Brain News and Research

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The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. Enclosed in the cranium, it has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times as large as the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size.

Birth control shot may impair a person's memory

The birth control shot Depo Provera offers a convenient alternative for women who don't want to remember to take a daily pill. Ironically, research from Arizona State University has shown the shot actually may impair a person's memory.

2 Nov 2011

Massive clotting can destroy placenta and cause miscarriages

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital have identified a potential new cause for unexplained miscarriages in mice.

2 Nov 2011

Ocrelizumab drug holds promise for multiple sclerosis

An experimental drug called Ocrelizumab has shown promise in a Phase 2 clinical trial involving 220 people with multiple sclerosis (MS), an often debilitating, chronic autoimmune disease that affects an increasing number of people in North America.

2 Nov 2011

SmartTots sets agenda for research on anesthetic safety in children

A special section of the November issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS), presents new research, updates, and commentaries about possible toxic effects of anesthetics and sedatives in infants and young children. The IARS is a key partner in the SmartTots initiative, dedicated to finding scientific answers to these urgent public health concerns.

2 Nov 2011

$Adiponectin linked to osteoporosis and increased risk of fractures$

Adiponectin linked to osteoporosis and increased risk of fractures

While obesity is a well-known cause of cardiovascular disease, research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has now revealed that the body's obesity hormones - adiponectin - are also linked to osteoporosis and an increased risk of fractures.

2 Nov 2011

MIT develops new software to speed up MRI scans

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices can scan the inside of the body in intricate detail, allowing clinicians to spot even the earliest signs of cancer or other abnormalities. But they can be a long and uncomfortable experience for patients, requiring them to lie still in the machine for up to 45 minutes.

2 Nov 2011

Hippocampus supports both recollection and familiarity memories

Human memory has historically defied precise scientific description, its biological functions broadly but imperfectly defined in psychological terms. In a pair of papers published in the November 2 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of California, San Diego report a new methodology that more deeply parses how and where certain types of memories are processed in the brain, and challenges earlier assumptions about the role of the hippocampus.

2 Nov 2011

New e-tool to catch youth depression before it takes hold

Australian researchers will for the first time harness e-technology to develop a customised internet program to identify and arm healthy young people most at risk of depression before the illness takes hold.

1 Nov 2011

Happiness good for health: Study

A new study suggests that happiness is good for health. Epidemiologists at University College, London, reported their results Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.

1 Nov 2011

Restoration of dopamine levels could potentially prevent drug abuse

Portuguese researchers have discovered that rats exposed before birth to glucocorticoids not only show several brain abnormalities similar to those found in addicts, but become themselves susceptible to addiction (the glucorticoids, which are stress hormones, were used to mimic pre-natal stress).

1 Nov 2011

Emotional and psychological traumas may contribute to adult IBS

The psychological and emotional traumas experienced over a lifetime--such as the death of a loved one, divorce, natural disaster, house fire or car accident, physical or mental abuse—may contribute to adult irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), according to the results of a study unveiled today at the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 76th Annual Scientific meeting in Washington, DC.

1 Nov 2011

Knife-edge scanning microscopy rapidly maps new blood vessels in organs

Like normal tissue, tumors thrive on nutrients carried to them by the blood stream. The rapid growth of new blood vessels is a hallmark of cancer, and studies have shown that preventing blood vessel growth can keep tumors from growing, too. To better understand the relationship between cancer and the vascular system, researchers would like to make detailed maps of the complete network of blood vessels in organs. Unfortunately, the current mapping process is time-consuming: using conventional methods, mapping a one-centimeter block of tissue can take months.

1 Nov 2011

Study: People with schizophrenia have weakened sense of body ownership

A study using a procedure called the rubber hand illusion has found striking new evidence that people experiencing schizophrenia have a weakened sense of body ownership and has produced the first case of a spontaneous, out-of-body experience in the laboratory.

1 Nov 2011

Multi-centre phase II trial for new brain tumor surgical technique starts in the UK

A multi-centre phase II clinical trial for a pioneering new surgical technique has started in the UK, jointly funded by Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust and Cancer Research UK.

1 Nov 2011

Non-invasive rtACS treatment can reduce partial blindness

It has long been thought that blindness after brain lesions is irreversible and that damage to the optic nerves leads to permanent impairments in everyday activities such as reading, driving, and spatial orientation. A new study published in Elsevier's Brain Stimulation suggests that treating such patients with low levels of non-invasive, repetitive, transorbital alternating current stimulation (rtACS) for 10 days significantly reduces visual impairment and markedly improves vision-related quality of life.

1 Nov 2011

U.S. earns a 'C' on March of Dimes 2011 Premature Birth Report Card

Preterm birth rates improved in almost every state between 2006 and 2009, and in several states the change was more than 10 percent, according to the March of Dimes 2011 Premature Birth Report Card.

1 Nov 2011

AAN names 30 neurologists to attend Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum

The American Academy of Neurology has named 30 neurologists from around the world to attend the esteemed Donald M. Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum, January 12-15, 2012, in Austin, Texas.

1 Nov 2011

Researchers discover biomarker for earlier diagnosis of MS

Researchers from the Department of Neurology at NYU Langone Medical Center identified for the first time that changes in the tissue located at the junction between the outer and inner layers of the brain, called "blurring", may be an important, non-invasive biomarker for earlier diagnosis and the development of new therapies for degenerative brain conditions, such as multiple sclerosis.

1 Nov 2011

Oscillatory signals in basal ganglia cause motor deficits in Parkinson's

The research group headed by Professor Atsushi Nambu and Professor Masahiko Takada has shown that the 'oscillatory' nature of electrical signals in subcortical nuclei, the basal ganglia, causes severe motor deficits in Parkinson's disease, by disturbing the information flow of motor commands.

1 Nov 2011

Stanford Hospital uses new device to treat brain aneurysm

If Barbara Maluo's brain aneurysm had been discovered a few months ago, she would have had few viable treatment options. She was one of the 10 to 15 percent of brain aneurysm patients diagnosed each year with aneurysms so large and wide that they cannot be reliably treated using conventional methods of treatment.

1 Nov 2011