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.

Research explores connections between the brain, immune system and psychological functions

It's true that the brain governs the body, but the body also governs the brain, for example when the immune defense system makes us rest when we're sick. This is shown in research that the world's leading researchers and Nobel laureates will be presenting at an international conference in the research field of psychoneuroimmunology in Stockholm in June.

30 May 2013

Endovascular stroke therapy should be limited to use within clinical trials, say physicians

Devices snaked into the brain artery of a patient experiencing a stroke that either snatch and remove the offending clot or pump a dissolving drug into the blockage should primarily be used within a clinical trial setting, say a team of vascular neurologists at Mayo Clinic in Florida.

30 May 2013

Radiotherapy: First choice treatment for low-grade glioma

In a large, international, randomized trial, initial radiotherapy was compared to temozolomide chemotherapy. A statistically significant difference between the two treatment strategies was not observed for progression-free survival, although radiotherapy was numerically favored. However, molecular tumor characterization may allow the treatment approach to be personalized and one or the other treatment modality to be selected.

30 May 2013

Findings could lead to better understanding of learning and memory

Students preparing for final exams might want to wait before pulling an all-night cram session - at least as far as their neurons are concerned. Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientists have discovered a new intermediate phase in neuronal development during which repeated exposure to a stimulus shrinks synapses.

30 May 2013

Landmark study reveals new way to treat strokes

University of Leicester researchers have contributed to a landmark study which has revealed a new way to treat strokes caused by bleeding inside the brain.

30 May 2013

Scientists develop new chemical method to treat Alzheimer's disease

Scientists at the University of Liverpool and Callaghan Innovation in New Zealand have developed a new chemical approach to help harness the natural ability of complex sugars to treat Alzheimer's disease.

30 May 2013

Better treatment for brain haemorrhage patients

An international trial has provided surgeons with a formula which predicts when brain haemorrhage patients need surgery for the best outcome.

30 May 2013

Researchers tie traumatic brain injury to toxic form of protein

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have uncovered what may be a key molecular mechanism behind the lasting damage done by traumatic brain injury.

30 May 2013

Viewpoints: 'Good news' on Calif. insurance rates; Battle against dementia needs stronger efforts; Dental care for the disabled

The Affordable Care Act, a k a Obamacare, goes fully into effect at the beginning of next year, and predictions of disaster are being heard far and wide. ... No doubt there will be problems, as there are with any large new government initiative, and in this case, we have the added complication that many Republican governors and legislators are doing all they can to sabotage reform. Yet important new evidence - especially from California, the law's most important test case - suggests that the real Obamacare shock will be one of unexpected success (Paul Krugman, 5/26).

29 May 2013

Protein presenilin plays critical role in controlling neuronal traffic on microtubule highways

Imagine if you could open up your brain and look inside. What you would see is a network of nerve cells called neurons, each with its own internal highway system for transporting essential materials between different parts of the cell.

29 May 2013

UCLA researchers show that bacteria ingested in food can affect brain function

UCLA researchers now have the first evidence that bacteria ingested in food can affect brain function in humans. In an early proof-of-concept study of healthy women, they found that women who regularly consumed beneficial bacteria known as probiotics through yogurt showed altered brain function, both while in a resting state and in response to an emotion-recognition task.

29 May 2013

IUPUI assistant professor earns NSF CAREER Award for research on the brain

An assistant professor of computer science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has earned the prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation for research to identify the patterns by which neurons develop and connect to form a brain.

29 May 2013

Cognitive deficits of children born preterm depend on the workload of tasks

Being born preterm goes hand in hand with an increased risk for neuro-cognitive deficits. Psychologists from the Ruhr-Universit-t Bochum and the University of Warwick, UK have investigated the relation between the duration of pregnancy and cognitive abilities under varying work load conditions.

29 May 2013

Research discovery may lead to development of new therapies for neurological disorders

For several years, the pharmaceutical industry has tried to develop drugs that target a specific neurotransmitter receptor in the brain, the NMDA receptor. This receptor is present on almost every neuron in the human brain and is involved in learning and memory. NMDA receptors also have been implicated in several neurological and psychiatric conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and depression.

29 May 2013

Crittenton researchers receive grant to study trauma treatment in children

Crittenton Children's Center has received a two-year, $10,000 grant from the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Research Foundation to conduct a first of its kind study addressing trauma in children.

29 May 2013

Majority of children with spastic cerebral palsy experience long-term benefits of SDR

Selective dorsal rhizotomy is a surgical procedure used to treat spasticity in some children with spastic cerebral palsy. This procedure appears to be effective, but for how long? Researchers from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, set out to find the answer to this question by studying data from the McGill University Rhizotomy Database on 102 pediatric patients with long-term follow-up.

29 May 2013

Harmless genetic variations may team up to increase risk of schizophrenia, find researchers

Using a novel method of analyzing genetic variations in families, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that individually harmless genetic variations affecting related biochemical processes may team up to increase the risk of schizophrenia.

29 May 2013

Parachute's Safe Kids Week 2013: Be alert. Be safe. Be aware of concussions

Twelve-year-old Nathan Fraser suffered a severe concussion during hockey practice in February 2012 when he tripped over a teammate diving for a puck and crashed head first into the ice and boards. Nathan's memory was wiped out, he lost five months of school and was so sensitive to sound and light he had to wear sunglasses and special earmuffs in his own home. After a long, slow recovery, Nathan and his family are now advocates for concussion prevention and awareness, a goal of Parachute's Safe Kids Week, May 27 to June 2.

28 May 2013

Resolvins may help protect against cognitive decline after surgery

Resolvins are molecules naturally produced by the body from omega-3 fatty acids - a process that can be jumpstarted by common aspirin. In a new study, published in The FASEB Journal, researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe how resolvins could protect against the cognitive impairment that often affects recovery of surgical and critically ill patients.

28 May 2013

New MRI superresolution methods enable structural study of psychosis

A team of researchers from the UPNA/NUP-Public University of Navarre has developed new superresolution and segmentation methods for magnetic resonance images so that they can be applied to the structural study of psychosis. The aim is to be able to identify the differences that are produced in specific parts of the brain in psychotic patients with respect to their healthy relatives or other people.

28 May 2013