MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'gaba'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:49:19 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3724487&cid=t_116725_109_f&fid=38950&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shockmd.com%2F2010%2F07%2F05%2Fgaba-enriched-chocolate-against-stress%2F At first Dr Shock was baffled. Mixing precious chocolate with chemicals? What a waste. Apparently cocoa has about 52 mg of GABA per 100 gram cacao. GABA is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain and it has been shown to have an acute psychological stress-reducing effect in humans and a tranquilizing effect on sleeplessness, depression and autonomic disorder observed during the menopausal or presenile period. Because cacao is mixed with milk, sugar and some other ingredients the quantity if GABA in chocolate is less than in cacao, possibly reducing the stress reducing effects in human. In a recent study, they enriched chocolate with GABA and did a placebo controlled crossover trial to the effect of GABA enriched chocolate on psychological stress. Stress was induced by a arithmet... Dr Shock MD PhD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3724487 Mon, 05 Jul 2010 06:10:15 +0100 3724487 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3012449&cid=t_116725_109_f&fid=35671&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anxietyinsights.info%2Fabstract_effects_of_the_gabareuptake_inhibitor_tiagabine_o.htm Discussion: Whereas tiagabine did not show beneficial effects on clinical symptoms in PD compared to placebo, results of challenge experiments suggest effects of TGB on sensitivity to experimentally induced panic. Source... © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart   New York (Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info) Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3012449 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:33:00 +0100 3012449 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2920263&cid=t_116725_109_f&fid=35671&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anxietyinsights.info%2Fgaba_receptor_shuttle_mediates_fear_onsetextinction.htm Jayne M. Dawkins - Elsevier There are increasingly precise molecular insights into ways that stress exposure leads to fear and through which fear extinction resolves these fear states. Extinction is generally regarded as new inhibitory learning, but where the inhibition originates from remains to be determined. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the primary inhibitory chemical messenger in the brain, seems to be very important to these processes. A new article in the journal Biological Psychiatry examined whether during the extinction of fear learning, GABA receptors may be inserted into the cell surface to reduce the excitability of the amygdala. Researchers inactivated a protein that links GABAA receptors to the cell surface. They found that this protein prevented fear extinction training a... Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2920263 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:01:00 +0100 2920263 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2313430&cid=t_116725_109_f&fid=35671&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anxietyinsights.info%2Fabstract_amino_acid_neurotransmitters_assessed_by_proton_ma.htm Conclusions: Our findings corroborate previous reports of decreased GABA in MDD and provide initial evidence for a distinct neuronal amino acid profile in patients who have failed to respond to several standard antidepressants, possibly indicative of abnormal glutamate/glutamine/ GABA cycling. Given interest in novel antidepressant mechanisms in TRD that selectively target amino acid neurotransmitter function, the translational relevance of these findings awaits further study. Source... © 2009 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. (Source: Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info) Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2313430 Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:30:00 +0100 2313430 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1927899&cid=t_116725_109_f&fid=35671&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anxietyinsights.info%2Fprimary_insomnia_linked_to_a_neurochemical_abnormality.htm Study the first to show a specific neurochemical difference in the brains of adults with primary insomnia A study in the Nov. 1 issue of the journal Sleep is the first demonstration of a specific neurochemical abnormality in adults with primary insomnia, providing greater insight to the limited understanding of the condition's pathology. Results indicate that gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the most common inhibitory transmitter in the brain, is reduced by nearly 30 percent in individuals who have been suffering from primary insomnia for more than six months. These findings suggest that primary insomnia is a manifestation of a neurobiological state of hyperarousal, which is present during both waking and sleep at physiological and cognitive levels. "GABA is reduced in the brain of individu... Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1927899 Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:19:00 +0100 1927899 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1112716&cid=t_116725_109_f&fid=35671&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anxietyinsights.info%2Fquack_busting__ill_have_what_shes_having.htm We all want to be stronger, fitter, leaner, brainier, more flexible and well balanced. But can a mass-produced, laboratory-enhanced diet improve on meat, veg and blueberries. Welcome to the superfoods of the future. Special report by Alex Renton I started writing this four days before the deadline for my wife's MSc dissertation. She was working against the clock to pull together and polish 15,000 words of terrifyingly complex analysis of trends in social policy on immigrants. So I gave her some chocolate. Not just any chocolate, mind, but GABA-enriched anti-stress chocolate. GABA chocolate is only on sale in Japan. On the packet it says (in Japanese) 'Mental Balance Chocolate. For your struggle in a stressful society'. The confectionery company Glico launched GABA in 2004 and now sells US$... Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1112716 Sat, 22 Dec 2007 07:42:00 +0100 1112716 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1085954&cid=t_116725_109_f&fid=35671&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anxietyinsights.info%2Fnicotine_boosts_production_of_gaba_neurotransmitter_in_the_b.htm There is a clear link between GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid) - a neurotransmitter of the central nervous system that inhibits neurons in the brain - and nicotine dependence, according to a study presented at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) annual meeting. Researchers discovered that nicotine has significant effects on brain GABA, a finding which could potentially help curb the pleasurable effects of nicotine and help people break their addiction to it. "We found that GABA may provide a very useful target for nicotine addiction therapies," said Graeme Mason, Ph.D., associate professor in the Magnetic Resonance Research Center in the Departments of Diagnostic Radiology and Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and an ACNP member. "GABA is just one of a compl... Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1085954 Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:06:00 +0100 1085954 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1028286&cid=t_116725_109_f&fid=35671&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anxietyinsights.info%2Femotional_effects_of_social_isolation_traced_to_brain_hormon.htm The anxiety and aggression that result from social isolation have been traced to altered levels of an enzyme that controls production of a brain hormone. The study, done in mice by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Medicine, is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We use this animal model for human stress because social isolation in both animals and humans can be responsible for a range of psychological effects, including anxiety, aggression and memory impairment," said Dr. Erminio Costa, director of the UIC Psychiatric Institute, professor of biochemistry and one of the authors of the study. Previous studies had suggested that the neural pathways that underlie aggression, anxiety and fear include activation of specific types... Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1028286 Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:13:00 +0100 1028286 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=968437&cid=t_116725_109_f&fid=35671&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anxietyinsights.info%2Fabstract__pregabalin_its_efficacy_safety_and_tolerability.htm Drugs Today (Barc). 2007 Sep;43(9):601-10 Pregabalin: Its efficacy, safety and tolerability profile in generalized anxiety. Owen RT.Medical Information Department, Prous Science, Barcelona, Spain. Pregabalin is a structural analogue of gammaaminobutyric acid (GABA), one of the key inhibitory neurotransmitters in the brain. Its mode of action is believed to be mediated by the alpha-2-delta-1 subunit protein of voltage-gated calcium channels to bring about its anxiolytic, anticonvulsant and antinociceptive effects. Pregabalin has linear pharmacokinetics, undergoes minimal metabolism and is excreted largely unchanged. It has a mean elimination half-life of 6.3 hours. Pregabalin's anxiolytic activity in generalized anxiety disorder has been demonstrated in seven acute randomized, doubleblind, ... Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=968437 Mon, 22 Oct 2007 06:38:00 +0100 968437 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=781612&cid=t_116725_109_f&fid=35671&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anxietyinsights.info%2Fabstract__reduced_gabaa_benzodiazepine_receptor_binding_i.htm The objective of the present study was to assess differences in the benzodiazepine-GABAA receptor complex in veterans with and without PTSD using [11C]flumazenil and positron emission tomography (PET). Nine drug naive male Dutch veterans with deployment related PTSD and seven male Dutch veterans without PTSD were recruited, and matched for age, region and year of deployment. Each subject received a [11C]flumazenil PET scan and a structural magnetic resonance imaging scan. Dynamic 3D PET scans with a total duration of 60 min were acquired, and binding in template based and manually defined regions of interest (ROI) was quantified using validated plasma input and reference tissue models. In addition, parametric binding potential images were compared on a voxel-by-voxel basis using statistica... Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=781612 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:17:00 +0100 781612 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=734872&cid=t_116725_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F133711189%2F An article in the July 13th Science magazine notes that Autism’s Cause May Reside in Abnormalities at the Synapse: New genetic evidence is leading researchers to home in on the cleft separating neurons as the site where the disorder may originate. (The full text is available via subscription.) Huda Zoghbi, a pediatric neurologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, first proposed that the origins of autism are at the synapse in 2003. Synapses are “junctions across which neurons communicate” and are essential for “virtually all brain function”—memory, sensory perception, motor coordination, learning. Zoghbi’s hypothesis rested on research done by a group led by Thomas Bougeron of the Pasteur Institute in Paris that found mutations in prot... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=734872 Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:23:00 +0100 734872 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=711964&cid=t_116725_109_f&fid=35671&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anxietyinsights.info%2Fabstract_reduced_947aminobutyric_acid_a8211benzodiaz.htm Conclusions: A previous smaller study with the same ligand reported a probable binding abnormality in the right insula. Because γ-aminobutyric acid is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain and because benzodiazepines facilitate this effect of γ-aminobutyric acid, decreased benzodiazepine binding is consistent with localized brain activation (ie, loss of inhibition). Because the insula is strongly involved in visceral-somatic afferent and efferent function, activation of the insula is consistent with the occurrence of the physical symptoms prominently associated with panic disorder. Source... Note:  γ-Aminobutyric Acid is also known as Gamma-AminoButyric Acid (GABA). 'Binding sites' are also called receptors.  'γ-Aminobutyric AcidA-Benzodiazepine Bi... Latest entries from www.anxietyinsights.info blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=711964 Tue, 03 Jul 2007 08:42:00 +0100 711964