Word: n
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Silver crime n.--Offenses committed by the elderly...
...Argentina A Setback for the First Couple María Belén Chapur isn't the only Argentine woman having a rough week. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner suffered a major political blow when the ruling Peronist Party, led by her husband Néstor Kirchner, went down to defeat in midterm congressional elections. Néstor, a former President who rescued Argentina from the brink of economic ruin, resigned as party leader after the vote, which was seen as a referendum on the couple's handling of farm strikes and the sagging economy...
That may explain why the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine can help prevent it. The compound is thought to work by reducing the synaptic release of a neurotransmitter called glutamate. As Grant told me, glutamate is the communication chemical that "tells the brain, 'Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!' And the rest of the brain can be overwhelmed by this drive state." Reduce glutamate and you may reduce the drive state. Previous studies have suggested the supplement may also reduce urges to use cocaine and to gamble. (See TIME's health and medicine covers...
Likewise, in Grant's 12-week study, those compulsive hair pullers who were randomly assigned to receive 1,200 to 2,400 milligrams of N-acetylcysteine a day experienced a 40% reduction in scores on a test designed to measure trichotillomania. Unfortunately the patients did not report a substantial improvement in quality of life, but Grant believes that may be because three months is too soon for unsightly bald spots to have grown back...
...treat not only depression but, with varying success, anxiety, nicotine addiction, body-image problems, bipolar disorder, psychosis and a host of other mental disorders.) While there's been less research on drugs that manipulate glutamate - perhaps because it can be modulated fairly easily with nonprescription amino acids like N-acetylcysteine - the new study suggests the neurotransmitter may play a key role not only in the rare condition of hair-pulling but also in other obsessive-compulsive problems...