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.

LFA seeks grant applications to address important areas of lupus research

The Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) seeks grant applications to advance the science and medicine of lupus and to help improve the quality of lives of all people affected by this disease. The LFA is seeking grant applications to address the following areas of lupus research: cutaneous (skin) lupus, pediatric lupus, adult stem cell transplantation, and neuropsychiatric lupus, which affects the brain and nervous system.

10 Feb 2012

New link between beta-arrestin and short-term memory

Biomedical scientists at the University of California, Riverside have identified a new link between a protein called beta-arrestin and short-term memory that could open new doors for the therapeutic treatment of neurological disorders, particularly Alzheimer's disease.

10 Feb 2012

Single fibronectin injection can prevent chronic pain development after SCI

Chronic neuropathic pain following a spinal cord injury is common and very difficult to treat, but a new therapeutic strategy requiring a one-time injection into the spinal column has potential to improve patient outcomes.

9 Feb 2012

Parkinson’s disease gene - parkin explored: Study

Researchers at the University at Buffalo have discovered how mutations in the parkin gene cause Parkinson's disease, which afflicts at least 500,000 Americans and for which there is no cure. The results are published in the current issue of Nature Communications.

9 Feb 2012

Gene therapy succeeds in the second blind eye for three patients

Three people have now have reported a dramatic improvement in vision after having gene therapy in both eyes after having lost their eyesight as children.

9 Feb 2012

Obama administration pledges $156 million for Alzheimer's research and care

Research to investigate the genetic underpinnings of the disease and to test drugs that may arrest its development will get an immediate $50 million boost.

9 Feb 2012

Readministration of gene therapy improves vision in three patients with LCA

Gene therapy for congenital blindness has taken another step forward, as researchers further improved vision in three adult patients previously treated in one eye.

9 Feb 2012

Researchers examine effectiveness of Omega 3 in treating psychiatric symptoms

Researchers at Zucker Hillside Hospital's Recognition and Prevention (RAP) Program who have worked with teenagers at risk for serious mental illness for the past decade are now studying the effectiveness of Omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil) for treating psychiatric symptoms.

9 Feb 2012

LFA announces new grants for critical areas of lupus research

Today, the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) announced new research grants awarded to fund critical areas of research where gaps exist in the understanding and knowledge of lupus including: pediatric lupus, cutaneous (skin) lupus, mid-to-late stage translational research, adult stem cells, and neuropsychiatric lupus, which affects the brain and nervous system.

9 Feb 2012

DF/CHCC specialists recommend genetic counseling for children with Li-Fraumeni syndrome

Genetic specialists at Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC) are recommending that children being treated for sarcoma should be offered genetic counseling for Li-Fraumeni syndrome, a rare condition that greatly raises a person's risk of developing additional cancers.

9 Feb 2012

CSIC develops web application to test visual intelligence of Facebook users

A team of researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) have developed a web application to test the visual intelligence of Facebook users through the social network. The new platform will enable researchers to test different cognitive skills and to obtain large amounts of data that determine what parameters affect the brain's visual capacity.

9 Feb 2012

New, more targeted way to stimulate neurons in the brain

By harnessing quantum dots—tiny light-emitting semiconductor particles a few billionths of a meter across—researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have developed a new and vastly more targeted way to stimulate neurons in the brain.

9 Feb 2012

Deep-brain stimulation of entorhinal cortex can strengthen memory

Ever gone to the movies and forgotten where you parked the car? New UCLA research may one day help you improve your memory.

9 Feb 2012

ASTRO creates guideline on radiotherapeutic, surgical management for brain metastases

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has developed a guideline on the radiotherapeutic and surgical management for newly diagnosed brain metastases. It has been published in Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), ASTRO's official clinical practice journal.

9 Feb 2012

Genzyme announces four-year data from eliglustat tartrate phase 2 trial on Gaucher disease type 1

Genzyme, a Sanofi company, announced today four-year follow-up data from patients enrolled in the phase 2 clinical trial for its investigational oral therapy for Gaucher disease type 1 known as eliglustat tartrate.

8 Feb 2012

Positive emotional experience induces people to visit social networking sites

People visit social networking sites such as Facebook for many reasons, including the positive emotional experience that people enjoy and want to repeat, according to an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc..

8 Feb 2012

Thumb and little finger react faster than the middle finger

The fingers on the outside - i.e. the thumb and little finger - therefore react faster than the middle finger, which is exposed to the "cross fire" of two neighbours on each side. Through targeted learning, this speed handicap can be compensated. The working group led by PD Dr. Hubert Dinse (Neural Plasticity Lab at the Institute for Neuroral Computation) report in the current issue of PNAS.

8 Feb 2012

Center for LAM Research and Clinical Care at BWH to conduct phase I combination drug trial

The Center for LAM Research and Clinical Care at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) has been awarded a $1 million plus, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs to fund their work on lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

8 Feb 2012

Researchers discover function and expression of CD97 in malignant gliomas

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center's VCU Massey Cancer Center and Harold F. Young Neurosurgical Center and Old Dominion University have discovered that suppression of Wilms tumor 1 protein (WT1) results in downregulation of CD97 gene expression in three glioblastoma cell lines and reduces the characteristic invasiveness exhibited by glial tumor cells.

8 Feb 2012

MRI techniques can measure changes in microstructural properties of white matter

Innovative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that can measure changes in the microstructure of the white matter likely to affect brain function and the ability of different regions of the brain to communicate are presented in an article in the groundbreaking new neuroscience journal Brain Connectivity, a bimonthly peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

8 Feb 2012