Computers Learn Art Appreciation

Daily Science Journal (Nov. 5, 2007) — A new mathematical program developed in the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Haifa will enable computers to "know" if the artwork you are looking at is a Leonardo da Vinci original, as the seller claims, or by another less well known artist. "The field of computer vision is very complex and multifaceted. We hope that our new development is another step forward in this field," said Prof. Daniel Keren who developed the program.

Through this innovation, the researchers "taught" the computer to identify the artworks of different artists. The computer learned to identify the artists after the program turned the drawings of nature, people, flowers and other scenes to a series of mathematical symbols, sines and cosines. After the computer "learns" some of the works of each artist, the program enables the computer to master the individual style of each artist and to identify the artist when looking at other works -- works the computer has never seen.

According to Prof. Keren, the program can identify the works of a specific artist even if they depict different scenes. "As soon as the computer learns to recognize the clock drawings of Dali, it will recognize his other paintings, even without clocks. As soon as the computer learns to recognize the swirls of Van Gogh, it will recognize them in pictures it has never seen before."

This new development is a step forward in the field of computer vision. According to Prof. Keren, this field is still inferior to human vision. "Human vision has undergone evolution of millions of years and our field is only 30 years old. At this stage computers still have difficulty doing things that are very simple for people, for example, recognizing a picture of a human face. A computer has difficulty identifying when a picture is of a human face or how many faces are in a picture. However, computers are very good at simulating and sketching 3 dimensional images like the arteries in the brain or a road network."

At present, the new program can be helpful to someone who appreciates art, but not to a real expert in the field. If you are a novice who paid a hefty price for a picture that the seller claimed is an exact copy of a Da Vinci, the program can tell you if you wasted your money or made a smart purchase.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Haifa.

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World's Most Complex Silicon Phased-array Chip Developed

Daily Science Journal (Nov. 4, 2007) — UC San Diego electrical engineers have developed the world's most complex “phased array” -- or radio frequency integrated circuit. This DARPA-funded advance is expected to find its way into U.S. defense satellite communication and radar systems. In addition, the innovations in this chip design will likely spill over into commercial applications, such as automotive satellite systems for direct broadcast TV, and new methods for high speed wireless data transfer.

The UCSD DARPA Smart Q-Band 4x4 Array Transmitter, the world’s most complex silicon phased array chip. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - San Diego)

“This is the first 16 element phased array chip that can send at 30-50 GHz. The uniformity and low coupling between the elements, the low current consumption and the small size – it is just 3.2 by 2.6 square millimeters – are all unprecedented. As a whole system, there are many many firsts,” said Gabriel Rebeiz, the electrical engineering professor from the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering leading the project.

This chip – the UCSD DARPA Smart Q-Band 4x4 Array Transmitter – is strictly a transmitter. “We are working on a chip that can do a transmit and receive function,” said Rebeiz.

“This compact beamforming chip will enable a breakthrough in size, weight, performance and cost in next-generation phased arrays for millimeter-wave military sensor and communication systems,” DARPA officials wrote in a statement.

“DARPA has funded us to try to get everything on a single silicon chip – which would reduce the cost of phased arrays tremendously. In large quantities, this new chip would cost a few dollars to manufacture. Obviously, this is only the transmitter. You still need the receiver but one can easily build the receiver chip based on the designs available in the transmitter chip. Our work addresses the most costly part of the phased array – the 16:1 divider, phase shifters, amplitude controllers and the uniformity and isolation between channels,” said Rebeiz

The chip also contains all the CMOS digital circuits necessary for complete digital control of the phased array, and was done using the commercial Jazz SBC18HX process. This is a first and greatly reduces the fabrication complexity of the phased array. The chip has been designed for use at the defense satellite communications frequency – the Q-band - which goes from 40 to 50 GHz.

“If you take the same design and move it to the 24 or 60 GHz range, you can use it for commercial terrestrial communications,” said Rebeiz who is also a lead on a separate project, funded by Intel and a UC-Discovery Grant, to create silicon CMOS phased array chips that could be embedded into laptops and serve as high speed data transfer tools.

The Intel project is a collaboration between Rebeiz, Larry Larson and Ian Galton – all electrical engineering professors at the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering. Larson also serves as the chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

“If you wanted to download a large movie file, a base station could find you, zoom onto you, and direct a beam to your receiver chip. This could enable data transfer of hundreds of gigabytes of information very quickly, and without connecting a cable or adhering to the alignment requirements of wireless optical data transfer,” explained Rebeiz who estimated that this kind of system could be available in as little as three years.

Phased Array Background Information

Phased arrays have been around for more than half a century. They are groups of antennas in which the relative phases of the signals that feed them are varied so that the effective radiation pattern of the array is reinforced in a particular direction and suppressed in undesired directions. This property – combined with the fact that radio waves can pass through clouds and most other materials that stymie optical communication systems – has led engineers to use phased arrays for satellite communications, and for detecting incoming airplanes, ships and missiles.

Some phased arrays are larger than highway billboards and the most powerful – used as sophisticated radar, surveillance and communications systems for military aircraft and ships – can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The high cost has prevented significant spread beyond military and high-end satellite communication applications. Engineers are now working to miniaturize them and fully integrate them into silicon-based electronic systems for both military and commercial applications.

The new UCSD chip packs 16 channels into a 3.2 by 2.6 mm² chip. The input signal is divided on-chip into 16 different paths with equal amplitude and phase using an innovative design, and the phase and gain of each of the 16 channels is controlled electronically to direct the antenna pattern (beam) into a specific direction.

By manipulating the phase, you can steer the beam electronically in nanoseconds. With the amplitude, you control the width of the beam, which is critical, for example, when you send information to from one satellite to another but you don’t want the signal to reach any nearby satellites. And with amplitude and phase control, you can synthesize deep nulls in the antenna pattern so as to greatly reduce the effect of interfering signals from neighboring transmitters.

The work was done by two graduate students, Kwang-Jin Koh and Jason May, both at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (ECE) at UCSD. Rebeiz presented the new chip at DARPA TEAM Meeting, August 28-29, 2007 in Chicago, Illinois. Additional details of the chip will be submitted to an academic journal later this year.

Adapted from materials provided by University of California - San Diego.

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Radio Waves Fire Up Nanotubes Embedded In Tumors, Destroying Liver Cancer

Daily Science Journal (Nov. 3, 2007) — Cancer cells treated with carbon nanotubes can be destroyed by non-invasive radio waves that heat up the nanotubes while sparing untreated tissue, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and Rice University has shown in preclinical experiments.

Researchers show that the technique completely destroyed liver cancer tumors in rabbits. There were no side effects noted. However, some healthy liver tissue within 2-5 millimeters of the tumors sustained heat damage due to nanotube leakage from the tumor.

"These are promising, even exciting, preclinical results in this liver cancer model," says senior author Steven Curley, M.D., professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Surgical Oncology. "Our next step is to look at ways to more precisely target the nanotubes so they attach to, and are taken up by, cancer cells while avoiding normal tissue."

Targeting the nanotubes solely to cancer cells is the major challenge in advancing the therapy, Curley says. Research is under way to bind the nanotubes to antibodies, peptides or other agents that in turn target molecules expressed on cancer cells. To complicate matters, most such molecules also are expressed in normal tissue.

Curley estimates that a clinical trial is at least three to four years away.

Curley conducted the research at M. D. Anderson in collaboration with nanotechnology experts at Rice University and with Erie, Pennsylvania, entrepreneur John Kanzius of ThermMed LLC, who invented the experimental radiofrequency generator used in the experiments. Kanzius is a cancer survivor and former radio station owner whose insights into the potential of targeted radio waves inspired this line of research.

At Rice, the work was begun by Nobel laureate Richard Smalley, several months before his untimely death from cancer in October 2005. Smalley was the founder of Rice's Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory and one of the world's foremost experts on carbon nanotubes. He shared the Nobel Prize for the 1985 discovery of fullerenes, the family of carbon molecules that includes nanotubes. His research in 2005 was concentrated largely on the radiofrequency cancer research project.

Rice materials scientist professor Boris Yakobson, Ph.D., a co-author on the paper, recalled meeting with Smalley in his hospital room at M. D. Anderson five days before his death.

"He looked very ill, breathing heavily through the oxygen mask, but all he wanted to do was talk about the physics of this very phenomenon," Yakobson said. "Oblivious of his ebbing health, Rick was focused in the future. He had told Congress in 1999 that nanotechnology would help revolutionize cancer treatment, and he was a scientist wanting to know whether this technology might be one of the things that would make that possible."

In the liver cancer experiment, a solution of single-walled carbon nanotubes was injected directly into the tumors. Four treated rabbits were then exposed to two minutes of radiofrequency treatment, resulting in thermal destruction of their tumors.

Carbon nanotubes are hollow cylinders of pure carbon that measure about a billionth of a meter, or one nanometer, across.

Control group tumors that were treated only by radiofrequency exposure or only by nanotubes were undamaged.

In lab experiments, two lines of liver cancer cells and one pancreatic cancer cell line were destroyed after being incubated with nanotubes and exposed to the radiofrequency field.

"I'm humbled by the results of this research," says Kanzius. "I realize it's early in the race, but Dr. Curley and his team have moved on this carefully with utmost speed. I look forward to continuing to work with them and hopefully to watching the first person be treated with this procedure. The race isn't over but it needs to be taken to the finish line."

Radiofrequency energy fields penetrate deeply into tissue, so it would be possible to deliver heat anywhere in the body if targeted nanotubes or other nanoparticles can be delivered to cancerous cells, Curley says. Without such a target, radio waves will pass harmlessly through the body.

An invasive technique known as radio frequency ablation is used to treat some malignant tumors, the authors note. It requires insertion of needle electrodes directly into the tumors. ncomplete tumor destruction occurs in 5 to 40 percent of cases, normal tissue is damaged and complications arise in 10 percent of patients who suffer such damage. Radiofrequency ablation is limited to liver, kidney, breast, lung and bone cancers.

This research appeared online ahead of December publication in the journal Cancer.

The research was supported by an American Association of Cancer Research Littlefield Grant, NASA and the Houston-based Alliance for NanoHealth, the National Science Foundation, the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology and the Fulbright Foundation.

Co-authors with Curley, Smalley, Kanzius and Yakobson are first authors Christopher J. Gannon, M.D., also of M. D. Anderson's Department of Surgical Oncology, and Paul Cherukuri, Ph.D. of Rice's Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory and Department of Chemistry; Carter Kittrell, Ph.D., R. Bruce Weisman, Ph.D., Matteo Pasquali, Ph.D., and Howard K. Schmidt, Ph.D., all of Rice; and Laurent Cognet, Ph.D., of Rice and the Centre de Physique Moléculaire Optique et Hertzienne, Université Bordeaux, France.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

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High-tech Research Shows Cocaine Changes Proteins And Brain Function

Daily Science Journal (Nov. 02, 2007) — In the first large-scale analysis of proteins in the brains of individuals addicted to cocaine, researchers have uncovered novel proteins and mechanisms that may one day lead to new treatment options to fight addiction.

The results, reported in the current issue of Molecular Psychiatry, released on-line today, show differences in the amounts of 50 proteins and point to profound changes in brain function related to long-term cocaine use, said Scott E. Hemby, Ph.D., of Wake Forest University of Medicine.

The researcher used technology so advanced it was like looking for differences in brain tissue with "floodlights" rather than a "flashlight," he said. Hemby and his colleagues analyzed thousands of proteins from brain tissue obtained from individuals who died of cocaine overdose and compared these "protein profiles" with individuals who died of non-drug related causes.

"The findings provide new insights into the long-term effects and damage that cocaine has on the human brain and will help guide future animal studies to further delineate the biochemical changes that comprise the addicted brain," said Hemby, associate professor of physiology and pharmacology.

The researchers compared the proteome (the entire complement of proteins expressed at a given time) between the two groups by separating all of the proteins and then using high-throughput mass spectrometry which allowed the accurate identifcation of thousands of proteins simultaneously, Hemby said.

The unbiased nature of the technology enables the determination of novel proteins and pathway involved in disease. Using post-mortem brain tissue samples from the Brain Endowment Bank at the University of Miami, the investigators analyzed protein expression in the nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain involved in the addictive effects of drugs, in 10 cocaine-overdose victims and 10 drug-free individuals.

Analysis of thousands of proteins revealed differences between the two groups in the amounts of approximately 50 proteins, most of which correspond to changes in the ability of the brain cells to strenghten their connections and communicate with one another.

Understanding the coordinated involvement of multiple proteins in cocaine abuse provides insight into the molecular basis of the disease and offers new targets for pharmaco-therapeutic intervention for drug-abuse-related disorders, he said.

"These studies are an important and significant step to further our understanding of the vast and long-term consequences of cocaine use and may provide insights into novel targets for medication development," Hemby said.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Co-researchers were Nilesh Tannu, M.B.B.S., M.S., of Wake Forest, and Deborah Mash, Ph.D., of the University of Miami School of Medicine.

Adapted from materials provided by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

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First Fully-functional Radio From A Single Carbon Nanotube Created

Daily Science Journal (Oct. 31, 2007) — Make way for the real nanopod and make room in the Guinness World Records. A team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley have created the first fully functional radio from a single carbon nanotube, which makes it by several orders of magnitude the smallest radio ever made.

This image, taken by a transmission electron microscope, shows a single carbon nanotube protruding from an electrode. This nanotube is less than a micron long and only 10 nanometers wide, or 10,000 times thinner than the width of a single human hair. When a radio wave of a specific frequency impinges on the nanotube, it begins to vibrate vigorously. An electric field applied to the nanotube forces electrons to be emitted from its tip. This electrical current may be used to detect the mechanical vibrations of the nanotube, and thus listen to the radio waves. (The waves shown in this image were added for visual effect, and are not part of the original microscope image.) (Credit: Courtesy Zettl Research Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California at Berkeley)

Wielding a single carbon nanotube 10,000 times smaller than a human hair, this is definitely the smallest radio yet. The nanotube vibrates at radio frequencies to receive the signal, then acts as both amplifier and demodulator. With only a battery and sensitive earphones, it can pick up AM or FM. With such a small receiver or transmitter, you could put a tracking collar on a bacterium.

“A single carbon nanotube molecule serves simultaneously as all essential components of a radio — antenna, tunable band-pass filter, amplifier, and demodulator,” said physicist Alex Zettl, who led the invention of the nanotube radio. “Using carrier waves in the commercially relevant 40-400 MHz range and both frequency and amplitude modulation (FM and AM), we were able to demonstrate successful music and voice reception.”

Given that the nanotube radio essentially assembles itself and can be easily tuned to a desired frequency band after fabrication, Zettl believes that nanoradios will be relatively easy to mass-produce. Potential applications, in addition to incredibly tiny radio receivers, include a new generation of wireless communication devices and monitors. Nanotube radio technology could prove especially valuable for biological and medical applications.

“The entire radio would easily fit inside a living cell, and this small size allows it to safely interact with biological systems,” Zettl said. “One can envision interfaces with brain or muscle functions, or radio-controlled devices moving through the bloodstream.”

It is also possible that the nanotube radio could be implanted in the inner ear as an entirely new and discrete way of transmitting information, or as a radically new method of correcting impaired hearing.

Zettl holds joint appointments with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division (MSD) and the UC Berkeley Physics Department where he is the director of the Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems. In recent years, he and his research group have created an astonishing array of devices out of carbon nanotubes - hollow tubular macromolecules only a few nanometers (billionths of a meter) in diameter and typically less than a micron in length – including sensors, diodes and even a motor. The nanotube radio, however, is the first that – literally – rocks!

“When I was a young kid, I got a transistor radio as a gift and it was the greatest thing I could imagine - music coming from a box I could hold in my hand!” Zettl said. “When we first played our nanoradio, I was just as excited as I was when I first turned on that transistor radio as a kid.”

The carbon nanotube radio consists of an individual carbon nanotube mounted to an electrode in close proximity to a counter-electrode, with a DC voltage source, such as from a battery or a solar cell array, connected to the electrodes for power. The applied DC bias creates a negative electrical charge on the tip of the nanotube, sensitizing it to oscillating electric fields. Both the electrodes and nanotube are contained in vacuum, in a geometrical configuration similar to that of a conventional vacuum tube.

Kenneth Jensen, a graduate student in Zettl’s research group, did the actual design and construction of the radio.

“We started out by making an exceptionally sensitive force sensor,” Jensen said.“Nanotubes are like tiny cat whiskers.Small forces, on the order of attonewtons, cause them to deflect a significant amount.By detecting this deflection, you can infer what force was acting on the nanotube. This incredible sensitivity becomes even greater at the nanotube’s flexural resonance frequency, which falls within the frequencies of radio broadcasts, cell phones and GPS broadcasting. Because of this high resonance frequency, Alex (Zettl) suggested that nanotubes could be used to make a radio.”

Although it has the same essential components, the nanotube radio does not work like a conventional radio. Rather than the entirely electrical operation of a conventional radio, the nanotube radio is in part a mechanical operation, with the nanotube itself serving as both antenna and tuner.

Incoming radio waves interact with the nanotube’s electrically charged tip, causing the nanotube to vibrate. These vibrations are only significant when the frequency of the incoming wave coincides with the nanotube’s flexural resonance frequency, which, like a conventional radio, can be tuned during operation to receive only a pre-selected segment, or channel, of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Amplification and demodulation properties arise from the needle-point geometry of carbon nanotubes, which gives them unique field emission properties. By concentrating the electric field of the DC bias voltage applied across the electrodes, the nanotube radio produces a field-emission current that is sensitive to the nanotube’s mechanical vibrations. Since the field-emission current is generated by the external power source, amplification of the radio signal is possible. Furthermore, since field emission is a non-linear process, it also acts to demodulate an AM or FM radio signal, just like the diode used in traditional radios.

“What we see then is that all four essential components of a radio receiver are compactly and efficiently implemented within the vibrating and field-emitting carbon nanotube,” said Zettl. “This is a totally different approach to making a radio - the exploitation of electro-mechanical movement for multiple functions. In other words, our nanotube radio is a true NEMS (nano-electro-mechanical system) device.”

Because carbon nanotubes are so much smaller than the wavelengths of visible light, they cannot be viewed with even the highest powered optical microscope. Therefore, to observe the critical mechanical motionof their nanotube radio, Zettl and his research team, which in addition to Jensen, also included post-doc Jeff Weldon and graduate student Henry Garcia, mounted their nanotube radio inside a high resolution transmission electron microscope (TEM). A sine-wave carrier radio signal was launched from a nearby transmitting antenna and when the frequencies of the transmitted carrier wave matched the nanotube resonance frequency, radio reception became possible.

“To correlate the mechanical motions of the nanotube to an actual radio receiver operation, we launched an FM radio transmission of the song Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys,” said Zettl. “After being received, filtered, amplified, and demodulated all by the nanotube radio, the emerging signal was further amplified by a current preamplifier, sent to an audio loudspeaker and recorded. The nanotube radio faithfully reproduced the audio signal, and the song was easily recognizable by ear.”

When the researchers deliberately detuned the nanotube radio from the carrier frequency, mechanical vibrations faded and radio reception was lost. A “lock” on a given radio transmission channel could be maintained for many minutes at a time, and it was not necessary to operate the nanotube radio inside a TEM. Using a slightly different configuration, the researchers successfully transmitted and received signals across a distance of several meters.

“The integration of all the electronic components of a radio happened naturally in the nanotube itself,” said Jensen. “Within a few hours of figuring out that our force sensor was in fact a radio, we were playing music!”

Added Zettl, “Our nanotube radio is sophisticated and elegant in the physics of its operation, but sheer simplicity in technical design. Everything about it works perfectly, without additional patches or tricks.”

Berkeley Lab’s Technology Transfer Department is now seeking industrial partners to further develop and commercialize this technology.

A paper on this work is now on-line at the Nano Letters Website. It will also be published in the November 2007 print edition of Nano Letters. The paper is entitled “Nanotube Radio” and the co-authors are Zettl, Jensen, Weldon and Garcia. In that same print edition, there appears a paper by Peter Burke and Chris Rutherglen of UC Irvine, reporting on the use of a carbon nanotube as a demodulator.

The nanotube radio research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and by the National Science Foundation within the Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems.

Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California.

Adapted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

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Women With Breast Cancer Have Less Dermatitis When Treated With IMRT

Daily Science Journal (Oct. 30, 2007) — All women treated with radiation therapy for breast cancer are at risk of developing dermatitis--a sometimes-painful skin condition caused by radiation as it makes its way through the skin to the tumor area and tissue within the breast. But researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center say women being treated with IMRT (intensity-modulated radiation therapy) are less likely to have serious dermatitis.

A reddening of the skin, dermatitis is often likened to a bad sunburn. It can begin in the first weeks of treatment as mild redness, dryness or itching of the skin and progress to a more intense skin reaction by the last week of radiation. When dermatitis is acute and severe, causing peeling, it is can be extremely painful, interfering with normal life activities and sometimes interrupting treatment.

"Dermatitis is a major quality-of-life concern," said Gary Freedman, M.D., a radiation oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center who studies the side effects of breast cancer treatment. "It can be so painful that wearing a bra or snug-fitting clothing isn't possible. In the most severe cases, the skin will actually bleed or be at risk of infection."

Freedman says IMRT can reduce the risk of dermatitis. IMRT allows the radiation to be distributed in more beams across the skin, avoiding the full-on assault of conventional radiation.

In this study, Freedman and his colleagues looked at the records of 804 consecutive patients with early-stage breast cancer. The women were treated with breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy between 2001 and 2006.

In the earlier part of the study period, women were treated with conventional radiation therapy (n=405). Later in the study period, women were primarily treated with IMRT (n=399).

Of those treated with IMRT, 48 percent had grade 0/1 dermatitis and 52 percent had grade 2/3. Of those treated with conventional radiation, 25 percent had grade 0/1 dermatitis and 75 percent had grade 2/3.

"In addition to statistically fewer patients with serious dermatitis, women treated with IMRT who developed dermatitis had it for a shorter time period than those treated with conventional radiation," added Freedman. "These benefits were shown in all patients regardless of breast size."

He concluded, "This study confirms our current practice of recommending IMRT for all patients. The study seeks to provide further evidence for patients, physicians and insurance companies that IMRT should be standard practice."

The research was presented October 28, 2007 at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 49th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

Fox Chase Cancer Center was founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as the nation's first cancer hospital. In 1974, Fox Chase became one of the first institutions designated as a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center. Fox Chase conducts basic, clinical, population and translational research; programs of cancer prevention, detection and treatment; and community outreach. For more information about Fox Chase activities, visit the Center's web site at http://www.fccc.edu or call 1-888-FOX CHASE.

Adapted from materials provided by Fox Chase Cancer Center, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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Kinsey Study Finds Adverse Sexual, Emotional Side Effects Of Birth Control Pills

Daily Science Journal (Oct. 25, 2007) — BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The birth control pill can have significant adverse effects on sexuality and mood in some women, increasing the likelihood of early discontinuation, according to a study by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University. Results of the study will be reported in the July issue of the journal Contraception.

Stephanie Sanders, associate director of the Kinsey Institute and an IU faculty member in gender studies, directed the study of 80 women. The research team included John Bancroft and Jennifer Bass of the Kinsey Institute and Cynthia Graham of the IU Department of Psychology.

Of the women in the study who started on the pill (randomly assigned to either orthocyclen or orthotricyclen), 38 percent were still taking it after one year, 47 percent had stopped, and 14 percent had switched to another pill. The women who stopped or changed to another pill were four times as likely to report adverse sexual, emotional and physical side effects as the women who continued with their oral contraceptive. Some of these effects included decrease in sexual thoughts, less frequent intercourse and negative mood changes.

"It is clear in our results that the women who stopped or changed to another pill had more sexual, emotional and physical side effects than the women who continued with their oral contraceptive," Sanders said.

The authors noted that, despite 40 years of use, there is no way of predicting which women are likely to experience adverse mood or sexuality effects from oral contraceptives, or which oral contraceptive formulations are more likely to be responsible.

"Studies on the male contraceptive pill, still in the developmental phase, have already included evaluation of possible effects on sexuality, but women have not had the benefit of such information in making contraceptive decisions," Sanders said.

The authors called for further research to identify predictors of such adverse effects and to understand the hormonal mechanisms responsible for such effects. In the meantime, they said, women should be fully informed, and clinicians should discuss potential effects of oral contraceptives on sexuality and mood with their patients.

Adapted from materials provided by Indiana University.

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Online Multiplayer Video Games Create Greater Negative Consequences, Elicit Greater Enjoyment than Traditional Ones

Daily Science Journal (Oct. 22, 2007) — Online video games with thousands of simultaneous players, such as “World of Warcraft,” have become hugely popular in the last two decades and are now a multibillion dollar industry with tremendous financial success. Joshua Smyth, associate professor of psychology in The College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University, recently conducted a randomized trial study of college students contrasting the effects of playing online socially interconnected video games with more traditional single-player or arcade-style games.

Playing online multiplayer games had much greater positive and negative effects on people than playing traditional single-player video games, a new study has found. (Credit: iStockphoto/Charles Benavidez)

While both multiplayer and traditional single player video games present a double-edged sword, Smyth’s research found that online, socially integrated multiplayer games create greater negative consequences (decreased health, well-being, sleep, socialization and academic work) but also garner far greater positive results (greater enjoyment in playing, increased interest in continuing play and a rise in the acquisition of new friendships) than do single-player games.

“The most striking result of this study is that playing online multiplayer games had much greater positive and negative effects on people than playing traditional single-player video games,” says Smyth. “Students in the study who played online multiplayer games did so about three times as much as those playing single-player game types, averaging over 14 hours a week.”

In his study, Smyth randomly assigned 100 college student volunteers to play one of four types of video games: traditional, arcade-style games (such as those found in the local mall); console games like the Sony PlayStation; single player computer games; and fantasy-themed persistent online multiplayer games.

Computer networking—linking players from across the world together in a single game—has dramatically changed the nature of video game play from a solitary activity into a large, thriving social experience. Multiplayer online role-play gaming, one type of social gaming, can involve thousands of players in persistent virtual worlds.

All students taking part in the study reported decreased health and sleep and interference with real-life socializing and academic work. In contrast to these costs, participants experienced benefits, most notably by those taking part in online multiplayer game play. Online multiplayer gamers enjoyed their play far more than those assigned to more traditional game types, creating new friendships in their online environments.

“Video game play does interfere in some aspects of real-life — such as academic performance, health and social life — but game play can also foster strong feelings of virtual support and new friendships,” Smyth says.

The study is published in the October 2007 issue of the bimonthly peer-reviewed journal CyberPyschology & Behavior (Vol. 10, No. 5: 717–721).

Adapted from materials provided by Syracuse University, via Newswise.

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Herbal, Nutritional Supplements Linked To Ocular Side Effects

Daily Science Journal (Oct. 22, 2007) — An estimated 42 percent of Americans use herbal medicines or nutritional supplements. Many people taking these products and their physicians are unaware of the adverse reactions they can cause. An Oregon Health & Science University researcher reviewed reported cases of ocular side effects associated with these products. His findings are published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology this month.

The researcher, Frederick W. Fraunfelder, M.D., assistant professor of ophthalmology in the OHSU School of Medicine and the OHSU Casey Eye Institute, found side effects ranging from dry eye to retinal hemorrhages and transient visual loss. Most of the side effects were associated with higher doses and topical application. While none of the reported cases caused permanent damage, many could have if the patient had not discontinued use of the product.

"A large segment of the population uses herbal medicines and nutritional supplements, many times without the treating physician's knowledge," said Fraunfelder, who also is director of the National Registry of Drug-Induced Ocular Side Effects based at the Casey Eye Institute. "These products can cause ocular side effects and clinicians need to recognize these adverse events."

Herbal medicines and nutritional supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as prescription and over-the-counter medications are. The World Health Organization (WHO) published guidelines on the use of herbal medicines in 2004, including recommendations on cultivating, collecting, classification, quality control, storage, labeling and distribution. However, there are no official standards governing the production of herbal medicines in the United States and the potency and purity of these products vary widely.

Fraunfelder reviewed cases of adverse ocular side effects reported to the WHO, the FDA and the National Registry of Drug-Induced Ocular Side Effects, and reviewed world literature for reported instances of adverse ocular side effects caused by herbal medicines and nutritional supplements. Out of 323 reported cases he found eight products associated with clinically significant ocular side effects: ginkgo biloba, Echinacea purpurea, chamomile, licorice, canthaxanthine, Datura, niacin and vitamin A.

One of the best-selling herbal medicines in the United States and worldwide is ginkgo biloba, which is used to treat tinnitus, asthma and tonsillitis among other things. Fraunfelder found two cases of hemorrhaging in the anterior chamber of the eye as well as reports of retinal hemorrhages in patients taking this agent. Ginkgo biloba inhibits platelet aggregation, and should be used with caution in patients taking aspirin because the effects could be amplified. Echinacea purpurea is used to treat colds, coughs, fevers, urinary tract infections, burns and influenza. Reports of eye irritation and conjunctivitis have been associated with its topical use.

Chamomile is used to treat eye disease as well as insomnia, indigestion, migraine headaches, bronchitis, fevers, colds, inflammation and burns. Chamomile tea is used by some topically in and around the eyes to treat styes and runny, irritated eyes. Fraunfelder found reported cases of severe conjunctivitis related to chamomile's topical use.

Licorice is used to treat upper respiratory tract infections, ulcers, appendicitis and constipation. American Indians use licorice to treat inflammatory eye diseases. Fraunfelder found cases of transient vision loss after licorice ingestion, similar to what one might see with an ocular migraine without headache. The side effects appear to be associated with large doses.

Canthaxanthine, a carotenoid used in cosmetics, as a food coloring and to produce an artificial suntan when taken orally, causes deposits of the drug in the retina. The deposits appear to be absorbed over time, but take years to disappear. Visual changes from this nutritional supplement are related to retinal abnormalities detected with visual field testing and electroretinography (a test of retinal function).

Jimson Weed is the most common member of the genus Datura. The dried leaves of this flower are used to treat eye inflammation as well as asthma, bronchitis, influenza and coughs. Fraunfelder found several instances of mydriasis, a prolonged dilation of the pupil.

Niacin can cause some of the most severe ocular reactions of all the products reviewed. Its cholesterol-lowering effects have proved successful in treating cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. It also is used for treatment of schizophrenia, diabetes, arthritis, hypertension, sexual dysfunction and migraine headaches. A comprehensive review of ocular side effects from niacin indicates a possible association with decreased vision, cystoid macular edema (CME), dry eyes, discoloration of the eyelids, eyelid edema and loss of eyebrows and eyelashes, among others. The ocular side effects appear to be dose related, but some instances would require discontinuation of niacin therapy.

Vitamin A is used primarily as an oral dietary supplement for vitamin A deficiency and for treatment of acne. Fraunfelder found reports linking high doses of vitamin A to cases of intracranial hypertension. In the majority of cases this condition resolves when vitamin A is discontinued.

Many herbal medicines interact with prescription medicines, and if the treating physician doesn't know what a patient is taking, it can be detrimental. For example, a patient taking ginkgo biloba plus aspirin or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen, may thin the blood too much, leading to ocular hemorrhage or even intracranial hemorrhage.

"Herbal medicines and nutritional supplements are being used without strong evidence of efficacy or safety. Ocular side effects from these products are often undiagnosed and unreported," said Fraunfelder. "Physicians must remain vigilant in recognizing adverse ocular side effects and inquiring whether a patient is using alternative therapies."

This study was supported in part by a grant from Research to Prevent Blindness.

Adapted from materials provided by Oregon Health & Science University.

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Emergency Contraception Does Not Reduce Unintended Pregnancy Rate

Daily Science Journal (Oct. 20, 2007) — The "morning after pill" may be a good option for individual women in crisis, but advance access to emergency contraception is no antidote for the national problem of unintended pregnancy. Contrary to the fears of critics, the presence of Plan B does not provoke riskier sexual behavior.

According to a new review of studies, women who received an advance supply of birth control pills for emergency contraception had an equal chance of becoming pregnant as women who did not have early access to the pills.

The review draws conclusions from eight studies of more than 6,000 women in the United States, India and China.

Plan B is a well-known brand of emergency contraception pills, but many different types of birth control medication taken at higher doses can prevent pregnancy after sex. Treatment must begin within five days after unprotected sex -- and sooner is better when it comes to EC.

"We had expected that easier access to emergency contraception could help women use the pills more quickly when they needed them, and that in turn -- since EC is a time-relevant medication -- this could help women avoid unintended pregnancy," said lead reviewer Chelsea Polis.

"Our review is really about the effectiveness of advance provision as a strategy to reduce unintended pregnancy at a population level," Polis said. "The review is not about the effectiveness of EC; that is a separate matter."

The review appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates research in all aspects of health care. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing trials on a topic.

In 2001, about half of pregnancies in the United States were unintended, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now, the United States is working to lower the unintended pregnancy rate to 30 percent by 2010. Princeton University demographer James Trussell says easier access to emergency contraception will not slow the rate of unintended pregnancy in the United States.

"For individual women, it is definitely a last chance to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex. But it is not going to have a major population impact because people will never use it enough," he said.

The review found that emergency contraception use was higher among women given an advance supply of the birth control pills, but that increase in use did not translate to a drop in the pregnancy rate.

"Even though advance provision increased use, we don't know if women were using EC at the times when they were at risk for pregnancy, when it was really needed," Polis explains.

"If women aren't going to use Plan B when they are given it for free in a clinical trial and are counseled beforehand about using it every single time they have unprotected sex, then having to go to CVS and having to pay $45 each time -- it isn't going to happen," Trussell said.

Nonetheless, Polis said her review is not an argument against easier access to emergency contraception.

"Women deserve the chance to protect themselves from unintended pregnancy and EC is a safe, effective way to do that. Emergencies like rape, contraceptive failure and unprotected sex occur, and easier access to EC eliminates a medically unwarranted barrier to taking emergency contraception within the recommended timeframe," she said. "So steps like making EC available over the counter are still incredibly important."

When advanced access to emergency contraception was first proposed, critics worried that a medicine cabinet stocked with pills to prevent pregnancy would lead some women to be more promiscuous, have riskier sex or not use condoms.

The Cochrane review counters those concerns. "We found there was absolutely no difference in sexually transmitted infection rates between the two groups. There's absolutely no difference in terms of unprotected sex, condom use or changes in use of other contraceptive methods," Polis said. "So it appears that advance provision of EC has no harmful effects in terms of risky sexual behaviors."

Reference: Polis CB, et al. Advance provision of emergency contraception for pregnancy prevention. (Review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 2.

Adapted from materials provided by Center for the Advancement of Health.

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