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Highlights Of Pain Research
Musculoskeletal problems are among the complaints most frequently reported in health interview surveys. Typically around 50 percent of the population report having had musculoskeletal pain in one or more areas for at least one week during the past month. Musculoskeletal disorders are also the most common work-related health problems in the EU: 25 percent of European workers complain of backache and 23 percent of muscular pains. The trend will become even more acute as demographic changes lead to an ageing society.

Novel Epigenetic Markers Of Melanoma May Herald New Treatments For Patients
Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer, diagnosed in more than 50,000 new patients in the United States annually. While the rate of incidences continues to rise, survival rate has not improved and the race is on to find the genetic and cellular changes driving melanoma and to devise new means of detection and treatment. In a study published online in Genome Research, scientists have mapped chemical modifications of DNA in the melanoma genome, finding new markers that will help develop more effective treatment strategies to fight this disease.
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Sinai Physiatrist Enthusiatic About Word Addition
It"s a word that"s been around since the days of the Truman presidency. But a patient looking up "physiatry" would find nothing in the dictionary.
Mental Health

Lack Of Happiness Hormone Serotonin In The Brain Causes Impaired Maternal Behavior In Mice

A lack of serotonin, commonly known as the "happiness hormone", in the brain slows the growth of mice after birth and is responsible for impaired maternal behavior later in life. This was the result of research conducted by Dr. Natalia Alenina, Dana Kikic, and Professor Michael Bader of the Max DelbrÃøck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany. At the same time, the researchers discovered that the presence of serotonin in the brain is not crucial for the survival of the animals. Furthermore, they were able to confirm that there are two strictly separate pathways of serotonin production: One gene is responsible for the formation of serotonin in the brain, another gene for the production of the hormone in the body (PNAS, June 23, 2009, Vol. 106, No. 25, pp 10332-10337)*. The researchers "switched off" the gene Tph2 in mice to elucidate the function of the gene in the brain. Tph2 produces the enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH), which is responsible for the formation of serotonin. After the researchers switched off Tph2, the animals produced almost no serotonin in the brain. Nevertheless, the animals were viable and half of them survived until adulthood. However, they needed more sleep during the day and the regulation of their respiration, body temperature, and blood pressure was altered. The female mice were able to give birth and produced enough milk to feed their pups, but their impaired maternal behavior led to poor survival of the offspring. The Tph2 gene was discovered by MDC researchers several years ago together with researchers of the Free University (FU) Berlin and Humboldt University Berlin (HUB). *Growth retardation and altered autonomic control in mice lacking brain serotonin Natalia Alenina1*, Dana Kikic1*, Mihail Todiras1, Valentina Mosienko1, Fatimunnisa Qadri1, Ralph Plehm1, Philipp Boye1, Larissa Vilianovitch1, Reinhard Sohr2, Katja Tenner1, Heide Hörtnagl2, Michael Bader1 1Max-DelbrÃøck-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, D-13125 Berlin; 2Institute of Pharmacology, Charité-University Medicine, Berlin, Germany *N.A. and D.K. contributed equally to this study. Barbara Bachtler Max DelbrÃøck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch Robert-Rössle-StraÃÿe 10 13125 Berlin, Germany Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres


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