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[Michaelangelica]

Scratch and sniff for brain test
Wednesday, 06 December 2006
University of Melbourne

A ‘scratch and smell’ test is set to become an important tool in identifying people who are at risk of developing brain disorders, prior to the appearance of any symptoms.

University of Melbourne researchers from the Departments of Psychiatry at ORYGEN Research Centre, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre and St. Vincent’s Hospital have discovered a link between a declining ability to correctly detect and identify smells and a variety of brain disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

In a test conducted at Melbourne Health, participants were given 40 ‘scratch and smell’ cards and asked to identify a smell from a list of four possible answers such as coffee, roses, oranges and petrol.

Those people who later went on to develop a brain disorder or mental illness had demonstrated difficulty correctly answering more than half the questions.

The research has been compiled in a new book "Olfaction and the Brain", edited by University of Melbourne researchers Associate Professor Warwick Brewer, Professor Christos Pantelis and Professor David Castle, to be launched later today.
. . .

Professor Castle, based at St. Vincent’s Hospital, said research had identified a strong link between smell and schizophrenia across all age groups

Scratch and sniff for brain test*(ScienceAlert)

Hyper kids struggle to identify smells
Friday, 03 October 2008
University of Melbourne


Children with ADHD find it harder to identify smells,
new research has found.


Reduced ability to name smells by children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has revealed for the first time a link between an impaired smell processing and the disorder.

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/...0-18247-2.html

Smell linked to post traumatic stress
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
University of Melbourne

A world first study of Vietnam veterans’ sense of smell has revealed that an inability to identify smells indicates extreme symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The University of Melbourne and Austin Health study has been published in the April issue of the international journal Psychological Medicine.

The study involved conducting smell tests on 31 male war veterans with PTSD, recruited from the Austin Health’s Veterans Psychiatry Unit.

“The worse their ability to be able to name a smell, in a smell test of over 40 ‘scratch and sniff’ odours, the harder it is to manage their emotions,” said John Dileo of the University’s School of Behavioural Science, who conducted the study.

Dileo says that the difficulty Vietnam veterans suffering PTSD have, in putting the name to a smell, may be indicative of weakness in the brain pathways related to emotional processing. He says the same areas in the frontal region of the brain that are involved in identifying smells are also involved in regulating emotion.

Smell linked to post traumatic stress*(ScienceAlert)

Baby Fish "Smell Their Way Home"
Monday, 22 January 2007
Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies

Marine scientists working on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have uncovered evidence that baby fish, only millimetres long, manage to find their way to their home coral reef across miles of open sea by using their sense of smell.

Remarkable in itself, the discovery by a team including Professor Mike Kingsford of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University and colleagues from Woods Hole, USA, also shines a new light on how the breathtaking diversity of fish on coral reefs has arisen. This has major implications for how reefs are managed.

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/baby-...ay-home-3.html