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OB OY Le VEN? RESEARCH SHOWS HAPPINESS LEADS TO SUCCESS ACUPUNCTURE'S EFFECTS NOT ALL IN THE MIND linical studies suggest that oa” acupuncture can help treat a variety of conditions, but no one is sure exactly how it achieves its effects. Acupuncture can stimulate the release of painkilling endor- phins, but so can pretending to insert an acupuncture needle. George Lewith and colleagues at the University of Southampton, UK, split 14 people who suffer from osteoarthritis into three groups. All had a needle applied to an acupuncture point on the hand. The first group was treated with blunt needles that did not penetrate the skin. The participants were told this was not real acupuncture, and PET scans showed that only brain areas involved in sensing touch lit up. The second group was treated with sham needles that retract into their shaft. This group believed they were receiving real acupuncture, and the scans revealed activi- ty in brain areas that release endorphins. In the third group, proper needles were inserted. Not only did the endorphin areas of the brain light up, but so did another area called the ipsilateral insula which is known to be important in the perception of pain. (Source: New Scientist, 7 May 2005) A“ of researchers has \ come up with a startling finding: it is better to be happy than sad. And that, the team concludes, may put you on the road to success. That finding may seem a tad obvious, but the fact is that a lot of research has pointed in another direction, contending that happiness is the result of a lot of things: success at work, a good marriage, a fit body, a fat bank account. But according to psychologists at three universities, that's back- ward. They conclude that people aren't happy because they are successful, but are successful because they are happy. The researchers combed through 225 studies involving 275,000 people and found that most researchers put the proverbial cart before the horse. Most investigators "assume that success makes people happy". However, they conclude that happy people are easier to work with, more highly motivated and more willing to tackle a difficult project, thus they are more likely to be successful. "What is the hallmark of happiness?" the researchers asked. "Our focus in this arti- cle is on happy individuals—that is, those who experience frequent positive emotions such as joy, interest and pride, and infre- quent (though not absent) negative emo- tions such as sadness, anxiety and anger." Most people who are miserable seem eager to share their misery. "Happy moods appear to lead people to seek out others and to engage with the environment at large, to be more venture- some, more open and more sensitive to other individuals." But there may be a downside. Sometimes, especially when the subject is "chronically happy", co-workers may find all that cheerfulness a bit annoying. (Source: ABC News, December 21, 2005, hitp://abcnews.go.con/Technology/story?id= 1424940) EVIDENCE THAT ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE IS A TYPE OF DIABETES Revers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown Medical School have dis- covered that insulin and its receptors drop significantly in the brain during the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, and that lev- els decline progressively as the disease becomes more severe—further evidence that Alzheimer's is a new type of diabetes. They also found that acetylcholine defi- ciency, a hallmark of the disease, is linked directly to the loss of insulin and insulin- like growth-factor function in the brain. The study, published in the November 2005 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, is the first to look at insulin levels early in the course of the disease. "Insulin disappears early and dramatical- ly in Alzheimer's disease. And many of the unexplained features of Alzheimer's, such as cell death and tangles in the brain, appear to be linked to abnormalities in insulin signaling. This demonstrates that aD €.? Poe rie ; : ao al ber oF PT oF RONMENT 7 Frape peal = Hoan ug —| WOORR = d yogod mr = og on ——— moaeca i is GOT. ee 2 9 i — Vere (eer ar cease 5 |e 7 _ es — Ce? __ se 6 = NEXUS 3 ewer tte www.nexusmagazine.com FEBRUARY — MARCH 2006