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The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. Enclosed in the cranium, it has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times as large as the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size.

Aerobic exercise training may slow progression of Parkinson's disease

You've likely heard this before: Exercise is good for you. It helps your heart, bones, back and more. But here's one thing you might not have heard: Ongoing aerobic exercise may slow the progression of Parkinson's disease, a progressive disorder of the nervous system.

20 Jan 2016

Dartmouth investigators show how vestibular system's horizontal canals influence navigation

Dartmouth researchers have found the first direct evidence showing how the vestibular system's horizontal canals play a key role in sensing our direction in the environment.

20 Jan 2016

Experts create new guidelines to improve treatments for cancer patients

A committee of national experts, led by a Cleveland Clinic researcher, has established first-of-its-kind guidelines to promote more accurate and individualized cancer predictions, guiding more precise treatment and leading to improved patient survival rates and outcomes.

20 Jan 2016

Vanderbilt's Geoffrey Woodman to receive 2016 Troland Research Award

The National Academy of Sciences has announced that Geoffrey Woodman, Associate Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, will receive a 2016 Troland Research Award.

20 Jan 2016

Four USF professors selected as AIMBE College of Fellows

Four University of South Florida professors have been elected to the 2016 College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE): Cesario Borlongan and Shyam Mohapatra from the USF Morsani College of Medicine, USF Health; and Robert Frisina, Jr., and Sudeep Sarkar from the USF College of Engineering.

20 Jan 2016

Animal antibodies help identify diseased cells during immunohistology procedures

We all know it from biology lessons at school: Antibodies help us to ward off disease and are essential components of our immune system. What many people do not know is that physicians and scientists use animal antibodies to identify diseased or mutated cells.

20 Jan 2016

Higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids could boost B vitamins' effect in preventing cognitive decline

While research has already established that B vitamin supplements can help slow mental decline in older people with memory problems, an international team have now found that having higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids in your body could boost the B vitamins' effect.

20 Jan 2016

Optical technologies could lead to novel treatments for neurological diseases

Optical technologies previously used to look at the stars in the sky will be miniaturized to look inside the brain, and could lead to new treatments for neurological diseases.

20 Jan 2016

Interictal discharges have neuropsychological effects in rolandic epilepsy

Centrotemporal spikes experienced between seizures by children with rolandic epilepsy may disrupt functional brain networks and contribute to language, behaviour and cognitive problems, research suggests.

19 Jan 2016

Compensatory neural connections stave off bipolar disorder onset

Patients at high genetic risk of bipolar disorder may be able to avert onset of the condition due to natural adaptive neuroplasticity that allows the brain to compensate for underlying network dysfunction associated with the condition, researchers report.

19 Jan 2016

Common mortality causes prevail in epilepsy patients

A prospective, community-based study confirms that patients with epilepsy usually die of the same causes as other people.

19 Jan 2016

Rapastinel demonstrates pro-cognitive benefits in animal model of cognitive impairment

Allergan plc, a leading global pharmaceutical company, announced today that new data on the investigational medication rapastinel (GLYX-13) and its lack of impairment on cognitive function were published in the peer-reviewed journal Behavioural Brain Research.

19 Jan 2016

RIKEN researchers discover how to reverse abnormal axonal development

Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have discovered how to reverse the abnormal axonal development characteristic of CFEOM3, a congenital disease that affects the muscles that control eye movements.

19 Jan 2016

Mayo Clinic researchers explore how Alzheimer's disease targets memory-related brain networks

Alzheimer's disease relentlessly targets large-scale brain networks that support the formation of new memories. However, it remains a mystery as to why the disease selectively targets memory-related brain networks and how this relates to misfolded proteins seen by pathologists at autopsy.

19 Jan 2016

Johns Hopkins study shows high doses of cocaine kill brain cells

Working with mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins have contributed significant new evidence to support the idea that high doses of cocaine kill brain cells by triggering overactive autophagy, a process in which cells literally digest their own insides. Their results, moreover, bring with them a possible antidote, an experimental compound dubbed CGP3466B.

19 Jan 2016

Researchers identify protein structure linked to pain and heat perception

Touch a hot stove, and your fingers will recoil in pain because your skin carries tiny temperature sensors that detect heat and send a message to your brain saying, "Ouch! That's hot! Let go!"

19 Jan 2016

New sites opened across the South West for Alzheimer’s disease clinical trial

People with Alzheimer’s disease are helping with a ground-breaking government-funded trial but with new sites recently opened in the South West more people are being asked to take part in the study led by academics from the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Queen’s University Belfast and University College London, and hosted by North Bristol NHS Trust.

19 Jan 2016

Concussions related to sports and recreation activities affect millions of Americans

Every year, between 3 million and 4 million Americans suffer concussions in sports and recreation. Head impacts and concussions caused by contact sports are a quickly growing epidemic among young athletes.

19 Jan 2016

Scientists develop wireless brain sensors

A team of neurosurgeons and engineers has developed wireless brain sensors that monitor intracranial pressure and temperature and then are absorbed by the body, negating the need for surgery to remove the devices.

18 Jan 2016

UM SOM selected to work with BARDA to develop radiologic and nuclear countermeasures

University of Maryland School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology Chair and Professor William F. Regine, MD, FACR, FACRO, and UM SOM Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, announced today that researchers at the UM SOM have been selected as key contractors by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, for its Radiation Nuclear Animal Model Development program.

18 Jan 2016