adhd

Brain maturation in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) lags several years behind that of children with no psychiatric or neurological ailments, according to a new brain-imaging study. http://louisejesheehan.blogspot.com

Developmental delays in ADHD hit a peak of 5 years in regions at the front of the brain's outer layer, or cortex, say psychiatrist Philip Shaw of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md., and his colleagues. http://louisejesheehan.blogspot.com These areas assist in controlling attention and in planning upcoming actions.

Kids with ADHD display the same sequence of brain development as healthy youngsters do, the researchers find. Sensory and motor areas attain maximum thickness first, before a thinning-out process begins. Regions that integrate information from different neural sources then do the same. These findings indicate that ADHD involves a slowing, rather than a derailing, of brain maturation, Shaw argues.

A slight developmental speedup occurs in the motor cortex of children with ADHD, the researchers note. A neural mismatch between an early-maturing motor cortex and a late-maturing frontal cortex might account for the restlessness and fidgety behavior seen in ADHD, they propose.

Shaw's group used magnetic resonance imaging to gauge the thickness of neural tissue at more than 40,000 sites throughout the cortex. The researchers scanned 223 youths with ADHD and 223 typically developing children, whose ages ranged from around 7 to 13 at the study's start.

Among youngsters with ADHD, much of the cortex reached maximum thickness at an average age of 10.5, compared to age 7.5 for the others. Shaw's investigation will appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://louisejesheehan.blogspot.com

adhd

Brain maturation in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) lags several years behind that of children with no psychiatric or neurological ailments, according to a new brain-imaging study. http://louisejesheehan.blogspot.com

Developmental delays in ADHD hit a peak of 5 years in regions at the front of the brain's outer layer, or cortex, say psychiatrist Philip Shaw of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md., and his colleagues. http://louisejesheehan.blogspot.com These areas assist in controlling attention and in planning upcoming actions.

Kids with ADHD display the same sequence of brain development as healthy youngsters do, the researchers find. Sensory and motor areas attain maximum thickness first, before a thinning-out process begins. Regions that integrate information from different neural sources then do the same. These findings indicate that ADHD involves a slowing, rather than a derailing, of brain maturation, Shaw argues.

A slight developmental speedup occurs in the motor cortex of children with ADHD, the researchers note. A neural mismatch between an early-maturing motor cortex and a late-maturing frontal cortex might account for the restlessness and fidgety behavior seen in ADHD, they propose.

Shaw's group used magnetic resonance imaging to gauge the thickness of neural tissue at more than 40,000 sites throughout the cortex. The researchers scanned 223 youths with ADHD and 223 typically developing children, whose ages ranged from around 7 to 13 at the study's start.

Among youngsters with ADHD, much of the cortex reached maximum thickness at an average age of 10.5, compared to age 7.5 for the others. Shaw's investigation will appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://louisejesheehan.blogspot.com

leeds

Call it a happy accident: Phytoplankton in tropical areas of the Atlantic Ocean may be helping to break down greenhouse gases. http://Louis2J2Sheehan2Esquire.US

After analyzing data gathered by airplane and in a lab at Cape Verde, a chain of Atlantic islands not far from West Africa, a team of British researchers was pleased but puzzled to find that ozone in the atmosphere near the islands had decreased 50 percent more than climate modelers had predicted. The reason, they think, is that phytoplankton produce chemicals like bromine monoxide and iodine monoxide that get pulled up into the atmosphere by all the water vapor that evaporates in a hot climate like Cape Verde. Once aloft in the low atmosphere, these chemicals can break apart ozone molecules. Not only that, says Alastair Lewis, of the U.K.’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science, but the byproducts of that first chemical reaction then broke down methane, a much worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, into non-harmful components.

Ozone is three atoms molecules of oxygen, O₃, but some chemicals can break up that trio and steal one oxygen atom, leaving O₂, which is just plain old atmospheric oxygen. That’s how CFCs harm the ozone layer, and why the Montreal Protocol of 1987 phased them out. http://Louis2J2Sheehan2Esquire.US The plankton-produced chemical in this study might be destroying ozone in the same way, Lewis says, but helping us instead of hurting. While ozone high up in the ozone layer protects us from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, ozone in the lower atmosphere is a greenhouse gas contributing to global warming.

The study brings good news, Lewis says, but he wants to keep it in perspective—if the amount of fossil fuel-created nitrogen oxides coming to the Cape Verde area increased slightly, it could offset this greenhouse reduction. But it’s nice to hear some good climate news for a change, however small. And John Plane from the University of Leeds, another study participant, said that ozone destruction over the ocean could be happening in other parts of the world. http://Louis2J2Sheehan2Esquire.US

So this study represents a win and a loss: We still have a long way to go in understanding the working of the atmosphere, but at least somewhere in the world the greenhouse gas concentrations aren’t going up.

street

MAY 15TH.—Clouds, sunshine, and showers.

The tremendous cannonading all day yesterday at Drewry’s Bluff was merely an artillery duel—brought on by the heavy skirmishing of pickets. The batteries filled the air with discordant sounds, and shook the earth with grating vibration. http://louis6j6sheehan.blogspot.comPerhaps 100 on each side were killed and wounded—”not worth the ammunition,” as a member of the government said.

Gen. Lee’s dispatches to the President have been withheld from publication during the last four days. The loss of two trains of commissary stores affords the opportunity to censure Lee; but some think his popularity and power both with the people and the army have inspired the motive.

I saw to-day some of our slightly wounded men from Lee’s army, who were in the fight of Thursday (12th inst.), and they confirm the reports of the heavy loss of the enemy. They say there is no suffering yet for food, and the men are still in good spirits.

Both the Central and the Fredericksburg Roads are repaired, and trains of provisions are now daily sent to Gen. Lee.

The Danville Road was not materially injured; the raiders being repulsed before they could destroy the important bridges. Supplies can come to Petersburg, and may be forwarded by wagons to the Danville Road, and thence to Lynchburg, etc. http://louis6j6sheehan.blogspot.com

Fresh troops are arriving from the South for Beauregard; but he is still withheld from decisive operations.

The Departmental Battalion is still out; the enemy still menacing us from the Chickahominy.

During the last four days correspondence has ceased almost entirely, and the heads of bureaus, captains, majors, lieutenant-colonels, adjutants, quartermasters, and commissaries, have nothing to do. They wander about with hanging heads, ashamed to be safely out of the field—I mean all under 50 years of age—and look like sheep-stealing dogs. Many sought their positions, and still retain them, to keep out of danger. Such cravens are found in all countries, and are perhaps fewer in this than any other. However, most of the population of the city between 17 and 50 are absent from the streets; some few shopkeeping Jews and Italians are imprisoned for refusing to aid in the defense, and some no doubt are hidden.

Most of the able-bodied negro men, both free and slave, have been taken away—in the field as teamsters, or digging on the fortifications. Yet those that remain may sometimes be seen at the street corners looking, some wistfully, some in dread, in the direction of the enemy. There is but little fear of an insurrection, though no doubt the enemy would be welcomed by many of the negroes, both free and slave.

At 1 P.M. to-day a train arrived from Guinea’s Station with 800 of our wounded, in Sunday’s and Thursday’s battles.

The following prices are now paid in this city : boots, $200; coats, $350; pants, $100; shoes, $125; flour, $275 per barrel; meal, $60 to $80 per bushel; bacon, $9 per pound; no beef in market; chickens, $30 per pair; shad, $20; potatoes, $25 per bushel; turnip greens, $1 per peck; white beans, $4 per quart, or $120 per bushel; butter, $15 per pound; lard, same; wood, $50 per cord. What a change a decisive victory—or defeat—would make! http://louis6j6sheehan.blogspot.com