Brain News and Research

RSS

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.

JEDI T-cells provide unique technology to study, visualize immune responses and immunotherapies

When it comes to fending off disease and helping prevent people from falling ill, the body's immune system -- armed with T-cells that help eliminate cancer cells, virus-infected cells and more -- is second to none. But exactly how the immune system works remains, in many ways, a mystery, as there are numerous cell types whose functions and interactions with our immune systems have not been well understood.

5 Nov 2015

Sexual dysfunction prevalent among recent combat veterans

In a recent study of 247 US veterans returning from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, almost 18% screened positive for sexual functioning difficulties. Self-reported sexual dysfunction was most strongly linked with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and female sex.

4 Nov 2015

New research shows how food word cues can be linked with increased food desire and intake

New research shows that brain responses to written food words differ between lean individuals and those with obesity, and suggests that both stress and genetics could influence excess eating.

4 Nov 2015

Swedish measurement method to be used as standard in Alzheimer's diagnostics worldwide

Researchers at Gothenburg University have developed a reference method for standardized measurements that diagnose Alzheimer's disease decades before symptoms appear. The method has now formally been classified as the international reference method, which means that it will be used as the standard in Alzheimer's diagnostics worldwide.

4 Nov 2015

Study shows post-stroke loss of speech can be recovered

After a debate that has lasted more than 130 years, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found that loss of speech from a stroke in the left hemisphere of the brain can be recovered on the back, right side of the brain. This contradicts recent notions that the right hemisphere interferes with recovery.

4 Nov 2015

Tobacco cessation program needs to be more widely used for teens with substance abuse issues: Study

Substance abuse treatments that target main issues such as serious drug and alcohol addiction are not frequently being used to also wean adolescents from tobacco, a University of Georgia study finds.

4 Nov 2015

Oxford professor wins Heinrich Wieland Prize for pioneering method that helps control nerve cells with light

Gero Miesenböck was the first to insert a light-controlled on/off switch into brain cells. His pioneering method allows scientists to switch nerve cells on and off selectively and observe how the behaviour of, for example, fruit flies or mice changes as a result. In this way, researchers can learn in a step-by-step process what behaviour the studied brain circuits control and what goes awry in disease. For his method, hailed as a "breakthrough of the decade," Professor Gero Miesenböck of the University of Oxford will receive the 100,000-euro Heinrich Wieland Prize of the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation in Munich on November 6, 2015.

4 Nov 2015

New clinical trial uses aggressive treatment method for patients with pancreas cancer

Pancreas cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers worldwide. In the United States, it accounts for only three percent of all diagnosed cancers but it causes almost seven percent of all cancer deaths. A pancreas cancer diagnosis often comes after age 50 and after the cancer has spread, making it difficult to remove surgically.

4 Nov 2015

Loyola Medicine, Palos Community Hospital jointly launch innovative telemedicine program

Loyola Medicine and Palos Community Hospital launched today an innovative telemedicine program that enables specialists from Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood to assist Palos physicians in diagnosing and treating strokes in patients at Palos Community.

4 Nov 2015

Two SLU researchers collaborate to reduce infant mortality rates

Two Saint Louis University researchers are collaborating to reduce infant mortality rates while improving health care services to pregnant women and new mothers.

4 Nov 2015

Chemotherapy treatment can contribute to long-term neurocognitive deficits in pediatric brain tumor survivors

More children are surviving malignant brain tumors than in the past, thanks to the use of intense treatments using platinum-based chemotherapy (cisplatin and high-dose carboplatin). Unfortunately, the therapy has a known side effect of permanent hearing loss, resulting from damage to the inner ear.

4 Nov 2015

Brain's hippocampus essential for recognizing previously encountered events

The hippocampus, a brain structure known to play a role in memory and spatial navigation, is essential to one's ability to recognize previously encountered events, objects, or people - a phenomenon known as recognition memory - according to new research from the departments of Neurosurgery and Psychology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

4 Nov 2015

Scientists identify protein that helps map brain tumours

Scientists have discovered a protein that helps map the edge of brain tumours more clearly so they show up on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, according to new research presented at the National Cancer Research Institute Cancer Conference in Liverpool today.

3 Nov 2015

New combination treatment provides better wound healing compared to SSGs alone

The use of meshed split skin autographs (SSGs) is a standard treatment for large, deep burns. However, serious scarring is often a result. In an effort to improve wound healing and reduce scarring, a team of researchers in The Netherlands tested a treatment technique on patients with serious, deep burns that employed SSGs along with autologous cultured proliferating epidermal cells (ECs) compared to SSGs alone.

3 Nov 2015

Patients with Down syndrome face additional challenge of early-onset dementia

Individuals with Down syndrome who survive into adulthood face the additional challenge of early-onset dementia, in which toxic amyloid plaques build up in the brain. The condition is strikingly similar to Alzheimer's disease, and as new work led by researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University shows, dementia in Down syndrome involves defects in a regulatory enzyme known as γ-secretase activating protein (GSAP), which also happens to malfunction in Alzheimer's disease.

3 Nov 2015

Discovery offers promising alternative to current therapies for AMD and ROP

A research team led by scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the University of New Mexico School of Medicine has identified a small molecule that treats animal models of aged macular degeneration (AMD) and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) by preventing the overgrowth of blood vessels that are characteristic of these two retinal diseases.

3 Nov 2015

CPFN, Cure CP raise funds to extend research on cerebral palsy

Will it one day be possible to cure cerebral palsy? Scientists working in a new field of study known as "regenerative medicine" think so. But support is needed to further the research, according to two non-profit organizations founded by parents of children with CP.

2 Nov 2015

Charles Bonnet syndrome: an interview with Dr. Dominic ffytche

Charles Bonnet syndrome is the name we give to the visual hallucinations associated with eye disease. There are lots of different causes of visual hallucinations. Many different medical problems and medications can cause them, but, when the cause is eye disease, it's referred to as Charles Bonnet Syndrome after Charles Bonnet, who was a natural philosopher in the 18th century.

2 Nov 2015

Wider geographic sharing of pediatric donor lungs can increase transplant rates for young U.S. patients

Broader geographic sharing of pediatric donor lungs could result in twice as many lung transplants for young patients in the U.S., according to a study published today in the American Journal of Transplantation.

2 Nov 2015

Findings provide a step towards personalized cancer therapy

Oxford University researchers have found the Achilles heel of certain cancer cells - mutations in a gene called SETD2. Their findings will be presented to the National Cancer Research Institute conference in Liverpool this Monday (2 Nov 15).

2 Nov 2015

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

JEDI T-cells provide unique technology to study, visualize immune responses and immunotherapies

Sexual dysfunction prevalent among recent combat veterans

New research shows how food word cues can be linked with increased food desire and intake

Swedish measurement method to be used as standard in Alzheimer's diagnostics worldwide

Study shows post-stroke loss of speech can be recovered

Tobacco cessation program needs to be more widely used for teens with substance abuse issues: Study

Oxford professor wins Heinrich Wieland Prize for pioneering method that helps control nerve cells with light

New clinical trial uses aggressive treatment method for patients with pancreas cancer

Loyola Medicine, Palos Community Hospital jointly launch innovative telemedicine program

Two SLU researchers collaborate to reduce infant mortality rates

Chemotherapy treatment can contribute to long-term neurocognitive deficits in pediatric brain tumor survivors

Brain's hippocampus essential for recognizing previously encountered events

Scientists identify protein that helps map brain tumours

New combination treatment provides better wound healing compared to SSGs alone

Patients with Down syndrome face additional challenge of early-onset dementia

Discovery offers promising alternative to current therapies for AMD and ROP

CPFN, Cure CP raise funds to extend research on cerebral palsy

Charles Bonnet syndrome: an interview with Dr. Dominic ffytche

Wider geographic sharing of pediatric donor lungs can increase transplant rates for young U.S. patients

Findings provide a step towards personalized cancer therapy

Industry Focus eBook - Cell & Gene Therapy (1st Edition) eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Latest News