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.

New insights into 'sundowning' syndrome

New research provides the best evidence to date that the late-day anxiety and agitation sometimes seen in older institutionalized adults, especially those with dementia, has a biological basis in the brain.

28 Jun 2011

Nine-year-old recovers with experimental heart pump

Nine-year-old Greer Underwood was healthy until February 2011. What seemingly began as sinusitis on a Tuesday became almost fatal by the weekend when her heart began to fail. Now, after a historic series of events at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she's the only child in the country to have used the experimental heart pump, Heartware, as a bridge to transplant.

28 Jun 2011

Study shows how binge drinking could cause serious brain damage in young adults

It's considered a rite of passage among young people - acting out their independence through heavy, episodic drinking. But a new University of Cincinnati study, the first of its kind nationally, is showing how binge drinking among adolescents and young adults could be causing serious damage to a brain that's still under development at this age.

28 Jun 2011

Study links physiological responses to anger with reduction of empathy after severe TBI

Egocentric, self-centred, and insensitive to the needs of others: these social problems often arise in people with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and have been attributed in part to a loss of emotional empathy, the capacity to recognise and understand the emotions of other people.

28 Jun 2011

NUROMOL non-prescription painkiller now available in pharmacies across the UK

A new non-prescription painkiller is now available in pharmacies across the UK, heralding the first UK painkiller combination of ibuprofen and paracetamol in 'over-the-counter' pain relief.

28 Jun 2011

New software program can allow scientists to produce single brain images

A University of Colorado Boulder research team has developed a new software program allowing neuroscientists to produce single brain images pulled from hundreds of individual studies, trimming weeks and even months from what can be a tedious, time-consuming research process.

28 Jun 2011

Spirituality, religion can help traumatic brain injury victims to rehabilitate

Brigid Waldron-Perrine, Ph.D., a recent graduate from Wayne State University, and her mentor, Lisa J. Rapport, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Wayne State University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, found that if traumatic brain injury (TBI) victims feel close to a higher power, it can help them rehabilitate. The study was recently published in Rehabilitation Psychology.

28 Jun 2011

Scientists identify central switch responsible for epilepsy

UC Irvine and French researchers have identified a central switch responsible for the transformation of healthy brain cells into epileptic ones, opening the way to both treat and prevent temporal lobe epilepsy.

28 Jun 2011

Cinnamon extract can prevent Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's, the degenerative brain disorder that disrupts memory, thought and behavior, is devastating to both patients and loved ones. According to the Alzheimer's Association, one in eight Americans over the age of 65 suffers from the disease.

28 Jun 2011

Researchers identify how sooty mangabeys survive SIV infection

Sooty mangabeys, a type of African monkey, have intrigued scientists for years because they can survive infection by SIV, a relative of HIV, and not succumb to AIDS.

27 Jun 2011

New 3D herpes infection model brings hope

Herpes infections on the lips, in the eyes or on the nose are painful, long-lasting and unpleasant. A new 3D herpes infection model brings hope: active ingredients and new treatments can be reliably tested with this model. Animal tests could soon be a thing of the past.

27 Jun 2011

EnVivo initiates EVP-0962 GSM Phase 1 clinical trial for Alzheimer’s disease

EnVivo Pharmaceuticals, a company dedicated to developing a broad range of novel central nervous system (CNS) therapies, announced today that it recently initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial of EVP-0962, its potent and selective gamma secretase modulator (GSM), in healthy volunteers.

27 Jun 2011

Acorda to move corporate headquarters to Ardsley Park life science campus

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that it plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to the Ardsley Park life science campus in Ardsley, New York, which was acquired by BioMed Realty Trust, Inc..

27 Jun 2011

Chaos in biochemical alterations of cancer cells

Using the latest gene sequencing tools to examine so-called epigenetic influences on the DNA makeup of colon cancer, a Johns Hopkins team says its results suggest cancer treatment might eventually be more tolerable and successful if therapies could focus on helping cancer cells get back to normal in addition to strategies for killing them.

27 Jun 2011

Health Canada approves Tasigna for newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML

Over a decade ago, Canadian patients diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), celebrated when PrGleevec (imatinib mesylate) was approved in Canada.

27 Jun 2011

Yissum, BioLineRx sign license deal to develop and commercialize BL-7040 for IBD

BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical drug development company, and Yissum Research Development Company Ltd., the Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, announced today that they have signed a worldwide, exclusive license agreement for BioLineRx to develop and commercialize BL-7040, an orally available Phase II ready molecule for treating Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and other inflammatory diseases.

27 Jun 2011

Positive results from Stealth's Bendavia Phase I renal impairment study

Stealth Peptides Inc. (Stealth), a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing innovative mitochondrial therapies, announced today the results of a Phase I renal impairment study with Bendavia.

27 Jun 2011

Anticholinergic medications linked to risk of cognitive impairment, death in older population

A large, long-term study confirms that medications with anticholinergic activity, which include many drugs frequently taken by older adults, cause cognitive impairment. The research is also the first to identify a possible link between these drugs - which include over-the-counter and prescription sleep aids and incontinence treatments - and risk of death.

27 Jun 2011

McMaster researchers to use tiny worms for Parkinson's project

McMaster researchers from three disciplines are deploying thousands of tiny worms and a homegrown invention to test drugs in a collaborative bid to defeat Parkinson's Disease.

27 Jun 2011

ACS to honor Brookhaven Lab's senior chemist for brain research

Joanna Fowler, a senior chemist and director of radiotracer chemistry, instrumentation, and biological imaging at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, is one of 23 women from around the world who has been chosen to receive a Distinguished Women in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering Award, sponsored by the American Chemical Society (ACS).

27 Jun 2011