[Am-info] Re: What is teratology?

[Hans Reiser]

Your work is brilliant. Very impressive in every aspect of it that you 
described. I pray you become well-funded.

While I understand it is not your area of research, I find it also 
interesting to consider that you might find ways to enhance learning by 
artificially stimulating alpha wave production.

Hans

PS

I Bcc'd some friends who might find your work of interest (unfortunately 
not they are not funding agents.....)

Glenn T. Livezey, Ph.D. wrote:

>"John J. Urbaniak" <jjurban@attglobal.net> wrote;
>  
>
>>I give up.  What's "Teratology?"
>>    
>>
>"Erick Andrews" <eandrews@star.net> wrote;
>  
>
>>The study of turf wars?  Nope, I don't think so.  See...
>>http://www.teratology.org
>>"The Teratology Society is a multidisciplinary scientific society
>>founded in 1960, the members of which study the causes and
>>biological processes leading to abnormal development and birth
>>defects at the fundamental and clinical level, and appropriate
>>measures for prevention."
>>I guess what I don't understand is...what relationship, if any...
>>do they have to the March Of Dimes.  (http://www.modimes.org)
>>Maybe Dr. Livezey can better explain?
>>Anyways, I hope we're not getting too OT.
>>    
>>
>
>I will give you the short reply to both to both, then the lengthy
>version after, so you can skip on to soemthing mor "on topic" if
>you like.
>(relatively) SHORT VERSIONS:
>As I wrote to John offlist;
>  
>
>>>Teratology is the study of the causes of "birth defects".
>>>      
>>>
>>>From the root word 'terat', greek for 'monster', a layman's appraisal
>>    
>>
>>>of the appearance of the most unfortunate developmental outcomes that
>>>display a distorted morphology (physical structure/appearance). This
>>>is the kind of 'birth defect' most people are familiar with and mean
>>>when they discuss potential "teratogenicity" of a substance present
>>>during prenatal development (drugs - legal/illegal, or environmental
>>>toxins, ingested/absorbed by Mom during her pregnancy). Same thing
>>>for exposure to radiation of one source or another (radioactive
>>>substances, electromagnetic fields - powerlines, microwaves - cell
>>>phones/towers, etc). For most folks, if the baby looks 'normal',
>>>and has the right number and placement of the easily recognizable
>>>parts and peices, its all good.
>>>      
>>>
>To which he replied with questions regarding the long version 
>(see below).
>As to Erik's questions, The Teratology Society (the URL you cite)
>is an association of physicians, scientists, industry representatives
>(chemical, pharmaceutical) and government regulators whose jobs 
>focus on the study and prevention of birth defects in the classical
>sense - ie, morphological or physical defects in fetal development.
>The March of Dimes is a charitable foundation that raises funds for
>research into the causes and prevention of birth defects. MOD also 
>provides information services for professionals and the public, as
>well as support services for families who have members affected by
>some form of developmental disorder. Their focus, historically, has
>also been on the physical malformations most people think of as a
>"birth defect".
>
>THE REST: LENGTHY VERSION:  
>The society to which I belong (used to belong to Teratology as well)
>is a sister organization of the same array of members whose focus is
>on "Birth defects of the mind". We concern ourselves with functional
>deficits. Rather than study overt physical deficits or changes in 
>appearance of tissues, that sometimes involve organ function as well,
>our studies are related to behavior and learning and so are confined
>to changes in the nervous system that most often have no outward
>'signs' or expression in the physical appearance of a being. 
>as I wrote to John............
>  
>
>>>IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW....:
>>>However, my interest is in 'Neurobehavioral Teratology', limited to
>>>"birth defects of the mind", which are purely functional deficits,
>>>often in the absence of a physical malformation. Learning disorders,
>>>behavioral disorders, which I find are abundant after therapeutic
>>>levels of prescription medications taken throughout fetal brain
>>>development, may even be observed after exposure to "safe", even
>>>'recommended' levels of prescription medications, vitamins, and a
>>>variety of 'natural/herbal' remedies, if very specific "windows of
>>>vulnerability" are targeted. Aren't you glad you asked?
>>>      
>>>
>
>see http://nbts.bsbe.umn.edu or http://www.nbts.org
>
>  
>
>>"John J. Urbaniak" returned the volley with;:
>>Sure - never hurts to learn something.
>>Power lines, microwaves, cell phones - are there certified verified links
>>to birth defects?
>>But it seems that quantification of "purely functional defcts" would be
>>pretty difficult.  I imagine that Einstein would have been considered a
>>child with such defects. John
>>    
>>
>
>to which I now reply and amplify........................
>
>Glenn again. I am happiest knowing I shall never stop learning, even
>if it is just what I fail to remember ;-)
>If you really want to know, please let me apologize for producing a
>rather lengthy 'answer'. In my field, the answers are seldom short or
>simple. And we are always looking to improve our 'answers'.
>The study of the effects of such things as powerlines, microwaves (not
>your oven, but the communications towers) and cell phones are indeed
>controversial, but there exists at least sufficent evidence to warrant
>further study. Most people think of studies trying to link proximity to
>power lines or cell phone use with the incidence of focal cancers.
>There is little that I am aware of to support a finding of risk in most
>studies to date. But there is still room for more and better studies.
>
>And indeed, quantification of "purely functional defects" is 'pretty
>difficult'. That's why it is 'the lessor known quantity'. But there are
>ways. My own research, and that of others, relies on quantification
>of brainwave patterns - using PCs to collect and analyze spontaneous
>and evoked neural activity patterns using many of the same methods
>developed by electrical and mechanical engineers to evaluate any
>recorded signal produced by circuits or machines via transducers.
>That's how I came to spend so much time brooding over efficient
>uses for computer resources, and the landmines some people's
>business models placed in my path. - there, a nod to 'on topic'.
>
>As to "Einstein ... considered a child with such defects", you are
>right in that I would expect data collected from a young Einstein
>to perhaps deviate from the norm in some measurable and quantifiable
>way or another, but I can't imagine someone labeling his accelerated 
>development and capacities as 'defective'. But it does happen, and
>we continue to try and educate the public and public schools to avoid
>this. "Genius" is not what I have tried to quantify. Nor even
>"intelligence", too many variables, too many definitions, no agreed
>upon 'standard'. No, what I have tried to do is study measurable and
>quantifiable electrophysiological 'correlates' of some measurable 
>and quantifiable behavioral parameter. For instance, there
>is a kind of alpha (8-13Hz in humans) wave spindle pattern, 
>that appears during quiet wakefulness and sleep onset, that 
>correlates with reduced arousal level, but can also be detected during
>full arousal as a measure of perceived reward when an animal is 
>learning to press a lever for food reward. Under these circumstances
>it is called "Post-reinforcement Synchronization" or PRS, and it
>can be quantified as to magnitude and latency from the rewarded 
>behavior (pressing the lever). The magnitude of this brainwave
>response correlates in a positive manner with learning rate in this
>simple associative learning task in cats. as I said, it occurs in 
>response to the perception of reward, as in - when the cat presses 
>the lever and a small quantity of milk is delivered to a cup along
>side of the lever. Through a tedious series of experiments it
>has been demonstrated that this 'signal' is not an artifact of
>the cats licking the cup, its not an indication of drowsiness
>under the learning or performing circumstances, it is
>dependent upon the recognition of an 'expected' and valued
>reward, and its diminished magnitude and/or delayed onset
>is correlated with a greater training time to learn the task of
>lever pressing for milk reward - in a quantifiable and
>statistically significant manner. This isn't to say we can
>show you the "autism pattern" in a child so diagnosed, not yet
>anyway. But it is my goal to develop an noninvasive diagnostic
>test of the EEG (electroencephalogram) of newborns, that will 
>identify and measure subtle brain damage at birth, that will
>predict the appearance of specific learning or behavioral 
>disorders later in life. So that the right children are attended
>to in the right way so that they may take full advantage of their
>early school years - instead of going unrecognized until they are
>years behind their peers in education and social development.
>
>I will try to finish up this answer by tying this exact measure and
>experiment into "functional defects" and "neurobehavioral
>teratology". You see, I studied that 'alpha burst' in cats
>for my Ph.D. thesis project. First I demonstrated the
>positive correlation between the magnitude of that response
>to reward and the rate at which the animals learned to press
>the lever (and only the lever) for milk reward. Then I wanted
>to prove (read 'test') the hypothesis that this was not merely
>coincidence, but was a genuine causal relationship. To do
>this I theorized that prenatal exposure to Valium (diazepam)
>would result in a diminished number of receptors for that
>drug in the brains of the offspring - a permanent deficit. I
>further theorized that that receptor deficit would produce a
>functional deficit - in the capacity to produce that 'alpha wave'.
>And I raised sufficient numbers of litters of cats to adulthood,
>to measure only the lingering effects of that long past exposure
>to the drug in utero. I used a dose in the middle of the
>therapeutic range to produce - I thought - a subtle but still
>measureable deficit. It worked too well. The animals were
>incapable of learning the task, even after a period of training
>time 6 times longer than the average for untreated animals.
>The animals exibited greatly diminished and delayed alpha
>spindles in response to reward. And after all the behavioral
>tests were finished, we examined their brain tissue and did
>demonstrtate that the receptors for that drug were reduced
>by as much as 50% in some brain regions. But the most
>frightening aspect of those early experiments was this - the
>behavioral disorder/learning deficit that those animals most
>closely resembled was attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
>ADHD, a diagnosis that has been growing in our children
>for the last 30 years - echoing the popularity of that drug
>in terms of millions of prescriptions/thousands of tons of
>pills consumed per year. We treat our ADHD children with drugs
>like Ritilan, that are derivatives of amphetamines - speed.
>And in ADHD its effect is a paradoxical calming. My cats
>could be "normalized" - that is their behavior and brainwaves
>would approximate the untreated controls - by one of two
>treatments; I could give them back the exact dose of Valium
>they experienced before they were born, or amphetamines.
>Remember I said that brainwave pattern was also a part of
>sleep onset? Valium and its chemical cousins are prescribed
>for sleep disorders, especially the type that appears in the
>elderly as a result of "stress" known commonly as aging. My
>later studies showed I could produce chronic stress and a
>model of  "insomnia" with identical measures to the changes
>in sleep patterns with advanced age, and treatable by the
>same drug. In followup studies of rats, I could follow the
>offspring well into "middleage". The chronic stress they
>exhibited eventually weakened their immune systems,
>producing a braod array of cancers and infections at 10
>times the rate and much earlier onset than in the controls.
>
>The general rule for all subsequent studies has been, whatever
>symptom a drug might be used to treat, I can create that
>symptom in an animal model by prenatal exposure to the drug.
>Prenatal anti-anxiety drug, permanent anxiety.
>Prenatal anti-convulsant, increased seizure activity.
>My most recent study was with Prozac. Most people know
>it as an antidepressant, but it is also used for anxiety/panic
>disorders and for many psychological disfunctions that fit under
>the broad term 'obsessive-compulsive' disorders - everything
>from bursts of rage to drug dependency.
>
>I wish I had good news, but I can't find anyone to fund my
>studies into the effects of prenatal Prozac. Not since I showed
>the initial results which indicate that the effects on simple
>behaviors and brainwave patterns vary from increases to
>decreases, and everything in between, depending on the exact
>dose given. This one is simply too complex to get a simple
>answer from two simple tests. But then, there are 17 known
>receptors for the brain transmitter that Prozac acts upon.
>With Valium there were only 2. But think of all the things
>they use Prozac for, and think of the tons of pills sold in ever
>increasing waves since the late 80s. Now we have lots of
>pharmacological cousins (they are all selective serotonin uptake
>inhibitors - SSRIs), but their structural chemistry varies 
>- Prozac, Luvox, Celexa, Zoloft, Paxil - and guess what seems to be 
>the greatest threat from Paxil? Drug dependence. The idea that at 
>least some patients who are treated with Paxil may never be able to 
>quit without a lengthy and perhaps only partially successful 
>weaning program - this from a drug used to treat drug addiction.
>
>Prozac, the original SSRI, has brought in 24 BILLION dollars to
>the Eli Lilly company to date. Do you think they might want to 
>know if their drug was causing harm to our children? I did.
>Silly me. No one wants to admit there might be a problem, because
>no one has a solution - except for litigation.
>You see, we also know that not treating a pregnant woman for her
>convulsions, or her depression, or whatever can result in harm to
>the developing fetal brain. So we are damned if we do and damned
>if we don't UNTIL we do enough research to determine the safest
>approach, possible postnatal treatments, or a whole new treatment
>approach for the mother that will not affect the child. That also
>means years and piles of money.
>
>So, I have to get back to my professional ranting and begging for
>support, so I can get back to my research and development of more
>diagnostic tools for the physicians who work in this field.
>
>I hope the answers you wanted are in there somewhere.
>
>Glenn
>  
>