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Frontal cortex essential for understanding other people's actions

It has been known for over 100 years that if a person suffers a stroke in the left frontal cortex, he or she often suffers difficulties in speaking and with understanding language.

9 Mar 2006

Dual functions of sight - perception and action - demonstrated for first time

The dissociation in the visual system between two separate functions - one that enables us to identify objects and the other to interact with them - has been clearly demonstrated for the first time in healthy humans by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

7 Mar 2006

Discovery of compound that reduces hallmark lesions of Alzheimer's disease in mice

Researchers at UC Irvine have found that a new compound not only relieves the cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, but also reduces the two types of brain lesions that are hallmarks of this devastating disease, thereby blocking its progression.

7 Mar 2006

Researchers see individual differences in brain activation depending on person's preferences or aversions to risk

Distinct regions of the human brain are activated when people are faced with ambiguous choices versus choices involving only risk, Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered.

7 Mar 2006

Cutaneous rabbit illusion affects human primary sensory cortex somatotopically

As much as neuroscientists know about the neural processes that signal touch, surprisingly little is understood about the neural correlates of conscious perception of tactile sensations.

1 Mar 2006

Effects of stress on the brain could trigger Alzheimer's

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have identified for the first time a certain area of the brain which can shrink in old age and cause depression and Alzheimer's disease.

1 Mar 2006

PET and MR imaging reveals white matter degeneration in Huntington's

Using both brain function (PET) and anatomical structure (MR) imaging studies, Italian researchers - within the context of an Italian-British collaboration - discovered that degenerative and dysfunctional events occur in individuals many years before the onset of Huntington's disease - particularly in the brain's white matter - an area not previously considered primarily involved with the disease.

24 Feb 2006

Vitamin B3 variant reverses effects of fetal alcohol syndrome in mice

A form of vitamin B3 called nicotinamide can reverse the molecular, cellular, and behavioral effects of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in mice, according to a study by physician-scientists at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

21 Feb 2006

Exercise re-ignites key areas of the brain

Too old to learn new skills? By golly, think again. New research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that training re-ignites key areas of the brain, offsetting some age-related declines and boosting performance.

21 Feb 2006

Researchers create animal model of any schizophrenic characteristics

Researchers have developed a mouse strain in which the abnormal activity of the dopamine machinery in a specific part of the brain causes cognitive and behavioral impairments mimicking those in human schizophrenics.

20 Feb 2006

Brain scans may detect neurological decline in normal people

Brain scans may detect neurological changes in people who exhibit no outward signs of cognitive decline but who later develop dementia or mental impairment, according to the results of a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

16 Feb 2006

Research shows promise for stopping progression of bipolar disorder

Changes in the brain that are important indicators of bipolar disorder are not prominent until young adulthood and are reduced in persons taking mood-stabilizing medications, Yale School of Medicine researchers report this month in Biological Psychiatry.

13 Feb 2006

Single memory is processed in three separate parts of the brain - important for search to understand memory disorders

UCI researchers have found that a single brief memory is actually processed differently in separate areas of the brain - an idea that until now scientists have only suspected to be true.

12 Feb 2006

Pain sensitivity is enhanced when people are thirsty

Researchers at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have discovered how the brain prioritises pain and thirst in order to survive - a mechanism that helps elite athletes to 'push through the pain barrier'.

7 Feb 2006

Study finds brain changes begin gradually in 'middle age'

A study looking at brain function in young, middle-aged and older adults has identified changes in brain activity that begin gradually in middle age - and which may explain why older adults find it difficult to concentrate in busy environments and filter out irrelevant information.

7 Feb 2006

Hormone hydrocortisone (cortisol) supplementation improves ventilator weaning

Intensive care unit physicians can increase the success of mechanical ventilation weaning and shorten the weaning period by identifying critically ill patients who have adrenal insufficiency and treating them with the hormone hydrocortisone (cortisol).

2 Feb 2006

Research shows brain's ability to overcome pain and thirst

30 Jan 2006

Aspirin may not increase the risk of recurrent intracerebral hemorrhage

Aspirin is typically prescribed for people at risk of having an ischemic stroke to prevent blood clots. Because aspirin may cause bleeding, it is typically avoided in people who have had a hemorrhagic stroke, also called intracerebral hemorrhage.

25 Jan 2006

Aspirin therapy may be safe for some survivors of intracerebral hemorrhage

A study from the Stroke Service at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has found that some patients who have survived an intracerebral hemorrhage - a stroke caused by bleeding in the brain - may be safely treated with aspirin to prevent future heart attacks or strokes caused by blood clots.

23 Jan 2006

Children with autism found to have specific memory problems that may underlie aspects of disorder

If children with autism can't see the forest for the trees, that may be partly because the burden of processing all those trees at once makes it harder to lock in the scene.

23 Jan 2006