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.

New UCSD center investigates link between Alzheimer's and Down syndrome

A new center combining academic research with the treatment of adults with Down syndrome - one of the first in the country - has opened at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

15 Mar 2011

USPTO grants second patent to Angiochem's EPiC drugs

Angiochem, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company, today announced that its second patent has been granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. Patent number 7,902,156, is entitled "Aprotinin Polypeptides for Transporting a Compound Across the Blood-Brain Barrier".

15 Mar 2011

New animal model helps define molecular processes that lead to PA

Pilocytic astrocytoma is the most common pediatric brain tumor, and there are few medical therapies available to those patients for whom surgery is not curative.

15 Mar 2011

Bayer receives FDA approval for Gadavist Injection

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Gadavist Injection, a macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agent, for intravenous use in diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging in adults and children to detect and visualize areas with disrupted blood brain barrier and/or abnormal vascularity of the central nervous system.

14 Mar 2011

Baby Joseph’s flight to US from Canada

Baby Joseph Maraachli all of one year of age, is in a vegetative state with a severe neurological condition and will not recover, Canadian doctors say. His parents Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader, have transferred him to a US Catholic hospital after an Ontario court ruled doctors could remove a breathing tube keeping him alive. An Ontario hospital had refused his parents' request for a tracheotomy they say will prolong his life by six months and allow him to die at home. A Catholic hospital in the US city of St Louis will review his case, according to the family’s lawyer.

14 Mar 2011

Viewpoints: Sebelius, Harkin, Wyden, King, Altman, Butler weigh in on health reform law

Early signs show that, after years of decline, the number of small businesses offering coverage to employees is increasing. Perhaps less widely recognized, but no less significant, has been the way the law is demanding transparency and accountability from the insurance industry to bring down premiums.

14 Mar 2011

Scientists discover cerebrospinal fluid proteins are essential for brain building

Proteins in fluids bathing the brain are essential for building the brain, discover scientists in a report published March 10 in the journal Neuron. The finding promises to advance research related to neurological disease, cancer and stem cells.

14 Mar 2011

Nanotechnology might provide greater efficacy of medicines for brain disease

Technology has been developed within Top Institute Pharma that helps medicines be absorbed quicker into the blood and thus be more effective. Researcher Hans de Waard, who is associated with the University of Groningen, will obtain his doctorate on this subject on March 11. De Waard: "Many current medicines are not easily dissolved in the digestive tract, which means that they barely reach the bloodstream.

14 Mar 2011

Research links giftedness to prenatal exposure of testosterone

A longstanding debate as to whether genius is a byproduct of good genes or good environment has an upstart challenger that may take the discussion in an entirely new direction. University of Alberta researcher Marty Mrazik says being bright may be due to an excess level of a natural hormone.

14 Mar 2011

Study identifies potential therapeutic target for neurodegenerative disorders

Cell biologists pondering the death of neurons - brain cells - said today that by eliminating one ingredient from the cellular machinery, they prolonged the life of neurons stressed by a pesticide chemical. The finding identifies a potential therapeutic target to slow changes that lead to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

14 Mar 2011

CytRx reports $0.4M net income for 2010 vs. $4.8M net loss for 2009

CytRx Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in oncology, today reported financial results for the 12 months ended December 31, 2010, and provided a business update.

11 Mar 2011

New technique may find 'hidden' receptors in nerve cells

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and University of Pennsylvania have found a way to uncover potential drug targets that have so far remained hidden from researchers' view.

11 Mar 2011

Neurogenesis plays a beneficial role in exercise-induced response to stress, sexual behavior and reproduction

Two studies published by an interdisciplinary team of Hong Kong researchers in the current special issue of Cell Transplantation (20:1), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/ , link the regrowth of key adult brain cells (neurogenesis) in two critical areas of the brain to both the benefits of exercise as a stress reducer and also to sexual behavior and reproductive issues.

11 Mar 2011

New study reveals brain networks are involved in 'cross-modal' person recognition

Human social interactions are shaped by our ability to recognise people. Faces and voices are known to be some of the key features that enable us to identify individual people, and they are rich in information such as gender, age, and body size, that lead to a unique identity for a person.

11 Mar 2011

Study sheds light on how signals from CSF help drive neural development

Cerebrospinal fluid, the fluid found in and around the brain and spinal cord, may play a larger role in the developing brain than previously thought, according to researchers at Children's Hospital Boston.

11 Mar 2011

Texas Children's completes first phase of certification to implant SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart

Texas Children's Hospital and SynCardia Systems, Inc. announced today that Texas Children's has become the world's first pediatric hospital to complete the first phase of certification to implant the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart. The hospital intends to use the Total Artificial Heart as a bridge to transplant for their patients who received a heart transplant as children and now require mechanical support as a bridge to their second transplant.

11 Mar 2011

Infant formulas with fluoridated water increase risk of discolored teeth: HHS

All infant formulas, either concentrated or ready-to-feed, already contain some fluoride and, when routinely mixed with fluoridated water, increase the risk of dental fluorosis, according to Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a video commentary published on Medscape.com, March 8, 2011.

11 Mar 2011