Scientists Predict Weight Gain and Sexual Activity by Peeking at the Brain. It sounds a bit like science fiction, but a group of researchers from Dartmouth College were able to observe students’ brain activity to predict their future behavior. In the study, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of 58 incoming first-year college females. Before the scan, the women were weighed and told it was part of standard procedure. While in the scanner, the participants viewed a variety of images — of animals, the environment, appetizing food and people — and were asked to press a button if a person was present in each photo. The students were naive to what the researchers were really studying, which was the activity in an area of their brain called the nucleus accumbens, also known as the “reward center.”
(MORE: To Keep Willpower from Flagging, Remember the F Word: Fun) The researchers looked at the nucleus accumbens in order to analyze the strength of the students’ brain responses to food-related or sexual images. European Journal of Human Genetics - Engagement with genetic discrimination: concerns and experiences in the context of Huntington disease. Scientific Study Finds That Bisexuality Really Exists.
Bisexual men won’t likely be surprised — or feel particularly validated — to learn that a new scientific study confirms that their sexual attraction to both men and women is real. But the findings may help enlighten those who still subscribe to the stereotype that bisexual men are just closeted homosexuals, or simply confused. For the new study, researchers at Northwestern University recruited a group of 100 Chicago-area men, identifying as heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual in roughly equal numbers. Unlike a previous Northwestern study of bisexuality, however, the current study used more stringent criteria to define bisexuality.
Bisexual men were required to have had sexual encounters with at least two people of each gender and to have been in at least one romantic relationship of three months or longer with a person of each gender. The previous study, published in 2005, largely relied on responses to a standard questionnaire to determine sexual orientation. Still, Dr. Analyzing Feelings of Regret. The Roots Of Homophobia - Putting Freud To The Test | Assault On Gay America | FRONTLINE. Hostility and discrimination against homosexual individuals are well-established facts. On occasion, these negative attitudes lead to hostile verbal and physical acts against gay individuals with little apparent motivation except a strong dislike. In fact, more than 90% of gay men and lesbians report being targets of verbal abuse or threats, and more than one-third report being survivors of violence related to their homosexuality.
Although negative attitudes and behaviors toward gay individuals have been assumed to be associated with rigid moralistic beliefs, sexual ignorance, and fear of homosexuality, the etiology of these attitudes and behaviors remains a puzzle. Weinberg ( 1972 ) labeled these attitudes and behaviors homophobia, which he defined as the dread of being in close quarters with homosexual men and women as well as irrational fear, hatred, and intolerance by heterosexual individuals of homosexual men and women. . . . Study: Why Attention Deficit Disorder Is Over-Diagnosed - Hans Villarica - Health. Researchers in Germany find that mental health practitioners tend to diagnose ADHD using their intuition and unclear rules of thumb, not recognized diagnostic criteria. PROBLEM: The rates of ADHD diagnosis in the developed world have become almost inflationary, increasing annually by an average of three percent from 1997 to 2006 and 5.5 percent from 2003 to 2007 in the U.S.
But how accurate are these diagnoses? METHODOLOGY: Researchers led by University of Basel's Katrin Bruchmueller surveyed 1,000 child and adolescent psychotherapists and psychiatrists across Germany, 473 of whom participated in the study. They received one of four case vignettes, and were asked to give a diagnosis and a recommendation for therapy. In three out of the four cases, the described symptoms and circumstances did not fulfill ADHD diagnostic criteria. The gender of the child was included as a variable as well, resulting in eight cases. Vital Signs: Boys and Brains and Genes | Learning. The sonic hedgehog gene | Anna Perman's Genetic Spaghetti | Science. Sonic hedgehog got its name after the embryos of fruit flies genetically modified to lack the gene grew spine-like projections.
Photograph: Christopher Thomas/Getty Name: SHH – sonic hedgehogLocation: Chromosome 7Length: 12,288 basesRole: Codes for a signalling protein crucial for determining the placement of limbs and organs in the developing embryo Site of action: The embryo The seating arrangements for any school trip by coach are always the same. The kids who are going to cause trouble sit at the back. Right at the front near the teacher are the more nerdy pupils. And in between, along the length of the bus, a strange gradient of cool is established, depending on how far away from the teacher each child is sitting. The layout of the human body is established in much the same way. The interaction of these proteins lays down a basic body pattern, and this is where sonic hedgehog (SHH) comes in. A similar thing happens with body cells. Sc215. Genetic themes in fiction films | The Human Genome.
Although the potential applications and implications of modern genetics and biotechnology have supplied much plot-material for English-language feature films during the past 25 years or so, there is no genre or sub-genre of 'genetic movies' as such. Rather, genetic themes and motifs have been appropriated, with more or less skill and subtlety, to add a contemporary gloss or twist to such well-established popular cinematic formats as the sci-fi thriller, the chase or pursuit movie and the family drama [see note 1 ]. More surprisingly, perhaps, genetic engineering and cloning have also provided material for a number of sci-fi comedies, from Woody Allen's Sleeper (1973) to Harold Ramis' Multiplicity (1996). Film review: Gattaca Film review: The Sixth Day Fact versus fiction Moreover, the representation of genetics in films in which genetic engineering or biotechnology play important roles is often seriously distorted by the generic tradition and conventions of science fiction films.
Notes 1. Alzheimer’s Stalks an Extended Family in Colombia. At frighteningly young ages, in their 40s, four of Laura Cuartas’s children began forgetting and falling apart, assaulted by what people here have long called La Bobera, the foolishness. It is a condition attributed, in hushed rumors, to everything from touching a mysterious tree to the revenge of a wronged priest. It is , and at 82, Mrs. Cuartas, her gray raisin of a face grave, takes care of three of her afflicted children. One son, Darío, 55, babbles incoherently, shreds his socks and diapers, and squirms so vigorously he is sometimes tied to a chair with baggy blue shorts. A daughter, María Elsy, 61, a nurse who at 48 started forgetting patients’ medications, and whose rages made her attack a sister who bathed her, is a human shell, mute, fed by nose tube. Another son, Oderis, 50, denies that his is dying, that he remembers to buy only one thing at a time: milk, not milk and plantains.
If he gets Alzheimer’s, he says, he will poison himself. “To see your children like this ... ,” Mrs. How mitochondrial DNA defects cause inherited deafness. Yale scientists have discovered the molecular pathway by which maternally inherited deafness appears to occur: Mitochondrial DNA mutations trigger a signaling cascade, resulting in programmed cell death. The study is in the Feb. 17 issue of Cell. Mitochondria are cellular structures that function as "cellular power plants" because they generate most of the cell's supply of energy. They contain DNA inherited from one's mother. Mitochondria determine whether a cell lives or dies via the process of programmed cell death, or apoptosis. The Yale scientists focused on a specific mitochondrial DNA mutation that causes maternally inherited deafness.
"Our lab had previously discovered that overexpression of the enzyme responsible for this methylation could cause cell death, even in cells without the deafness mutation," said corresponding author Gerald S. The study not only sheds light on inherited deafness in humans, but possibly also age-related hearing loss and other human diseases. How a single gene mutation leads to uncontrolled obesity. Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have revealed how a mutation in a single gene is responsible for the inability of neurons to effectively pass along appetite suppressing signals from the body to the right place in the brain. What results is obesity caused by a voracious appetite. Their study, published March 18th on Nature Medicine's website, suggests there might be a way to stimulate expression of that gene to treat obesity caused by uncontrolled eating. The research team specifically found that a mutation in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) gene in mice does not allow brain neurons to effectively pass leptin and insulin chemical signals through the brain.
In humans, these hormones, which are released in the body after a person eats, are designed to "tell" the body to stop eating. "This discovery may open up novel strategies to help the brain control body weight," he says. Xu has long investigated the Bdnf gene. Maternal obesity, diabetes associated with autism, other developmental disorders. A major study conducted by researchers affiliated with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found strong links between maternal diabetes and obesity and the likelihood of having a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or another developmental disorder.
The study, which investigated the relationships between maternal metabolic conditions and the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, found that mothers who were obese were 67 percent more likely to have a child with ASD than normal-weight mothers without diabetes or hypertension, and were more than twice as likely to have a child with another developmental disorder. Mothers with diabetes were found to have nearly 67 percent more likely to have a child with developmental delays as healthy mothers. However, the proportion of mothers with diabetes who had a child with ASD was higher than in healthy moms but did not reach statistical significance.
The study also examined the link between hypertension and ASD or developmental disorders. Precision-tinted lenses offer real migraine relief, reveals new study. Precision tinted lenses have been used widely to reduce visual perceptual distortions in poor readers, and are increasingly used for migraine sufferers, but until now the science behind these effects has been unclear. Now research published in the journal Cephalalgia, uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for the first time to suggest a neurological basis for these visual remedies. The new research shows how coloured glasses tuned to each migraine sufferer work by normalizing activity in the brain. The researchers saw specific abnormal brain activity (known as hyperactivation) when migraine sufferers saw intense patterns. The tinted lenses considerably reduced the effect. Jie Huang along with colleagues from Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, US, and the University of Essex, UK, homed in on specific visual stimuli known to trigger migraines.
Brain scans can predict weight gain and sexual activity, research shows. At a time when obesity has become epidemic in American society, Dartmouth scientists have found that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans may be able to predict weight gain. In a study published April 18, 2012, in The Journal of Neuroscience, the researchers demonstrated a connection between fMRI brain responses to appetite-driven cues and future behavior. "This is one of the first studies in brain imaging that uses the responses observed in the scanner to predict important, real-world outcomes over a long period of time," says Todd Heatherton, the Lincoln Filene Professor in Human Relations in the department of psychological and brain sciences and a coauthor on the study.
"Using brain activity to predict a consequential behavior outside the scanner is pretty novel. " Using fMRI, the researchers targeted a region of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens, often referred to as the brain's "reward center," in a group of incoming first-year college students. Genetic Privacy Laws. Updated January 2008 Genetic Information: Legal Issues Relating to Discrimination and Privacy Congressional Research Service, March 2008 The majority of state legislatures have taken steps to safeguard genetic information beyond the protections provided for other types of health information. This approach to genetics policy is known as genetic exceptionalism, which calls for special legal protections for genetic information as a result of its predictive, personal and familial nature and other unique characteristics.
State genetic privacy laws typically restrict any or certain parties (such as insurers or employers) from carrying out a particular action without consent. The states with genetic privacy laws listed below also may have laws concerning other, related genetics policy issues, such as the use of genetic information in insurance and employment. *Washington State has a genetic specific employment discrimination law. NOTE: NCSL updates its legislative activity at least once a month.
Sadfasdf.com. Born into Debt: Gene Linked to Credit-Card Balances. When trying to understand why some people have trouble living within their means, we tend to blame factors such as high interest rates and irresponsible spending. Now researchers have found another possible culprit to add to the list: a gene linked to credit-card debt. Earlier work has shown that genetics plays a role in how we handle money.
But a recent study was the first to show that a particular gene affects financial behavior outside the lab. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and the London School of Economics looked at genetic data and questionnaires already collected from more than 2,000 young adults aged 18 to 26 as part of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. In particular, they looked at whether these young adults said they had any credit-card debt and what version of the MAOA gene they had.
Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) is an enzyme that breaks down neurotransmitters (signaling chemicals) in the brain. Genome sequencing to add new twist to doctor-patient talks. New York geneticist Robert Marion, MD, envisions a future where whole-genome sequencing will be used to help prevent many medical conditions from developing. Geneticists say this new era of medicine could occur within a decade, thanks to the complicated procedure being tested in a growing number of research settings across the country. In whole-genome sequencing, geneticists use a patient's blood sample or other source of genetic material to examine the 20,000 to 25,000 genes that make up an individual's genome.
By comparison, standard genetic testing used widely by health professionals today examines only individual genes, geneticists say. As a result, physicians often must order multiple tests to get needed genetic information. Whole-genome sequencing will enable specialists to identify variations in a person's genetic code that increase his or her genetic risk of developing a spectrum of conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, cancer, diabetes and schizophrenia. Elwyn, Pa. Genes Are No Crystal Ball For Disease Risk. Nanoparticles Give Cancer Drugs Better Aim | 80beats. Taste Of Fructose Revs Up Metabolism. Jumping Genes in the Brain Ensure That Even Identical Twins Are Different.
CGS : ACT Publishes First, Tentative Results of Embryonic Stem Cell Trial.