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.

For the first time, scientists watch neurons change in response to experience

Thanks to a new imaging system, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have gotten an unprecedented look into how genes shape the brain in response to the environment.

6 Aug 2006

Actual meal time activates genes in specific brain area

Giving up your regular late-night snack may be hard, and not just because it's a routine.

6 Aug 2006

Normal pattern of brain growth is disrupted in babies that are born prematurely

Measurement of the way that the brain grows after birth in preterm infants, particularly the relation between brain surface area and cortical volume, may help to predict neurodevelopmental impairment.

6 Aug 2006

Genetics is a very strong component of obesity

Nearly 6 percent of morbidly obese children and adults have a genetic defect that keeps them feeling like their stomach is running on empty, no matter how much they have eaten.

6 Aug 2006

Tocotrienol - a potent neuroprotective agent

Two recent studies offer new evidence suggesting an alternative form of natural vitamin E can be taken by mouth and will reach the blood in humans at levels determined to protect against stroke and other diseases.

6 Aug 2006

3-year-old Iraqi girl arrives in the U.S. to receive cochlear implant

Amina is a 3-year-old Iraqi girl born with Profound Sensorineural Hearing Loss, which means total deafness.

4 Aug 2006

Turning the immune system against cancer

Medicine can now prevent a host of diseases with a mere shot of vaccine. Polio and smallpox are almost non-existent, and mumps and chicken pox are rarely seen nowadays.

4 Aug 2006

How the body controls brain temperature: the temperature shielding effect of cerebral blood flow

Attempts to cool the brain to reduce injury from stroke and other head trauma may face a significant obstacle: current cooling devices can't penetrate very deeply into the brain.

4 Aug 2006

AIDS deaths depleting ranks of health professionals more rapidly than recruitment abroad in Africa

AIDS deaths are depleting the ranks of health professionals more rapidly than recruitment abroad in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the author of a Comment in this week's issue of The Lancet.

3 Aug 2006

Sleep apnea raises risk of ischemic stroke in elderly

Elderly people with severe sleep apnea have more than two times the risk of ischemic stroke than elderly people with no or mild apnea, according to research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

3 Aug 2006

Diethanolamine found in shampoos may inhibit brain development

An ingredient found in many shampoos and other personal care products appears to interfere with normal brain development in baby mice when applied to the skin of pregnant mice, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have discovered

3 Aug 2006

Researchers discover amazing properties of fibrin fibers

The tiny fibers that comprise blood clots show extraordinary elasticity, on average stretching to almost three times their length while still retaining their ability to go back to their normal shape and expanding to more than four times their length before breaking.

3 Aug 2006