Neurons News and Research

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Protein sensor for proprioception found

Can you touch a finger to the tip of your nose with your eyes closed? Most of us can, thanks to a sense called proprioception, which tells us where our body parts are relative to each other and our environment. Not surprisingly, this sense is essential for normal movement and balance—walking, for instance.

10 Nov 2015

Thickness of the cortex in FFA can predict a person's ability to recognize faces and objects

When you see a familiar face, when a bird-watcher catches a glimpse of a rare bird perched on a limb, or when a car-fancier spots a classic auto driving past, the same small region in the brain becomes engaged.

10 Nov 2015

Orlando Health researchers develop blood test that can detect signs of concussion in children

Researchers at Orlando Health have developed a blood test that can detect even the most subtle signs of a concussion in children, correctly identifying the presence of traumatic brain injuries 94 percent of the time in a recent study.

10 Nov 2015

Genetic reduction of AMPK enzyme can prevent or delay hearing loss

A mitochondrial defect is responsible for a type of human hereditary deafness that worsens over time and can lead to profound hearing loss.

6 Nov 2015

Brain's hippocampus essential for recognizing previously encountered events

The hippocampus, a brain structure known to play a role in memory and spatial navigation, is essential to one's ability to recognize previously encountered events, objects, or people - a phenomenon known as recognition memory - according to new research from the departments of Neurosurgery and Psychology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

4 Nov 2015

Patients with Down syndrome face additional challenge of early-onset dementia

Individuals with Down syndrome who survive into adulthood face the additional challenge of early-onset dementia, in which toxic amyloid plaques build up in the brain. The condition is strikingly similar to Alzheimer's disease, and as new work led by researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University shows, dementia in Down syndrome involves defects in a regulatory enzyme known as γ-secretase activating protein (GSAP), which also happens to malfunction in Alzheimer's disease.

3 Nov 2015

Prkci gene maintains balance in stem cell production

When it comes to stem cells, too much of a good thing isn't wonderful: producing too many new stem cells may lead to cancer; producing too few inhibits the repair and maintenance of the body.

31 Oct 2015

Findings could lead to new treatment for ALS, dementia

University of Toronto (U of T) researchers are proposing a new way of understanding Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), the devastating and incurable neurological disease. Their findings, published today in the journal Neuron, could be a major milestone on the path to a treatment for both ALS and dementia.

30 Oct 2015

Study sheds light on mechanism of neuronal activity

Neurons communicate by passing electrical messages, known as action potentials, between each other. Each neuron has a highly specialized structural region, the axon initial segment (AIS), whose primary role is in the generation and sending of these messages.

30 Oct 2015

GDF10 molecule identified as a key player in repair mechanisms after stroke

Looking at brain tissue from mice, monkeys and humans, scientists have found that a molecule known as growth and differentiation factor 10 (GDF10) is a key player in repair mechanisms following stroke. The findings suggest that GDF10 may be a potential therapy for recovery after stroke.

29 Oct 2015

Franziska Michor named recipient of NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Prize

The New York Stem Cell Foundation announced today that Franziska Michor, PhD, is the 2015 recipient of the NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Prize for her work pioneering new approaches to study the growth, spread, and treatment of cancer. Her laboratory fuses her passions in mathematics, molecular biology and patient care to investigate how cancers form and progress.

29 Oct 2015

Lund University researchers reveal how nerve cells learn and forget

Our brains not only contain learning mechanisms but also forgetting mechanisms that erase "unnecessary" learning. A research group at Lund University in Sweden has now been able to describe one of these mechanisms at the cellular level.

28 Oct 2015

Love hormone may enhance pleasure of social interactions, UCI study finds

The hormone oxytocin, which has been associated with interpersonal bonding, may enhance the pleasure of social interactions by stimulating production of marijuana-like neurotransmitters in the brain, according to a University of California, Irvine study.

27 Oct 2015

MGH researchers identify mechanism behind the spread of neurofibrillary tangles

Massachusetts General Hospital investigators have discovered a mechanism behind the spread of neurofibrillary tangles - one of the two hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease - through the brains of affected individuals.

27 Oct 2015

NYSCF conference to focus on translational stem cell and neuroscience research

The New York Stem Cell Foundation 10th Annual Translational Stem Cell Research Conference convenes global leaders in translational stem cell and neuroscience research to present their latest work towards new treatments and cures for the most devastating diseases and injuries currently facing the world.

26 Oct 2015

Scientists develop new strategy to target sarcoidosis

A team of scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München together with colleagues of the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich recently developed a new strategy to determine monocyte subsets involved in diseases. The results published in the journal 'Blood' could help facilitating the diagnosis of sarcoidosis and may improve the respective patient management.

23 Oct 2015

3-D model of animal brain provides more complete picture of brain's connectivity

The animal brain is so complex, it would take a supercomputer and vast amounts of data to create a detailed 3-D model of the billions of neurons that power it.

23 Oct 2015

New technique helps study protein changes in brain tissue of Alzheimer's patients

Using 10-year-old archival brain tissue from patients with Alzheimer's disease, a research team from NYU Langone Medical Center has developed a novel method to examine the structure and function of proteins at the cell level -- providing greater means to study protein changes found in Alzheimer's disease.

23 Oct 2015

Findings suggest a potential "early warning" detection system for Alzheimer's disease

The findings suggest a potential "early warning" detection system for Alzheimer's disease, even in young and asymptomatic individuals.

23 Oct 2015

New research may have profound impact on future development of anti-depressant medications

Major depression, which afflicts one in six people at some point in their life, is the leading global cause of disability - surpassing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer and HIV/AIDS combined.

22 Oct 2015