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.

Kresge Foundation awards $750,000 grant for East Cleveland Teen Collaborative

Cleveland Clinic, the City of East Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and a collection of local health and social service agencies are launching the East Cleveland Teen Collaborative, a partnership focused on reducing health disparities and improving health outcomes of East Cleveland youth.

19 Feb 2011

RegeneRx listed on MDB’s 'Best & Brightest' innovators for 2011

RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that the Company has been included on MDB Capital Group's "Best & Brightest" innovators list of 150 companies for 2011. Criterion for inclusion is a ranking in the 90th percentile for technology leadership from more than 1,500 companies with U.S. patents granted, as rated by PatentVest®, MDB's proprietary, intellectual property (IP), business intelligence database.

19 Feb 2011

Genzyme reports 3-year follow-up data from eliglustat tartrate Phase 2 trial for Gaucher disease

Genzyme Corporation today announced three-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. Sustained or further improvements were observed across all endpoints, including bone disease, at the three-year timepoint.

19 Feb 2011

NSBRI awards four scientists with postdoctoral fellowships for space-related biomedical research

Four young scientists are now conducting research to help protect astronaut health. The researchers are recipients of postdoctoral fellowships awarded by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.

19 Feb 2011

NY neurosurgeon performs deep brain surgeries with hand-held CO2 laser

Lee Eric Tessler, MD, a neurosurgeon specializing in the treatment of brain tumors, is among the first in metro New York to use a new advanced, hand-held CO2 (carbon dioxide) laser for surgeries on certain types of tumors that are buried deep within the base of the skull. The laser allows surgeons to remove these difficult-to-reach tumors in less time, with lower risk of complications, less anesthesia and a smaller possibility of damage to surrounding healthy brain and nerve tissue.

19 Feb 2011

How Huntington's disease proteins move from cell to cell

One bad apple is all it takes to spoil the barrel. And one misfolded protein may be all that's necessary to corrupt other proteins, forming large aggregations linked to several incurable neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

19 Feb 2011

Deep brain stimulation therapy promising against severe OCD

When obsessive-compulsive disorder is of crippling severity and drugs and behavior therapy can't help, there has been for just over a year a thread - or rather a wire - of hope. By inserting a thin electrode deep into the brain, doctors can precisely deliver an electrical current to a cord of the brain's wiring and soften the severity of the symptoms. "Deep brain stimulation" therapy for OCD won Food and Drug Administration approval in 2009 for extreme cases under its humanitarian device exemption.

19 Feb 2011

Scientist uses rat whisker system to understand neural mechanics that generate sense of touch

In her search to understand one of the most basic human senses - touch - Mitra Hartmann turns to what is becoming one of the best studied model systems in neuroscience: the whiskers of a rat. In her research, Hartmann, associate professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University, uses the rat whisker system as a model to understand how the brain seamlessly integrates the sense of touch with movement.

19 Feb 2011

Therapeutic hypothermia after resuscitation from cardiac arrest improves survival and functional status

Mayo Clinic researchers confirmed that patients who receive therapeutic hypothermia after resuscitation from cardiac arrest have favorable chances of surviving the event and recovering good functional status.

19 Feb 2011

GIBH, Saint Louis University form global research partnership to combat malaria

The Center for World Health & Medicine at Saint Louis University and China's Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health are forming a global research partnership that initially will focus on new treatments for malaria.

19 Feb 2011

Scientists discover evidence linking brain function variations to birth size, weight of placenta

Scientists have discovered the first evidence linking brain function variations between the left and right sides of the brain to size at birth and the weight of the placenta. The finding could shed new light on the causes of mental health problems in later life.

18 Feb 2011

Bilingualism enhances multi-tasking skills

Once likened to a confusing tower of Babel, speaking more than one language can actually bolster brain function by serving as a mental gymnasium, according to researchers.

18 Feb 2011

Scientists integrate multimedia patient data into PDF document

Who wouldn't want to send his heartbeat electronically? Not only scientists and doctors, but also lovers can now indulge in this desire. Researchers at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, in collaboration with colleagues at the university hospitals of Jena and Münster, the Bundeswehrkrankenhaus Berlin and the Erlangen-based company 3D-Shape GmbH have, for the first time, embedded multimedia patient data into an electronic publication.

18 Feb 2011

Scientists find working memory highly dependent on fast inhibitory cells

Usually, we associate rhythms with dance and music. But they also play an important role in the brain. When billions of neurons communicate with each other, certain rhythmic activity patterns arise. The proper metre in this interplay is provided by nerve cells that do not excite other cells, but inhibit their activity instead. One type of these inhibiting cells acts in a particularly fast and efficient way and is therefore thought to be crucial for memory formation and information processing in neuronal networks.

18 Feb 2011

Canadian experts to discuss on latest developments in speech research at AASS

Three leading Canadian language and speech experts will take centre stage in discussions on the latest developments in speech research at this year's annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.

18 Feb 2011

Emotional response to challenging situations predict body's response to stress

Your emotional response to challenging situations could predict how your body responds to stress, according to research published this month in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

18 Feb 2011

Pittsburgh researchers awarded funds for testing brain-computer interfaces in patients with spinal cord injuries

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have been awarded funding for two projects that will place brain-computer interfaces (BCI) in patients with spinal cord injuries to test if it is possible for them to control external devices, such as a computer cursor or a prosthetic limb, with their thoughts.

18 Feb 2011

Longer looks: KHN's best health policy picks from thought-provoking publications

A law under consideration in South Dakota would expand the definition of "justifiable homicide" to include killings that are intended to prevent harm to a fetus—a move that could make it legal to kill doctors who perform abortions.

18 Feb 2011

Scientists discover axons can send signals to cell body

Neurons are complicated, but the basic functional concept is that synapses transmit electrical signals to the dendrites and cell body, and axons carry signals away.

18 Feb 2011

$Helmets reduce skull fractures in skiers, snowboarders$

Helmets reduce skull fractures in skiers, snowboarders

A compelling clinical article published online in the March 2011 issue of Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics, entitled Helmet Use Reduces Skull Fractures in Skiers and Snowboarders Admitted to the Hospital discusses skull fractures incurred by young skiers and snowboarders and the role helmets play in reducing these head injuries.

18 Feb 2011