Neuroscience News and Research

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Needle biopsies safe in 'eloquent' areas of brain

After a review of 284 cases, specialists at the Brain Tumor Center at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Neuroscience Institute have concluded that performing a stereotactic needle biopsy in an area of the brain associated with language or other important functions carries no greater risk than a similar biopsy in a less critical area of the brain.

3 Jun 2009

Research questions standard protocol for treating traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury - not heart disease, stroke or cancer - is the number one cause of death and disability in people under 45. Each year, some 1.5 million Americans, including soldiers, athletes, the elderly and children, sustain head injuries, and nearly half of them will be hospitalized and treated in an emergency room or intensive care unit.

3 Jun 2009

Diabetic medication 'glibenclamide' may prevent nicotine-induced SIDS

According to researchers at McMaster University, exposure of the fetus to nicotine results in the inability to respond to decreases in oxygen - known as hypoxia - which may result in a higher incidence of SIDS.

3 Jun 2009

Skin cells provide new knowledge about brain functions

Until now diseases like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have been difficult to study biologically, since this would entail taking samples from the patient's brain.

3 Jun 2009

Research sheds new light on how the brain processes what the eye sees

Researchers at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) at Rutgers University in Newark have identified the need to develop a new framework for understanding "perceptual stability" and how we see the world with their discovery that visual input obtained during eye movements is being processed by the brain but blocked from awareness.

2 Jun 2009

Greater understanding on leptin's role in brain neurocircuitry

In investigating the complex neurocircuitry behind weight gain and glucose control, scientists have known that the hormone leptin plays a key role in the process. But within the myriad twists and turns of the brain's intricate landscape, the exact pathways that the hormone travels to exert its influence have remained a mystery.

2 Jun 2009

Rapamycin epilepsy-prevention effect may be widely applicable

A drug with potential to prevent epilepsy caused by a genetic condition may also help prevent more common forms of epilepsy caused by brain injury, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

1 Jun 2009

Oligophrenin-1 signaling protein linked to mental retardation controls synapse maturation, plasticity

A team of neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has demonstrated the mechanism by which a signaling protein found throughout the brain controls the maturation and strength of excitatory synapses, the tiny gaps across which the majority of neurons communicate.

1 Jun 2009

Genetic profiling reveals genes active in the earliest brain circuit construction

Long before the brain's neurons can facilitate life's big decisions, they have to find their own destiny in the rapidly developing embryo.

31 May 2009

Common migraine pain condition allodynia also prevalent in cluster headache

A pain condition common in people with migraines also has a high prevalence in patients with cluster headache, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Jefferson Headache Center at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience.

27 May 2009

Brain activation can predict strategies people use to make risky decisions

Watching people's brains in real time as they handle a set of decision-making problems can reveal how different each person's strategy can be, according to neuroscientists at the Duke University Medical Center.

27 May 2009

Neuroscientists reach consensus on how the brain processes speech and language

Neuroscientists feel they are much closer to an accepted unified theory about how the brain processes speech and language, according to a scientist at Georgetown University Medical Center who first laid the concepts a decade ago and who has now published a review article confirming the theory.

26 May 2009

New mouse model provides insight into human neuronal diseases

Neurosensory diseases are difficult to model in mice because their symptoms are complex and diverse. The genetic causes identified are often lethal when transferred to a mouse.

26 May 2009

Nervous system may be culprit in Pompe disease

Brain may win out over brawn as the primary cause of breathing problems in children with a severe form of muscular dystrophy known as Pompe disease.

25 May 2009

Scientists pinpoint molecular cause of Alzheimer's disease

A discovery made by researchers at McGill University and the affiliated Lady Davis Research Institute for Medical Research at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital offers new hope for the early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

22 May 2009

Protein neuregulin 1 critical to insulating the body's wiring could also become treatment target

A new protein identified as critical to insulating the wiring that connects the brain and body could one day be a treatment target for divergent diseases, from rare ones that lower the pain threshold to cancer, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.

19 May 2009

Decoding the human brain

'Nature' journals are synonymous with the very best in research. Earlier this year, an article by University of Leicester bioengineer Professor Rodrigo Quian Quiroga not only appeared in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, but also featured on the magazine cover. In the article, Prof. Quian Quiroga and co-author Dr. Stefano Panzeri discuss new methodologies that are enabling scientists to better understand how our brain processes information.

19 May 2009