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.

Sex hormone signature indicates gender rather than just chromosomes

Help with assigning gender could one day be at hand for intersex individuals whose genital phenotypes and sex chromosomes don't match, thanks to the discovery of a stable sex hormone signature in our cells.

18 Oct 2007

Insulin levels affect the brain's dopamine systems

Insulin, long known as an important regulator of blood glucose levels, now has a newly appreciated role in the brain.

18 Oct 2007

Connection between expression of clock genes and sleep

Genes responsible for our 24 hour body clock influence not only the timing of sleep, but also appear to be central to the actual restorative process of sleep, according to research published in the online open access journal BMC Neuroscience.

18 Oct 2007

Benefit of exenatide has not yet been proven

Since May 2007, a new drug has been available for the treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 in Germany: exenatide (trade name: Byetta), which is marketed by the manufacturer Eli Lilly.

18 Oct 2007

New therapy for chronic spasticity and rigidity

Research led by scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine has identified a target with potential as an effective new therapy for chronic spasticity and rigidity, a painful condition that often results from spinal cord injury.

17 Oct 2007

Existing drugs may be useful in treating brain tumors

Scientists have shown how developing brain tumors can turn an encounter with a signaling molecule from a fatal experience for the tumor cells into a cue for their own growth and multiplication.

17 Oct 2007

Study identifies pathway required for normal reproductive development

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) clinical researchers, in collaboration with basic scientists from the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) have identified a new molecular pathway required for normal development of the reproductive, olfactory and circadian systems in both humans and mice.

17 Oct 2007

Training for walking after stroke

Repetitive training that simulates everyday leg function can help people walk more easily after stroke, according to a new review of studies.

17 Oct 2007

Blood modulates how neurons process information

MIT scientists propose that blood may help us think, in addition to its well-known role as the conveyor of fuel and oxygen to brain cells.

17 Oct 2007

Mental disorders are disorders of the brain

Depression, anxiety disorders such as panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorders, alcohol and drug dependence, dementia and Parkinson's disease are just a few examples of "disorders of the brain".

17 Oct 2007

Discovery of new area for exploration of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia may occur, in part, because of a problem in an intermittent on/off switch for a gene involved in making a key chemical messenger in the brain, scientists have found in a study of human brain tissue.

17 Oct 2007

Insulin signaling and amphetamines

Abuse of psychostimulants such as amphetamine remains a serious public health concern.

17 Oct 2007

Genetic contributions to human brain morphology and intelligence

While showing an impressive growth prenatally, the human brain is not completed at birth.

17 Oct 2007

Findings could lead to new therapy for spinal cord injury

17 Oct 2007

Brain cell growth diminishes long before old age strikes, animal study shows

Even early in adulthood, aging begins to slow the mind's growth -- but it does not have to stop it altogether, suggests a Princeton University study on the brains of adult monkeys.

17 Oct 2007

Optical coherence tomography helps track multiple sclerosis

A five-minute eye exam might prove to be an inexpensive and effective way to gauge and track the debilitating neurological disease multiple sclerosis, potentially complementing costly magnetic resonance imaging to detect brain shrinkage - a characteristic of the disease's progression.

16 Oct 2007