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Neurobiologists pinpoint how brain copes with shifty eyeballs

Neurobiologists have pinpointed brain regions critical to one of the brain's more remarkable feats'piecing together a continuous view of the world by integrating snippets of visual input from constantly moving eyes.

19 Apr 2007

New understanding of genetics behind Noonan Syndrome

Researchers have discovered that the genetic malfunction that causes a form of mental retardation called Noonan Syndrome (NS) produces an imbalance in the genesis of two types of cells in the developing embryonic brain.

19 Apr 2007

Scientists find genes involved in memory and learning

Researchers have long recognized that for learning and memory to take place, certain genes must be activated to alter neuron activity inside the brain.

19 Apr 2007

Researchers observer proteins important in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's moving along axons

Using a novel video-imaging system, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have been able to observe proteins important in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease moving along axons, extensions of nerve cells that carry proteins away from the cell body.

18 Apr 2007

Sensory-deprived brain compensates - increases its plasticity

Whiskers provide a mouse with essential information to negotiate a burrow or detect movement that could signal a predator's presence.

18 Apr 2007

Bioluminescence part of new imaging technique

CNRS scientists in collaboration have developed a new technique for the in vivo imaging of neuronal function using bioluminescence, based on a GFP-aequorin fusion protein.

18 Apr 2007

Embryonic stem cells provide new tool for studying disease and identifying ALS drugs

Results of two studies funded by Project A.L.S. and appearing in the advance online publication of Nature Neuroscience demonstrate that embryonic stem cells may provide a new tool for studying disease mechanisms and for identifying drugs to slow ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

17 Apr 2007

A candidate neural circuit for stress-induced analgesia

Recent statistics indicate that one in five people worldwide suffer from moderate to severe chronic pain and that one in three are unable or less able to maintain an independent lifestyle due to their pain.

17 Apr 2007

Intrathecal Baclofen for spasticity-related pain in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

An estimated 5,600 people in the United States are diagnosed every year with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and as many as 30,000 Americans have the disease at any given time.

17 Apr 2007

Research sheds new light on central nervous system

Research by Renee Theiss, Jason Kuo and C J Heckman, which has just been published in The Journal of Physiology, throws light on how information is processed in the Central Nervous System (CNS) to drive movement.

16 Apr 2007

Astrocytes may contribute to Lou Gehrig's disease

Two papers by Columbia and Harvard researchers report for the first time that astrocytes (the most abundant non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system), which carry a mutated gene known to cause some cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease), induce motor neuron death.

16 Apr 2007

Eradicating polio a better option than extended control of the disease

Concerns about the high perceived costs of eradicating the relatively low number of polio cases worldwide have led to recent suggestions that it is time to shift from a goal of eradication to control—abandoning eradication and allowing wild poliovirus to continue to circulate, which proponents of control believe can sustain the low number of cases.

15 Apr 2007

Visual prosthesis

When the idea appeared several years ago, it sounded persuasive: How about implanting electrodes at the defective retina of blind subjects and connecting them with a mini camera in order to re-establish vision.

15 Apr 2007

A wavering commitment to polio eradication is not a good option!

Concerns about the high perceived costs of eradicating the relatively low number of polio cases worldwide have led to recent suggestions that it is time to shift from a goal of eradication to control-abandoning eradication and allowing wild poliovirus to continue to circulate, which proponents of control believe can sustain the low number of cases.

12 Apr 2007

Fragile X and Down syndrome appear to share common genetic cause

The two most prevalent forms of genetic mental retardation, Fragile X and Down syndromes, may share a common cause, according to researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine.

11 Apr 2007

Protecting brains of premature infants - new approach needed

A study of how the brain of a premature infant responds to injury has found vulnerabilities similar to those in the mature brain but also identified at least one significant difference, according to neuroscientists and neonatologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

11 Apr 2007

Cell structures exhibit novel behaviors, mimic red blood cells and liquid crystals

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University have manipulated the internal, structural components of cells, creating a set of simulated cellular structures with novel mechanical properties, including one that acts like a red blood cell and another that mimics the soft, elastic behavior commonly found in novel synthetic materials called liquid crystal elastomers.

11 Apr 2007

Environmental factors in the development of Parkinson's disease

The Parkinson's Institute today announced that new findings concerning the role of environmental factors in the development of Parkinson's disease will be reported at Asilomar (Pacific Grove, CA) as part of the final meeting of the Collaborative Centers for Parkinson's Disease Environmental Research (CCPDER).

7 Apr 2007

Nicotine shown to enhance learning and memory

While nicotine is highly addictive, researchers have also shown the drug to enhance learning and memory, a property that has launched efforts to develop nicotine-like drugs to treat cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, schizophrenia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

5 Apr 2007

The rich are different !

Economists have postulated that people's perception of the value of financial gains decreases as they become richer, but scientists have not really been able to measure this change in 'marginal utility' in the laboratory, until now.

5 Apr 2007