http://www.rxpgnews.com/ Medical News and Information Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:48:36 PST en-us http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Sweet-smell_63997.shtml Latest Research What makes one smell pleasant and another odious? Is there something in the chemistry of a substance that can serve to predict how we will perceive its smell? Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the University of California at Berkeley have now discovered that there is, indeed, such a link, and knowing the molecular structure of a substance can help predict whether we will find its smell heavenly or malodorous. Tue, 18 Sep 2007 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Sweet-smell_63997.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Genetic-variant-linked-to-odor-perception_63650.shtml Latest Research DURHAM, N.C. – Why the same sweaty man smells pleasant to one person and repellant to another comes down to the smeller’s genes. Sun, 16 Sep 2007 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Genetic-variant-linked-to-odor-perception_63650.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Researchers-find-new-taste-in-fruit-flies-carbonated-water_60392.shtml Latest Research That fruit fly hovering over your kitchen counter may be attracted to more than the bananas that are going brown; it may also want a sip of your carbonated water. Fruit flies detect and are attracted to the taste of carbon dioxide dissolved in water, such as water found on rotting fruits containing yeast, concludes a study appearing in the August 30 issue of the journal Nature. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, who conducted the study, suggest that the ability to taste carbon dioxide may help a fruit fly scout for food that is nutritious over that which is too ripe and potentially toxic. The research is partly funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), one of the National Institutes of Health. Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Researchers-find-new-taste-in-fruit-flies-carbonated-water_60392.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Flies-prefer-fizzy-drinks_60401.shtml Latest Research While you may not catch a fly sipping Perrier, the insect has specialized taste cells for carbonated water that probably encourage it to binge on food with growing microorganisms. Yeast and bacteria both produce carbon dioxide (CO2) when they feast, and CO2 dissolves readily in water to produce seltzer or soda water. Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Flies-prefer-fizzy-drinks_60401.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Mice-use-specialized-neurons-to-detect-carbon-dioxide-in-the-air_58111.shtml Latest Research For mice, carbon dioxide often means danger - too many animals breathing in too small a space or a hungry predator exhaling nearby. Mice have a way of detecting carbon dioxide, and new research from Rockefeller University shows that a special set of olfactory neurons is involved, a finding that may have implications for how predicted increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide may affect animal behavior. The finding is reported in the August 17 issue of the journalScience. Thu, 16 Aug 2007 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Mice-use-specialized-neurons-to-detect-carbon-dioxide-in-the-air_58111.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Sour-taste-make-you-pucker-It-may-be-in-your-genes_51520.shtml Latest Research Philadelphia (June 11, 2007) -- Scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center report that genes play a large role in determining individual differences in sour taste perception. The findings may help researchers identify the still-elusive taste receptor that detects sourness in foods and beverages, just as recent gene studies helped uncover receptors for sweet and bitter taste. Wed, 11 Jul 2007 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Sour-taste-make-you-pucker-It-may-be-in-your-genes_51520.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Difficulty-identifying-odors-may-predict-cognitive-decline_48340.shtml Latest Research Older adults who have difficulty identifying common odors may have a greater risk of developing problems with thinking, learning and memory, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Mon, 02 Jul 2007 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Difficulty-identifying-odors-may-predict-cognitive-decline_48340.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Smelling-for-first-time-results-from-knowing-abnormalities-in-congenital-loss-of-smell_32453.shtml Latest Research New discoveries about the biochemical basis of the majority of cases of the congenital inability to smell any odor, no matter how strong, have enabled their discoverer, Dr. Robert I. Henkin, director of The Taste and Smell Clinic in Washington, DC, to treat such patients, enabling them to smell something for the first time in their lives. Mon, 30 Apr 2007 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Smelling-for-first-time-results-from-knowing-abnormalities-in-congenital-loss-of-smell_32453.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/NIDCD-director-to-be-named-first-recipient-of-Distinguished-Service-Award_31800.shtml Latest Research James F. Battey Jr., M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), one of the National Institutes of Health, will be the first recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS), an international body of scientists that advances understanding of the senses of taste and smell. Researchers are working to learn more about taste and smell because these senses can have a major impact on a person's quality of life, food preferences, diet, and overall health. The newly created award, to be conferred on special occasions, recognizes individuals with a record of outstanding service to the chemical senses research community. Tue, 24 Apr 2007 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/NIDCD-director-to-be-named-first-recipient-of-Distinguished-Service-Award_31800.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/How-learning-influences-smell_30139.shtml Latest Research The smell of an odor is not merely a result of chemical detection but is also influenced by what the smeller learns about the odor. Now, researchers have discovered how such perceptual learning about an odor influences processing of information from the purely olfactory chemical detection system. Wen Li, Jay Gottfried, and colleagues at Northwestern University reported their findings with human subjects in the December 21, 2006, issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press. Wed, 20 Dec 2006 05:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/How-learning-influences-smell_30139.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Sniffers-show-that-humans-can-track-scents-and-that-two-nostrils-are-better-than-one_29900.shtml Latest Research Berkeley -- University of California, Berkeley, graduate student Allen Liu last Friday donned coveralls, a blindfold, earplugs and gloves, then got down on all fours and sniffed out a 33-foot chocolate trail through the grass. Mon, 18 Dec 2006 05:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Sniffers-show-that-humans-can-track-scents-and-that-two-nostrils-are-better-than-one_29900.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Carnegie-Mellon-study-reveals-that-odor-discrimination-is-linked-to-the-timing-at-which-neurons-fire_42236.shtml Latest Research PITTSBURGH -- Timing is everything. For a mouse trying to discriminate between the scent of a tasty treat and the scent of the neighborhood cat, timing could mean life or death. In a striking discovery, Carnegie Mellon University scientists have linked the timing of inhibitory neuron activity to the generation of odor-specific patterns in the brain's olfactory bulb, the area of the brain responsible for distinguishing odors. Tue, 07 Nov 2006 05:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Carnegie-Mellon-study-reveals-that-odor-discrimination-is-linked-to-the-timing-at-which-neurons-fire_42236.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Bitter-taste-identifies-poisons-in-foods_36375.shtml Latest Research Scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center report that bitter taste perception of vegetables is influenced by an interaction between variants of taste genes and the presence of naturally-occurring toxins in a given vegetable. The study appears in the September 19 issue of Current Biology. Mon, 18 Sep 2006 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Bitter-taste-identifies-poisons-in-foods_36375.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Researchers-identify-the-cells-and-receptor-for-sensing-sour-taste_43938.shtml Latest Research In the last seven years, Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher Charles S. Zuker and Nicholas J.P. Ryba at the National Institutes of Health have worked together to identify the cells, receptors and signaling mechanisms for three of the five tastes humans can sense -- sweet, bitter, and umami (the taste of monosodium glutamate). Now, Zuker, Ryba, and their team of researchers have identified the cells and the receptor responsible for sour taste, the primary gateway in all mammals for the detection of spoiled and unripe food sources. Wed, 23 Aug 2006 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Researchers-identify-the-cells-and-receptor-for-sensing-sour-taste_43938.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Location-location-location%21_42434.shtml Latest Research It's a classic upper middle class dilemma: Should we buy a perfect second home in a place that takes hours to get to, or should we settle for something closer but not as nice? In the rodent world, an equivalent decision-making situation might be, Was the food I liked better down this alley or over there? Wed, 16 Aug 2006 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Location-location-location%21_42434.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Quick----what%92s-that-smell_45463.shtml Latest Research Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center have found that taking as little as a hundred milliseconds longer to smell an odor results in more accurate identification of that odor. This seemingly simple observation has important implications regarding how olfactory information is processed by the brain. The findings appear in the August issue of Neuron. Wed, 02 Aug 2006 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Quick----what%92s-that-smell_45463.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Researchers-show-how-brain-decodes-complex-smells_42998.shtml Latest Research In studies in mice, the researchers found that nerve cells in the brain's olfactory bulb -- the first stop for information from the nose -- do not perceive complex scent mixtures as single objects, such as the fragrance of a blooming rose. Instead, these nerve cells, or neurons, detect the host of chemical compounds that comprise a rose's perfume. Smarter sections of the brain's olfactory system then categorize and combine these compounds into a recognizable scent. According to the researchers, it's as if the brain has to listen to each musician's melody to hear a symphony. Fri, 16 Jun 2006 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Researchers-show-how-brain-decodes-complex-smells_42998.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Dr.-McCluskey-receives-top-honor-for-young-taste-researchers_45394.shtml Latest Research Dr. McCluskey received the Ajinomoto Award for Young Investigators in Gustation during the 28th annual meeting of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences April 26-30 in Sarasota. Wed, 26 Apr 2006 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Dr.-McCluskey-receives-top-honor-for-young-taste-researchers_45394.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Sweet-water-taste-paradoxically-predicts-sweet-taste-inhibitors_45464.shtml Latest Research Reporting in an advance online publication in Nature, scientists from the Monell Chemical Senses Center describe how certain artificial sweeteners, including sodium saccharin and acesulfame-K, paradoxically inhibit sweet taste at high concentrations. The researchers further report that taste perception switches back to sweetness when these high concentrations are rinsed from the mouth with water, resulting in the aftertaste experience known as sweet 'water taste.' Sun, 23 Apr 2006 04:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Sweet-water-taste-paradoxically-predicts-sweet-taste-inhibitors_45464.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/taste/Creating_Sugar_Substitutes_by_Understanding_How_Pe_3825_3825.shtml Taste The most important factor in what kind of sweetener people prefer has little to do with how sweet it tastes. Rather, it has more to do with other tastes in the sweetener, such as bitterness or sourness, new research suggests. Wed, 29 Mar 2006 06:22:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/taste/Creating_Sugar_Substitutes_by_Understanding_How_Pe_3825_3825.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Neuroscientists-discover-new-cell-type-that-may-help-brain-maintain-memories-of-smells_42619.shtml Latest Research It was surprising to the researchers that no one had studied these cells before given the references to them in important scientific papers going back for over a hundred years. Wed, 15 Mar 2006 05:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Neuroscientists-discover-new-cell-type-that-may-help-brain-maintain-memories-of-smells_42619.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/taste/Living_taste_cells_produced_outside_the_body_3525_3525.shtml Taste Researchers from the Monell Chemical Senses Center have succeeded in growing mature taste receptor cells outside the body and for the first time have been able to successfully keep the cells alive for a prolonged period of time. The establishment of a viable long-term model opens a range of new opportunities to increase scientists' understanding of the sense of taste and how it functions in nutrition, health and disease. Sat, 25 Feb 2006 10:04:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/taste/Living_taste_cells_produced_outside_the_body_3525_3525.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Living-taste-cells-produced-outside-the-body_45462.shtml Latest Research We have an important new tool to help discover molecules that can enhance or block different kinds of tastes, explains principle investigator Nancy Rawson, PhD, a cellular biologist. In addition, the success of this technique may provide hope for people who have lost their sense of taste due to radiation therapy or tissue damage, who typically lose weight and become malnourished. This system gives us a way to test for drugs that can promote recovery. Thu, 23 Feb 2006 05:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Living-taste-cells-produced-outside-the-body_45462.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/taste/Brain_anticipates_taste_shifts_gears_-_Study_3493_3493.shtml Taste As the prism of our senses, the human brain has ways of refracting sensory input in defiance of reality. This is seen, for example, in the placebo effect, when simple sugar pills or inert salves taken by unwitting subjects are seen to ease pain or have some other beneficial physiological effect. How the brain processes this faked input and prompts the body to respond is largely a mystery of neuroscience. Now, however, scientists have begun to peel back some of the neurological secrets of this remarkable phenomenon and show how the brain can be rewired in anticipation of sensory input to respond in prescribed ways. Writing in the current issue (March 1, 2006) of the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists reports the results of experiments that portray the brain in action as it is duped. Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:22:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/taste/Brain_anticipates_taste_shifts_gears_-_Study_3493_3493.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/taste/Bitter_taste_receptor_gene_and_risk_of_alcoholism_3105_3105.shtml Taste A team of researchers, led by investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has found that a gene variant for a bitter-taste receptor on the tongue is associated with an increased risk for alcohol dependence. The research team studied DNA samples from 262 families, all of which have at least three alcoholic individuals. The families are participating in a national study called the Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). COGA investigators report in the January issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics on the variation in a taste receptor gene on chromosome 7 called TAS2R16. Tue, 10 Jan 2006 15:07:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/taste/Bitter_taste_receptor_gene_and_risk_of_alcoholism_3105_3105.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Where-your-brain-wires-itself-to-like-_35419.shtml Latest Research Now, John O'Doherty and his colleagues have traced where in the reward-processing regions of the brain such associations are developed. They described their findings in an article in the January 5, 2006, issue of Neuron. More broadly than offering insights into food preference, they said, their findings aid understanding of the fundamental neural machinery by which the brain establishes all preference behavior. Wed, 04 Jan 2006 05:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Where-your-brain-wires-itself-to-like-_35419.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/A-spoonful-of-sugar-makes-some-kids-feel-good_45461.shtml Latest Research Now researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center report in the current issue of the journal Pain that the analgesic efficacy of sweet taste is influenced both by how much a child likes sweet taste and by the child's weight status. Thu, 15 Dec 2005 05:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/A-spoonful-of-sugar-makes-some-kids-feel-good_45461.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Salty-taste-preference-linked-to-birth-weight_45465.shtml Latest Research In a paper published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the Monell researchers report that individual differences in salty taste acceptance by two-month old infants are inversely related to birth weight: lighter birth weight infants show greater acceptance of salt-water solutions than do babies who were heavier at birth. Wed, 07 Dec 2005 05:00:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/research/Salty-taste-preference-linked-to-birth-weight_45465.shtml http://www.rxpgnews.com/taste/A_working_aftertaste_hypothesis_certain_tastants_b_2180_2180.shtml Taste It's no secret that George Bush the Elder doesn't like broccoli. That he's not alone is no surprise. But the range of foods that many people won't eat because they are sensitive to "bitter" taste, or, in the case of non-sugar sweeteners, an "unacceptable aftertaste," is longer than you might think. These include spinach, lettuce and for some, even citrus fruits and juices. Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:18:00 PST http://www.rxpgnews.com/taste/A_working_aftertaste_hypothesis_certain_tastants_b_2180_2180.shtml