better delineation of the role of the amygdala in emotional memory could aid understanding of post traumatic stress disorder -- especially such phenomena as flashbacks of traumatic memories. Said Dolcos, "Also, people who suffer depression ruminate obsessively on negative or unpleasant memories. This problem could reflect a pathology in how their memory systems have processed emotional memories." Thus, said Cabeza, he and his collaborators are now exploring the nature of emotional memory encoding in people with depression, before and after therapy.

NUTRITION NEWS

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Cilantro May Prevent Food Poisoning by Dr. Joseph Mercola A study revealed that cilantro, an herb that is commonly used to add flavor to several kinds of Mexican dishes, contains a compound that could help prevent food borne illnesses such as salmonella. The compound is called dodecenal and is found in the leaves and seeds of cilantro. Researchers found that dodecenal was twice as strong and more effective than gentamicin, a widely used antibiotic treatment for salmonella. Based on these findings researchers suggested the possibility of using dodecenal as a tasteless food additive to help guard against food-borne illnesses. Researchers suggested using it to create a layer of protection over meat at processing plants or as a possible all-purpose cleaning and hand-washing agent. It was also discovered that cilantro contained as many as a dozen other antibiotic compounds. Researchers cautioned individuals not to rely solely on salsa to protect them from food-borne illnesses and instead recommended individuals take the proper precautions with the storing and handling of any food. It is believed that the compound was effective at helping prevent food-borne illnesses because it killed off the cell membrane of the bacteria. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry June 2, 2004;52(11):3329-32   Researchers Believe Diet Rich in Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Help Decrease Aches and Pains Associated With Arthritis June 14, 2004 - (HealthNewsDigest.com)...Arthritis is the leading cause of physical disability in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. One of the most common forms of the disease is rheumatoid arthritis, which causes inflammation in the lining of the joints and afflicts more than two million Americans - mostly women. A growing body of research indicates that adding omega-3 fatty acids to the diet, such as those found in fatty fish like herring, salmon and tuna, may play an important role in alleviating the painful symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.(1) Scientists believe that omega-3 fatty acids may not only reduce the symptoms of the disease and potentially facilitate individuals taking lower doses of anti-inflammatory drugs, omega-3s also appear to help preserve overall joint function. Scientists first made the omega-3 connection with joint disease by observing populations like Greenland's Inuits. This indigenous population consumes eight to 12 grams of omega-3s a day and demonstrate a significantly lower incidence of arthritic symptoms, as compared to Americans. However, getting enough omega-3s from eating fish can be a challenge for Americans who don't have access to fatty fish, are worried about fish contamination or simply don't prefer the taste. A recent survey of US households, conducted by ICR Survey Research Group, found that Americans are less likely to eat fresh fish than many other foods. Nearly half (48%) of those surveyed said their number one reason for avoiding fresh fish was the fear of contaminants like mercury or PCBs. "The benefits of omega-3s for arthritic symptoms such as joint pain and stiffness are well documented," said Dr. Morten Bryhn, M.D., Ph.D, medical director for Pronova Biocare, the world's top producer of marine-based omega-3 fatty acids. "In order to gain these benefits, Americans need to increase their intake of omega-3s by regularly including fatty fish in their diets or by taking a highly concentrated omega-3 fish oil supplement, with at least 70% omega-3s." Those interested in taking an omega-3 supplement are advised to look for a supplement that contains both EPA and DHA, the most important of the omega-3 fatty acids. They should also make sure that the fish oil they choose is highly concentrated and purified, providing at least 70% omega-3s. Reference (1) Fortin PR et al. Validation of a meta-analysis: the effects of fish oil in rheumatoid arthritis. J Clin Epidemiol 1995;48:1379-1390.