Brain News and Research

RSS

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.

Brain vessel malformations - intervention or a hands-off approach?

Individuals diagnosed with a brain arteriovenous malformation (BAVM) -- an abnormal tangle of arteries and veins -- are at increased risk of vessel rupture and bleeding that can cause permanent brain damage.

1 Apr 2009

A new theory on autism put forward

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms of the disorder might be reversible.

1 Apr 2009

TV series brings dwarfism into the spotlight

A popular cable reality television show, Little People, Big World, focuses on the daily lives of short stature individuals.

1 Apr 2009

New streamlined triage system for "brain attack"

Taking a page out of the playbook developed by cardiologists nearly two decades ago to promote the warning signs and swift treatment for heart attacks, a multidisciplinary team of stroke experts at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) have created a new streamlined triage system at Strong Memorial Hospital's Emergency Department (ED) to provide rapid evaluation and specialized treatments to "brain attack," or stroke, patients.

1 Apr 2009

Basic guides to PCR, labeling neurons featured in Cold Spring Harbor Protocols

Along with new cutting-edge methods, Cold Spring Harbor Protocols is home to an in-depth library of basic laboratory methods.

1 Apr 2009

Cannabinoids have anti-cancer effects

Guillermo Velasco and colleagues, at Complutense University, Spain, have provided evidence that suggests that cannabinoids such as the main active component of marijuana (THC) have anticancer effects on human brain cancer cells.

1 Apr 2009

West Nile virus studies show how star-shaped brain cells cope with infection

A new study published as the cover article for the April 2009 issue of The FASEB Journal promises to give physicians new ways to reduce deadly responses to viral infections of the brain and spinal cord.

1 Apr 2009

Addressing sleep problems could reduce the risk of suicidal behaviours

In a study presented at the World Psychiatric Association international congress "Treatments in Psychiatry," scientists found that the more types of sleep disturbances people had, the more likely they were to have thoughts of killing themselves, engage in planning a suicidal act or make a suicide attempt.

1 Apr 2009

Rigorous visual training helps the brain to see again after stroke

By doing a set of vigorous visual exercises on a computer every day for several months, patients who had gone partially blind as a result of suffering a stroke were able to regain some vision, according to scientists who published their results in the April 1 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

1 Apr 2009

Exercise may improve kid's attention span

As school districts across the nation revamped curricula to meet requirements of the federal "No Child Left Behind" Act, opportunities for children to be physically active during the school day diminished significantly.

1 Apr 2009

Novel assays provide new insight into why patients are in heart failure

A failing heart makes a lot of a hormone needed to eliminate the excess salt and water bloating the body but not enough of the enzyme needed to activate it, researchers say.

1 Apr 2009

New insights into how brain responds to viral infection

Scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health have discovered that astrocytes, supportive cells in the brain that are not derived from an immune cell lineage, respond to a molecule that mimics a viral infection using cellular machinery similar to that used by classical immune cells in the blood.

1 Apr 2009

Experimental brain tools developed by Hebrew University scientists

An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed a new analytical tool to answer the question of how our brain cells record outside stimuli and react to them.

1 Apr 2009

How microglia diagnose damaged circuits in an in vivo brain

Microglia, immune cells in the brain, is suggested to be involved in the repair of damaged brain, like a medical doctor.

1 Apr 2009

Coronary angiography improves outcomes for cardiac arrest patients

People who suffer cardiac arrests and then receive coronary angiography are twice as likely to survive without significant brain damage compared with those who don't have the procedure, according to a study by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers.

1 Apr 2009

CSHL neuroscientists propose project to comprehensively map mammalian brain circuits

Thirty-seven scientists from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and 20 other major research institutions in the U.S. and Europe have issued a major challenge to the neuroscience community.

1 Apr 2009

By shutting down inflammation, agent reverses damage from spinal cord injury in preclinical studies

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have been able to speed recovery and substantially reduce damage resulting from spinal cord injury in preclinical studies.

1 Apr 2009

Mother's criticism causes distinctive neural activity among formerly depressed

Formerly depressed women show patterns of brain activity when they are criticized by their mothers that are distinctly different from the patterns shown by never depressed controls, according to a new study from Harvard University.

1 Apr 2009

Model brain explains limitations of working memory

Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet (KI) have constructed a mathematical activity model of the brain's anterior and superior parts, to increase the understanding of the capacity of the working memory and of how the billions of neurons in the brain interact.

31 Mar 2009

Blood test that predicts seriousness of a head injury gains momentum

A blood test that can help predict the seriousness of a head injury and detect the status of the blood-brain barrier is a step closer to reality, according to two recently published studies involving University of Rochester Medical Center researchers.

31 Mar 2009