Neurons News and Research

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We may learn best on an empty stomach!

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found evidence that a hormone produced in the stomach directly stimulates the higher brain functions of spatial learning and memory development.

23 Feb 2006

Discovery of molecule that may hold key to learning and memory

Independent research teams from Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston have identified a master protein that sheds light on one of neurobiology's biggest mysteries--how neurons change as a result of individual experiences.

23 Feb 2006

SRY gene directly controls neuronal function in the brain

Shaped by much previous research, the prevailing view regarding sex-specific differences in the brain is that they are caused by circulating sex hormones, which are generated outside the brain and influence certain aspects of brain development, as well as brain function in adults.

23 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

Education and rates of cognitive decline in incident Alzheimer's disease

High levels of education may help ward off Alzheimer's disease, but they also speed up its progression once developed, reveals research in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

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

Orexin's role in developing addiction

A molecule in the brain essential for wakefulness and appetite has been found to play a central role in strengthening the neuron connections that lead to addiction.

17 Feb 2006

Tetrabenazine cuts down involuntary movements in Huntington's disease

The medication tetrabenazine cut down involuntary movement in patients with Huntington's disease on average by about 25 percent, with many patients experiencing a greater improvement, according to a study in the February 14 issue of the journal Neurology.

17 Feb 2006

Research suggests that a common mechanism may underlie a variety of protein folding diseases

Misfolded and damaged proteins are common to all human neurodegenerative diseases. Clumps of these aggregated proteins destroy neurons within the brain and cause disease.

16 Feb 2006

Research may help explain Alzheimer's memory loss

Based on laboratory research, scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have a new theory as to why people with Alzheimer's disease have trouble performing even the simplest memory tasks, such as remembering a family member's name.

16 Feb 2006

A high level of education means Alzheimer's hits later, but harder and faster

According to researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, high levels of education may help ward off Alzheimer’s disease, but they also speed up its progression once the disease has developed.

16 Feb 2006

Potential universal strategy for treating drug addiction

An international research team led by the University of Saskatchewan has discovered a signaling pathway in the brain involved in drug addiction, together with a method for blocking its action, that may point to a single treatment strategy for most addictions.

14 Feb 2006

New findings help researchers revise models of mammalian sense of smell

In a mouse model, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers discovered that olfactory sensory neurons expressing the same receptor responded to a specific odor with an array of speeds and sensitivities, a phenomenon previously not detected in the mammalian sense of smell.

12 Feb 2006

Case biologists move closer to biologically inspired robots

The brain as command center for bodily movement was too simple an idea, thought the Russian physiologist Nicolas Bernstein some 60 years ago.

9 Feb 2006

Hormone discovered in bird brains also plays major role in mammalian reproductive system

University of California, Berkeley, researchers have discovered a new actor in the mammalian reproductive system, a hormone that fills a role long suspected, but until now undetected.

7 Feb 2006

Link between dementia and cancer

By expressing a protein associated with Alzheimer's disease in the brain of the fruit fly, researchers have demonstrated an intriguing link between neuronal death and proteins previously associated with cancer.

7 Feb 2006

Intracellular observation of RNA metabolism will help identify disease-associated RNAs

For the first time, researchers can now peer inside intact cells to not only identify RNA-binding proteins, but also observe-in real-time-the intricate activities of these special molecules that make them key players in managing some of the cell's most basic functions.

7 Feb 2006

Treatment of down syndrome in mice restores nerve growth in cerebellum

Researchers at Johns Hopkins restored the normal growth of specific nerve cells in the cerebellum of mouse models of Down syndrome (DS) that were stunted by this genetic condition. The cerebellum is the rear, lower part of the brain that controls signals from the muscles to coordinate balance and motor learning.

25 Jan 2006

Breakthrough in lupus research

A major breakthrough in lupus research - one that may fundamentally change thinking on how the disease affects behavior and cognition - was reported in the January 17, 2006 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

25 Jan 2006

Donepezil for dementia due to Alzheimer's disease

Trials lasting up to 12 months show that taking daily doses of either 5mg or 10mg donepezil improves cognition and global clinical state in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

25 Jan 2006