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.

Research in diabetes surgery suggests origins of disease

Growing evidence shows that surgery may effectively cure Type 2 diabetes -- an approach that not only may change the way the disease is treated, but that introduces a new way of thinking about diabetes.

5 Mar 2008

Cause of depression and anxiety unknown not chemical

The theory that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance is often presented in the media as fact even though there is little scientific evidence to support it, according to a new study co-authored by a Florida State University visiting lecturer.

4 Mar 2008

Stem cell funding for Parkinson’s disease

The Parkinson's Disease Society (PD) has announced funding of £170k to the University of Bristol for research into how to make stem cells produce dopamine and live longer after they have been transplanted into animals.

4 Mar 2008

How variants of a specific gene, CAPON or NOS1AP, can disrupt normal heart rhythm

A research team from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Johns Hopkins University and China Medical University and Hospital in Taiwan have described for the first time the mechanisms by which variants of a specific gene, CAPON or NOS1AP, can disrupt normal heart rhythm.

4 Mar 2008

Bardet-Biedl syndrome provides clues on obesity, blood pressure

University of Iowa researchers have found a clue about how resistance to the hormone leptin might disrupt the brain signals that tell the body when to stop eating.

4 Mar 2008

Testosterone appears to protect people against eating disorders

Testosterone appears to protect people against eating disorders, providing further evidence that biological factors -- and not just social influences -- are linked to anorexia and bulimia, according to new research findings at Michigan State University.

4 Mar 2008

Tiny RNA molecule found to help create skin's protective barrier

Every minute, 30,000 of our outermost skin cells die so that we can live. When they do, new cells migrate from the inner layer of the skin to the surface of it, where they form a tough protective barrier.

4 Mar 2008

Low testosterone levels linked to depression in older men

Older men with lower free testosterone levels in their blood appear to have higher prevalence of depression, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

4 Mar 2008

Large-scale study of traumatic brain injury

In a rare, large-scale study of traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients who span the full range of severity from mild to moderate and severe, Canadian researchers have found that the more severe the injury, the greater the loss of brain tissue, particularly white matter.

4 Mar 2008

Genetic variations increase risk of anxiety disorders

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers - in collaboration with scientists at the University of California at San Diego and Yale University - have discovered perhaps the strongest evidence yet linking variation in a particular gene with anxiety-related traits.

4 Mar 2008

Working memory defects could explain why some children have problems learning

New research from Britain is suggesting that defects in their working memory may explain the problems some children have with learning.

4 Mar 2008

Depression in older men linked to low testosterone

Australian researchers are suggesting that older men who have lower levels of the male sex hormone testosterone in their blood, may be more prone to depression.

4 Mar 2008

Nanotechnology advances brain cancer detection and therapy

Brain cancer is one of the most aggressive and lethal of malignancies, made even more difficult to treat by the fact that most anticancer drugs have a hard time even getting to the tumors.

3 Mar 2008

Short RNA strand helps exposed skin cells protect body from bacteria, dehydration and even cancer

Every minute, 30,000 of our outermost skin cells die so that we can live.

3 Mar 2008

Mouse model tightly matches pediatric tumor syndrome, will speed drug hunt

Frustrated by the slow pace of new drug development for a condition that causes pediatric brain tumors, a neurologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis decided to try to fine-tune the animal models used to test new drugs.

3 Mar 2008

Ciliary neurotrophic factor protects nerve cells

Since its discovery as a protein that gets specifically released in response to brain injury, ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) has prompted much interest as a potential therapeutic agent.

1 Mar 2008

Brain differences between women and men

What was once speculation is now being confirmed by scientists: the brains of women and men are different in more ways than one.

1 Mar 2008

New discovery on programmed cell death

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered a dance of proteins that protects certain cells from undergoing apoptosis, also known as programmed cell death. Understanding the fine points of apoptosis is important to researchers seeking ways to control this process.

1 Mar 2008

Nicotine's effects are receptor specific

Following chronic nicotine exposure, nicotine receptors increase in number, an upregulation that contributes to nicotine's addictive properties.

1 Mar 2008

Zebrafish help understand hearing loss

A small striped fish is helping scientists understand what makes people susceptible to a common form of hearing loss, although, in this case, it's not the fish's ears that are of interest.

1 Mar 2008