Drugs may boost your brain power

有草木

punting 溅出的水花儿：                         Drugs may boost your brain power
         
          By Pallab Ghosh
          BBC News, Science correspondent
         
          The government is assessing the impact of a new generation of drugs that are claimed to make people more intelligent.
         
          The Department of Health has asked the Academy of Medical Sciences to assess these so-called cognition enhancing drugs, some of which are already being widely used in the US.
         
          In the 1960s the self styled guru, Dr Timothy Leary, urged American youth to tune in, turn on and drop out.
         
          Now a new generation of so-called designer drugs are becoming available.
         
          But instead of fuelling a new drop-out culture, they are being used by people who think they will help them do better at school and work.
         
          One of these drugs, Modafinil, was developed to treat people who involuntarily fall asleep.
         
          Dramatic effect
         
          Dr Danielle Turner, of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Cambridge University, tested the drug out on 60 healthy volunteers.
         
            
          If, in the future, there are cognition tablets for exams and I wasn%26;t happy for my children to take them, would I be disadvantaging them against those children that actually take them?
          Respondent to Academy of Medical Sciences study
         
          It did not just keep them awake. She found that the effects on their brains were much more dramatic.
         
          We tested them two hours after they had taken a single dose of Modafinil and found quite strong improvements in performance, particularly when things got difficult, she said.
         
          That was interesting - as problems got harder, their performance seemed to improve. With Modafinil they seemed to think a bit longer and they were more accurate.
         
          Bjorn Stenger was one of the volunteers in Dr Turner%26;s study. He told us how the drug affected him.
         
          During the test I felt very alert and I could focus very well on the problems at hand.
         
          I had no problems memorising rows of numbers. I felt pretty much that I was on top of my game.
         
          Student use
         
          Modafinil is in common use in the US, officially for treating sleeping disorders.
         
            
          In the future do you want one of those dictatorial type states where we have to take drugs to get better and faster to work longer hours?
          Respondent to Academy of Medical Sciences study
         
          But according to internet chat rooms, it is also widely used by students and busy professionals to give their brains a boost.
         
          The drug is among a new class of cognition enhancing drugs. Professor Gary Lynch, from the University of California, Irvine, helped invent another class called Ampakines.
         
          Professor Lynch designed them specifically to increase memory and cognition.
         
          And he claims that animal experiments suggest that the drug enables the brain to rewire itself or make neural connections between different regions that normally people cannot make.
         
          This rewiring, he claims, may enable people to build thoughts that are a little bit beyond the normal brain.
         
          So what thoughts are these?
         
          One would hope that what we are seeing with the Einsteins and Leonardos is that perhaps they are able to get into a space that we think of genius, he said.
         
          But is the public ready for genius pills?
         
          Potential impact
         
          The UK Government is sufficiently concerned about them to have asked an expert group to assess their impact on medicine and their potential social impact.
         
          The Academy of Medical Sciences expert group has held workshops across Britain to find out the public%26;s views.
         
          It found some real concerns - quite apart from the long-term adverse health impact - these drugs could have.
         
          One woman commented: If, in the future, there are cognition tablets for exams and I wasn%26;t happy for my children to take them, would I be disadvantaging them against those children that actually take them?
         
          Another comment was: Who knows where we are going? In the future do you want one of those dictatorial type states where we have to take drugs to get better and faster to work longer hours?
         
          The Academy%26;s report is due out later this year.
         
          It is to help government assess whether or not these new drugs could - or even should - be used to enhance people%26;s abilities.
         
          Or do they pose a new and dangerous hazard to our society?
         
          ==========================
          The paper is from BBC News with the following link:
         
          http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6558871.stm



                                >>>                        2007-04-17 03:36  

                        
wonder 溅出的水花儿：                         确实是令人吃惊的消息，谢谢提供！
         
          给不习惯看英文的水滴提供一个少许校正的google翻译概要：
         
                     药物可以刺激您脑力的－－BBC新闻
         
          政府正在评估一项新生成的药物。卫生署声称为使人们更聪明. 已要求医学科学院的评估,这些所谓的认知提高的药品 其中一些已被广泛使用于美国.
         
          药品可以帮助人们在学校和工作中做得更好. 比如药品“莫达”用于治疗人的不由自主入梦.
         
          剑桥大学临床神经科学系的Danielle Turner博士测试了药物莫达对60名健康志愿者的影响. 在服药后两小时的时间内, 药物明显改善了被试者的任务成绩，任务越困难这种改善越明显。
         
          动物实验表明,该药物可使脑自身发生神经重连或连接一般情况下无法连接的脑区. 由此使人们产生正常脑无法产生的思想和脑力。
         
          但是市民们预备好接受这种“聪明丸”了吗？英国政府要求一个专家小组评估其潜在的社会影响. 该医学科学院的专家小组已举行了研讨会,在英国寻求公众的意见. 评估发现，除了对此种药物对长期健康的不利影响的关注之外,公众有更多其它的担心。一名妇女说:假如在未来的考试中,我不乐意让我的孩子们实用这些药品，会不会使他们在与那些使用了药物的孩子的竞争中处于不利地位？另一种意见是:谁知道我们将走向何方? 在将来你想那些独裁型的国家迫使人们采取药物以更好更快地工作更长的时间吗?
         
          医学科学院的正式报告将于今年年底做出。
         
          以上内容来来自英国广播公司新闻:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6558871.stm





                                >>>                        2007-04-17 05:55  

                        
云淡风轻 溅出的水花儿：                         punting发的文章，崇拜一下

                                                >>>                        2007-04-18 14:51  

                        
punting 溅出的水花儿：                         I feel flattered! Thank you very much!
         
          I found it by chance and just post it here. To be frank, I personally doubt the true of the drugs since many research groups received funding for the drug companies and they might not be just.

                                >>>                        2007-04-19 03:03  

                        
wonder 溅出的水花儿：                         yeh, money, that%26;s the problem for all scientists, and students...

                                >>>                        2007-04-19 03:20
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