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.

Targeted quantum rods probe blood-brain barrier

One of the chief difficulties in treating brain tumors involves getting potential tumor-killing drugs across the blood-brain barrier and into the brain.

15 Jun 2008

Industry supports international melanoma research

Provectus Pharmaceuticals and the Australia and New Zealand Melanoma Trials Group (ANZMTG) have joined forces to advance cutting edge melanoma research at the University of Sydney.

15 Jun 2008

Researchers find gamma-secretase modulators being tested for Alzheimer’s work in unexpected and beneficial ways

Researchers at Mayo Clinic, with their national and international collaborators, have discovered how a class of agents now in testing to treat Alzheimer's disease work, and say they may open up an avenue of drug discovery for this disease and others.

11 Jun 2008

Bill should be passed allowing terminally ill access to experimental drugs, journal op-ed states

The case of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who has been diagnosed with brain cancer, is "identical from a regulatory standpoint to the plight of hundreds of thousands of other Americans" and "shouts to the heavens the humane necessity of urgent reform in the drug approval process to make it work better for people who have serious and terminal diseases," according to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Steven Walker and Ronald Trowbridge, chief adviser and adjunct scholar, respectively, of the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs.

11 Jun 2008

Discovery of gene linked to adult-onset obesity

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered a gene that may provide a clue as to why obesity rates increase with age. The research was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

11 Jun 2008

World experts in specialized radiation therapy to cather at University of Rochester Medical Center

Cancer survivor Jarod Finlay will share his experiences as the first patient to undergo an investigational procedure - stereotactic body radiation therapy - during a conference of world experts on the procedure this Friday and Saturday at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

11 Jun 2008

Did you ever wonder why it is so difficult to part with your stuff?

A new study reveals fascinating insights into the specific neuropsychological mechanisms that are linked with the potential loss of possessions.

11 Jun 2008

People with tune deafness able to detect a wrong note unconsciously

People with tune deafness aren't able to tell when a musician accidentally strikes the wrong note in a song, but their brains know the difference. Researchers from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health, have found that people with tune deafness, an auditory processing disorder in which a person with normal hearing has trouble distinguishing notes in a melody, are able to detect a wrong note unconsciously.

11 Jun 2008

Hope on the horizon for migraine sufferers

A generation of anti-migraine drugs with fewer side effects than existing treatments could be available to sufferers within three years.

11 Jun 2008

Viruses genetically designed to kill cancer cells influence tumor blood-vessel growth

Viruses genetically designed to kill cancer cells offer a promising strategy for treating incurable brain tumors such as glioblastoma, but the body's natural defenses often eliminate the viruses before they can eliminate the tumor.

11 Jun 2008

Australian researchers find important piece of Alzheimer's puzzle

Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) neuroscientists at UQ have discovered a new way to reduce neuronal loss in the brain of a person with Alzheimer's disease.

11 Jun 2008

Prenatal drug exposure associated with greater sleep problems in children

In the first study across time into late childhood of the effects of prenatal drug exposure on sleep, prenatal drug exposure is associated with greater sleep problems in children.

11 Jun 2008

Memory loss linked to sleep apnea

For the first time, UCLA researchers have discovered that people with sleep apnea show tissue loss in brain regions that help store memory.

11 Jun 2008

Measles making a comeback in the U.S.

The rise in the number of measles cases in the U.S. is concerning health authorities who fear the disease is making a comeback after a decade of being eradicated.

11 Jun 2008

Man presumed dead recovers during surgery to remove his organs for donation

The revelation that a man whose heart had stopped beating, woke up just as surgeons were about to remove his organs for donation, is disconcerting to say the least.

11 Jun 2008

European research project to explore Alzheimer's diagnosis

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, GE Healthcare, a division of the General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) and a Consortium of leading research institutions across Europe announced the PredictAD project, a research collaboration aimed at developing new diagnostic procedures for patients with Alzheimer's disease.

10 Jun 2008