The article reviews published completed studies on the Feingold diet, which advocates elimination of artificial colorings, artificial flavorings, and salicylates to remediate hyperactivity. The review indicates that the diet is probably not effective, except perhaps in a small percentage of children. (Author/CL)

Hair trace mineral concentrations were compared to a group of 40 retarded children with a nonretarded control group of 27. The retarded group had significantly raised hair lead concentrations. There were also differences in the mean levels of six nutrient minerals. (Author)

Reviews relevant neurochemical findings in postmortem suicide studies, looking specifically at association between serotonergic dysfunction and suicide. Explores relative strengths and weaknesses of studies and provides overview regarding advantages and shortcomings of given technique or approach. Notes that data presented in review provide…

As some therapeutic benefits for autistic persons have been reported from combined high doses of pyridoxine and magnesium, this study evaluated long-term administration of low doses (to minimize adverse effects) to 15 subjects with autism. Findings indicated that, at this dosage level, pyridoxine and magnesium had no effect on the severity of…

This commentary critiques two papers by Curt Sandman, pointing out interpretive problems in models explaining self-injurious behavior in terms of opioids. Withdrawal effects are emphasized as an alternative to hypotheses asserting congenital opioid excess as a cause of sensory depression or an addiction to a relative excess of opioid activity in…

This paper answers criticism (EC 601 030) of the authors' work regarding opioid explanations of self-injurious behavior. Possible withdrawal effects are ruled out as an explanation, in favor of opioid excess leading to sensory depression and addiction to relative excesses of opioid activity in the brain. Alternative models of consequences of…

Assessment of the neurotransmitter dopamine through measurement of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) in adult subjects with mental retardation and with high rates of body stereotypy (n=12), compulsive behaviors (n=9), or neither (n=12) found lowest HVA concentrations in the stereotypy group and highest in the compulsive group. (DB)

Neuroscience and cognitive science seek to explain behavioral regularities in terms of underlying mechanisms. An important element of a mechanistic explanation is a characterization of the operations of the parts of the mechanism. The challenge in characterizing such operations is illustrated by an example from the history of physiological…

Dose-dependent changes in sensitivity to reinforcement were found when rats were treated with low, moderate, and high doses of the partial dopamine D[subscript 1]-type receptor agonist SKF38393 and with the nonselective dopamine agonist apomorphine, but did not change when rats were treated with similar doses of the selective dopamine D[subscript…

Nanotechnology are employed by researchers at Northwestern University to develop a method of labeling disease markers present in blood with unique DNA tags they have dubbed "bio-bar-codes". The preparation of nanoparticle and magnetic microparticle probes and a nanoparticle-based PSR-less DNA amplification scheme are involved by the DNA-BCA assay.

Biology, physiology, and allied health biochemistry textbooks cover metabolic pathways such as glycolysis; however, most do not include much discussion of how these pathways are regulated within the cell. Because the details of these complex regulatory processes can be difficult for students to learn, we have developed a robust teaching…

"Biochemistry," by Lubert Stryer, has become one of the standard textbooks for the field. The Fifth Edition has two new authors: Jeremy Berg, Professor and Director of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; and John Tymoczko, the Towsley Professor of Biology at Carleton College. The new edition does,…

The molecule of December 2005 comes from the paper by Rose, Palcic and Evans on structural factors determining the blood type. The structure was previously reported by Palcic and Evans and is presented without the water molecule that is determined in the crystal structure.