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Scientists seek to prove beta oscillations of the cortex

Before she could seek to convince the world that her computer model of a key brain circuit explains a fundamental, 80-year-old mystery of neuroscience with potential relevance to Parkinson's disease, Stephanie Jones sought to convince Christopher Moore.

29 Nov 2011

Sensorimotor experience influences brain’s linking of signals from different senses

Over the years pianists develop a particularly acute sense of the temporal correlation between the movements of the piano keys and the sound of the notes played. However, they are no better than non-musicians at assessing the synchronicity of lip movements and speech.

29 Nov 2011

Violent video game play has a long-term effect on brain functioning

A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analysis of long-term effects of violent video game play on the brain has found changes in brain regions associated with cognitive function and emotional control in young adult men after one week of game play.

28 Nov 2011

Rare syndrome's workings could help explain how brain wiring goes awry

Potential clues to how autism miswires the brain are emerging from a study of a rare, purely genetic form of the disorders that affects fewer than 20 people worldwide. Using cutting-edge "disease-in a-dish" technology, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have grown patients' skin cells into neurons to discover what goes wrong in the brain in Timothy Syndrome.

28 Nov 2011

Most people with Timothy syndrome mutation have autistic symptoms

Neuroscientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have homed in on potential differences in autistic people's brain cells by studying brainlike spheres grown in an elaborate process from skin cells.

28 Nov 2011

Carefully selected young, healthy neurons can repair brain circuitry

Neuron transplants have repaired brain circuitry and substantially normalized function in mice with a brain disorder, an advance indicating that key areas of the mammalian brain are more reparable than was widely believed.

24 Nov 2011

Stress chemicals shut down and brain processes emotional experiences during REM sleep

They say time heals all wounds, and new research from the University of California, Berkeley, indicates that time spent in dream sleep can help. UC Berkeley researchers have found that during the dream phase of sleep, also known as REM sleep, our stress chemistry shuts down and the brain processes emotional experiences and takes the painful edge off difficult memories.

24 Nov 2011

Virtues of a simple “Thank You” a day

Gratitude is a positive emotion with strong psychological effects say researchers. Now psychologists are trying to figure out the brain chemistry behind gratitude and the best ways of showing it.

22 Nov 2011

Scientists show that the sense of smell can be improved

In a new study scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have shown that the sense of smell can be improved. The new findings, published online November 20, 2011, in Nature Neuroscience, suggest possible ways to reverse the loss of smell due to aging or disease.

20 Nov 2011

Researchers describe how brain handles spatial resolution

Everybody knows how to zoom in and out on an online map, to get the level of resolution you need to get you where you want to go. Now researchers have discovered a key mechanism that can act like a zoom button in the brain, by controlling the resolution of the brain's internal maps.

18 Nov 2011

Study demonstrates how DISC1 variants affect brain development

Significant progress has been made in understanding the genetic risk factors underlying psychiatric disease. Recent studies have identified common genetic mutations conferring modest risk and rare variants comprising significant risk. One example of a rare cause of psychiatric disorders is the Disrupted in Schizophrenia-1 (DISC1) gene, first identified in a large Scottish pedigree displaying schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.

18 Nov 2011

Genetic basis of human cortical regionalization similar to patterns found in other mammals, MRI study affirms

A new study using magnetic resonance imaging data of 406 adult human twins affirms the long-standing idea that the genetic basis of human cortical regionalization - the organization of the outer brain into specific functional areas - is similar to and consistent with patterns found in other mammals, indicating a common conservation mechanism in evolution.

17 Nov 2011

Sex during adolescence can have negative effects on body and mood well into adulthood

A new study suggests that sex during adolescence can have lasting negative effects on the body and mood well into adulthood, most likely because the activity occurs when the nervous system is still developing.

16 Nov 2011

New research identifies brain chemicals and circuits involved in mental illnesses

New research identifies the brain chemicals and circuits involved in mental illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety, giving potential new directions to their treatment.

16 Nov 2011

Cultured ES cells can self-organize into three-dimensional tissue-like structures

The possibility that functional, three-dimensional tissues and organs may be derived from pluripotent cells, such as embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), represents one of the grand challenges of stem cell research, but is also one of the fundamental goals of the emerging field of regenerative medicine.

14 Nov 2011

Functional MRI illuminates brain networks activated by motion

An estimated 300,000 people in North America are afflicted with dystonia, a disorder characterized by a progressive loss of motor control. Patients with generalized dystonia grapple with involuntary muscle spasms that lead to uncontrolled twisting and turning in awkward, sometimes painful postures.

14 Nov 2011

Cortex third quarter net loss increases to $1,175,000

Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. reported a net loss of approximately $1,175,000, or $0.01 per share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, compared with a net loss of approximately $528,000, or $0.01 per share, for the corresponding prior year quarter.

14 Nov 2011

Longer looks: Do extra brain cells offer a clue to autism?; doctors leaving medicine

There's growing evidence that the brains of autistic children are very different from the brains of other youngsters. Now a new study that found an excess of brain cells in children with autism comes closer to pinpointing the origins of the condition: in utero versus in toddlerhood. In research reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), scientists at the University of California, San Diego, found that autistic children have about 67% more nerve cells in a part of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex than children without autism.

11 Nov 2011

Study: Primary visual cortex is modulated only by attention

In everyday life, attention and awareness appear tightly interwoven. Attending to the scissors on the rinumber of behavioural observations have recently led scientists to postulate that attention and awareness are fundamentally different processes and not necessarily connected.ght side of your desk, you become aware of their attributes, for example the red handles. Vice versa, the red handles could attract your attention to the scissors.

11 Nov 2011

New cellular targets for devastating neurological disorder

In a paper published in the November 9 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and University of Washington describe in deeper detail the pathology of a devastating neurological disorder, but also reveal new cellular targets for possibly slowing its development.

10 Nov 2011