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.

Study reveals link between allergies, asthma and old age

Mistaken for illnesses like bronchitis and emphysema, exacerbated by medications like aspirin, and overlooked by patients and doctors alike, asthma is a common and highly treatable condition in older adults. And while allergies tend to decrease with age, they also are frequently disregarded as a potential cause of misery for the elderly.

23 Jul 2010

Protein parkin essential for hypothalamic neurons recovery in Parkinson's disease patients

A Michigan State University researcher is working to uncover how a protein known as parkin may help nerve cells fight off damage from Parkinson's disease, a strategy that could lead to new therapies for the degenerative ailment.

23 Jul 2010

Drugs that activate SIRT1 hold potential to combat Alzheimer's: Study

MIT biologists report that they have discovered the first link between the amyloid plaques that form in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and a gene previously implicated in the aging process, SIRT1.

23 Jul 2010

Brain scans could provide unique information in choosing career

General aptitude tests and specific mental ability tests are important tools for vocational guidance. Researchers are now asking whether performance on such tests is based on differences in brain structure, and if so, can brain scans be helpful in choosing a career? In a first step, researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Research Notes have investigated how well eight tests used in vocational guidance correlate to gray matter in areas throughout the brain.

22 Jul 2010

VA approves $2.8M for Gulf War Veterans' illness research program

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has approved $2.8 million to fund three new research projects that focus on testing or developing new treatments for illnesses affecting Veterans who served in the Gulf War 1990-1991. The research incorporates recommendations of the department's Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses Task Force.

22 Jul 2010

Prototype ring with sensors helps to detect, prevent preterm labor

The birth of a baby is usually a joyous event, but when a child is born too early, worrisome complications can occur, including serious health problems for the baby and steep medical bills for the family. To address this, Johns Hopkins graduate students and their faculty adviser have invented a new system to pick up very early signs that a woman is going into labor too soon.

22 Jul 2010

Gladstone Institutes, H. Lundbeck collaborate to identify therapeutic candidates for neurological diseases

The Gladstone Institutes and the international pharmaceutical company H. Lundbeck A/S have announced a collaborative research agreement to study and identify therapeutic candidates for neurological diseases. The agreement funds research at the Gladstone Center for Translational Research led by Gladstone investigator Katerina Akassoglou, PhD, and establishes the new Lundbeck Center for Neurovascular and Immuno-imaging at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease.

22 Jul 2010

Brain neuron activity can signal initiation, termination of behavioural sequences: Study

Rui Costa, Principal Investigator of the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, and Xin Jin, of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, describe in the latest issue of the journal Nature, that the activity of certain neurons in the brain can signal the initiation and termination of behavioural sequences we learn anew. Furthermore, they found that this brain activity is essential for learning and executing novel action sequences, many times compromised in patients suffering from disorders such as Parkinson's or Huntington's.

22 Jul 2010

Survey links autism with digestive problems, intestinal inflammation

Autism is the fastest growing developmental disorder in the world. With 1 child in 91 facing the disorder, the diagnosis is more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined.

22 Jul 2010

Avastin – breast cancer drug, fails to pass the FDA advisory panel vote on efficacy

According to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee’s (The Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee, or ODAC) recommendation this Tuesday, the marketing approval of the popular breast cancer drug, Avastin or Bevacizumab should be withdrawn.

21 Jul 2010

Researchers develop new way to reduce radiation dose in CT perfusion procedure

Perfusion CT scanning, an emerging imaging technology, got a bad rap last year when a machine set to incorrect radiation levels overdosed hundreds of people in Los Angeles. In the wake of this incident, researchers at the Mayo Clinic, excited by the technology's promise for diagnosing stroke, cancer, and possibly heart disease, have developed a way to reduce the amount of radiation involved in the procedure -- which, when done properly, already involves very little risk.

21 Jul 2010

Concentric Medical announces treatment of first stroke patient with Merci Retriever

Concentric Medical, Inc., the global leader in devices for clot removal in acute ischemic stroke patients, today announced the treatment of the first patient in Japan with the Merci Retriever. The Merci Retriever is a catheter-based medical device that stroke centers use to remove blood clots from the brains of patients suffering an acute ischemic stroke.

21 Jul 2010

Researchers find that increase in leptin may promote colorectal neoplasms

Now, for the first time, a collaborative study of researchers at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at Temple University's College of Science and Technology and the Department of Hematology, Oncology and Molecular Medicine, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy have found that an increase in leptin, a cytokine that is normally increased in obese or overweight individuals, may promote colorectal neoplasms by activating colorectal cancer stem cells.

21 Jul 2010

Abbott second-quarter global sales increase 17.8% to $8.8 billion

Abbott today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

21 Jul 2010

Review shows how music training primes nervous system, boosts learning

Those ubiquitous wires connecting listeners to you-name-the-sounds from invisible MP3 players -- whether of Bach, Miles Davis or, more likely today, Lady Gaga -- only hint at music's effect on the soul throughout the ages.

21 Jul 2010

NT-020 nutrients promote adult neural stem cell growth in aged rats: Researchers

A combination of nutrients called NT-020 promoted adult neural stem cell proliferation in aged rats and boosted their memory performance, reported University of South Florida researchers studying natural therapeutic approaches to promoting the health of neurons in the aging brain.

21 Jul 2010

iCAD launches new advanced MRI product suite

iCAD, Inc., an industry-leading provider of advanced image analysis and workflow solutions for the early detection of cancer, today announced the launch of an MRI product suite for breast, prostate, and other organs. The product suite, which is a comprehensive quantitative image analysis solution, brings together the company's current products SpectraLook® and VividLook® with the new OmniLook™ and VersaVue™ Enterprise, to offer a comprehensive quantitative image analysis suite.

21 Jul 2010

Explicit differences exist between meditation techniques

As doctors increasingly prescribe meditation to patients for stress-related disorders, scientists are gaining a better understanding of how different techniques from Buddhist, Chinese, and Vedic traditions produce different results.

21 Jul 2010

Genentech disappointed with FDA ODAC's recommendation against Avastin

Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 12 to one that use of Avastin® (bevacizumab) in combination with paclitaxel for previously untreated (first-line) advanced HER2-negative breast cancer be removed from Avastin's U.S. label.

21 Jul 2010

Mental exercises may help reverse age-related cognitive decline

Specialized brain training targeted at the regions of a rat's brain that process sound reversed many aspects of normal, age-related cognitive decline and improved the health of the brain cells, according to a new study from researchers at University of California, San Francisco.

21 Jul 2010