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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.

Potential diagnostic approach may detect individuals at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease

Individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) are at twice the risk of others in their age group of progressing to Alzheimer's disease. Although no conclusive test exists to predict who will develop Alzheimer's, new research from the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas is attempting to identify a potential biomarker that could offer a more complete picture of who is most at risk.

16 Jul 2015

Research breakthrough opens door to a world of regenerative medicine for treating mitochondrial disease

A study led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., and Hong Ma, M.D., Ph.D., at the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at Oregon Health & Science University and the Oregon National Primate Research Center has revealed the first critical step in developing novel gene and stem cell therapy treatments for patients with mitochondrial disease.

16 Jul 2015

Research could lead to new approaches to treating spinal cord and brain injuries

Many an injury will heal, but the damaged spinal cord is notoriously recalcitrant. There's new hope on the horizon, though. A team of researchers led by the University of South Carolina's Jeff Twiss just reported an innate repair mechanism in central nervous system axons that might be harnessed to regenerate nerves after brain or spinal cord injuries.

16 Jul 2015

University of Bristol-led study could provide new target for treating neurological disorders

Findings, published today [15 Jul] in Nature Communications, reveal the extent a mutation associated with autism and epilepsy plays in impairing a biochemical process in the brain. The study, led by University of Bristol researchers, could provide a new target for treating neurological disorders.

16 Jul 2015

Researchers identify gene that underlies thinking skills

An international team of researchers, including investigators from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, has identified a gene that underlies healthy information processing -- a first step on a complicated road to understand cognitive aging and age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.

16 Jul 2015

Older adults can boost brain function by raising their fitness level

New research conducted at the University of Kansas Medical Center indicates that older adults can improve brain function by raising their fitness level.

16 Jul 2015

Salk researchers move one step closer to making cures for genetic diseases a reality

Healthy brain, muscle, eye and heart cells would improve the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world with debilitating mitochondrial diseases. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute have gotten one step closer to making such cures a reality: they've turned cells from patients into healthy, mutation-free stem cells that can then become any cell type.

16 Jul 2015

Two chemical compounds effectively inhibit growth of brain cancer cells and breast tumors

Researchers have discovered two chemical compounds that effectively stop the growth of brain cancer cells and breast tumors, opening the way for potential new drugs to be developed.

16 Jul 2015

New study shows high-fat diet can cause impairments in functioning of mesolimbic dopamine system

High-fat feeding can cause impairments in the functioning of the mesolimbic dopamine system, says Stephanie Fulton of the University of Montreal and the CHUM Research Centre. This system is a critical brain pathway controlling motivation. Fulton's findings, published today in Neuropsychopharmacology, may have great health implications.

15 Jul 2015

Gene therapy provides life-long protection to photoreceptor cells in animal model of retinitis pigmentosa

A collaboration between scientists in the UK and the USA has shown that gene therapy can give life-long protection to the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells responsible for colour vision in a mouse model of the most common inherited eye disorder.

15 Jul 2015

UAB researchers find therapeutic target for treatment of acute spinal cord injuries

UAB researchers have identified a therapeutic target for the treatment of acute spinal cord injuries. According to this research, conducted on mice, the administration of a drug that prevents loss of myelin - the insulating sheath around nerve fibres that allows signals to be transmitted - increases the mobility of the mice after an injury.

15 Jul 2015

New research may explain why youngsters' recovery times vary widely after traumatic brain injury

Why do some youngsters bounce back quickly from a traumatic brain injury, while others suffer devastating side effects for years? New UCLA/USC research suggests that damage to the fatty sheaths around the brain's nerve fibers--not injury severity-- may explain the difference. Published in the July 15 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, the finding identifies possible biomarkers that physicians could use to predict higher-risk patients who require closer monitoring.

15 Jul 2015

Highlights from the most recent issue of Epilepsy Currents

The latest issue of Epilepsy Currents is now available featuring expert commentary on abstracts in basic science and clinical topics.

15 Jul 2015

Transplanted MSCs slow progression of lupus nephritis by suppressing Tfh cells in SLE animal model

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that produces autoantibodies and subsequent immune reactions that can lead to a variety of symptoms, including inflammation of the kidneys, or nephritis. When researchers transplanted mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from human bone marrow into mice modeled with SLE, they found that inflammation was reduced and nephritis "attenuated."

15 Jul 2015

USF College of Nursing awarded NCI grant to study mindfulness-based stress reduction in breast cancer survivors

The National Cancer Institute has awarded more than $2.8 million to University of South Florida College of Nursing to study memory and concentration among breast cancer survivors using a meditation-based stress reduction intervention.

15 Jul 2015

New study finds that intellectual pursuits can buffer the brain's reward system against drug dependence

Challenging the idea that addiction is hardwired in the brain, a new UC Berkeley study of mice suggests that even a short time spent in a stimulating learning environment can rewire the brain's reward system and buffer it against drug dependence.

15 Jul 2015

Studies using MRI techniques can reveal brain connectivity differences in people with ASD

Studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques are beginning to reveal differences in brain connectivity--the ways that different parts of the brain are connected to each other and work together--in people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), reports a review in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry.

15 Jul 2015

Hyperbaric oxygen treatment effective for fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is almost impossible to diagnose. The chronic pain syndrome strikes an estimated 1 in 70 Americans, most of them women. The disorder is often triggered by head trauma, a neurological infection, or severe emotional stress, and is characterized by symptoms such as musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, memory loss and mood swings. Fibromyalgia is often mistaken for other culprits and most patients suffer months, even years, of unrelenting pain before being properly diagnosed. And once diagnosed, patients enjoy little respite because few therapies have been found to be effective in assuaging its symptoms.

15 Jul 2015

Benzodiazepine drugs ineffective for PTSD and trauma treatment

Benzodiazepine drugs are widely used in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but available evidence suggests that they are not effective--and may even be harmful, concludes a systematic review and meta-analysis in the July Journal of Psychiatric Practice.

15 Jul 2015

IU psychologist receives two NIH grants to bring evidence-based treatment into community mental health centers

With a pair of new National Institutes of Health grants totaling nearly $3 million, Indiana University clinical psychologist Cara Lewis will tackle two major issues in the effort to bring evidence-based mental health treatment into community mental health centers.

15 Jul 2015

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

Potential diagnostic approach may detect individuals at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease

Research breakthrough opens door to a world of regenerative medicine for treating mitochondrial disease

Research could lead to new approaches to treating spinal cord and brain injuries

University of Bristol-led study could provide new target for treating neurological disorders

Researchers identify gene that underlies thinking skills

Older adults can boost brain function by raising their fitness level

Salk researchers move one step closer to making cures for genetic diseases a reality

Two chemical compounds effectively inhibit growth of brain cancer cells and breast tumors

New study shows high-fat diet can cause impairments in functioning of mesolimbic dopamine system

Gene therapy provides life-long protection to photoreceptor cells in animal model of retinitis pigmentosa

UAB researchers find therapeutic target for treatment of acute spinal cord injuries

New research may explain why youngsters' recovery times vary widely after traumatic brain injury

Highlights from the most recent issue of Epilepsy Currents

Transplanted MSCs slow progression of lupus nephritis by suppressing Tfh cells in SLE animal model

USF College of Nursing awarded NCI grant to study mindfulness-based stress reduction in breast cancer survivors

New study finds that intellectual pursuits can buffer the brain's reward system against drug dependence

Studies using MRI techniques can reveal brain connectivity differences in people with ASD

Hyperbaric oxygen treatment effective for fibromyalgia

Benzodiazepine drugs ineffective for PTSD and trauma treatment

IU psychologist receives two NIH grants to bring evidence-based treatment into community mental health centers

Industry Focus eBook - Neurology/Neuroscience - 2nd 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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