Brain News and Research

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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.

University of Manchester scientists identify brain mechanism that raises pain threshold

Scientists at The University of Manchester have shown for the first time that the numbers of opiate receptors in the brain increases to combat severe pain in arthritis sufferers.

26 Oct 2015

Reducing depression to a checklist of symptoms may not be useful, new research reveals

How can you tell if someone is depressed? The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) - the 'bible' of psychiatry - diagnoses depression when patients tick off a certain number of symptoms on the DSM checklist. A large-scale quantitative study coordinated at KU Leuven, Belgium, now shows that some symptoms play a much bigger role than others in driving depression, and that the symptoms listed in DSM may not be the most useful ones.

26 Oct 2015

Endocannabinoids can affect development of baby's pancreas

According to the latest research results from the Medical University of Vienna, endocannabinoids, cannabis-like substances produced by the body itself, can affect the development of a baby's pancreas. The study also highlights the importance of diet during pregnancy for the foetal pancreas to form.

23 Oct 2015

Scientists develop new strategy to target sarcoidosis

A team of scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München together with colleagues of the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich recently developed a new strategy to determine monocyte subsets involved in diseases. The results published in the journal 'Blood' could help facilitating the diagnosis of sarcoidosis and may improve the respective patient management.

23 Oct 2015

Spatial grid pattern in brain region is altered in young adults with Alzheimer's risk

Young adults with genetically increased Alzheimer's risk have altered activation patterns in a brain region that is crucial for spatial navigation.

23 Oct 2015

Facial color influences early stage of subliminal processing of facial expression

Facial color is suggestive of emotional states, as in the phrases: "flushed with anger" and "pale with fear." Although some behavioral studies have investigated the effects of facial color on expression, there is limited neurophysiological evidence showing the effects of facial color on emotional expression perception.

23 Oct 2015

Amgen's IMLYGIC receives positive opinion from CHMP for treatment of melanoma

Amgen today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, the scientific committee of the European Medicines Agency, has adopted a positive opinion recommending that IMLYGIC (talimogene laherparepvec) be granted approval for the treatment of adults with unresectable melanoma that is regionally or distantly metastatic (Stage IIIB, IIIC and IVM1a) with no bone, brain, lung or other visceral disease.

23 Oct 2015

3-D model of animal brain provides more complete picture of brain's connectivity

The animal brain is so complex, it would take a supercomputer and vast amounts of data to create a detailed 3-D model of the billions of neurons that power it.

23 Oct 2015

New technique helps study protein changes in brain tissue of Alzheimer's patients

Using 10-year-old archival brain tissue from patients with Alzheimer's disease, a research team from NYU Langone Medical Center has developed a novel method to examine the structure and function of proteins at the cell level -- providing greater means to study protein changes found in Alzheimer's disease.

23 Oct 2015

Study shows promise for developing targeted treatments for multiple sclerosis

Modern scientific understanding has considered multiple sclerosis (MS) to be a disease controlled by the T cell, a type of white blood cell. Research has shown that in MS, T cells inappropriately attack myelin, the protective layer of fat covering nerves in the central nervous system, exposing them to damage.

23 Oct 2015

Findings suggest a potential "early warning" detection system for Alzheimer's disease

The findings suggest a potential "early warning" detection system for Alzheimer's disease, even in young and asymptomatic individuals.

23 Oct 2015

Support for enteric nervous system pathology in prodromal PD

Researchers have found positive immunostaining of α-synuclein in the enteric nervous system of patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder, suggesting it may have a possible role as a biomarker for prodromal Parkinson’s disease.

22 Oct 2015

New research may have profound impact on future development of anti-depressant medications

Major depression, which afflicts one in six people at some point in their life, is the leading global cause of disability - surpassing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer and HIV/AIDS combined.

22 Oct 2015

Brain imaging shows how neural responses to different types of music affect emotion regulation processes

Brain imaging reveals how neural responses to different types of music really affect the emotion regulation of persons. The study proves that especially men who process negative feelings with music react negatively to aggressive and sad music.

22 Oct 2015

Thalamic reticular nucleus responsible for the brain's ability to multitask, study reveals

Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center say they have added to evidence that a shell-shaped region in the center of the mammalian brain, known as the thalamic reticular nucleus or TRN, is likely responsible for the ability to routinely and seamlessly multitask.

22 Oct 2015

Memories exist at different resolutions in the brain

Neuroscientists from Radboud University's Donders Institute have shown that memories of the same events co-exist at different resolutions in the brain. Coarse and fine memory scales are distributed across different parts of the hippocampus, a brain area that plays an important part in memory.

22 Oct 2015

Breakthrough research suggests that female sex hormone may save lives on the battlefield

Breakthrough research suggests a female sex hormone may be the key to saving lives on the battlefield, where between 2001 and 2011 more than 80 percent of potentially preventable U.S. war injury deaths resulted from blood loss.

22 Oct 2015

Plaques impair memory formation in Alzheimer’s disease during sleep

Alzheimer’s patients frequently suffer from sleep disorders, mostly even before they become forgetful. Furthermore, it is known that sleep plays a very important role in memory formation.

22 Oct 2015

UF Health researcher reveals how betel nut's psychoactive chemical works in the brain

For hundreds of millions of people around the world, chewing betel nut produces a cheap, quick high but also raises the risk of addiction and oral cancer. Now, new findings by a University of Florida Health researcher reveal how the nut's psychoactive chemical works in the brain and suggest that an addiction treatment may already exist.

22 Oct 2015

Scientists map out the brain circuitry critical for filtering out distractions

In a study of mice, scientists discovered that a brain region called the thalamus may be critical for filtering out distractions. The study, published in Nature and partially funded by the National Institutes of Health, paves the way to understanding how defects in the thalamus might underlie symptoms seen in patients with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and schizophrenia.

22 Oct 2015

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

University of Manchester scientists identify brain mechanism that raises pain threshold

Reducing depression to a checklist of symptoms may not be useful, new research reveals

Endocannabinoids can affect development of baby's pancreas

Scientists develop new strategy to target sarcoidosis

Spatial grid pattern in brain region is altered in young adults with Alzheimer's risk

Facial color influences early stage of subliminal processing of facial expression

Amgen's IMLYGIC receives positive opinion from CHMP for treatment of melanoma

3-D model of animal brain provides more complete picture of brain's connectivity

New technique helps study protein changes in brain tissue of Alzheimer's patients

Study shows promise for developing targeted treatments for multiple sclerosis

Findings suggest a potential "early warning" detection system for Alzheimer's disease

Support for enteric nervous system pathology in prodromal PD

New research may have profound impact on future development of anti-depressant medications

Brain imaging shows how neural responses to different types of music affect emotion regulation processes

Thalamic reticular nucleus responsible for the brain's ability to multitask, study reveals

Memories exist at different resolutions in the brain

Breakthrough research suggests that female sex hormone may save lives on the battlefield

Plaques impair memory formation in Alzheimer’s disease during sleep

UF Health researcher reveals how betel nut's psychoactive chemical works in the brain

Scientists map out the brain circuitry critical for filtering out distractions

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

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