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Study examines role of six-layered cerebral cortex in processing sensory information

A series of studies conducted by Randy Bruno, PhD, and Christine Constantinople, PhD, of Columbia University's Department of Neuroscience, topples convention by showing that sensory information travels to two places at once: not only to the brain's mid-layer (where most axons lead), but also directly to its deeper layers. The study appears in the June 28, 2013, edition of the journal Science.

28 Jun 2013

Breaking habits is easy, reveal MIT researchers

Our daily routines can become so ingrained that we perform them automatically, such as taking the same route to work every day. Some behaviors, such as smoking or biting your fingernails, become so habitual that we can't stop even if we want to.

28 Jun 2013

Hunger not only modifies behaviour, but also changes pathways in brain

Hungry people are often difficult to deal with. A good meal can affect more than our mood, it can also influence our willingness to take risks. This phenomenon is also apparent across a very diverse range of species in the animal kingdom.

26 Jun 2013

Caspase-2 protein contributes to cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have demonstrated that a protein called caspase-2 is a key regulator of a signaling pathway that leads to cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease.

26 Jun 2013

TSRI scientists find dual inhibitor that attacks two enzymes associated with Parkinson's disease

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have found a compound that could counter Parkinson's disease in two ways at once.

21 Jun 2013

Duke Medicine researchers identify molecular target to prevent onset of epilepsy

Duke Medicine researchers have identified a receptor in the nervous system that may be key to preventing epilepsy following a prolonged period of seizures.

21 Jun 2013

Targeting particular signaling pathway can help prevent temporal lobe epilepsy, scientists report

Temporal lobe epilepsy, the most common form of epilepsy, is characterized by recurrent seizures throughout life and often behavioral abnormalities, with devastating impacts on patients and their families. Unfortunately, the condition is often not responsive to anticonvulsants. Now scientists report online June 20 in the Cell Press journal Neuron that targeting a particular signaling pathway in mice can prevent the development of temporal lobe epilepsy with just two weeks of treatment, offering hope that researchers will be able to develop effective drugs to mitigate recurrent seizures and the development of epilepsy.

21 Jun 2013

Scientists create way to see structures that store memories in living brain

Oscar Wilde called memory "the diary that we all carry about with us." Now a team of scientists has developed a way to see where and how that diary is written.

20 Jun 2013

Researchers use fMRI to validate activity patterns in human and animal brains in resting state

Kick back and shut your eyes. Now stop thinking. You have just put your brain into what neuroscientists call its resting state. What the brain is doing when an individual is not focused on the outside world has become the focus of considerable research in recent years.

20 Jun 2013

Penn researchers find ALS disease progresses in a stepwise, sequential pattern

The motor neuron disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, progresses in a stepwise, sequential pattern which can be classified into four distinct stages, report pathologists with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in the Annals of Neurology.

20 Jun 2013

Research shows interaction of tau and amyloid-beta in brain may increase progression of AD

For years, Alzheimer's researchers have focused on two proteins that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's and may contribute to the disease: plaques made up of the protein amyloid-beta, and tangles of another protein, called tau.

20 Jun 2013

Stem cell patterns in flies offer potential applications for human biologists

A new study examining the brains of fruit flies reveals a novel stem cell mechanism that may help explain how neurons form in humans. A paper on the study by researchers at the University of Oregon appeared in the online version of the journal Nature in advance of the June 27 publication date.

20 Jun 2013

Study: Vitamin D supplementation may help delay early onset of puberty in girls

Vitamin D supplementation may help delay early onset of puberty in girls, a new clinical study finds. The results were presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

18 Jun 2013

Scientists find that psychiatric disorders may be linked to protein involved in memory formation

Researchers have discovered a pathway by which the brain controls a molecule critical to forming long-term memories and connected with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

17 Jun 2013

Scientists discover key mechanism that boosts signalling function of neurons in the brain

Scientists working under the leadership of neurobiologists Nils Brose and Erwin Neher at the Max Planck Institutes of Experimental Medicine and Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen have now discovered an important molecular mechanism that turns neurons into true masters of adaptation.

14 Jun 2013

IBM, EPFL and ETH Zürich explore new hybrid memory strategy for supercomputers

Motivated by extraordinary requirements for neuroscience, IBM Research, EPFL, and ETH Zürich through the Swiss National Supercomputing Center CSCS, are exploring how to combine different types of memory - DRAM, which is standard for computer memory, and flash memory that is akin to USB sticks - for less expensive and optimal supercomputing performance.

13 Jun 2013

Optogenetics: A promising technique for treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders

By applying light stimulation to highly specific neurons in the brain, the researchers managed to re-establish normal behaviour in mice that had beforehand presented pathological repetitive behaviour similar to that observed in human patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorders.

10 Jun 2013

Study sheds light on origin of wide range of brain disorders

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have uncovered a mechanism that guides the exquisite wiring of neural circuits in a developing brain -- gaining unprecedented insight into the faulty circuits that may lead to brain disorders ranging from autism to mental retardation.

10 Jun 2013

Researchers find way to differentiate iPSCs into mature human neurons in the brain

Difficult-to-study diseases such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, and autism now can be probed more safely and effectively thanks to an innovative new method for obtaining mature brain cells called neurons from reprogrammed skin cells. According to Gong Chen, the Verne M. Willaman Chair in Life Sciences and professor of biology at Penn State University and the leader of the research team, "the most exciting part of this research is that it offers the promise of direct disease modeling, allowing for the creation, in a Petri dish, of mature human neurons that behave a lot like neurons that grow naturally in the human brain."

10 Jun 2013

Researchers mobilize brain's native stem cells to replenish neuron lost in Huntington's disease

Researchers have been able to mobilize the brain's native stem cells to replenish a type of neuron lost in Huntington's disease.

7 Jun 2013

Neuron News and Research

Study examines role of six-layered cerebral cortex in processing sensory information

Breaking habits is easy, reveal MIT researchers

Hunger not only modifies behaviour, but also changes pathways in brain

Caspase-2 protein contributes to cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease

TSRI scientists find dual inhibitor that attacks two enzymes associated with Parkinson's disease

Duke Medicine researchers identify molecular target to prevent onset of epilepsy

Targeting particular signaling pathway can help prevent temporal lobe epilepsy, scientists report

Scientists create way to see structures that store memories in living brain

Researchers use fMRI to validate activity patterns in human and animal brains in resting state

Penn researchers find ALS disease progresses in a stepwise, sequential pattern

Research shows interaction of tau and amyloid-beta in brain may increase progression of AD

Stem cell patterns in flies offer potential applications for human biologists

Study: Vitamin D supplementation may help delay early onset of puberty in girls

Scientists find that psychiatric disorders may be linked to protein involved in memory formation

Scientists discover key mechanism that boosts signalling function of neurons in the brain

IBM, EPFL and ETH Zürich explore new hybrid memory strategy for supercomputers

Optogenetics: A promising technique for treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders

Study sheds light on origin of wide range of brain disorders

Researchers find way to differentiate iPSCs into mature human neurons in the brain

Researchers mobilize brain's native stem cells to replenish neuron lost in Huntington's disease

Human iPSCs: A Full Guide to Advanced in Vitro Models and Applications eBook

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