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.

Neural stem cells may help to restore memory after brain damage

In the study, mice with brain injuries experienced enhanced memory -- similar to the level found in healthy mice -- up to three months after receiving a stem cell treatment. Scientists believe the stem cells secreted proteins called neurotrophins that protected vulnerable cells from death and rescued memory.

31 Oct 2007

Sound training rewires dyslexic children's brains for reading

Some children with dyslexia struggle to read because their brains aren't properly wired to process fast-changing sounds, according to a brain-imaging study published this month in the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience (online October 16).

31 Oct 2007

Herb rosemary fights free radical damage in the brain

Rosemary not only tastes good in culinary dishes such as Rosemary chicken and lamb, but scientists have now found it is also good for your brain.

31 Oct 2007

Step toward mapping the human decision-making process

The brain, the human supercomputer, might work more like an assembly line when recognizing objects, with a hierarchy of brain regions separately absorbing and processing information before a person realizes what they are seeing, according to new research conducted at the University of Pittsburgh and published in the Oct. 31 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.

31 Oct 2007

New brain marker predicts cognitive decline and the development of Alzheimer's disease

Duke University Medical Center researchers have used imaging technology to identify a new marker that may help identify those at greatest risk for cognitive decline and the development of Alzheimer's disease.

31 Oct 2007

New brain cells listen before they talk

Newly created neurons in adults rely on signals from distant brain regions to regulate their maturation and survival before they can communicate with existing neighboring cells - a finding that has important implications for the use of adult neural stem cells to replace brain cells lost by trauma or neurodegeneration, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in The Journal of Neuroscience.

31 Oct 2007

Neurons in primate cortex associate numerical meaning with visual signs

Humans share with animals a language-independent system for representing numerical quantity, but number symbols have to be acquired throughout childhood.

31 Oct 2007

Stereotactic radiation is effective as surgery against nerve tumor

Specifically aimed, "stereotactic" radiation may be as good as surgery - and in some cases, even better - in treating benign but potentially devastating brain tumors called non-acoustic schwannomas, according to a study by rradiation oncologists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

31 Oct 2007

Fibromyalgia pain caused by neuron mismatch

The unexplained pain experienced by patients with fibromyalgia is the result of a mismatch between sensory and motor systems, new research suggests.

31 Oct 2007

Blood group O may be the key to a cure for malaria

New research from Scotland has led to a discovery which may bring a cure for malaria a step closer.

31 Oct 2007

Aggregation propensity, amyloid peptide toxicity and Alzheimer disease

Cells have evolved multiple mechanisms to ensure proper folding, but a number of molecular and biophysical events - such as changes in pH or temperature, mutations, and oxidation - can disrupt a protein's native shape.

31 Oct 2007

Saint Louis University scientists identify chemical that triggers Parkinson's disease

Researchers at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine have discovered the key brain chemical that causes Parkinson's disease - a breakthrough finding that could pave the way for new, far more effective therapies to treat one of the most common and debilitating neurological disorders.

30 Oct 2007

Risk factors that may contribute to the onset of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Researchers in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Social and Behavioral Research Lab (SBRL) are leading a study to investigate potential environmental, lifestyle, and medical variables that may contribute to the onset of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

29 Oct 2007

New insights into how the brain takes in and assembles stimuli from the outside world

The area of the brain that processes sounds entering the ears also appears to process stimulus entering the eyes, providing a novel explanation for why many viewers believe that ventriloquists have thrown their voices to the mouths of their dummies.

29 Oct 2007

Radiation plus chemo quadruples survival time for fatal brain cancer

Over four times as many patients with a rapidly fatal type of brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), who are treated with the chemotherapy drug temozolomide (TMZ) and radiation therapy, can live for four years after diagnosis, compared to those who receive only radiation treatment, according to updated results of a large, international trial presented at the Plenary I session on October 29, 2007, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 49th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

29 Oct 2007