Brain News and Research

RSS

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.

Reverse-engineering brain neurons to build better computers

By understanding how neurons process chemical signals when a person learns and remembers information, researchers believe they can create more reliable computers that employ stochastic computing components.

18 Sep 2007

Women more depressed and men more impulsive with reduced serotonin functioning

Women and men appear to respond differently to the same biochemical manipulation.

18 Sep 2007

Study looks at shaken baby syndrome

Crying is the only way a baby can express its feelings and needs. If the parents or caregivers cannot find the cause of the inconsolable crying of the infant, they might react sharply and shake the baby.

18 Sep 2007

New understanding of gene mutation responsible for fragile X syndrome

Scientists have discovered how the gene mutation responsible for fragile X syndrome - the most common inherited form of mental retardation - alters the way brain cells communicate.

18 Sep 2007

New guidelines to diagnose Alzheimer's disease

Physicians may be able to detect and treat Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in its earliest stages, when patients are experiencing only mild degrees of cognitive impairment, thanks to new diagnostic criteria proposed by an international group of researchers.

18 Sep 2007

Mutations in the glucocerebrosidase gene are risk factors for Parkinson's disease

People with a certain gene mutation are more likely to get Parkinson's disease before the age of 50 compared to those without the gene abnormality, according to a study published in the September 18, 2007, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

18 Sep 2007

Cell death in sparrow brains may provide clues in age-related human diseases

A remarkable change takes place in the brains of tiny songbirds every year, and some day the mechanism controlling that change may help researchers develop treatments for age-related degenerative diseases of the brain such as Parkinson's and dementia.

18 Sep 2007

Genetic variant explains why people react differently to smells

Why the same sweaty man smells pleasant to one person and repellant to another comes down to the smeller's genes.

17 Sep 2007

N-cofilin molecule protects from neuronal disorders

Many neuronal disorders, including epilepsy, schizophrenia and lissencephaly – a form of mental retardation - result from abnormal migration of nerve cells during the development of the brain.

17 Sep 2007

Study of new epilepsy treatment underway at URMC

The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) is participating in a multi-center study of a new medical device to treat epilepsy. The Rochester study is being overseen by neurologists Michel Berg, M.D. and James Fessler, M.D., and neurosurgeons Web Pilcher, M.D., Ph.D. and Jason Schwalb, M.D.

15 Sep 2007

Attention turns to brain as driver of Chronic Fatigue symptoms

New research from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has delivered a final blow to the theory that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is driven by the body's immune system and in particular by its production of cytokines.

14 Sep 2007

Zebrafish shed light on human mitochondrial diseases

Zebrafish can now be used to study COX deficiencies in humans, a discovery that gives scientists an unprecedented window to view the earliest stages of mitochondrial impairments that lead to potentially fatal metabolic disorders, according to researchers at the University of Oregon.

13 Sep 2007

Study suggests brain tumors need treatment with multiple 'targeted' drugs

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shown that several, rather than just one, cell-growth switches are simultaneously overactive in many brain tumors and other solid tumors, explaining why treatment with just a single "targeted" switch-blocking drug often yields disappointing results.

13 Sep 2007

New findings on visual perception

International research co-led by professor Alejandro Maiche, of the Department of Basic, Evolutionary and Educational Psychology at the UAB, has put forward the hypothesis that the brain responds to the possibility that two objects might collide, in a different way to how it would react to two objects in movement with divergent trajectories.

13 Sep 2007