[Fwd: Re: [wordup] Geeks in government: A good idea?]

[Adam Shand]

From: rebecca <rebecca at wetafx.co.nz>

> I need to find something happy to report.  Will someone find me some
> good news please?

Can't remember if I sent these to you already, but they're pretty cool.

From: http://www3.cosmiverse.com/news/science/0702/science07290205.html

Scientists Discover Why Cuddling Feels So Good
July 29, 2002 8:30 CDT

A woman with a rare disorder is helping scientists gain greater
understanding of the human sense of touch.

The woman, who was examined by Swedish researchers, does not have the
ability to process the sensation of touch anywhere on her body below her
nose. Even though she did not have a sense of touch, she surprised
doctors by reporting a "pleasant sensation" when her skin was caressed
during an experiment.

Normal touch is transmitted to the brain through a network of
fast-conducting nerves, called myelinated fibers, which carry signals at
60 meters per second. But there is a second slow-conducting nerve
network of unmyelinated fibers, called C-tactile (CT), the role of which
was unknown until now. The CT network carries signals at just one meter
per second. 

"It must be used for unconscious aspects of touch because it is so
slow," says Håkan Olausson, who led the study at the Department of
Clinical Neurophysiology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden. "It
seems the CT network conveys emotions, or a sense of self," the doctor
reported to Nature.

"This study definitely helps our understanding of how touch systems
work," says Brian Fiske, assistant editor at Nature Neuroscience. "The
researchers were very fortunate to have found a patient who had lost the
main touch receptors but still had the slow CT fibers."

The function of myelinated nerve fibers was already known to scientists;
their ability to transmit information about touch is nothing new. This,
however, is the first time that doctors have been able to identify the
function of the CT fibers.

The woman's unique disorder finally allowed them to separate the input
received by the myelinated fibers from that of the CT fibers. When the
woman's arm was stroked with a paintbrush, she reported experiencing a
"pleasant" pressure, even though she could not feel the actual touch.

MRI scans of her brain confirmed that the stroking had activated insular
region of the cerebral cortex associated with emotional response. The
researchers concluded that the CT system might be of important for
emotional, hormonal and behavioral responses to tactile stimulation.

"They are the opposite to pain fibers and give the message that the
touch is non- harmful," Olausson told New Scientist. "Stimulation of CT
fibers is probably linked to the release of pleasure hormones, like
oxytocin. Studies have shown that if you stroke infants, their levels of
oxytocin increase."''

The Swedish team gathered other data that suggests the CT fibers are
only present in hairy skin. The woman showed no response at all to the
palm of her hand being stroked. They speculate that this is because the
hand is used for so many important tasks that it must be very sensitive
to touch. This would explain the greater density of faster conducting
nerve endings there.

Source: Department of Clinical Neurophysiology at Sahlgrenska University
Hospital, Sweden; New Scientist