Boozy Memory Blocking Reduces Risk of Relapse among Alcohol Abusers

A molecule associated with learning and memory consolidation could be key to treating alcoholism

By Helen Shen and Nature magazine

If former addicts could forget some of their sensory associations with a past of abuse, they might learn to avoid the cravings that can lead to a relapse. Image: etrarte/Alamy

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Wiping out drinking-associated memories could help those with alcohol problems to stay sober, suggests a study in rats.

As with other forms of addiction, environmental cues linked to drinking ? such as the smell of beer ? can trigger the urge to consume alcohol and increase the risk of a relapse into abuse. Over time, these learned associations can be maddeningly difficult to break.

Scientists have now identified a potential molecular target in the brains of rats that could one day lead to treatments to help people stay dry. Dorit Ron, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and her team show that strategically blocking the mTORC1 signaling pathway reduces alcoholic relapse by disrupting memories linked to past drinking. This pathway controls the production of several proteins associated with learning and memory.

A memory is thought to become vulnerable when it is retrieved, like a folder checked out from a library archive. Pages can be shuffled or lost before the folder is returned to long-term storage. A number of studies have suggested that disrupting the mTORC1 pathway during this time window can destabilize the process of memory restoration and can potentially help treat post-traumatic stress disorder as well as drug addiction.

In the latest study, published today in Nature Neuroscience, rats became problem drinkers after spending seven weeks exposed to a choice of water or a mixture of water and 20% alcohol. Ron says that the concoction probably tastes terrible to the rodents, but the animals eventually drink it in large quantities.

?It?s pretty amazing. You don?t do anything,? she says. ?Over time, you can see they develop a strong preference for alcohol.? When the animals binged on alcohol, they reached concentrations of about 80 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood ? the legal driving limit in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

The researchers took alcohol away from the animals for 10 days and then gave each of them a tiny drop ? just enough for the taste and odor to reawaken alcohol-related memories. Immediately afterwards, some rats received a drug called rapamycin, which inhibits mTORC1 activity.

All the rats had been trained to press a lever to receive alcohol, but those that received rapamycin after memory reactivation showed significantly less inclination to do so over a two-week period.

Doctoring memories
?We don?t know what the specific memory is that we?re messing with, but we know the cue that?s triggering it,? says co-author Patricia Janak, a UCSF neuroscientist. Ron says that the memory trace disrupted by rapamycin is probably that which links the smell and taste to the pleasurable effects of alcohol consumption.

?It?s really excellent,? says Charles O?Brien, director of the Center for Studies of Addiction at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, referring to the study. ?Fundamentally, addiction is a memory, and [the authors] are going straight at what is actually going on in the brain.?

Rapamycin does not seem to affect memory formation, but instead disrupts the reconsolidation of existing memories into long-term storage after they have been reactivated. Preliminary tests suggest that the drug?s effects can be quite specific, and do not affect the animals? consumption of other desirable substances such as sugar-water.

Although Ron says her group does not plan to pursue studies in humans, she says that research by others may turn rapamycin or a related compound into an effective treatment for alcohol abuse. The US Food and Drug Administration has already approved rapamycin as an immunosuppressant for organ-transplant recipients.

?I would be eager to try this in my patients as soon as it can be determined that it?s safe,? says O?Brien.

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on June 23, 2013.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=boozy-memory-blocking-reduces-risk-of-relapse-among-alcohol-abusers

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Investors need not worry about South Africa post Mandela: minister

By Sujata Rao

LONDON (Reuters) - International investors need not worry about South Africa's future when senior statesman Nelson Mandela eventually dies, as his legacy will be safeguarded, Planning Minister Trevor Manuel said on Monday.

The 94-year old Mandela, the country's first black president, is critically ill with a lung infection, a huge concern for South Africa's 53 million people who revere him as the architect of peaceful transition to democracy in 1994 after three centuries of white rule.

But many investors and economists also fear that the death of Mandela, often considered the moral compass of the ruling ANC party, will embolden the ANC's radical elements, such as those who criticize him for making too many concessions to the white minority or others who call for nationalizing the giant mining industry.

"There have been concerns expressed, unjustifiably, about what happens when Nelson Mandela is no longer with us," Manuel, a respected former finance minister, told Reuters.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a conference held to launch a report on the validity of an annual World Bank business survey.

Manuel noted that Mandela's health had been deteriorating - his last public appearance was in July 2010 - so his role is already diminished.

"It is a deep and profound tragedy but one that in many ways we have been close to and thinking about for many months ... but over the past year he hasn't been able to play the advisory role of a patriarch," he said.

"It is up to us (to see) his legacy lives on. Whether he is physically here or not, it is his legacy we have to protect."

Mandela's illness has coincided with a storm of events for South Africa, which is seeing investors flee its bond markets as domestic worries over chronic labor unrest coincide with a withdrawal of liquidity by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Many have criticized the government for lack of progress in implementing key reforms in an economy which is grappling with shortages of power, poor healthcare and high unemployment.

Manuel, who was known for his prudent fiscal stance as finance minister, now oversees the National Development Plan, a blue-print for future development. The plan has been under fire from union leaders and communists who have attacked it for placing too much emphasis on private capital.

Manuel said the plan would be debated and he predicted that in coming months there would be advances on several fronts such as with civil service, education and on anti-corruption. But he said the plan would be implemented.

"Even as we work through all these issues, there is no holding off on the plan until some cataclysmic event happens."

Manuel, meanwhile, said it was natural that South Africa, like other emerging markets, was feeling the impact of the Fed's stimulus withdrawal process.

"It's a fact, there are very few safe havens left. There was a time South Africa was seen as one of the safe havens.... We will continue to see periods of uncertainty, but at some point people will start looking for value," he added.

(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/investors-not-worry-south-africa-post-mandela-minister-144632662.html

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Pleasure response from chocolate: You can see it in the eyes

June 24, 2013 ? The brain's pleasure response to tasting food can be measured through the eyes using a common, low-cost ophthalmological tool, according to a study just published in the journal Obesity. If validated, this method could be useful for research and clinical applications in food addiction and obesity prevention.

Dr. Jennifer Nasser, an associate professor in the department of Nutrition Sciences in Drexel University's College of Nursing and Health Professions, led the study testing the use of electroretinography (ERG) to indicate increases in the neurotransmitter dopamine in the retina.

Dopamine is associated with a variety of pleasure-related effects in the brain, including the expectation of reward. In the eye's retina, dopamine is released when the optical nerve activates in response to light exposure.

Nasser and her colleagues found that electrical signals in the retina spiked high in response to a flash of light when a food stimulus (a small piece of chocolate brownie) was placed in participants' mouths. The increase was as great as that seen when participants had received the stimulant drug methylphenidate to induce a strong dopamine response. These responses in the presence of food and drug stimuli were each significantly greater than the response to light when participants ingested a control substance, water.

"What makes this so exciting is that the eye's dopamine system was considered separate from the rest of the brain's dopamine system," Nasser said. "So most people- and indeed many retinography experts told me this- would say that tasting a food that stimulates the brain's dopamine system wouldn't have an effect on the eye's dopamine system."

This study was a small-scale demonstration of the concept, with only nine participants. Most participants were overweight but none had eating disorders. All fasted for four hours before testing with the food stimulus.

If this technique is validated through additional and larger studies, Nasser said she and other researchers can use ERG for studies of food addiction and food science.

"My research takes a pharmacology approach to the brain's response to food," Nasser said. "Food is both a nutrient delivery system and a pleasure delivery system, and a 'side effect' is excess calories. I want to maximize the pleasure and nutritional value of food but minimize the side effects. We need more user-friendly tools to do that."

The low cost and ease of performing electroretinography make it an appealing method, according to Nasser. The Medicare reimbursement cost for clinical use of ERG is about $150 per session, and each session generates 200 scans in just two minutes. Procedures to measure dopamine responses directly from the brain are more expensive and invasive. For example, PET scanning costs about $2,000 per session and takes more than an hour to generate a scan.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/sP3xYVux-9w/130624111014.htm

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High court voids key part of Voting Rights Act

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court says a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act cannot be enforced until Congress comes up with a new way of determining which states and localities require close federal monitoring of elections.

The justices said in 5-4 ruling Tuesday that the law Congress most recently renewed in 2006 relies on 40-year-old data that doesn't reflect racial progress and changes in U.S. society.

The court did not strike down the advance approval requirement of the law that has been used, mainly in the South, to open up polling places to minority voters in the nearly half century since it was first enacted in 1965. But they said lawmakers must update the formula for determining which parts of the country must seek Washington's approval for election changes.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-voids-key-part-voting-rights-act-141637132.html

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Out of Their League? Celebrity Men Who Date Models

It's been 15 years since Carrie Bradshaw coined the term "modelizers" on Sex and the City, but these stars are keeping the concept alive!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/celebrity-men-who-date-models/1-b-517431?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Acelebrity-men-who-date-models-517431

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Author Barbara Ehrenreich Revisits Her 1987 Look at the Future of Sex

The January 1987 issue of the legendary (and sadly, now defunct) Omni magazine included predictions from 14 "great minds" about what the world might look like in twenty years. By the year 2007, musician David Byrne believed that computers would do little for future musicians outside of their bookkeeping. Noted rich guy Bill Gates wondered how much stimulation (read: overstimulation) people of the future might be able to handle. And feminist author Barbara Ehrenreich predicted that by the 21st century, ideas about sexual dysfunction and what constitutes a healthy sexual relationship will have changed dramatically.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/iQeHTDMcl1U/author-barbara-ehrenreich-revisits-her-1987-look-at-the-552097723

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Power plant limits at center of Obama climate plan

President Barack Obama speaks during his meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, June 24, 2013, with CEOs, business owners and entrepreneurs to discuss immigration reform. From left are, Cecilia Mu?oz, direcor of the White House Domestic Policy Council, the president, senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, and Dilawar Syed, CEO Yonja Media Group. Obama hosted the meeting to discuss the importance of commonsense immigration reform including the Congressional Budget Office analysis that concludes immigration reform would promote economic growth and reduce the deficit. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama speaks during his meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, June 24, 2013, with CEOs, business owners and entrepreneurs to discuss immigration reform. From left are, Cecilia Mu?oz, direcor of the White House Domestic Policy Council, the president, senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, and Dilawar Syed, CEO Yonja Media Group. Obama hosted the meeting to discuss the importance of commonsense immigration reform including the Congressional Budget Office analysis that concludes immigration reform would promote economic growth and reduce the deficit. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The Capitol Dome is seen behind the Capitol Power Plant in Washington, Monday, June 24, 2013. The plant provides power to buildings in the Capitol Complex. President Barack Obama is running out of time to make good on his lofty vow to confront climate change head-on, and Congress is in no mood to help. The executive actions and regulations Obama announces Tuesday will take years to implement. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Taking climate change efforts into his own hands, President Barack Obama is proposing sweeping steps to limit heat-trapping pollution from coal-fired power plants and to boost renewable energy production on federal property.

Obama, in a speech Tuesday at Georgetown University, was to announce he's issuing a presidential memorandum to launch the first-ever federal regulations on carbon dioxide emitted by existing power plants, moving to curb the gases blamed for global warming despite adamant opposition from Republicans and some energy producers.

The far-reaching plan marks Obama's most prominent effort yet to deliver on a major priority he laid out in his first presidential campaign and recommitted to at the start of his second term: to fight climate change in the U.S. and abroad and prepare American communities for its effects. Environmental activists have been irked that Obama's high-minded goals never materialized into a comprehensive plan.

By expanding permitting on public lands, Obama hopes to generate enough electricity from renewable energy projects such as wind and solar to power the equivalent of 6 million homes by 2020, effectively doubling the electric capacity federal lands now produce, senior administration officials said. He'll also set a goal to install 100 megawatts of energy-producing capacity at federal housing projects by the end of the decade.

Obama also was to announce $8 billion in federal loan guarantees to spur investment in technologies that can keep carbon dioxide produced by power plants from being released into the atmosphere.

"While no single step can reverse the effects of climate change, we have a moral obligation to act on behalf of future generations," the White House said in a statement, arguing that climate change is no longer a distant threat ? the 12 hottest years on record all occurred in the past 15 years.

The linchpin of Obama's plan involves new and existing power plants. Forty percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, and one-third of greenhouse gases overall, come from electric power plants, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The Obama administration already has proposed controls on new plants, but those controls have been delayed and not yet finalized. Tuesday's announcement would be the first public confirmation that Obama plans to extend carbon controls to existing plants.

"The country is facing a threat; the president is facing facts," said Dan Lashof of the Natural Resources Defense Council, praising Obama for taking aim at power plants. "Reducing that pollution is the most important step we can take as a nation to stand up to climate change."

A spokesman for major power companies said the industry long has understood the importance of addressing climate change and has been working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for two decades. The industry will consider whether new climate change policies and regulations "mesh" with its ongoing transition to a cleaner generating fleet and an enhanced electric grid, said Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, a group that represents power companies.

Even before Obama spoke, reaction from Republicans was swift and dismissive, reflecting the opposition to climate legislation on Capitol Hill that prompted a frustrated Obama to sidestep lawmakers and take action himself. Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said imposing carbon rules on power plants amounts to a national energy tax.

"Will the president explain the massive costs to American jobs? Will the president explain how low-income Americans would pay for their new, higher utility bills?" Stewart said.

Senior administration officials, who weren't authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity, said Obama will set a timeline for putting new power plant controls in place. But he won't issue detailed emission targets or specifics. Instead, the president will launch a process in which the Environmental Protection Agency will work with states to develop specific plans to rein in carbon emissions, with flexibility for each state's circumstances.

Obama also will announce more aggressive steps to increase efficiency for appliances such as refrigerators and lamps, the White House said, adding that stricter standards could reduce carbon pollution by more than 3 billion tons between now and 2030 ? the equivalent of a half-year's worth of carbon pollution from power plants. Another component of Obama's proposal will involve ramping up hydropower production from existing dams.

Obama raised climate change as a key second-term issue in his inaugural address in January, but has offered few details since. In his February State of the Union, he issued an ultimatum to lawmakers: "If Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will."

"His view reflects reality," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday. "We've seen Congress attempt to deal with this issue, and fail to."

Framing Obama's efforts as part of a broader, global movement, the White House said the U.S. can play a leading role in persuading other nations to join in efforts to slow the warming of the planet.

Obama is calling for an end to U.S. support for public financing for new coal-fired plants overseas, officials said, but will exempt plants in the poorest nations as long as the cleanest technology available in those countries is being used. He's also pledging to work with major polluting countries like China and India to curb emissions, building on an agreement Obama struck recently with China's leader to phase out hydrofluorocarbons, potent greenhouse gases used in air conditions and refrigerators.

Another of Obama's goals ? to prepare communities for the inevitable effects of climate change ? appears to be more aspiration than concrete plan. Community leaders and environmental activists say that what cities and states need to prepare for flooding and higher temperatures is money ? something Obama is hard-pressed to provide without Congress' go-ahead.

Sidestepping Congress by using executive action doesn't guarantee Obama smooth sailing. Lawmakers could introduce legislation to thwart Obama's efforts. And the rules for existing power plants will almost certainly face legal challenges in court.

___

Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-06-25-Obama-Climate%20Change/id-e1a5cbd16e6845ef92aa614f1bdf1aac

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