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.

Robotics and machine-brain interface may benefit paraplegics

A ballet dancer grasps her partner's hand to connect for a pas de deux. Later that night, in the dark, she reaches for her calf to massage a sore spot. Her brain is using different "maps" to plan for each of these movements, according to a new study at UC Santa Barbara.

4 Dec 2010

Study reveals higher mortality rate among veteran status epilepticus patients

Status epilepticus (SE) is a true medical and neurologic emergency. To better understand the causes, treatment approaches and associated outcomes among SE patients, investigators at the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System retrospectively reviewed all SE cases treated within their system over an eight year period.

4 Dec 2010

Closer to restoring vision loss due to optic nerve damage

Damage to the optic nerve, connecting the eye with the brain, is a major cause of blindness. The most common culprit is glaucoma, estimated to affect more than 4 million Americans. There is currently no way to restore the lost vision, because the optic nerve, like other nerves in the mature central nervous system (CNS), cannot regenerate. Now, scientists at Children's Hospital Boston report achieving the greatest regeneration to date in the mammalian optic nerve.

4 Dec 2010

ETP, EF announce latest grant recipients of New Therapy Grants Program

The Epilepsy Therapy Project and the Epilepsy Foundation today announced the latest grant recipients of their New Therapy Grants Program, a unique joint venture of two non-profit epilepsy organizations, to advance promising epilepsy research in clinical development.

4 Dec 2010

Chaperone protein study could lead to effective therapies for Alzheimer's, neurological disorders

Dynamic regulation of the chaperone protein Hsp27 was required to get rid of abnormally accumulating tau in the brains of mice genetically modified to develop the memory-choking tau tangles associated with Alzheimer's disease, a University of South Florida-led study found.

4 Dec 2010

Neurostimulation effective for management of chronic pain

St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced two-year results in a post-market clinical study evaluating neurostimulation (spinal cord stimulation) for the management of chronic low back pain. Presented at the 14th annual North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS) meeting in Las Vegas, the study found that 70 percent of neurostimulation patients reported overall pain relief of 50 percent or better at their final two-year visit.

4 Dec 2010

New web-based CME program to improve cancer care in rural areas

Nearly a quarter of Americans live in rural areas, which consistently report higher cancer mortality rates than urban and suburban areas. Among the complex causes for this disparity is that only 10 percent of physicians practice in rural areas and almost 4 out of 10 rural residents live at least an hour from an urban area. Finding the time, transportation, and financial resources for travel to urban academic medical centers, the standard bearers for quality cancer care, often proves difficult.

4 Dec 2010

Exposure to nicotine during pregnancy may cause learning disabilities in children: Research

Exposure to nicotine during pregnancy leads to a decrease in adult stem cells and a change in synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus of the offspring, according to new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham presented at Neuroscience 2010, the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego in November.

4 Dec 2010

Gene mutation can lead to different mental illnesses when influenced by same environmental factor

Male mice born with a genetic mutation that's believed to make humans more susceptible to schizophrenia develop behaviors that mimic other major psychiatric illnesses when their mothers are exposed to an assault to the immune system while pregnant, according to new Johns Hopkins research.

4 Dec 2010

Ontario coalition encourages drivers to take precautions to reduce preventable crashes

National Safe Driving Week in Canada is upon us (December 1 - 7, 2010) and during this time, health care and safety advocates are encouraging Ontario drivers to properly and diligently prepare for winter driving to reduce the risk of motor vehicle crashes.

3 Dec 2010

Prostate cancer imaging shows real-time tumor metabolism

A UCSF research collaboration with GE Healthcare has produced the first results in humans of a new technology that promises to rapidly assess the presence and aggressiveness of prostate tumors in real time, by imaging the tumor's metabolism.

3 Dec 2010

Healthy lifestyle choices, emergency room interventions can help prevent first-time strokes

Healthy lifestyle choices and emergency room interventions can help prevent first-time strokes, according to revised American Heart Association/American Stroke Association guidelines.

3 Dec 2010

Obama praised for enhanced health care reform for Alzheimer's community

According to the Society of Actuaries, the leading cause of U.S. long-term care claims is Alzheimer's, the brain disease that renders over 5 million Americans unable to handle all the acts of daily living unaided. Who cares? Evidently President Obama does, having written a pro-active column in the Fall, 2010, issue of care ADvantage, published by the Alzheimer's Foundation of America.

3 Dec 2010

UCLA findings could lead to enhanced health supplements, progress on Parkinson's

The discovery by UCLA biochemists of a new method for preventing oxidation in the essential fatty acids of cell membranes could lead to a new class of more effective nutritional supplements and potentially help combat neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and perhaps Alzheimer's.

3 Dec 2010

NIAID researchers develop new method to detect prion diseases

A fast test to diagnose fatal brain conditions such as mad cow disease in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans could be on the horizon, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health scientists. Researchers at NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have developed a highly sensitive and rapid new method to detect and measure infectious agents called prions that cause these diseases.

3 Dec 2010

Dysfunction in blood vessels plays a role in Alzheimer's disease development

A dysfunction in the lining of blood vessels that is linked to cardiovascular illness also appears to play a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association.

3 Dec 2010

Smoking reduces brain thickness

Many brain imaging studies have reported that tobacco smoking is associated with large-scale and wide-spread structural brain abnormalities.

3 Dec 2010

New study offers hope for children with MPS I genetic disorder

A new study offers hope for children born with a rare genetic disease, according to a paper published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

3 Dec 2010

FDA accepts IND application to initiate human clinical trial to evaluate BNC

QR Pharma, Inc., a developer of novel drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD), announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the Investigational New Drug application (IND) to begin human clinical trials and evaluate the safety and efficacy of the company's second product, bisnorcymserine (BNC).

3 Dec 2010

Early autism diagnostic test on the horizon

Soon scientists may have a test to diagnose autism spectrum disorders using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. As of now this dreaded developmental disorder is typically diagnosed through observations, along with educational and psychological testing.

2 Dec 2010