If you lose your marbles in zero gravity, your fellow astronauts are assigned to catch them. According to the LA Times, NASA has a detailed, if slightly barbaric plan for dealing with an astronaut’s psychotic or suicidal behavior while in space. To prevent a distraught astronaut from harming his colleagues, crewmates are instructed to physically restrain him with bungee cords and administer tranquilizers. Then what? The written plan does not elaborate, but a NASA spokesman quoted in the Times suggests that officials on the ship and on the ground would decide if the mission should be aborted. This report comes in the wake of astronaut Lisa Nowak’s arrest in Orlando for attempted kidnapping.

Although I have no issue with NASA’s concern for the safety of its astronauts in an understandably delicate situation, I am a little uncomfortable with the brutality of its plan. Yes, a suicidal or psychotic astronaut could endanger the lives of his crewmates, and the seriousness of the situation is unquestionable. However, I wonder about the criteria fellow astronauts would use to evaluate a troubled crewmate. Will astronauts be educated about signs of deteriorating mental health, or will they be trusted to ‘know it when they see it’?

Coincidentally, a bill before the US Senate will make it easier for Americans to seek treatment for mental health. The Mental Health Parity Act of 2007 would require health insurance companies to cover treatments for psychiatric and neurological disorders, including substance abuse, comparably to other health disorders.

If you were happy with the level of NIH funding in 2006, you’re in luck! According to the 2008 budget proposed by US President George Bush on Monday, NIH funding will remain flat. Oh sure, the numbers sound good. On paper, the proposal includes a $232 million increase relative to 2006 (Congress has yet to pass 2007’s doozy of a budget). However, $200 million of that is already promised to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The remaining $32 million increases NIH’s budget by 0.1% relative to 2006, far less than the 3.7% yearly inflation rate estimated by NIH. Although the budget includes allotments for new grants, no inflationary increases are planned to increase grant size. That means you, students and post docs with NRSAs: the proposal freezes student and post doc stipends at fiscal year 2007 levels.

The very special episode of Family Ties that guest starred Tom Hanks as Alex Keaton’s cough syrup-guzzling, alcoholic uncle scarred me for life. Tom Hanks will be happy to know that he has finally been outdone. News reports circulated this week that people are ingesting hand sanitizers to get drunk. Hand sanitizers contain nearly twice the amount of alcohol as vodka and are toxic because they contain isopropanol, not ethanol. So, hand sanitizers make poor beverages.

Perhaps those in search of a quick high should instead open their wallets and inhale. According to Science Daily, 100% of Euro notes tested near Dublin contained traces of cocaine. Approximately 62% of the Euro notes contained in excess of 2 and 5% contained more than 200 nanograms per note, suggesting these bills might have been used during drug inhalation or transactions. Relative to 5 and 10 Euro notes, 20 and 50 Euro notes tended to have more cocaine residue. Previous studies in the U. S. showed that 65% of dollar bills held traces of cocaine. Researchers believe that cocaine adsorbs to bank notes and rubs off on other bills. Are most people, let alone bankers, therefore sensitized to small amounts of cocaine?

How about LSD? Hallucinogens, like LSD, act at 5-HT2a receptors, as do non-hallucinogens, including lisuride, which is used to treat Parkinson disease. How do 5-HT2a receptors differentially respond to different types of ligand? Gonzalez-Maeso et al. report that hallucinogens activate different cell signaling pathways than do non-hallucinogens in an article published yesterday in Neuron. Both LSD and lisuride act at 5-HT2a receptors to activate phospholipase C-beta via Gq/11 proteins. The authors showed that LSD, but not lisuride, increased the expression of the early growth response-2 (egr-2) gene. A phospholipase C-beta inhibitor, a Src inhibitor and pertussis toxin all blocked LSD-induced increases in egr-2. Therefore, the authors concluded that unlike non-hallucinogens, LSD acts at 5-HT2a receptors to activate pertussis toxin-sensitive Gi/o proteins and Src, which may mediate its hallucinogenic effects.