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.

Genome Project offers new leads to improve outcomes for children with high-grade glioma brain tumors

The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital-Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project has identified new mutations in pediatric brain tumors known as high-grade gliomas (HGGs), which most often occur in the youngest patients.

8 Apr 2014

Green tea extract enhances cognitive functions in brain

Green tea is said to have many putative positive effects on health. Now, researchers at the University of Basel are reporting first evidence that green tea extract enhances the cognitive functions, in particular the working memory.

8 Apr 2014

Researchers use ultrasound to destroy cancerous tissue in brain

Researchers in Zurich, Switzerland have successfully used focused ultrasound for the first time to non-invasively ablate part of a recurrent glioma tumor through a patient's intact skull.

7 Apr 2014

Caffeine has positive effect on tau deposits in Alzheimer's disease

As part of a German-French research project, a team led by Dr. Christa E. Müller from the University of Bonn and Dr. David Blum from the University of Lille was able to demonstrate for the first time that caffeine has a positive effect on tau deposits in Alzheimer's disease.

7 Apr 2014

TSRI scientists solve long-standing mystery about sense of touch

A study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has helped solve a long-standing mystery about the sense of touch.

7 Apr 2014

Study identifies touch-activated molecule in skin cells

In a study published in the April 6 online edition of the journal Nature, a team of Columbia University Medical Center researchers led by Ellen Lumpkin, PhD, associate professor of somatosensory biology, solve an age-old mystery of touch: how cells just beneath the skin surface enable us to feel fine details and textures.

7 Apr 2014

UCL scientists find new way to artificially control paralyzed muscles using light

A new way to artificially control muscles using light, with the potential to restore function to muscles paralysed by conditions such as motor neuron disease and spinal cord injury, has been developed by scientists at UCL and King's College London.

7 Apr 2014

1/3 of ICU patients develop depression that typically manifests as physical symptoms

A third of intensive care patients develop depression that typically manifests as physical, or somatic, symptoms such as weakness, appetite change, and fatigue, rather than psychological symptoms, according to one of the largest studies to investigate the mental health and functional outcomes of survivors of critical care, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

7 Apr 2014

Helium ion radiotherapy provides hope for improved, accurate radiation treatment for young cancer patients

For the first time, researchers have been able to demonstrate that the use of helium ions in radiation therapy could provide accurate treatment to tumours while helping to spare healthy organs.

7 Apr 2014

Electrode placement affects subthalamic nucleus stimulation outcomes

Researchers have identified factors associated with motor, cognitive and mood outcomes after deep-brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus in a large cohort of patients with Parkinson’s disease.

4 Apr 2014

Researchers integrate meditation and science to develop targeted mental health treatments

Mindfulness is always personal and often spiritual, but the meditation experience does not have to be subjective. Advances in methodology are allowing researchers to integrate mindfulness experiences with brain imaging and neural signal data to form testable hypotheses about the science - and the reported mental health benefits - of the practice.

4 Apr 2014

Special Tree NeuroCare Center in Romulus offers greenhouse therapy

Recovering from a brain injury involves a great deal of hard work, and some of that work includes finding ways to enjoy life again.

4 Apr 2014

Thomson Reuters, Children's Tumor Foundation partner to create neurofibromatosis pathway maps

The Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters, the world's leading provider of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today announced an expansion of its partnership with the Children's Tumor Foundation to create unique neurofibromatosis (NF) pathway maps aimed at significantly increasing the understanding of the disease and its underlying mechanisms.

4 Apr 2014

ER physicians discount early signs of strokes among women, minorities, younger people

Analyzing federal health care data, a team of researchers led by a Johns Hopkins specialist concluded that doctors overlook or discount the early signs of potentially disabling strokes in tens of thousands of American each year, a large number of them visitors to emergency rooms complaining of dizziness or headaches.

4 Apr 2014

Doctors overlook early signs of strokes in people each year

4 Apr 2014

Researchers identify possible way to prevent headaches of climbers

By monitoring blood flow in the brains of six climbers scaling Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, German medical researchers have identified a possible way to prevent the headaches that are a common feature of altitude sickness. This work appears in the latest issue of JNIRS—Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy.

4 Apr 2014

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to establish 5 new Research Units

Topics Range from Composite Structures to Personnel Decisions to Metastatic Cancer Progression / About Eleven Million Euros in Funding for Three Years

4 Apr 2014

Study explores relationship between genetics and lifestyle in development of AD

A global study involving more than one million people worldwide will explore the relationship between genetics and lifestyle in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

4 Apr 2014

Nearly six in ten don't get enough sleep, says online survey

New online research, conducted to coincide with the publication of Professor Richard Wiseman's latest book Night School, suggests that nearly six in ten (59%) of adults in Britain - over 28 million people - are now sleep deprived and getting seven hours or less sleep each night.

4 Apr 2014

Neuroinflammation levels higher in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies, in collaboration with Osaka City University and Kansai University of Welfare Sciences, have used functional PET imaging to show that levels of neuroinflammation, or inflammation of the nervous system, are higher in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome than in healthy people.

4 Apr 2014