Neuroscience News and Research

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Stem cells may unlock the secrets to healing the brain

These amazing cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body and have to potential to revolutionise medical science.

27 Sep 2005

Loss of body mass over time appears to be strongly linked to older adults' risk of developing Alzheimer's disease

The findings are the first to associate decline in body mass index (BMI) with the eventual onset of AD. The researchers suggest that the loss of body mass reflects disease processes and that change in BMI might be a clinical predictor of the development of AD.

26 Sep 2005

Understanding another's expectation from action: The role of peripheral sensation

Psychology researchers have long understood and accepted the importance of an individual's brain activity in motor areas when interpreting the actions of others. However, much less was known about the role the body plays in helping individuals process and understand the same information.

26 Sep 2005

Scientists identifiy new type of pain-sensing neuron in rats

We all know that if you put your hand over an open flame it's very painful. What you may not know is that, for some people, just lying under a blanket is painful as well. They have neuropathic pain--annoying, chronic pain that comes from a diseased nerve cell rather than a specific stimulus. Feeling phantom pain in a missing limb is another, more famous, example.

26 Sep 2005

Scientists reverse memory loss in mice with Alzheimer's

In mice, that had been genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer's disease, scientists were able to reverse the rodents' memory loss by reducing the amount of an enzyme that is crucial for the development of Alzheimer's disease.

26 Sep 2005

Neurologix announces positive interim results of gene therapy clinical trial for patients with Parkinson's disease

Neurologix has announced positive interim results of its landmark gene therapy clinical trial for patients with Parkinson's disease. Neurologix's 12-patient, dose-escalating Phase I trial is the world's first study to use a viral vector (the non-pathogenic adeno-associated virus, or AAV) for the treatment of an adult neurological disease.

26 Sep 2005

New information about how the brain directs the body to make movements

A University of California - San Francisco (UCSF) study has revealed new information about how the brain directs the body to make movements. The key factor is "noise" in the brain's signaling, and it helps explain why all movement is not carried out with the same level of precision.

26 Sep 2005

John Hopkins scientists uncover "tags" that force proteins to cell surface

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered internal "shipping labels" that allow -- and perhaps force -- hundreds if not thousands of proteins to get to the surface of cells and stay there.

22 Sep 2005

Green tea may protect the brain against Alzheimer's disease

Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) have found that green tea may offer another potential health benefit - protecting the brain against the ravages of Alzheimer's disease.

20 Sep 2005

Molecular pathway in mice that makes prostate cells vulnerable to cancer-causing oxygen damage

Scientists from Maryland and New Jersey have identified a molecular pathway in mice that makes prostate cells vulnerable to cancer-causing oxygen damage.

19 Sep 2005

Microtubules critical to development of mental disorders

Neuroscientists at the University at Buffalo have shown in two recently published papers that destabilization of structures called microtubules, intracellular highways that transport receptors to their working sites in the brain, likely underlie many mental disorders and could be promising targets for intervention.

12 Sep 2005

HOXA1 is a gene that's been looking for a disorder for a long time

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston, who specialize in studying the genetics of rare eye-movement disorders, have found a rare genetic syndrome whose implications go far beyond the eye, raising intriguing questions about human cardiovascular and brain development.

12 Sep 2005

New tool to measure coma depth

Mayo Clinic neurologists have created the first new, reliable and easy-to-use clinical tool in 30 years for measuring coma depth, a proposed replacement for the Glasgow Coma Scale. The new scoring system, called the FOUR (Full Outline of UnResponsiveness) Score, will be described in the October issue of Annals of Neurology.

10 Sep 2005

Sugar-coated markers of brain cell development may help success of stem cell transplants

Four sugar-coated faces made by stem cells as they differentiate into brain cells during development have been identified by scientists.

10 Sep 2005

Researchers discover discrete region of the monkey brain that processes pitch

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a discrete region of the monkey brain that processes pitch, the relative high and low points of sound, by recognizing a single musical note played by different instruments.

7 Sep 2005

Release of the neurotransmitter GABA halts stem cell production in the brain

Release of the neurotransmitter GABA by adult neuronal precursor cells that develop into neurons limits stem cell proliferation, according to a study at Yale School of Medicine in the September issue of Nature Neuroscience.

1 Sep 2005

Researchers link individual preferences to neuronal activity in brain

Life is full of choices. But how do individuals know what their preferences are and how do they act on them? And what leads mothers to make choices that benefit or lead to neglect of her offspring? Based on research performed using laboratory rats, a team of neuroscience researchers at Rutgers University-Newark suggest that an intricate system exists within the brain for establishing individual preferences, which ultimately impacts choices.

1 Sep 2005

Stress leads to drugs, leads to more stress and more drugs - part of a vicious cycle

According to a new Australian study, opiate drugs such as morphine have been found to leave animals more vulnerable to stress, and this could mean stress and opiates are caught in a vicious cycle.

1 Sep 2005

Unique Internet test to test genetic disposition to depression

The team, based at the Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit (NPU), in the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, has set up a website (www.newmood.co.uk) where would-be volunteers can see how prone they may be to depression by identifying the emotions on people's faces and taking a gambling test.

From The University of Manchester 30 Aug 2005

Opiate drugs such as morphine leave animals more vulnerable to stress

A new study has found that opiate drugs such as morphine leave animals more vulnerable to stress. This means that stress and opiates are in a vicious cycle: Not only does stress trigger drug use, but in return the drug leaves animals more vulnerable to stress.

30 Aug 2005