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.

Beetle genome opens the door to developmental research

The whole DNA sequence of the red flour beetle, familiar to many as an unwelcome visitor to the kitchen flour jar, has been published in Nature .

28 Mar 2008

When your antidepressants don't work

should you switch to a different medication from the same class or should you try an antidepressant medication that has a different mechanism of action?

26 Mar 2008

Radiologists use special MRI to identify brain cancer early

A special type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can depict changes in blood volume in the brain that often precede cancerous transformation of brain tumors, according to a new study published in the April issue of the journal Radiology.

26 Mar 2008

New understanding of how color vision is processed

New York University biologists have mapped the medulla circuitry in fruit flies, setting the stage for subsequent research on how color vision is processed.

26 Mar 2008

Beta-blockers heal the heart via the brain when administered during heart failure

Up to now, it was thought that beta-blockers work directly on the heart, but the new study shows that the drugs may also act via the brain, suggesting that future therapies to treat cardiovascular disease could be targeting the central nervous system.

26 Mar 2008

New insight into how epilepsy may develop

An increased number of neuron "hubs" in the epileptic brain may be the root cause for the seizures that characterize the disorder, according to a UC Irvine study.

26 Mar 2008

Update on Cairns meningococcal case

As of 3.30 this afternoon the news on the little boy with suspected meningococcal is slightly more optimistic.

26 Mar 2008

Yerkes researchers shed light on how human language evolved

Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have identified a language feature unique to the human brain that is shedding light on how human language evolved.

25 Mar 2008

Research to lead to brain tumor therapies

Unique human in vitro model (cell culture) research currently underway at the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England is set to identify and develop therapies for the treatment of multiple tumours in the brain.

25 Mar 2008

REST protein protects embryonic stem cells' versatility and self-renewal

A protein known as REST blocks the expression of a microRNA that prevents embryonic stem cells from reproducing themselves and causes them to differentiate into specific cell types, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the journal Nature.

25 Mar 2008

New drug targets for Huntington's disease

Research funded by the Wellcome Trust has provided a number of promising new drug targets for Huntington's disease, a neurodegenerative disease.

25 Mar 2008

MRI opens up promising new avenues for non-invasive diagnoses and classification of cancer

Doctors diagnose and prescribe treatment for brain tumors by studying, under a microscope, tumor tissue and cell samples obtained through invasive biopsy or surgery.

25 Mar 2008

Cloned stem cells successful in treating Parkinson's disease

Scientists in the U.S. have had success in treating Parkinson's disease in mice by using cloned stem cells.

24 Mar 2008

Cigarette smokers treated for brain aneurysm with coil embolization at higher risk of recurrence

Cigarette smokers who were treated for cerebral aneurysms with coil embolization (blocking of a blood vessel) are at greater risk of developing another aneurysm, say neurological surgeons at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience in Philadelphia in the first-known study of its kind.

24 Mar 2008

Research finds genes and processes that may underlie what makes some people more susceptible to Parkinson's disease

Better understanding of Parkinson's disease onset during aging is important for improving diagnostics and developing strategies for therapeutic intervention.

24 Mar 2008

New genetic clue to Parkinson's disease

Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University have discovered a gene that could hold the key to developing new treatments for Parkinson's disease – a progressive and often debilitating movement disorder that affects as many as one million Americans.

24 Mar 2008