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.

Childhood onset temporal lobe epilepsy has a significant impact on brain aging

New research confirms that childhood onset temporal lobe epilepsy has a significant impact on brain aging. Study findings published in Epilepsia, a peer-reviewed journal of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), show age-accelerated ventricular expansion outside the normal range in this patient population.

2 Apr 2012

Study provides new information on why A-T disease attacks the brain

Rutgers scientists think they have found a way to prevent and possibly reverse the most debilitating symptoms of a rare, progressive childhood degenerative disease that leaves children with slurred speech, unable to walk, and in a wheelchair before they reach adolescence.

2 Apr 2012

FDA won’t ban bisphenol A from food packaging

In a long drawn decision the U.S. government announced Friday that it will not ban bisphenol A, an industrial chemical believed to disrupt the reproductive and nervous systems, from food and drink packaging.

1 Apr 2012

Brain images show nerves ‘crisscrossing’ in neat but complex patterns: Study

New images of the brain reveal a deceptively simple pattern of organization in the wiring of this complex organ. Instead of nerve fibers travelling randomly through the brain like spaghetti, as some imaging has suggested, the new portraits reveal two-dimensional sheets of parallel fibers ‘crisscrossing’ other sheets at right angles in a grid-like structure that folds and contorts with the convolutions of the brain. This same pattern appeared in the brains of humans, rhesus monkeys, owl monkeys, marmosets and galagos, researchers report Thursday in the journal Science.

1 Apr 2012

Study uses simple technique to break military camouflage

Researchers want to help the Army better camouflage its soldiers and break the enemy's efforts to hide. "We want to make our camouflage unbreakable and we want to break the camouflage of the enemy," said Dr. Jay Hegde, neuroscientist in the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Health Sciences University.

31 Mar 2012

Johns Hopkins Hospital's new home to open on May 1

The Johns Hopkins Hospital's new home, set to open on May 1, will redefine the very essence of the hospital experience, and cutting-edge technology designed to improve care, streamline workflow and encourage efficiencies will play a central role.

31 Mar 2012

Three leading cancer researchers to chair symposia at ACCR meeting

Three leading cancer researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have been selected to chair symposia at this year's annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, which will be held in Chicago from March 31 to April 4.

31 Mar 2012

Epilepsy community welcomes IOM's new landmark study report

Responding to today's release of the Institute of Medicine 's (IOM) new report on the public health dimensions of the epilepsies, a cooperative group of professional and consumer organizations with special interest in epilepsy has issued the following joint statement.

31 Mar 2012

New report highlights numerous gaps in knowledge and management of epilepsy

A new report from the Institute of Medicine highlights numerous gaps in the knowledge and management of epilepsy and recommends actions for improving the lives of those with epilepsy and their families and promoting better understanding of the disorder.

31 Mar 2012

Center for Healthcare Informatics and Policy established at Weill Cornell Medical College

Weill Cornell Medical College announced today the establishment of the Center for Healthcare Informatics and Policy (CHiP) to improve health and healthcare through informatics and technology.

31 Mar 2012

Cortex reports net income of $832,000 for fourth quarter 2011

Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. reported net income of approximately $832,000, or $0.01 per share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, compared with a net loss of approximately $984,000, or $0.01 per share, for the corresponding prior year quarter.

31 Mar 2012

SAP protein promotes deposition of amyloid beta in Alzheimer's

The deposition of amyloid beta in the brain of individuals with Alzheimer's disease is the focus of much research into both its cause and treatment.

31 Mar 2012

Staggering economic costs of autism will continue to rise

Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, today announced preliminary results of new research that estimates autism costs society a staggering $126 billion per year (U.S.) - a number that has more than tripled since 2006, and annually in the U.K. has reached more than -34 billion (equivalent to $54 billion U.S.).

30 Mar 2012

Scientists reveal powerful role of astrocytes in the brain

A type of cell plentiful in the brain, long considered mainly the stuff that holds the brain together and oft-overlooked by scientists more interested in flashier cells known as neurons, wields more power in the brain than has been realized, according to new research published today in Science Signaling.

30 Mar 2012

Cyberplasm could pinpoint diseases within the human body

A tiny prototype robot that functions like a living creature is being developed which one day could be safely used to pinpoint diseases within the human body.

30 Mar 2012

First study to examine link between cumulative traumatic stress exposure and inflammation

Greater lifetime exposure to the stress of traumatic events was linked to higher levels of inflammation in a study of almost 1,000 patients with cardiovascular disease led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

30 Mar 2012

Lumbar puncture, PET scan not useful to establish diagnosis of Alzheimer's

Investigators from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, have shown that in most elderly patients invasive and expensive techniques, i.e. lumbar puncture and PET scan, are not useful to establish the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. They arrived at this conclusion after analysis of data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a large collaborative research project of medical centers in the USA and Canada.

30 Mar 2012

New synthetic small molecules could treat obesity, diabetes and sleep disorders

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have synthesized a pair of small molecules that dramatically alter the core biological clock in animal models, highlighting the compounds' potential effectiveness in treating a remarkable range of disorders-including obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and serious sleep disorders.

30 Mar 2012

Myths and facts about concussion

Suppose your son or daughter has just been brought home from an athletic field with a concussion, complains of being tired and wants to go to sleep. Should you let that happen? "There was a time when it was considered life-threatening to let someone suffering from a concussion to fall asleep," said Chris Hummel, a certified athletic trainer and clinical associate professor in Ithaca College's Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences.

30 Mar 2012

Autism Speaks calls for the development of national action plan

Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, today called on the nation's elected and appointed leaders to immediately develop a new, coordinated strategy to take on a national public health emergency - the autism epidemic - in the wake of a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) finding that autism is now diagnosed in a staggering 1 in every 88 American children.

30 Mar 2012