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.

Genetics may play a role in the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs

Today, the most common childhood cancer is cured in about 80 percent of patients; only forty years ago, this number was closer to five percent. In efforts to further increase the survival rate, researchers from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Chicago studied how an individual's genetics might play a role in the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs.

3 Jun 2005

Novel insights into how prion and other neurodegenerative diseases develop

Abnormal prion proteins are little understood disease agents involved in causing horrific brain-wasting diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in people, mad cow disease in cattle and chronic wasting disease in deer and elk.

3 Jun 2005

A protein found naturally in the brain may protect against Parkinson's disease

The findings also may lead to an improved understanding of a disorder called early-onset torsion dystonia.

2 Jun 2005

About one-fourth of infants who are violently shaken by an abuser will die from brain damage

Three-fourths of these infants will literally have the retinas of their eyes torn away from the back of the eye wall from the force of the motion.

2 Jun 2005

New research shows that threatened drug treatments slow damage to the brain caused by dementia

New research suggests that currently available anti dementia drugs not only alleviate the symptoms, but also reduce the destructive processes that kill brain cells in Alzheimer’s disease.

2 Jun 2005

Ageing and Health publication by the Medical Research Council highlights groundbreaking work on the ageing process

With life expectancy increasing worldwide, a new 'Ageing and Health' (PDF) publication by the Medical Research Council (MRC) highlights groundbreaking work on the ageing process, which could help elderly people not only live longer, but also lead healthier and happier lives.

2 Jun 2005

Interconnections between different parts of the brain are dynamic and not static

Using a newly released method to analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Northwestern University researchers have demonstrated that the interconnections between different parts of the brain are dynamic and not static.

1 Jun 2005

Oxytocin - don't sniff it if you want to hang on to your money!

Scientists have often suspected that oxytocin, a neuropeptide involved in various behaviors related to emotion, plays a key role in trust. In humans, oxytocin induces childbirth and lactation, and plays a key role in maternal bonding, while in animals, researchers believe it encourages mating by suspending the animals normal wariness of other animals which allows "approach behavior."

1 Jun 2005

University of Exeter researchers discover a stroll could help break your smoking habit

Researchers at the University of Exeter have found a new way to help kick the smoking habit - a quick stroll around the block. They examined the effects of a one mile walk on 15 smokers, who hadn't had a puff for 15 hours.

1 Jun 2005

Scientists develop a way to block the signals responsible for neuropathic pain

Remember how it felt the last time you burned your finger on a hot stove? Imagine what it's like to have that burning pain in your hands or feet all the time and know there's virtually nothing you can do about it.

1 Jun 2005

New clue to understanding how fatty acids work in the brain

Scientists in Cambridge have discovered that a brain protein called syntaxin enables fatty molecules, used widely in health supplements, to work in the brain to make it function properly. Lead Scientist, Dr Bazbek Davletov and his colleague Dr Colin Rickman from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK report their findings in the journal Chemistry and Biology.

1 Jun 2005

Diagnostic test for Lou Gehrig's disease

Bowser is director of the ALS Tissue Bank and an Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who is using a key piece of biomarker discovery equipment known as SELDI to find new ways to identify and eventually treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease.

1 Jun 2005

Triple approach is promising against cancer cells

A trimodal treatment strategy combining chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and a protein kinase inhibitor is much more effective against cancer cells than any combination of only two treatment methods.

1 Jun 2005

Schizophrenia is more common in developed countries than poorer nations

The report debunks a popular textbook definition that schizophrenia will affect 10 in every 1000 people no matter where patients live. It says this rate is too high and more likely, between seven and eight in 1000 people, although this varied between sites.

31 May 2005

Is there a link between cell phones and brain tumors?

Is there a link between cell phones and brain tumors? Over the past 15 years, there has been growing concern about this possibility. Part of this concern stems from the fact that there are over one billion cell phone subscribers worldwide, and the number is increasing.

31 May 2005

Targepeutics issued new U.S patent

Targepeutics has announced the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 6,884,603 for its genetically modified, mutated Interleukin 13 (IL-13) technology platform for the treatment of malignant glioma, a brain tumor (17,500 people annually; $200 million annual market).

31 May 2005

1980's brain surgery may have exposed 50 patients to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

It has now been revealed that as many as 50 patients may have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) following brain surgery during the 1980s.

31 May 2005

Those old crooners were right, love really can make you crazy

According to scientists brain images show that falling in love can look for all the world like mental illness with a mixture of mania, dementia and obsession that cuts people off from friends and family prompting uncharacteristic behavior which could almost be mistaken for psychosis.

31 May 2005

Health ministry warns against encephalitis vaccine

The Japanese Health Ministry is calling for a nationwide suspension of the Japanese encephalitis vaccination paid for by local governments following a report of serious side effects caused by the shots.

31 May 2005

Young adults forget their own life-support decisions

More than half of young adults soon unwittingly change their minds about decisions they make governing future life-saving medical treatment for themselves, a new study has found.

30 May 2005