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Review article highlights growing evidence for lasting impact of alcohol on the brain

Excessive alcohol use accounts for 4% of the global burden of disease, and binge drinking particularly is becoming an increasing health issue. A new review article published Cortex highlights the significant changes in brain function and structure that can be caused by alcohol misuse in young people.

31 Jan 2013

Scientists discover functional control strategies in emotional circuits of people with social phobia

Fear is a protective function against possible dangers that is designed to save our lives. Where there are problems with this fear mechanism, its positive effects are cancelled out: patients who have a social phobia become afraid of perfectly normal, everyday social situations because they are worried about behaving inappropriately or being thought of as stupid by other people.

30 Jan 2013

Novel experiment illuminates importance of doctor-patient relationship

A patient's relationship with his or her doctor has long been considered an important component of healing. Now, in a novel investigation in which physicians underwent brain scans while they believed they were actually treating patients, researchers have provided the first scientific evidence indicating that doctors truly can feel their patients' pain - and can also experience their relief following treatment.

29 Jan 2013

Evidence links HPV16 to focal cortical dysplasia type IIB

Researchers at Shriner's Hospital Pediatric Research Center at the Temple University School of Medicine, and the University of Pennsylvania have evidence linking the human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16) - the most common cause of cervical cancer - to a common form of childhood epilepsy.

28 Jan 2013

Study sheds new light on learning and memory-making

In experiments on rats outfitted with tiny goggles, scientists say they have learned that the brain's initial vision processing center not only relays visual stimuli, but also can "learn" time intervals and create specifically timed expectations of future rewards.

28 Jan 2013

Scientists discover clear link between poor sleep, memory loss and brain deterioration of old age

The connection between poor sleep, memory loss and brain deterioration as we grow older has been elusive. But for the first time, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have found a link between these hallmark maladies of old age. Their discovery opens the door to boosting the quality of sleep in elderly people to improve memory.

28 Jan 2013

Orbitofrontal cortex abnormality characteristic of deficit schizophrenia

The orbitofrontal cortex appears to play an important role in the development of severe negative symptoms in people with deficit schizophrenia, researchers suggest.

25 Jan 2013

Research team describes how the brain controls whisker movements in mice

All parents know the infant milestones: turning over, learning to crawl, standing, and taking that first unassisted step. Achieving each accomplishment presumably requires the formation of new connections among subsets of the billions of nerve cells in the infant's brain. But how, when and where those connections form has been a mystery.

24 Jan 2013

Study offers first detailed map of brain regions that contribute to emotional intelligence

A new study of 152 Vietnam veterans with combat-related brain injuries offers the first detailed map of the brain regions that contribute to emotional intelligence - the ability to process emotional information and navigate the social world.

22 Jan 2013

Hope for premature babies with neurologic disabilities

Damage caused by cerebral ischemia in premature babies could be reversed or prevented with early intervention, suggests research carried out in sheep and published in Science Translational Medicine.

22 Jan 2013

Neural clues found for impaired emotional response in bipolar disorder

Researchers have identified distinct trait- and state-related neural abnormalities during emotional response inhibition in patients with bipolar disorder.

22 Jan 2013

Neuronal reprogramming may help treat neurodegenerative diseases

A new finding by Harvard stem cell biologists turns one of the basics of neurobiology on its head - demonstrating that it is possible to turn one type of already differentiated neuron into another within the brain.

22 Jan 2013

Low blood flow to the premature brain disrupts cells' ability to fully mature

Physician-scientists at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital are challenging the way pediatric neurologists think about brain injury in the pre-term infant. In a study published online in the Jan. 16 issue of Science Translational Medicine, the OHSU Doernbecher researchers report for the first time that low blood and oxygen flow to the developing brain does not, as previously thought, cause an irreversible loss of brain cells, but rather disrupts the cells' ability to fully mature.

19 Jan 2013

New model of tau pathology spread

Brain diseases associated with the misformed protein tau, including Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration with tau pathologies, are characterized by neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) comprised of pathological tau filaments.

19 Jan 2013

New insight into personality psychology

Extraversion does not just explain differences between how people act at social events. How extraverted you are may influence how the brain makes choices - specifically whether you choose an immediate or delayed reward, according to a new study. The work is part of a growing body of research on the vital role of understanding personality in society.

19 Jan 2013

New combination of neural imaging methods discovers brain's ability to adapt to injury

For the first time, scientists at Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging (CCBI) have used a new combination of neural imaging methods to discover exactly how the human brain adapts to injury.

17 Jan 2013

Preterm infants with slower growth have delayed development in the cerebral cortex

Preterm infants who grow more slowly as they approached what would have been their due dates also have slower development in an area of the brain called the cerebral cortex, report Canadian researchers in a new study published today in Science Translational Medicine.

17 Jan 2013

Sp2 protein plays a key role in creation of neurons from stem cells

A protein known as Sp2 is key to the proper creation of neurons from stem cells, according to researchers at North Carolina State University. Understanding how this protein works could enable scientists to "program" stem cells for regeneration, which has implications for neural therapies.

16 Jan 2013

Fifteen established scientists to receive NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (formerly NARSAD, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression) announced the latest recipients of its highly competitive NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants.

16 Jan 2013

Bilingual older people reap neural rewards

Older bilingual people are faster than their monolingual peers in switching from one task to another, show researchers.

9 Jan 2013

Cortex News and Research

Review article highlights growing evidence for lasting impact of alcohol on the brain

Scientists discover functional control strategies in emotional circuits of people with social phobia

Novel experiment illuminates importance of doctor-patient relationship

Evidence links HPV16 to focal cortical dysplasia type IIB

Study sheds new light on learning and memory-making

Scientists discover clear link between poor sleep, memory loss and brain deterioration of old age

Orbitofrontal cortex abnormality characteristic of deficit schizophrenia

Research team describes how the brain controls whisker movements in mice

Study offers first detailed map of brain regions that contribute to emotional intelligence

Hope for premature babies with neurologic disabilities

Neural clues found for impaired emotional response in bipolar disorder

Neuronal reprogramming may help treat neurodegenerative diseases

Low blood flow to the premature brain disrupts cells' ability to fully mature

New model of tau pathology spread

New insight into personality psychology

New combination of neural imaging methods discovers brain's ability to adapt to injury

Preterm infants with slower growth have delayed development in the cerebral cortex

Sp2 protein plays a key role in creation of neurons from stem cells

Fifteen established scientists to receive NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants

Bilingual older people reap neural rewards

Improving healthcare sustainability through carbon data

Managing vibration in IVF laboratories

A New Approach to Preventing Bladder Cancer Recurrence

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