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Migraines with aura in middle age associated with late-life brain lesions

Women who suffer from migraine headaches in middle age accompanied by neurological aura (visual disturbances, dizziness or numbness that can precede migraines) are more likely to have damage to brain tissue in the cerebellum later in life, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the Icelandic Heart Association in Reykjavik.

23 Jun 2009

Cerebrospinal fluid shows Alzheimer's disease deterioration much earlier

It is possible to determine which patients run a high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and the dementia associated with it, even in patients with minimal memory impairment. This has been shown by recent research at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

22 Jun 2009

Neuroimaging shows how we recognize right and wrong

A recent neuroimaging study reveals that the ability to distinguish true from false in our daily lives involves two distinct processes. Previous research relied heavily on the premise that true and false statements are both processed in the left inferior frontal cortex.

17 Jun 2009

Needle biopsies safe in 'eloquent' areas of brain

After a review of 284 cases, specialists at the Brain Tumor Center at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Neuroscience Institute have concluded that performing a stereotactic needle biopsy in an area of the brain associated with language or other important functions carries no greater risk than a similar biopsy in a less critical area of the brain.

3 Jun 2009

Genetic profiling reveals genes active in the earliest brain circuit construction

Long before the brain's neurons can facilitate life's big decisions, they have to find their own destiny in the rapidly developing embryo.

31 May 2009

Brain activation can predict strategies people use to make risky decisions

Watching people's brains in real time as they handle a set of decision-making problems can reveal how different each person's strategy can be, according to neuroscientists at the Duke University Medical Center.

27 May 2009

Neuroscientists reach consensus on how the brain processes speech and language

Neuroscientists feel they are much closer to an accepted unified theory about how the brain processes speech and language, according to a scientist at Georgetown University Medical Center who first laid the concepts a decade ago and who has now published a review article confirming the theory.

26 May 2009

Impaired ability to monitor behavior, emotions may underlie vulnerability to drugs; suggests new targets for treatment

Parts of the brain involved in monitoring behaviors and emotions show different levels of activity in cocaine users relative to non-drug users, even when both groups perform equally well on a psychological test.

25 May 2009

MRI analysis software helps identify early Alzheimer’s disease

Analyzing MRI studies of the brain with software developed at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) may allow diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and of mild cognitive impairment, a lesser form of dementia that precedes the development of Alzheimer's by several years.

21 May 2009

Chinese body and mind training gets results with students in just 5 days!

Chinese researchers have unravelled how a training technique adapted from traditional Chinese medicine works to reduce stress and enhance learning.

19 May 2009

'Singing brains' offers hope for better treatments for epilepsy and schizophrenia

Studying the way a person's brain 'sings' could improve our understanding of conditions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia and help develop better treatments, scientists at Cardiff University have discovered.

19 May 2009

aPKC enzyme tells stem cells which way to divide

Driving Miranda, a protein in fruit flies crucial to switch a stem cell's fate, is not as complex as biologists thought, according to University of Oregon biochemists. They've found that one enzyme (aPKC) stands alone and acts as a traffic cop that directs which roads daughter cells will take.

13 May 2009

Research shows speech recognition problems independent of hearing loss

Older adults may have difficulty understanding speech because of age-related changes in brain tissue, according to new research in the May 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

12 May 2009

Meditation may increase gray matter

Push-ups, crunches, gyms, personal trainers - people have many strategies for building bigger muscles and stronger bones. But what can one do to build a bigger brain?

12 May 2009

Magnetization Transfer Imaging shows structural changes in Tourette's syndrome

Magnetization Transfer Imaging, MTI, has been used to visualize previously unknown alterations in the cerebral architecture of patients with Tourette's syndrome.

12 May 2009

Potential molecular target for new schizophrenia treatments

A study on schizophrenia has implicated machinery that maintains the flow of potassium in cells and revealed a potential molecular target for new treatments. Expression of a previously unknown form of a key such potassium channel was found to be 2.5 fold higher than normal in the brain memory hub of people with the chronic mental illness and linked to a hotspot of genetic variation.

5 May 2009

Research uncovers possible basis of memories for different smells

Ben W. Strowbridge, Ph.D, associate professor of Neuroscience and Physiology/Biophysics, and Yuan Gao, a Ph.D. student in the neurosciences program at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, are the first to discover a form of synaptic memory in the olfactory bulb, the part of the brain that processes the sense of smell.

3 May 2009