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Faulty signalling in the brain may cause schizophrenia

In the biggest study of its kind, scientists looking in detail at brain samples donated by people with the condition have identified 49 genes that work differently in the brains of schizophrenia patients compared to controls.

3 Mar 2009

What role does the brain play in some women's lack of sexual desire?

More than 40 percent of women ages 18-59 experience sexual dysfunction, with lack of sexual interest - hypoactive sexual desire disorder, or HSDD - being the most commonly reported complaint, according to medical researchers.

2 Mar 2009

Evidence appears to show how and where frontal lobe works

A Brown University study of stroke victims has produced evidence that the frontal lobe of the human brain controls decision-making along a continuum from abstract to concrete, from front to back.

2 Mar 2009

fMRI captures wave of brain activity linked to anticipation

Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have, for the first time, shown what brain activity looks like when someone anticipates an action or sensory input which soon follows.

26 Feb 2009

Stages of sleep have distinct influence on process of learning and memory

Research on the sleeping brain has revealed some fascinating stage-dependent interactions between areas involved in formation and storage of long term memories.

25 Feb 2009

Researchers find evidence for precise communication across brain areas during sleep

By listening in on the chatter between neurons in various parts of the brain, researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have taken steps toward fully understanding just how memories are formed, transferred, and ultimately stored in the brain--and how that process varies throughout the various stages of sleep.

25 Feb 2009

Brain mechanism recruited to reduce noise during challenging tasks

New research reveals a sophisticated brain mechanism that is critical for filtering out irrelevant signals during demanding cognitive tasks.

25 Feb 2009

Mental fatigue impairs physical performance in humans

When participants performed a mentally fatiguing task prior to a difficult exercise test, they reached exhaustion more quickly than when they did the same exercise when mentally rested, a new study finds.

24 Feb 2009

Decoding short-term memory with functional magnetic resonance imaging

People voluntarily pick what information they store in short-term memory.

22 Feb 2009

Robotic therapy may reduce stroke physical disability years later

Robot-assisted therapy may help stroke patients attain gains in their physical abilities long after the stroke, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2009.

20 Feb 2009

Lynx2 gene linked to nervous behavior in mice

To measure anxiety in a mouse and suggest it's similar to anxiety in a person may seem like a stretch, but the metrics sound uncannily familiar.

20 Feb 2009

Echoes discovered in early visual brain areas play role in working memory

Vanderbilt University researchers have discovered that early visual areas, long believed to play no role in higher cognitive functions such as memory, retain information previously hidden from brain studies.

20 Feb 2009

Differences in language-related brain activity affected by sex?

Men show greater activation than women in the brain regions connected to language, according to researchers from CNRS, Université de Montpellier I and Montpellier III.

18 Feb 2009

Cellular changes in the sleeping brain promote the formation of memories

If you ever argued with your mother when she told you to get some sleep after studying for an exam instead of pulling an all-nighter, you owe her an apology, because it turns out she's right.

15 Feb 2009

New insight into why gambling is so attractive to some

A new study demonstrates that when gambling, almost winning promotes significant recruitment of win-related circuitry within the brain and enhances the motivation to gamble.

15 Feb 2009

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor protects key brain cells in Alzheimer's models

Memory loss, cognitive impairment, brain cell degeneration and cell death were prevented or reversed in several animal models after treatment with a naturally occurring protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

8 Feb 2009

Growth factor protects key brain cells in Alzheimer's models

8 Feb 2009

Cognitive training can alter the biochemistry of the brain

Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown for the first time that the active training of the working memory brings about visible changes in the number of dopamine receptors in the human brain.

8 Feb 2009

Safinamide significantly improved motor function in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and its partner Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA has announced that the first Phase III trial of investigational agent safinamide as adjunctive therapy to levodopa (study 016) met its primary endpoint by increasing daily "ON" time in mid- to late-stage Parkinson's disease patients with motor fluctuations by 1.3 hours.

5 Feb 2009