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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.

Young children who receive surgical anesthesia have diminished brain function

Children who received general anesthesia for surgery before age 4 had diminished language comprehension, lower IQ and decreased gray matter density in posterior regions of their brain, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics.

8 Jun 2015

Dementia Friends Canada launched to support Canadians living with dementia

The Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health, along with Mimi Lowi-Young, CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Canada, officially launched Dementia Friends Canada to support the growing number of Canadians living with dementia.

7 Jun 2015

Resting-state connectivity changes underpinning ICDs identified

The presence of impulse control disorders is associated with reduced resting-state connectivity between part of the associative striatum and both associative and limbic cortical regions in patients with Parkinson’s disease, a study suggests.

5 Jun 2015

Extremely poor vision can be caused by strabismus in early childhood

Extremely poor vision can be caused by strabismus in early childhood or by a displaced optical axis. Amblyopia is caused not by organic damage to the eyes but by the brain incorrectly fitting together the images the eyes provide.

5 Jun 2015

Sleep helps overcome memory deficits after concussion

After a concussion, a person can be left with disturbed sleep, memory deficits and other cognitive problems for years, but a new study led by Rebecca Spencer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst suggests that despite these abnormalities, sleep still helps them to overcome memory deficits, and the benefit is Frontier in Human Neurosciequivalent to that seen in individuals without a history of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as concussion.

5 Jun 2015

Physicians at UH Case Medical Center implant revolutionary device to treat right ventricular heart disease

University Hospitals Case Medical Center physicians in the Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute were the first in the state of Ohio to implant a revolutionary device to treat right ventricular heart disease.

5 Jun 2015

Researchers discover initiation process of dendritic spines

Researchers from the University of Helsinki, ETH Zürich, Aix-Marseille and the German Mouse Clinic teamed up to investigate the initiation process of dendritic spines. They discovered that protein called MIM bends the plasma membrane to aid the formation of dendritic spines from the surface of the neuronal dendrite.

5 Jun 2015

Study can help spur beneficial lifestyle changes in patients to reduce Alzheimer's risk

Armed with new knowledge about how neurodegenerative diseases alter brain structures, increasing numbers of neurologists, psychiatrists and other clinicians are adopting quantitative brain imaging as a tool to measure and help manage cognitive declines in patients. These imaging findings can help spur beneficial lifestyle changes in patients to reduce risk for Alzheimer's disease.

5 Jun 2015

Finding could help researchers develop new methods to prevent cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease

The process that allows our brains to learn and generate new memories also leads to degeneration as we age, according to a new study by researchers at MIT.

5 Jun 2015

Delay of gratification linked to white matter connectivity in the dorsal prefrontal cortex

The ability to delay gratification in chimpanzees is linked to how specific structures of the brain are connected and communicate with each other, according to researchers at Georgia State University and Kennesaw State University.

5 Jun 2015

Seattle Children's opens enrollment for first clinical trial of Tumor Paint BLZ-100 for children with brain tumors

Seattle Children's today announced the opening of patient enrollment for the first clinical research trial of the drug Tumor Paint BLZ-100, which is designed to improve surgical outcomes in children with brain tumors – the most common solid tumor cancer in kids.

5 Jun 2015

Houston Methodist Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center surgeons successfully perform multi-organ transplant

Surgical teams from Houston Methodist Hospital and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center successfully transplanted, for the first time, a scalp and skull while performing kidney and pancreas transplants.

5 Jun 2015

Cytokinetics, The ALS Association expand partnership to fight against ALS

Cytokinetics, Incorporated and The ALS Association announced an expanded partnership in which the company will provide Gold Level Sponsorship of the National Walks to Defeat ALS as well as Platinum Level Sponsorship for ALS Association Golden West Chapter initiatives.

4 Jun 2015

Delirium in ICU associated with lengthier hospital stays and greater risk of death

About one-third of patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) will develop delirium, a condition that lengthens hospital stays and substantially increases one's risk of dying in the hospital, according to a new study led by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers appearing in the British Medical Journal.

4 Jun 2015

Study explores 'laser welding' for sealing corneal transplants

Some 30,000 years ago, prehistoric man wielded animal bones as needles to suture otherwise lethal wounds. This tactic has been used, and improved upon, over time and remains the basis of surgical procedures conducted today. Even with radical new surgical techniques, which rely on metallic and polymeric staples or chemical adhesives to seal incisions, infection and permanent scarring remain major concerns. The success of any wound closure is entirely dependent on the physician's skill set alone.

4 Jun 2015

Re-Inflating balloon after carotid stenting appears to double risk of stroke and death

Patients with severe blockages typically undergo surgery to scrape off the fatty deposits from the walls of the vessel, the preferred approach that carries notably lower stroke risk but is not recommended for people too sick to withstand traditional surgery...

4 Jun 2015

Better treatment, prevention strategies still needed for opportunistic infections related to AIDS

Although treatment advances have dramatically reduced deaths from opportunistic infections related to AIDS, a new study drawing on 30 years of data from more than 20,000 patients in San Francisco suggests there is still ample room to improve. About a third--35 percent--of AIDS patients diagnosed with their first opportunistic infection from 1997 to 2012 in that city died within five years, according to the study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

4 Jun 2015

EMA, ESMO and RCE joint workshop focuses on rare cancers and chordoma

To date, there is no drug approved for medical therapy of chordoma patients. Supporting research for chordoma (a very rare cancer arising from the skull base or the spine and affecting only one person in a million per year) was the focus of talks that took place on 30 April 2015 at the European Medicines Agency in London. The workshop was attended by patients, oncologists, pathologists, regulators, statisticians and industry representatives.

4 Jun 2015

People with high moral reasoning skills show increased gray matter in brain

Individuals with a higher level of moral reasoning skills showed increased gray matter in the areas of the brain implicated in complex social behavior, decision making, and conflict processing as compared to subjects at a lower level of moral reasoning, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with a researcher from Charité Universitätsmediz in Berlin, Germany.

4 Jun 2015

Steven Schiff wins NIH Director's Pioneer Award to reduce infant deaths from neonatal sepsis

Steven Schiff, professor of neurosurgery and Brush Chair Professor of Engineering in Engineering Science and Mechanics, has received a $4.1 million National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award, for research aimed at reducing the number of infant deaths from neonatal sepsis in developing countries by identifying the roots of infection, from season of birth to home environment.

4 Jun 2015

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

Young children who receive surgical anesthesia have diminished brain function

Dementia Friends Canada launched to support Canadians living with dementia

Resting-state connectivity changes underpinning ICDs identified

Extremely poor vision can be caused by strabismus in early childhood

Sleep helps overcome memory deficits after concussion

Physicians at UH Case Medical Center implant revolutionary device to treat right ventricular heart disease

Researchers discover initiation process of dendritic spines

Study can help spur beneficial lifestyle changes in patients to reduce Alzheimer's risk

Finding could help researchers develop new methods to prevent cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease

Delay of gratification linked to white matter connectivity in the dorsal prefrontal cortex

Seattle Children's opens enrollment for first clinical trial of Tumor Paint BLZ-100 for children with brain tumors

Houston Methodist Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center surgeons successfully perform multi-organ transplant

Cytokinetics, The ALS Association expand partnership to fight against ALS

Delirium in ICU associated with lengthier hospital stays and greater risk of death

Study explores 'laser welding' for sealing corneal transplants

Re-Inflating balloon after carotid stenting appears to double risk of stroke and death

Better treatment, prevention strategies still needed for opportunistic infections related to AIDS

EMA, ESMO and RCE joint workshop focuses on rare cancers and chordoma

People with high moral reasoning skills show increased gray matter in brain

Steven Schiff wins NIH Director's Pioneer Award to reduce infant deaths from neonatal sepsis

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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