Neuroscience News and Research

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Anterior insular cortex associated with human empathy

An international team led by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York has for the first time shown that one area of the brain, called the anterior insular cortex, is the activity center of human empathy, whereas other areas of the brain are not. The study is published in the September 2012 issue of the journal Brain.

25 Oct 2012

Social or daily drinking may be more harmful to brain health

Drinking a couple of glasses of wine each day has generally been considered a good way to promote cardiovascular and brain health. But a new Rutgers University study indicates that there is a fine line between moderate and binge drinking - a risky behavior that can decrease the making of adult brain cells by as much as 40 percent.

25 Oct 2012

Novel approach to assemble the 'connectome' via genetic barcoding

A team of neuroscientists has proposed a new and potentially revolutionary way of obtaining a neuronal connectivity map (the "connectome") of the whole brain of the mouse. The details are set forth in an essay published October 23 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.

24 Oct 2012

Kessler Foundation to study role of environmental factors in rehabilitation outcomes in SCI

Amanda Botticello, PhD, MPH, research scientist in Outcomes & Assessment Research at Kessler Foundation, received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to study the role of environmental factors in rehabilitation outcomes in spinal cord injury.

24 Oct 2012

Exendin-4 could effectively treat addiction

Vanderbilt researchers are reporting today that a drug currently used to treat type 2 diabetes could be just as effective in treating addiction to drugs, including cocaine.

24 Oct 2012

New project aims to devise programs that help reduce risk of cancer

Most people know that smoking, a bad diet, and physical inactivity can lead to catastrophic personal health consequences, including cancer. Yet millions continue to smoke, eat poorly, and fail to get enough exercise.

24 Oct 2012

GSU project to study how the body's internal clock is reset

Georgia State University's H. Elliott Albers, the Regents' Professor of Neuroscience and director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, has received a four-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how the body's internal clock is "reset," a key to understanding more about sleep and other disorders affecting human health.

23 Oct 2012

Study still implicates amyloid beta in causing Alzheimer's dementia

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a key difference in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease and those who are cognitively normal but still have brain plaques that characterize this type of dementia.

23 Oct 2012

New Northwestern study focuses on 'pre-feelings' and ability to anticipate the near future

Wouldn't it be amazing if our bodies prepared us for future events that could be very important to us, even if there's no clue about what those events will be?

23 Oct 2012

Combining distal protection devices with nicardipine improves post-PCI outcomes

Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital have shown that combining distal protection devices with the prophylactic use of the drug nicardipine is more effective at preventing life-threatening complications following a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (angioplasty, stenting) on patients who have undergone previous bypass surgery than distal protection devices alone.

23 Oct 2012

Glioblastoma multiforme can originate from cortical neurons

Scientists have long believed that glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive type of primary brain tumor, begins in glial cells that make up supportive tissue in the brain or in neural stem cells. In a paper published October 18 in Science Express, however, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found that the tumors can originate from other types of differentiated cells in the nervous system, including cortical neurons.

23 Oct 2012

VEGF produced by NPCs plays a strong role in influencing microglial behavior

The brain's key "breeder" cells, it turns out, do more than that. They secrete substances that boost the numbers and strength of critical brain-based immune cells believed to play a vital role in brain health. This finding adds a new dimension to our understanding of how resident stem cells and stem cell transplants may improve brain function.

22 Oct 2012

UCI, Brown work advances quest for novel treatments for inherited disorder

UC Irvine and Brown University researchers have created a new fruit fly model of inherited epilepsy that's providing insights into the mechanisms underlying temperature-dependent seizures while establishing a platform from which to develop therapies for these disorders.

20 Oct 2012

Scientists build first atlas of white-matter microstructure in human brain

A European team of scientists have built the first atlas of white-matter microstructure in the human brain. The project's final results have the potential to change the face of neuroscience and medicine over the coming decade.

20 Oct 2012

Dartmouth neurobiologist investigates brain's nerve cells that establish one's location and direction

The Who asked "who are you?" but Dartmouth neurobiologist Jeffrey Taube asks "where are you?" and "where are you going?" Taube is not asking philosophical or theological questions. Rather, he is investigating nerve cells in the brain that function in establishing one's location and direction.

20 Oct 2012

Stem cell study may help to unravel how genetic mutation leads to Parkinson's symptoms

By reprogramming skin cells from Parkinson's disease patients with a known genetic mutation, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified damage to neural stem cells as a powerful player in the disease.

20 Oct 2012

BioResearch Open Access explores Cell-SELEX technology

SELEX is a rapid, efficient, and iterative high-throughput method for screening large libraries of molecules to identify those with the potential to be developed as drug compounds or research tools. Advances in SELEX technology that have enabled screening in live cells, called Cell-SELEX, are explored in a comprehensive Review article published in BioResearch Open Access, a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

19 Oct 2012

Antidepressant use may increase risk of strokes caused by bleeding in the brain

Research shows that use of popular antidepressants is linked to an increased risk of some strokes caused by bleeding in the brain, but that the risk is low, according to a multi-study analysis published in the October 17, 2012, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

19 Oct 2012

New way to image how brain cells coordinate with each other to control specific behaviors

A team led by MIT neuroscientists has developed a way to monitor how brain cells coordinate with each other to control specific behaviors, such as initiating movement or detecting an odor.

19 Oct 2012

New insights into wiring and firing of the social brain

New insights into the wiring and firing of the "social brain" in humans and primates reveals the brain areas important in altruistic motives and behavior, and the brain regions that respond to the pain of discrimination.

19 Oct 2012