Teen risk-taking linked to hypersensitivity to reward signal

PARIS — Unprotected sex, wild rides on a motorbike, smoking, drugs or alcohol -- the litany of risk-taking by teenagers is famously long. But what drives it?

The answer could lie with adolescents' hypersensitivity to signals that unleash dopamine, a powerful brain chemical that underpins the pleasure from a reward, US psychologists suggest.

A team led by Jessica Cohen of the University of California, Los Angeles, recruited 45 people from three age groups -- children aged eight to 12, teenagers aged 14-19 and adults aged 25-30.

The volunteers were asked to look at pictures on a computer screen and say whether the images matched the pattern on T-shirts sold by either of two fictitious universities.

There was a financial carrot (either 25 US cents or five cents) for each answer that was right. The answer could be either predictable or random.

The task was performed while the volunteers were in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner (fMRI), which measures blood flow in the brain in response to neural signals.

Among the teenagers, the striatal area of the brain, which is sensitive to dopamine, lit up more strongly than among children and adults when receiving the reward.

"Our research shows that when adolescents get a reward that they're not expecting, their brains are more responsive to that reward," Cohen said in a phone interview.

Dopamine levels were not measured, but "it's our guess that dopamine is the cause," Cohen said.

Previous research, among adult humans and monkeys, has found dopamine surges before an expected reward comes, she noted.

The findings, published by the journal Nature Neuroscience, could help parents, school teachers and others guide adolescents in the transition from childhood to adulthood, says Cohen.

Children are not fully sensitive to rewards, whereas adults are sensitive to rewards but also -- to varying degrees -- brake the urge.

"Some researchers have put forward a theory that striatal regions are fully developed in adolescents but the pre-frontal regions, which put the brakes on, are not," Cohen explained.

"As a result, adolescents get the sensitivity to reward that adults get too. But adults can suppress it and think before they act, or act more responsibly sometimes, whereas teenagers tend not to be able to do this as well."

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Stomach Cancer increasing in surprising number in Young White Adults

According to the National Cancer Institute Researchers and colleagues have examined new cancer in young white adults, while rates in all other American adults have declined and the chances for developing stomach cancer are still very low in young adults while all rates in all other American adults have declined. There were 39,003 cases detected in a surveillance program that covers about one fourth of the U. S population. It focused on lowerstomach cancer not cancer of the upper stomach, which has been linked with gastric reflux.

A senior investigator at he U. S National Cancer Institute said "We confirmed what had been previously understood about gastric cancer, that in most groups it has been declining over the last 30 years". Dr. Jaffer A. Ajani, an oncologist in the Department Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at the University of Texas M. D Anderson Cancer Center and co author of an accompanying journal editorial said, "One possibility is that these are Eastern Europeans, who have come to the United States. Eastern Europeans have gastric cancer in different places. My personal opinion is that it is just among Eastern Europeans". A strategic director for cancer occurrence at the American Cancer Society said, "This probably needs further investigation. Anything that occurs in the younger age group indicates a burden in the future. So, it is important to find out what is contributing to this increase so you can avert the future cancer burden."

In U. S men, stomach cancer is among the top 10 most common cancers in blacks, Asian Americans, Hispanics and American Indians and it's also among the most common cancers in Asian American women. It may be noted that the report is published in the May 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Health Insurance Companies to offer coverage to young adult children

In the announcement made by the federal employee health insurance program, it is unlikely this year to offer young adults the ability to remain on their parents’ policies until the age of 26. In simpler terms, it means that it will not follow the lead of some private insurance companies which will begin to offer such coverage to young adults by June 1. The current health care law requires insurers to offer to keep adults younger than age 26 covered through their parents’ health plans. It may be noted that United Healthcare, Well point, Humana, Independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans and KAISER Permanente said last week that they will offer such coverage immediately by June 1. This has come as a relief to many however some major insurers say they wont make young consumers wait.

Executive Director of Families USA, Ron Pollack said, “It creates a standard that becomes the norm throughout the health insurance marketplace”. The OPM statement updated last Friday said, “Though we are eager to provide coverage to young adults prior to January 1, the current law governing the FEHB Program specifically prohibits us from doing so. Unfortunately, this does not allow flexibility for FEHB plans to provide coverage to other adult children until the provision" in the new health law becomes effective in September”.

The law defines dependent family members as unmarried children under age 22 and this is restricting the OPM actions. Young adults turning 22 are covered for an additional 30 days under their parents’ plan, notes OPM, which is noted in a story by the Federal Times. It may be noted that during this time, they can keep insurance for an additional 36 months through the Temporary Continuation Coverage (TCC) program.