readings in psychology for october 14th 2010

it's football season again!

Here are a few readings for today:

• first patient recieves stem cells in study

“Doctors have injected millions of human embryonic stem cells into a patient partially paralyzed by a spinal cord injury, marking the beginning of the first carefully designed attempt to test the promising but controversial therapy, officials announced Monday”

• promicing drug for age related memory loss in mice

” Researchers at the University of Edinburgh report a new experimental compound that can improve memory and cognitive function in aging mice. The compound is being investigated with a view to developing a drug that could slow the natural decline in memory associated with aging.”

• celery and peppers and memory

“A diet rich in the plant compound luteolin reduces age-related inflammation in the brain and related memory deficits by directly inhibiting the release of inflammatory molecules in the brain, researchers report.”

• benefits of trans cranial magnetic stimulation

” In a study to determine the durability and long-term effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), psychiatric researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found the non-invasive, non-drug therapy to be an effective, long-term treatment for major depression”

• implants for heroin addicts

“People addicted to heroin or prescription opiates might have a hands-free device for getting through the rigors of drug withdrawal. The medication buprenorphine implanted under the skin and released over 24 weeks can ease drug cravings and helps some patients stay clean, researchers report in the Oct. 13 Journal of the American Medical Association”

• guardians of the blood brain barrier

“Of all the body’s organs, the brain is the most like Area 51: Entry to the region is severely restricted, thanks to a barricade of cells and molecules known collectively as the blood-brain barrier. Increased surveillance by scientists has now pinpointed the barrier’s senior operatives, cells that are tasked with monitoring the razor wire–like barricade that keeps all but a select few from entering the brain.”

• love is a drug… a good drug

“”Love is a smoke made by the fume of sighs,” wrote William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. Love is also an effective pain killer as good as many of the strongest drugs, scientists have found. For all the many musings in literature on the nature of love, nobody has quite realised its potential as an analgesic medicine until now, with a study showing that a romantic affair makes physical pain more bearable. “