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- March 20, 2010
- 03:00 PM
- 734 views
Absinthe Fact and Fiction
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Absinthe is a spirit. It's very strong, and very green. But is it something more?I used to think so, until I came across this paper taking a skeptical look at the history and science of the drink, Padosch et al's Absinthism a fictitious 19th century syndrome with present impactAbsinthe is prepared by crushing and dissolving the herb wormwood in unflavoured neutral alcohol and then distilling the result; other herbs and spices are added later for taste and colour.It became extremely popular in th........ Read more »
Padosch SA, Lachenmeier DW, & Kröner LU. (2006) Absinthism: a fictitious 19th century syndrome with present impact. Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy, 1(1), 14. PMID: 16722551
- March 17, 2010
- 05:32 AM
- 826 views
Mmm... Food-Induced Seizures
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
In a tasty new paper, British neurologists Kate El Bouzidi et al report on the case of a woman who suffered epileptic seizures whenever she saw, or tasted, food:A 44-year-old right-handed woman was walking in the Scottish highlands. Upon unwrapping her lunch, she had a focal seizure with witnessed onset on the right side of the face and secondary generalization... She was airlifted to hospital. Three weeks later, the smell of food triggered another seizure and she was admitted to the neurology u........ Read more »
El Bouzidi K, Duncan S, Whittle IR, & Butler CR. (2010) Lesional reflex epilepsy associated with the thought of food. Neurology, 74(7), 610-2. PMID: 20157165
- March 15, 2010
- 05:52 AM
- 657 views
How to Stop Smoking
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
1. Don't smoke.2. See 1.This is essentially what Simon Chapman and Ross MacKenzie suggest in a provocative PloS Medicine paper, The Global Research Neglect of Unassisted Smoking Cessation: Causes and Consequences.Their point is deceptively simple: there is lots of research looking at drugs and other treatments to help people quit smoking tobacco, but little attention is paid to people who quit without any help, despite the fact that the majority (up to 75%) of quitters do just that. This is good........ Read more »
Chapman S, & MacKenzie R. (2010) The global research neglect of unassisted smoking cessation: causes and consequences. PLoS medicine, 7(2). PMID: 20161722
- March 10, 2010
- 05:10 PM
- 875 views
Can We Rely on fMRI?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Craig Bennett (of Prefrontal.org) and Michael Miller, of dead fish brain scan fame, have a new paper out: How reliable are the results from functional magnetic resonance imaging?Tal over at the [citation needed] blog has an excellent in-depth discussion of the paper, and Mind Hacks has a good summary, but here's my take on what it all means in practical terms.Suppose you scan someone's brain while they're looking at a picture of a cat. You find that certain parts of their brain are activated to ........ Read more »
Bennett CM, Miller MB. (2010) How reliable are the results from functional magnetic resonance imaging?. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. info:/
- March 8, 2010
- 03:45 PM
- 739 views
Life Without Serotonin
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Via Dormivigilia, I came across a fascinating paper about a man who suffered from a severe lack of monoamine neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin etc.) as a result of a genetic mutation: Sleep and Rhythm Consequences of a Genetically Induced Loss of SerotoninNeuroskeptic readers will be familiar with monoamines. They're psychiatrists' favourite neurotransmitters, and are hence very popular amongst psych drug manufacturers. In particular, it's widely believed that serotonin is the brain's "happ........ Read more »
Smaranda Leu-Semenescu et al. (2010) Sleep and Rhythm Consequences of a Genetically Induced Loss of Serotonin. Sleep, 33(03), 307-314. info:/
- March 2, 2010
- 02:52 PM
- 768 views
Is Your Brain A Communist?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Capitalists beware. No less a journal than Nature has just published a paper proving conclusively that the human brain is a Communist, and that it's plotting the overthrow of the bourgeois order and its replacement by the revolutionary Dictatorship of the Proletariat even as we speak.Kind of. The article, Neural evidence for inequality-averse social preferences, doesn't mention the C word, but it does claim to have found evidence that people's brains display more egalitarianism than people thems........ Read more »
Tricomi E, Rangel A, Camerer CF, & O'Doherty JP. (2010) Neural evidence for inequality-averse social preferences. Nature, 463(7284), 1089-91. PMID: 20182511
- February 27, 2010
- 07:42 AM
- 670 views
The Decline and Fall of the Cannabinoid Antagonists
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Cannabinoid Receptor, Type 1 (CB1) antagonists were supposed to be the next big thing.They're weight loss drugs, and with obesity rates rising and the diet craze showing no signs of abating, that's a large and growing market (...sorry). They worked, at least in the short term, and they were at least as effective as existing pills. They may even have had health benefits over and above promoting weight loss, such as improving blood fat and sugar levels through metabolic effects.It all started off ........ Read more »
Aronne, L., Tonstad, S., Moreno, M., Gantz, I., Erondu, N., Suryawanshi, S., Molony, C., Sieberts, S., Nayee, J., Meehan, A.... (2010) A clinical trial assessing the safety and efficacy of taranabant, a CB1R inverse agonist, in obese and overweight patients: a high-dose study. International Journal of Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2010.21
- February 24, 2010
- 07:21 AM
- 660 views
More on Deep Brain Stimulation for OCD
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Over the past few years, deep brain stimulation (DBS) has emerged as a promising treatment for severe psychiatric disorders that haven't responded to conventional approaches. A new paper from the University of Florida reports on a trial of DBS in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and unlike most DBS studies, it was placebo-controlled: Deep Brain Stimulation for Intractable Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.Six patients were implanted with electrodes in the "ventral capsule/ventral striatum" (VC/V........ Read more »
Goodman, W., Foote, K., Greenberg, B., Ricciuti, N., Bauer, R., Ward, H., Shapira, N., Wu, S., Hill, C., & Rasmussen, S. (2010) Deep Brain Stimulation for Intractable Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Pilot Study Using a Blinded, Staggered-Onset Design. Biological Psychiatry, 67(6), 535-542. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.11.028
- February 19, 2010
- 12:03 PM
- 759 views
Drunk on Alcohol?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
When you drink alcohol and get drunk, are you getting drunk on alcohol?Well, obviously, you might think, and so did I. But it turns out that some people claim that the alcohol (ethanol) in drinks isn't the only thing responsible for their effects - they say that acetaldehyde may be important, perhaps even more so.South Korean researchers Kim et al report that it's acetaldehyde, rather than ethanol, which explains alcohol's immediate effects on cognitive and motor skills. During the metabolism of........ Read more »
Kim SW, Bae KY, Shin HY, Kim JM, Shin IS, Youn T, Kim J, Kim JK, & Yoon JS. (2009) The Role of Acetaldehyde in Human Psychomotor Function: A Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Crossover Study. Biological psychiatry. PMID: 19914598
- February 17, 2010
- 11:07 AM
- 397 views
The Case of the Missing Retrovirus
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
In October 2009, a team led by Vincent C. Lombardi of the Whittemore Peterson Institute reported the presence of a recently discovered virus, XMRV, in 67% of the blood samples from 101 American patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). XMRV had previously been linked to some cases of prostate cancer.This sparked intense interest amongst many people and much discussion. But in January this year, Erlwein et al reported that they did not find any evidence of XMRV in the blood of 186 British CFS........ Read more »
Harriet Groom, et al. (2010) Absence of xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus in UK patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Retrovirology. info:/
- February 12, 2010
- 05:19 PM
- 739 views
Dope, Dope, Dopamine
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
When you smoke pot, you get stoned.Simple. But it's not really, because stoned can involve many different effects, depending upon the user's mental state, the situation, the variety and strength of the marijuana, and so forth. It can be pleasurable, or unpleasant. It can lead to relaxed contentment, or anxiety and panic. And it can feature hallucinations and alterations of thinking, some of which resemble psychotic symptoms.In Central nervous system effects of haloperidol on THC in healthy male ........ Read more »
Liem-Moolenaar, M., Te Beek, E., de Kam, M., Franson, K., Kahn, R., Hijman, R., Touw, D., & van Gerven, J. (2010) Central nervous system effects of haloperidol on THC in healthy male volunteers. Journal of Psychopharmacology. DOI: 10.1177/0269881109358200
- February 10, 2010
- 04:56 AM
- 560 views
Are We All Homeopaths Now?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
There are two main kinds of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) - the ones that involve actually doing stuff, and the ones that don't.Things like herbal medicine, chiropractic, and acupuncture could plausibly make someone better, as more than just a placebo, given what we know about physics and chemistry, because they involve physically acting on the body. I don't claim to know whether they do in fact work, but in theory, they could.Other CAM techniques, however, are just magic. Homeopa........ Read more »
Shang, A., Huwiler-Müntener, K., Nartey, L., Jüni, P., Dörig, S., Sterne, J., Pewsner, D., & Egger, M. (2005) Are the clinical effects of homoeopathy placebo effects? Comparative study of placebo-controlled trials of homoeopathy and allopathy. The Lancet, 366(9487), 726-732. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67177-2
- February 7, 2010
- 06:35 AM
- 824 views
Beware The Clam of Forgetfulness
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Every day, PubCrawler emails to tell me about the latest papers that match various search terms. It means I never miss a relevant paper, but it also means I get told about an awful lot of irrelevant ones. Sometimes though, the title alone grabs my attention and demands a read. Such as yesterday's Risk assessment of the amnesic shellfish poison, domoic acid, on animals and humans. Shellfish causing amnesia?It turns out that there's a neurotoxin, domoic acid, which can indeed cause brain damage in........ Read more »
Kumar KP, Kumar SP, & Nair GA. (2009) Risk assessment of the amnesic shellfish poison, domoic acid, on animals and humans. Journal of environmental biology / Academy of Environmental Biology, India, 30(3), 319-25. PMID: 20120452
- February 3, 2010
- 07:05 AM
- 587 views
Imaging the Brain Better, Faster,Thinner
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
A lot of the studies that I cast my Neuroskeptical eye over are related to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).This is because, in my opinion, quite a lot of today's fMRI work suffers from methodological flaws. But that's not to say that all fMRI work is suspect, or, worse, that there's something inherently unscientific about fMRI as such. fMRI's a tool, an amazing one in a lot of ways, but like any tool it needs to be used well. Along with others, I've criticized various aspects of re........ Read more »
Sabatinelli D, Lang PJ, Bradley MM, Costa VD, & Keil A. (2009) The timing of emotional discrimination in human amygdala and ventral visual cortex. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 29(47), 14864-8. PMID: 19940182
- January 30, 2010
- 05:12 PM
- 620 views
Is Depression Undertreated?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Neuroskeptic readers will be familiar with the idea that too many people are being treated for mental illness. But not everyone agrees. Many people argue that common mental illnesses, such as depression, are undertreated. Take, for example, a paper just out in the esteemed Archives of General Psychiatry: Depression Care in the United States: Too Little for Too Few.The authors looked at the results of three large (total N=15,762) surveys designed to measure the prevalence of mental illness in Ame........ Read more »
Gonzalez, H., Vega, W., Williams, D., Tarraf, W., West, B., & Neighbors, H. (2010) Depression Care in the United States: Too Little for Too Few. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67(1), 37-46. DOI: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.168
- January 28, 2010
- 02:33 PM
- 639 views
The British Media's "Blonde Moment"
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Ten days ago, the Sunday Times - Britain's "newspaper of record" - recorded thatBlonde women born to be warrior princessesWomen with fair hair are more aggressive and determined to get their own way than brunettes or redheads, according to a study by the University of California... “We expected blondes to feel more entitled than other young women — this is southern California, the natural habitat of the privileged blonde,” said Aaron Sell, who led the study...Well who'da thought it. Ot........ Read more »
Sell A, Tooby J, & Cosmides L. (2009) Formidability and the logic of human anger. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(35), 15073-8. PMID: 19666613
- January 26, 2010
- 09:15 AM
- 844 views
The Grid in Your Head
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
According to a lovely new Nature paper combining fMRI imaging with animal experiments, the human brain encodes spatial information in the form of of a hexagonal grid - Evidence for grid cells in a human memory network.If you've ever played Chinese checkers, you'll know what a hex grid is. It's already known that in rats, the entorhinal cortex of the brain contains "grid cells", each of which fires according to where in a certain place the rat is. The diagram above left shows how one example gri........ Read more »
Doeller, C., Barry, C., & Burgess, N. (2010) Evidence for grid cells in a human memory network. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature08704
- January 24, 2010
- 03:28 PM
- 663 views
A "Severe" Warning for Psychiatry
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Imagine there was a nasty disease that affected 1 in 100 people. And imagine that someone invented a drug which treated it reasonably well. Good work, surely.Now imagine that, for some reason, people decided that 10% of the population need to be taking this drug, instead of 1%. So sales of the drug sky-rocket. Eventually some clever person comes along and asks "This is one of the biggest selling drugs in the world - but does it work?" They look into it, and find that it doesn't work very well at........ Read more »
Fournier, J., DeRubeis, R., Hollon, S., Dimidjian, S., Amsterdam, J., Shelton, R., & Fawcett, J. (2010) Antidepressant Drug Effects and Depression Severity: A Patient-Level Meta-analysis. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 303(1), 47-53. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2009.1943
- January 22, 2010
- 06:32 PM
- 691 views
Brain Scanning Software Showdown
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
You've just finished doing some research using fMRI to measure brain activity. You designed the study, recruited the volunteers, and did all the scans. Phew. Is that it? Can you publish the findings yet?Unfortunately, no. You still need to do the analysis, and this is often the most trickiest stage. The raw data produced during an fMRI experiment are meaningless - in most cases, each scan will give you a few hundred almost-identical grey pictures of the person's brain. Making sense of them requi........ Read more »
Fusar-Poli, P., Bhattacharyya, S., Allen, P., Crippa, J., Borgwardt, S., Martin-Santos, R., Seal, M., O’Carroll, C., Atakan, Z., & Zuardi, A. (2010) Effect of image analysis software on neurofunctional activation during processing of emotional human faces. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience. DOI: 10.1016/j.jocn.2009.06.027
- January 20, 2010
- 10:45 AM
- 800 views
The Sweet Taste of Cannabinoids
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Every stoner knows about the munchies, the fondness for junk food that comes with smoking marijuana. Movies have been made about it.It's not just that being on drugs makes you like eating: stimulants, like cocaine and amphetamine, decrease appetite. The munchies are something specific to marijuana. But why?New research from a Japanese team reveals that marijuana directly affects the cells in the taste buds which detect sweet flavors - Endocannabinoids selectively enhance sweet taste.Yoshida et a........ Read more »
Yoshida, R., Ohkuri, T., Jyotaki, M., Yasuo, T., Horio, N., Yasumatsu, K., Sanematsu, K., Shigemura, N., Yamamoto, T., Margolskee, R.... (2009) Endocannabinoids selectively enhance sweet taste. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(2), 935-939. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0912048107
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