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Study finds extensive natural recovery after spinal cord injury

A study led by researchers in the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine shows unexpected and extensive natural recovery after spinal cord injury in primates. The findings, to be published November 14 in the advance online edition of Nature Neuroscience, may one day lead to the development of new treatments for patients with spinal cord injuries.

15 Nov 2010

Researchers find structural deficits in gray matter may be associated with daytime sleepiness

Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may blame their daytime difficulties on simple sleepiness, but new research suggests that their brains may be to blame. Specifically, their cognitive challenges may be caused by structural deficits in gray matter, brought on by the intermittent oxygen deprivation that comes with OSA. The good news is that these deficits may be partially or fully reversible with early detection and treatment, according to Italian researchers

15 Nov 2010

Research may lead to new treatment options for spinal cord injuries

15 Nov 2010

Cortex third quarter net loss decreases to $528,000

Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. reported a net loss applicable to common stock of approximately $528,000, or $0.01 per share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2010, compared with a net loss applicable to common stock of approximately $3,243,000 or $0.06 per share, for the prior year quarter.

12 Nov 2010

GPR124 protein controls growth of blood vessels into brains

One protein single-handedly controls the growth of blood vessels into the developing brains of mice embryos, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Understanding how the protein, a cellular receptor, functions could help clinicians battle brain tumors and stroke by choking off or supplementing vital blood-vessel development, and may enhance the delivery of drugs across the blood-brain barrier.

12 Nov 2010

Research on fruit flies reveal novel human pain gene

While it has become clear in recent years that susceptibility to pain has a strong inherited component, very little is known about actual "pain genes" and how they work. In the November 12th issue of Cell, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and their collaborators report on a novel human pain gene. People with minor variations in this gene showed clear differences in susceptibility to acute heat pain and chronic back pain.

12 Nov 2010

Neural learning appears to be independent of conscious visual processing

A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota's College of Liberal Arts and College of Science and Engineering have found that an early part of the brain's visual system rewires itself when people are trained to perceive patterns, and have shown for the first time that this neural learning appears to be independent of higher order conscious visual processing.

11 Nov 2010

Cortex applauds Servier for intent to move High Impact AMPAKINE compound into Phase I clinical studies

Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it had been notified by Les Laboratoires Servier ("Servier"), France's largest privately held pharmaceutical company, of their intent to move forward into Phase I clinical studies with the jointly-discovered High Impact AMPAKINE® compound S47445 (CX1632).

11 Nov 2010

tDCS electric stimulation can improve motor function in stroke patients

A noninvasive electric stimulation technique administered to both sides of the brain can help stroke patients who have lost motor skills in their hands and arms, according to a new study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).

10 Nov 2010

Undamaged portions of brain 'take over' and support recovery of function: Study

New research provides fascinating insight into mechanisms that underlie recovery after damage to a region of the brain important for memory and attention. The research, published by Cell Press in the November 4th issue of the journal Neuron, highlights the role of undamaged portions of the brain that can "take over" and support the recovery of function.

4 Nov 2010

'Phantom' images brain keeps for visual comparisons stored in brain's neural network

Brain research over the past 30 years has shown that if a part of the brain controlling movement or sensation or language is lost because of a stroke or injury, other parts of the brain can take over the lost function - often as well as the region that was lost.

4 Nov 2010

Early interference in entorhinal cortex may halt progression of Alzheimer's disease

New research is helping to unravel the events that underlie the "spread" of Alzheimer's disease (AD) throughout the brain. The research, published by Cell Press in the November 4th issue of the journal Neuron, follows disease progression from a vulnerable brain region that is affected early in the disease to interconnected brain regions that are affected in later stages. The findings may contribute to design of therapeutic interventions as targeting the brain region where AD originates would be simpler than targeting multiple brain areas.

4 Nov 2010

Scientists identify events that causes AD progression

Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (GIND) have offered new information about the events that underlie the "spread" of Alzheimer's disease (AD) throughout the brain.

4 Nov 2010

Study finds relation between cortical thickness and nicotine dependence

s there a relation between the structure of specific regions of the brain and nicotine dependence. This is the question researchers of the Charit Universit-tsmedizin Berlin and of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) Berlin have been investigating lately. The results of these investigations extend and specify those of preceding studies: A specific region of the cerebral cortex of smokers is thinner than that of people who have never smoked in their lives.

30 Oct 2010

Research on brain circuit activity may pave way to find biomarker for PTSD

University of Minnesota Medical School and Minneapolis Veterans Affair Medical Center researchers have discovered a correlation between increased circuit activity in the right side of the brain and the debilitating, involuntary flashbacks triggered by post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

29 Oct 2010

Researchers investigate relation between cortical thickness and nicotine dependence

Is there a relation between the structure of specific regions of the brain and nicotine dependence? This is the question researchers of the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the German National Metrology Institute, have been investigating lately. The results of these investigations extend and specify those of preceding studies: A specific region of the cerebral cortex of smokers is thinner than that of people who have never smoked in their lives.

28 Oct 2010

Study reveals clear difference between brain communication circuitry of PTSD sufferers and the healthy

US scientists have found a correlation between increased circuit activity in the right side of the brain and the suffering of involuntary flashbacks by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) sufferers.

28 Oct 2010

Two researchers receive European Research Council Starting Grants

Two European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants worth almost one and a half million euros each over the next five years have been awarded to two researchers from the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and the Charit Universit-tsmedizin, Berlin in Germany.

25 Oct 2010

New findings shed light on how brain wires itself during first few years of life

A new paper from MIT neuroscientists, in collaboration with Alvaro Pascual-Leone at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, offers evidence that it is easier to rewire the brain early in life. The researchers found that a small part of the brain's visual cortex that processes motion became reorganized only in the brains of subjects who had been born blind, not those who became blind later in life.

22 Oct 2010

Motherhood may cause brain to grow

Motherhood may actually cause the brain to grow, not turn it into mush, as some have claimed. Exploratory research published by the American Psychological Association found that the brains of new mothers bulked up in areas linked to motivation and behavior, and that mothers who gushed the most about their babies showed the greatest growth in key parts of the mid-brain.

21 Oct 2010