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.

New compounds show potential for cognitive disorders

UC Irvine researchers have identified a new class of compounds that could be used for drugs to treat cognitive disorders that accompany schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and ADHD, according to an article published today in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

2 May 2007

Why do some people get fat even when they eat relatively little?

What creates that irresistible urge for a bag of potato chips or a hunk of chocolate cake, as opposed to a nice crisp apple? Can food urges be irresistible?

2 May 2007

Culture can alter the brain's perceptive mechanisms

Researchers in Illinois and Singapore have found that the aging brain reflects cultural differences in the way that it processes visual information.

2 May 2007

Losing money may be intrinsically linked with fear and pain in the brain

In a Wellcome Trust study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers have shown that during a gambling task, losing money activated an area of the brain involved in responding to fear and pain.

2 May 2007

CleveMed receives approval to market motor assessment system

Cleveland Medical Devices has received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to market Kinesia, a quantitative motor assessment system.

2 May 2007

Gulf War veterans with health symptoms show differences in brain structures

Veterans of the first Gulf War who returned with multiple health symptom complaints show significant differences in brain structures from their fellow returnees without high numbers of health symptoms, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 ,May 5, 2007.

2 May 2007

Event structure perception

In order to comprehend the continuous stream of cacophonies and visual stimulation that battle for our attention, humans will breakdown activities into smaller, more digestible chunks, a phenomenon that psychologists describe as "event structure perception."

2 May 2007

Traditional African medicines may hold potential for treating high blood pressure

Medicinal plants are an integral part of African culture, one of the oldest and most diverse in the world.

2 May 2007

Teenagers who suffer migraines at risk of suicide

Researchers in Taiwan say teens who suffer from migraine headaches on a daily basis, are at greater risk for suicide than teens who don't have migraines.

2 May 2007

Migraine sufferers may have form of brain damage

Scientists in the U.S. are suggesting that people with migraines may also be suffering from some form of brain damage.

2 May 2007

Brain scans provide evidence of the damage of war

Scientists in the United States have found that some veterans of the first Gulf War have differences in their brain structure.

2 May 2007

Virtual reality device helps multiple sclerosis patients walk

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology scientists have created a virtual reality device that combines auditory and visual feedback to improve walking speed and stride length in patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson's disease.

1 May 2007

Teens who have chronic daily headaches are at greater risk for suicide

Teens who have chronic daily headache, especially those with migraine headaches, are at greater risk for suicide than teens who don't have migraines, according to a study published in the May 1, 2007, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

1 May 2007

New understanding of sleep

Sleep remains one of the big mysteries in biology. All animals sleep, and people who are deprived of sleep suffer physically, emotionally and intellectually. But nobody knows how sleep restores the brain.

1 May 2007

Simvastatin may help sufferers with Alzheimer's

Treatment with Simvastatin, one of the statin drugs widely used for lowering cholesterol in humans, significantly improved spatial memory - how to navigate a water maze - in mice genetically bred to have an Alzheimer's like disease.

1 May 2007

Smelling for first time results from knowing abnormalities in congenital loss of smell

New discoveries about the biochemical basis of the majority of cases of the congenital inability to smell any odor, no matter how strong, have enabled their discoverer, Dr. Robert I. Henkin, director of The Taste and Smell Clinic in Washington, DC, to treat such patients, enabling them to smell something for the first time in their lives.

1 May 2007

Researcher aims for better understanding of human breathing disorders

If you gasp at Jon Kelty's research, the Central Michigan University professor likely will take note.

1 May 2007

Electromagnetic fields do not pose a health hazard to energy workers

Electromagnetic fields do not pose a health hazard to workers in the electrical energy supply industry, suggests a large study of 28,000 people, published ahead of print in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

1 May 2007

Exercise helps patients regain the ability to swallow

Just thinking about swallowing makes it harder to do. Head and neck cancer, a stroke, brain tumor, brain injury or even a tracheostomy tube and mechanical ventilation needed to sustain life can make it impossible.

1 May 2007

Estrogen fluctuation affects epileptic seizures

In more than a third of women with epilepsy, seizures fluctuate across the menstrual cycle, due in part to continually fluctuating effects of estrogen on the neural circuitry in the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in learning and memory - and in epileptic seizures.

1 May 2007