Anesthetized heroin withdrawal: no benefit

NEW YORK`, N.Y., -- Researchers say they've determined the use of general anesthesia for heroin detoxification offers no benefit when compared with other methods. In addition, the scientists said the use of anesthesia for detoxification is associated with several potentially life-threatening adverse events. The researchers, led by led by Dr. Eric Collins of Columbia University, said many of the approximately 1 million heroin-dependent individuals in the United States fear the physical discomfort of withdrawal and either avoid treatment or leave it prematurely. Such problems have given rise to ultra-rapid, or anesthesia-assisted opioid detoxification, which involves administering an opioid antagonist to neutralize the effects of heroin while the patient is unconscious from general anesthesia. Although publicized as a fast, painless way to withdraw from heroin, the treatment is expensive -- costing as much as $15,000 -- and lacks good evidence to support efficacy, the scientists wrote. The study appears in the Aug. 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Placebo effect not purely psychological

ANN ARBOR, Mich., -- A University of Michigan study suggests just believing a medicine will relieve pain is enough to prompt one's brain to release its own natural painkillers. The researchers -- led by Dr. Jon-Kar Zubieta, an associate professor of psychiatry and radiology -- said their study provides the first direct evidence the brain's own pain-fighting chemicals, called endorphins, play a role in the phenomenon known as the placebo effect, resulting in a reduction in feelings of pain. Previous studies showed the brain reacts physically when a person is given a sham pain treatment expected to help. But Zubieta said the most recent study is the first to pinpoint a specific brain chemistry mechanism for a pain-related placebo effect. He said the results might result in better use of psychological therapy for people suffering chronic pain. The results are published in the Aug. 24 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience by a team from the the university's Molecular and Behavioral Neurosciences Institute.

'Change blindness' isn't magic

LONDON, -- Scientists have determined why we often miss major changes in our surroundings -- such as a traffic light changing while we listen to the radio. University College London researchers say our inability to notice large changes is a phenomenon often exploited by magicians -- and scientists have determined the exact part of the brain that's so often deceived. The UCL team, in a paper published in the journal Cerebral Cortex said the part of the brain called the parietal cortex -- the area responsible for concentration -- is also critical to our ability to detect changes. Researchers say the exact critical spot lies just a few centimeters above and behind the right ear -- the area many people scratch when concentrating. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation, the team temporarily switched off the parietal cortex. Without help from that region of the brain, subjects failed to notice even major visual changes such as a change of a person's face. UCL Psychology Professor Nilli Lavie, the study's lead researcher, said the finding that the brain's parietal cortex region controls both concentration and visual awareness explains why we can be so easily deceived by a magician's trick.

Parkinson's disease progression described

BUFFALO, N.Y., -- University of Buffalo neuroscientists say they've described for the first time how Parkinson's disease progresses. The scientists determined rotenone, an environ- mental toxin linked specifically to Parkinson's disease, selectively destroys the neurons that produce dopamine, the neurotransmitter critical to body movement and muscle control. Microtubules, intracellular highways that transport dopamine to the brain area that controls body movement, are the crucial target, they report. Damage to microtubules prevents dopamine from reaching the brain's movement center, causing a back-up of the neurotransmitter in the transport system, the researchers found. The backed-up dopamine accumulates in the body of the neuron and breaks down, causing a release of toxic free radicals, which destroy the neuron. The study appears in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

NEW TONSILLECTOMY TECHNIQUE

Dr. Glenn Isaacson, of Temple University Children's Medical Center in Philadelphia, says surgeons are offering a lessinvasive tonsillectomy. "The new technique removes only the tonsil and not the surrounding tissue, leaving a smaller hole where the tonsil was and, therefore, less pain for the patient post-surgery," Isaacson, chairman of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at Temple, says in a statement. "The bipolar electrosurgical scissors used in the operation cut the tonsil and also stop the blood flow at the same time, which allows us much more control and less bleeding during the operation." By creating a smaller hole where the tonsil was, and cutting the blood loss, patients are able to recover quicker and with less pain, according to Isaacson.