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It's probably happened to you.  A mosquito bite starts itching, and the minute you scratch, it itches more.  It may sound like an oxymoron but scratching actually does make it itch more. According to a new study by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that scratching causes the brain to release serotonin, which intensifies the itch sensation, newswise.com reports.  Scientists have known for decades that scratching creates a mild amount of pain in the skin, the Web site quotes senior investigator Zhou-Feng Chen, PhD, director of Washington University’s Center for the Study of Itch. That pain can interfere with itching — at least temporarily — by getting nerve cells in the spinal cord to carry pain signals to the brain instead of itch signals. “The problem is that when the brain gets those pain signals, it responds by producing the neurotransmitter serotonin to help control that pain,” Chen explained. “But as serotonin ...

Now we're learning that foods that did us well in our 20s -- fortifying our bones and genes -- may not do the job in our 40s. According to a story at Redbook/Healthy Living, salmon is good for 20-year-olds because it fights depression, which most often appears between the ages of 15 to 34.  Salmon contains serotonin (which people pop, in artifical form, in Prozac and Zoloft et al). But in your 30s and wanting to get pregnant, switch to a spinach omelet (and include the yolk), the article suggests.   Both contain choline, an element babies' brains need for development. In your 40s?  Lean beef and broccoli.  Find that boring?  It may help you avoid cancer and heart disease later in life if you confine your beef-eating to two or less days a week, Redbook/Healthy Living reports. For those in their 50s, the magic food allegedly is yogurt, either non-fat or low-fat (I learned recently that low-fat is better than non-, because non- contains more suga...