Behavioral & Neuroscience Law Committee (BNLC)

News and Research Blurb

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Please enjoy Februarys edition of the BNLC blurb! Feel free to email me your suggestions for the
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Paul-Michael Lowey

Eric Y. Drogin, J.D., Ph.D., ABPP Kate Mayer Mangan, J.D.

BNLC Co-Chair BNLC Co-Chair
Harvard Medical School Donocle
Boston, MA San Diego, CA
339.200.9131 kate@donocle.com
eyd@drogin.net
edrogin@bidmc.harvard.edu

Jana Robinson, J.D., M.A. Carol Williams, LL.B.

BNLC Vice Chair BNLC Vice Chair
Family Division, NJ Superior Court Aberystwyth University
Trenton, NJ Aberystwyth, Wales
janet.robinson@icloud.com cas55@aber.ac.uk

Paul-Michael R. Lowey
Editor, BNLC News and Research Blurb
William & Mary Law School, 2017
Williamsburg, VA
prlowey@email.wm.edu

BNLC BlurbFebruary 2017 Page 1 of 6

Decision-Making & Responsibility

Here's How Parasites Could Be Influencing the Way You Think. SCIENCE ALERT. When we learned how to
farm and select strains of crops that grew best in certain environments, we sometimes made a
surplus that could be stored for the future. This brought wild mice and rats and with them cats and a
hidden danger: the protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. This parasite cannot complete its lifecycle
in humans, but we can be infected by it through coming into contact with cat feces (or eating
uncooked meat). T. gondii does strange things to rats and mice to make sure they come into contact
with cats. They lose their inhibition of cats and cat urine. They become more exploratory and spend
more time in daylight. But even stranger things happen when humans inadvertently come into
contact with T. gondii. Men are more likely to be in car crashes due to riskier behavior. They also are
more aggressive and more jealous. Women, meanwhile, are more likely to commit suicide. It has
even been suggested that T. gondii could potentially be involved in dementia, bipolar disorder,
obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism. So how does this tiny organism cause such extreme
reactions? The full answer is still to be discovered but there are tantalizing results that show it
influences the levels of neurotransmitters such as dopamine. Cysts are found throughout the
infected brain in clumps or individually in specific places such as the amygdala, which has been
shown to control fear response in rats. Primarily, dopamine levels are high in infected mice, and
their T. gondii-related behavior can be reduced if the antagonist of dopamine (haloperidol) is
administered. (February 9, 2017).
http://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-how-parasites-could-be-changing-the-way-you-think

Flipping A Switch In The Brain Turns Lab Rodents Into Killer Mice. NPR. By activating two sets of
neurons in the amygdala, scientists were able to turn mice into aggressive predators. The researchers
identified two sets of neurons in the amygdala, the part of the brain associated with the fight-or-
flight response. Previous research found that the one set of neurons became active when a mouse
was pursuing a prey, and the other became active when the animal was biting and killing. In this
study, the researchers used optogenetics, a technique that allows researchers to activate brain cells
using a laser, to activate those select circuits. When we stimulate [both sets of] neurons it is as if
there is a prey in front of the animal, Ivan de Araujo, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale
University. Activating the neurons even caused the mice to attack inanimate objects, including sticks,
bottle caps and an insect-like toy. (January 25, 2017).
https://tinyurl.com/znwt3uw

The Science of Preventing Dangerous Psychopathy. PSYCHCENTRAL. What makes someone a psychopath?
Nature or nurture? And can we stop at risk children from growing up into dangerous adult
psychopaths? Although psychopaths display unpleasant characteristics, such as egocentric identity,
lack of empathy, manipulativeness, not all psychopaths are dangerous or criminals. In a recent study,
Dr. Catherine Tuvblad of the University of Southern California has tried to identify whether
genetics or the environment are responsible for the development of the personality disorder. In the
study, 780 pairs of twins and their caregivers filled out a questionnaire that allowed for measuring
features of child psychopathy at ages 910, 1113, 1415, and 1618. The researchers found that
genetics were the predominant cause of the psychopathic personality features for all age groups, but
the environment played a greater role as the participants grew older. The analysis also revealed that
there may be a key turning point in the development of psychopathy during the age range studied.
The authors considered this turning point to be caused by the onset of puberty, when gene-
environment interactions that are highly significant in inhibiting or promoting the development of
psychopathy are at play. (January 21, 2017).
BNLC BlurbFebruary 2017 Page 2 of 6
https://tinyurl.com/goh3pdl

Mental Illness & Treatment

Mental Illness And Heart Disease Are Often Found In The Same Patients. WASHINGTON POST.
Cardiovascular disease and mental illness are among the top contributors to death and disability in
the United States. At first glance, these health conditions seem to lie at opposite ends of the medical
spectrum. Yet researchers are discovering some surprising ties between cardiac health and mental
health. Studies have found that between 17 and 44% of patients with coronary artery disease also
have major depression. According to the American Heart Association, people hospitalized for a
heart attack are roughly three times as likely as the general population to experience depression. As
many as 40% of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery suffer from depression. The
issue has become so prominent that the American Heart Association and the American Psychiatric
Association have recommended routine screening of heart disease patients for depressive symptoms.
And depression is not the only mental health issue related to heart disease. Researchers are
discovering similar links between cardiovascular disease and other mental health conditions such as
anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. (February 18, 2017).
https://tinyurl.com/zere2ok

Americans Just Broke the Psychologists Stress Record. BLOOMBERG. For 10 years, the APA has been
running its "Stress in America" survey, usually finding that stress is caused by three primary
factorsmoney, work, and the economy. Those factors clearly play a role in the current national
mood. Younger Americans are worried about college debt, older ones about retirement, and
everyone, it seems, about the economic prospects of the next generation. In the study, respondents
with incomes below $50,000 reported higher stress levels than those with higher incomes. Still, over
the course of the decade, the psychologists found that stress in American life, on the whole, has
been gradually decreasing. Then came the election. This year, the group added some election-related
questions to its annual poll, conducted in August, and released the results in October. At 52%, more
than half of Americans, both Democrats and Republicans were anxious about the vote. At 57%,
more than half of respondents said the current political climate was a very or somewhat significant
source of stress. (February 17, 2017).
https://tinyurl.com/gma5zrl

How Community Mental Health Care Can Make a Major Difference. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. In the
twentieth century, the deinstitutionalization of mental health care took patients out of long-term
psychiatric facilities with the aim that they might return to the community and lead more fulfilling
lives. But in our rush to shut down Americas asylums, we failed to set up adequate outpatient
services for the mentally ill, who now often fend for themselves on the streets or behind bars.
Court-ordered care for patients with severe mental illness, known as assisted outpatient treatment
(AOT), is spreading nationwide. In December, President Obama signed into law the landmark 21st
Century Cures Act, bipartisan legislation that bolsters funding for medical research and reshapes
approval processes for drugs and medical devices. The law supports a number of mental health
reforms, including millions in federal incentives for states to develop AOT. Studies in multiple
states, including North Carolina, Florida, and Iowa, have shown promising results from AOT. In
New York, a pioneering state in this regard, research on over 3,000 patients found that
hospitalizations fell by 77% and homelessness decreased by 74% among those who received these
services. Critics argue that AOT infringes on patients rights and harkens back to the days of
asylums. (January 24, 2017).
BNLC BlurbFebruary 2017 Page 3 of 6
https://tinyurl.com/zs76e86

Mindfulness Meditation Training Lowers Biomarkers Of Stress Response In Anxiety Disorder. SCIENCE DAILY.
Mindfulness meditation is an increasingly popular treatment for anxiety, but testing its effectiveness
in a convincing way has been difficult. Now a rigorously designed, NIH-sponsored clinical trial led
by a Georgetown University Medical Center researcher has found objective physiological evidence
that mindfulness meditation combats anxiety. The researchers found that anxiety disorder patients
had sharply reduced stress-hormone and inflammatory responses to a stressful situation after taking
a mindfulness meditation course -- whereas patients who took a non-meditation stress management
course had worsened responses. Many prior tests of meditation-based therapies have compared a
meditation group to an untreated control group. Because participants in such studies are not
blinded -- they know if they are getting treatment or not -- they are likely to be influenced by the
placebo effect and other forms of expectancy bias. In this study, participants would have had little or
no expectancy bias, because they were all assigned to a treatment, and were not told which was the
treatment of interest to the researchers. Before and after the training course, participants underwent
the Trier Social Stress Test, a standard experimental technique for inducing a stress response, in
which the participants are asked at short notice to give a speech before an audience, and are given
other anxiety-inducing instructions. (January 24, 2017).
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170124111354.htm

Neuropharmacology

Insecticides Bind Melatonin Receptors, Altering Circadian Rhythms. TECHNOLOGY NETWORKS. Synthetic
chemicals commonly found in insecticides and garden products bind to the receptors that govern
our biological clocks, University of Buffalo researchers have found. The research suggests that
exposure to these insecticides adversely affects melatonin receptor signaling, creating a higher risk
for metabolic diseases such as diabetes. The current research focuses on two chemicals: carbaryl, the
third most widely used insecticide in the U.S. but which is illegal in several countries, and
carbofuran, the most toxic carbamate insecticide, which has been banned for applications on food
crops for human consumption since 2009. It is still used in many countries, including Mexico, and
traces persist in food, plants and wildlife. The results suggest there is a need to assess environmental
chemicals for their ability to disrupt circadian activity, something that is not currently being
considered by federal regulators. (February 21, 2017).
https://tinyurl.com/zr4knn4

LSD Study Reveals Why Acid Trips Last So Long. THE GUARDIAN. A new study is the first to
demonstrate precisely how the compound lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) attaches to serotonin
receptors in the brain. The images reveal that once the LSD compound latches on, part of the
serotonin receptor folds down over it like a dustbin lid, meaning that it is held tightly in place
allowing the drug to linger in the brain for up to 12 hours. The study, published in Cell, also found
that eventually brain cells respond to the attached molecule by sucking the receptor inwards, like a
tortoise pulling its head into its shell, at which point the LSD is broken down. In future, the findings
could help chemists produce shorter-acting versions of the drug that may be more suited to clinical
use for anxiety or posttraumatic stress disorder. (January 26, 2017).
https://tinyurl.com/h5va9fx

BNLC BlurbFebruary 2017 Page 4 of 6

NFLPA Composing Proposal For Less Punitive Approach To Marijuana Use. WASHINGTON POST. Leaders
of the NFL Players Association are preparing a proposal that would amend the sports drug policies
to take a less punitive approach to dealing with recreational marijuana use by players, according to
the unions executive director, DeMaurice Smith. Under current policy, the first violation results in
referral to the substance abuse program; the second violation is a fine equivalent to two game checks
for the player; the third violation is a fine equivalent to four game checks; the fourth violation results
in a four-game suspension without pay; the fifth violation results in a ten-game suspension without
pay; and the sixth results in one-year ban from the NFL. Smith cautions that more research is
necessary to determine the root cause of marijuana use. Perhaps, players are using marijuana for pain
management, and some may be smoking to relieve symptoms of chronic depression. (January 25,
2017).
https://tinyurl.com/hz6al5a

Neurodegenerative Disorders

New DNA-Like Drugs Show Promise in Treating Alzheimers. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. A growing body of
research has traced the roots of Alzheimers disease to the deposition of a protein called tau
throughout the brain. To date, however, targeting the rogue protein to treat dementia has produced
mixed results, with a promising anti-tau compound recently failing in a late-stage clinical trial. Yet a
new study hints that a twist on this established strategy could yield better results. The findings,
reported in Science Translational Medicine, suggest compounds called antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs)
may not only reduce levels of existing tau but also prevent its formation. ASOs are modified DNA-
like molecules designed to recognize and cleave specific RNA sequences thereby preventing them
from directing production of a certain protein. The class of drugs is showing promise in treating an
array of conditions, including a number of brain disorders: one ASO was approved last year for
treating spinal muscular atrophy, a devastating disorder of infancy; others are under investigation for
ALS and Huntingtons disease. The authors of the new study found ASOs prevented cognitive
problems in a mouse model of tau brain disorders, or tauopathies, which include not only
Alzheimers but also rarer brain disorders such as progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal
ganglionic degeneration. Advancing a step closer to relevance in humans, the researchers further
demonstrated tau-targeted ASO treatment reduces tau protein levels in monkeys. (January 27, 2017).
https://tinyurl.com/z5q8llk

The Polluted Brain. SCIENCE MAGAZINE. The link between air pollution and dementia remains
controversialeven its proponents warn that more research is needed to confirm a causal
connection and work out just how the particles might enter the brain and make mischief there. But a
growing number of epidemiological studies from around the world, new findings from animal
models and human brain imaging studies, and increasingly sophisticated techniques for modeling
PM2.5 (particulate matter) exposures have raised alarms. In an 11-year epidemiological study to be
published in Translational Psychiatry, USC researchers reported that living in places with PM2.5
exposures higher than the EPAs standard of 12 g/m3 nearly doubled dementia risk in older
women. If the finding holds up in the general population, air pollution could account for roughly
21% of dementia cases worldwide, says the studys senior author, epidemiologist Jiu-Chiuan Chen of
the Keck School of Medicine at USC. A research team led by Gnter Oberdrster at the University
of Rochester in New York has used traceable, radioactive specks of elemental carbon to
demonstrate that inhaled particles smaller than 200 nanometers can get through the delicate tissues
lining a rodents nasal cavities, travel along neurons, and spread as far as the cerebellum, at the back
of the brain, triggering an inflammatory reaction. (January 26, 2017).
BNLC BlurbFebruary 2017 Page 5 of 6
https://tinyurl.com/j9mclkg

Neuroscientific Research & Technology

Gene-Edited Animals Face U.S. Regulatory Crackdown. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. Researchers transforming
animals with the latest genome-engineering tools may be disappointed by draft rules released by the
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 18 two days before US President Barack
Obama leaves office. It is not clear how the administration of incoming president Donald Trump
will carry the proposals forward, however. Many researchers had hoped that the FDA would be less
stringent about evaluating organisms whose genomes have been edited with precise tools such as
CRISPR and a separate technique called TALENs than it is for animals that have been given
DNA from different species or created using less-sophisticated means. Alison van Eenennaam, an
animal geneticist at the University of California, Davis, calls the draft FDA proposals insane.
Some scientists, including van Eenennaam, are afraid that the proposed rules would prompt
businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations, to abandon development of genetically
engineered animals. Others welcomed the Obama administrations last-minute overture. The public
is leery of genetic engineering of animals, in particular, says Jennifer Kuzma, a social scientist at
North Carolina State University in Raleigh. With gene editing we do see off-target effects, so it is
wise on the part of the FDA to include all of these organisms in the near term while they build up
data. (January 20, 2017).
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gene-edited-animals-face-u-s-regulatory-crackdown/

Psychologys Favorite Tool For Measuring Racism Isnt Up To The Job. NEW YORK MAGAZINE. Since the
IAT was first introduced almost twenty years ago, its architects, as well as the countless researchers
and commentators who have enthusiastically embraced it, have offered it as a way to reveal to test-
takers what amounts to a deep, dark secret about who they are: They may not feel racist, but in fact,
the test shows that in a variety of intergroup settings, they will act racist. The rough idea is that, as
humans, we have an easier time connecting concepts that are already tightly linked in our brains, and
a tougher time connecting concepts that arent. The longer it takes to connect black and good
relative to white and good, the thinking goes, the more your unconscious biases favor white
people over black people. A pile of scholarly work, some of it published in top psychology journals
and most of it ignored by the media, suggests that the IAT falls far short of the quality-control
standards normally expected of psychological instruments. The IAT, this research suggests, is a
noisy, unreliable measure that correlates far too weakly with any real-world outcomes to be used to
predict individuals behavior even the tests creators have now admitted as such. (January 11,
2017).
https://tinyurl.com/gvsr5tf

BNLC BlurbFebruary 2017 Page 6 of 6