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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.

Neuroscientist explores how the brain restores blood flow to damaged tissue following stroke

A neuroscientist at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech says she hopes that a better understanding of how the brain restores blood flow to damaged tissue following a stroke will offer new treatment clues for a leading cause of death in the United States.

21 Mar 2014

NIH awards $28M grant to establish new center for excellence to find treatment for Ebola virus

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a five-year, $28 million grant to establish a new center for excellence to find an antibody "cocktail" to fight two types of viruses that cause severe hemorrhagic fever, including the deadly Ebola virus. The project involves researchers from 15 institutions, including Kartik Chandran, Ph.D., and Jonathan Lai, Ph.D., at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Einstein will receive approximately $4 million of the total grant.

21 Mar 2014

People who develop diabetes in middle age are more likely to have brain cell loss in old age

People who develop diabetes and high blood pressure in middle age are more likely to have brain cell loss and other damage to the brain, as well as problems with memory and thinking skills, than people who never have diabetes or high blood pressure or who develop it in old age, according to a new study published in the March 19, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

20 Mar 2014

Insulin-secreting beta cells of pancreas have capacity to regenerate, say scientists

Vanderbilt University scientists have found evidence that the insulin-secreting beta cells of the pancreas, which are either killed or become dysfunctional in the two main forms of diabetes, have the capacity to regenerate.

20 Mar 2014

New weapon against secondary progressive MS

Statins may provide doctors with an unlikely new weapon with which to slow the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS).

20 Mar 2014

Scientists to study memory and learning in patients with Parkinson disease

Kessler Foundation scientists collaborated with colleagues in Spain to study memory and learning in patients with Parkinson Disease (PD). They found that the Parkinson group's ability to learn new information was significantly poorer when compared with the control group.

20 Mar 2014

Simvastatin may slow progression of multiple sclerosis

Results of a phase 2 study published in The Lancet suggest that simvastatin, a cheap cholesterol lowering drug, might be a potential treatment option for the secondary progressive, or chronic, stage of multiple sclerosis (MS), which is currently untreatable.

20 Mar 2014

Novel method for evaluating treatment of obesity-related food behavior

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a novel method for evaluating the treatment of obesity-related food behavior. In an effort to further scientific understanding of the underlying problem, they have published the first peer-reviewed video of their technique in JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments.

20 Mar 2014

Researcher finds clear differences between how brains respond to genuine and fake laughter

As the world celebrates International Day of Happiness today (Thursday, 20 March), can we tell whether people are truly happy just from their laugh?

20 Mar 2014

Two new risk loci for bipolar disorder identified

Researchers have found two new risk loci for bipolar disorder in a genome-wide association study of 2.3 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms.

19 Mar 2014

Biological basis for visual hallucinations identified

Visual hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia may be caused by hyperconnectivity in a specific area of the brain, say researchers.

19 Mar 2014

Majority of individuals leave decision to computer than to their business partner

When individuals engage in risky business transactions with each other, they may end up being disappointed. This is why they'd rather leave the decision on how to divvy up jointly-owned monies to a computer than to their business partner.

19 Mar 2014

Non-academic contemporaries take brain stimulants more often than students

Three per cent of young men in Switzerland take cognitive enhancement drugs at least once each year. Students hope this consumption will improve their exam performance, while their non-academic contemporaries seek primarily to remain awake for longer.

19 Mar 2014

Restless legs syndrome alters expression of critical gene during fetal development of brain

In a study published online in Genome Research, researchers of the Helmholtz Zentrum München und the Technische Universität München have demonstrated that a common genetic variant associated with Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) alters the expression of a critical gene during fetal development of the brain.

19 Mar 2014

New improved mass spectrometry for analysis of chemical and biological materials

When it comes to analyzing cell components or body fluids or developing new medications, there is no way around mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometry is a highly sensitive method of measurement that has been used for many years for the analysis of chemical and biological materials.

19 Mar 2014

Neurexin proteins play key role in formation of synaptic connections

Neuroscientists and bioengineers at Stanford are working together to solve a mystery: how does nature construct the different types of synapses that connect neurons -- the brain cells that monitor nerve impulses, control muscles and form thoughts.

19 Mar 2014

PredictND project aims at validating new procedures for early diagnosis of memory disorders

The PredictND project, started by European research organisations, aims at developing and validating new procedures for the earlier diagnosis of memory disorders and for detecting individuals at high risk of developing memory disorders. Millions of Europeans who are at risk for experiencing any kind of memory loss would benefit from such a solution.

19 Mar 2014

Elevated body temperature linked to fatigue in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Kessler Foundation researchers have demonstrated for the first time ever that body temperature is elevated endogenously in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and linked to worse fatigue. The article was published ahead of print on Feb. 21, 2014 in Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. Sumowski J, Leavitt V: Body temperature is elevated and linked to fatigue in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, even without heat exposure.

19 Mar 2014

Sea lions exposed to toxin in algae develop form of epilepsy that is similar to humans

California sea lions exposed to a toxin in algae develop a form of epilepsy that is similar to one in humans, according to a new study led by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.

19 Mar 2014

Cellectricon, UCL to host webinar to explore use of primary cells for biomedical research

Cellectricon, a leading provider of advanced cell-based screening technologies and services, will co-host a webinar with top researchers at University College London. The webinar will explore the use of primary cells as a biologically-relevant model for biomedical research, and highlight the new high-throughput techniques and phenotypic screening approaches that are used by UCL to investigate cellular processes in such cells.

From Cellectricon 19 Mar 2014

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

Neuroscientist explores how the brain restores blood flow to damaged tissue following stroke

NIH awards $28M grant to establish new center for excellence to find treatment for Ebola virus

People who develop diabetes in middle age are more likely to have brain cell loss in old age

Insulin-secreting beta cells of pancreas have capacity to regenerate, say scientists

New weapon against secondary progressive MS

Scientists to study memory and learning in patients with Parkinson disease

Simvastatin may slow progression of multiple sclerosis

Novel method for evaluating treatment of obesity-related food behavior

Researcher finds clear differences between how brains respond to genuine and fake laughter

Two new risk loci for bipolar disorder identified

Biological basis for visual hallucinations identified

Majority of individuals leave decision to computer than to their business partner

Non-academic contemporaries take brain stimulants more often than students

Restless legs syndrome alters expression of critical gene during fetal development of brain

New improved mass spectrometry for analysis of chemical and biological materials

Neurexin proteins play key role in formation of synaptic connections

PredictND project aims at validating new procedures for early diagnosis of memory disorders

Elevated body temperature linked to fatigue in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Sea lions exposed to toxin in algae develop form of epilepsy that is similar to humans

Cellectricon, UCL to host webinar to explore use of primary cells for biomedical research

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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