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.

Johns Hopkins scientists develop mouse model for autism spectrum disorders

In an effort to unravel the tangled biology of autism, Johns Hopkins scientists have created a mouse model that mimics a human mutation of a gene known to be associated with autism spectrum disorders.

21 Jun 2011

Insight into why some people develop drug addiction

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have identified abnormal brain structures in the frontal lobe of cocaine users' brains which are linked to their compulsive cocaine-using behaviour. Their findings were published today, 21 June, in the journal Brain.

21 Jun 2011

Amylin to present data on investigational diabetes drug candidates at ADA annual meeting

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the Company will present data for its two first-in-class diabetes drugs, BYETTA injection and SYMLIN injection, and its investigational diabetes drug candidates BYDUREON and exenatide once monthly at the 71st Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) being held in San Diego, CA from June 24 to June 28.

21 Jun 2011

IsoRay announces combination therapy study for prostate cancer

IsoRay Inc., announced today a new dual therapy study using Cesium-131 brachytherapy (internal radiation therapy) and external beam radiation. Multiple sites have now received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for this study which will examine the efficacy of combining intensity modulated radiation (IMRT) with Cesium-131 brachytherapy to treat intermediate and high risk early stage prostate cancer.

20 Jun 2011

Acura, Pfizer receive FDA approval for OXECTA Tablets to manage severe pain

Pfizer Inc. and Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc. announce the marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of OXECTATM Tablets CII.

20 Jun 2011

Alexion begins eculizumab clinical trial in Shiga-toxin producing E. coli hemolytic uremic syndrome

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Alexion Pharma International Sàrl (APIS), announced today that the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Germany's healthcare regulatory body for biological products, has authorized initiation of an open-label clinical trial to investigate eculizumab as a treatment for patients with Shiga-toxin producing E. coli hemolytic uremic syndrome, which has resulted from infections by Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli in an unusually wide outbreak in Germany that began in May.

20 Jun 2011

Study: Dyslexia gene controls cilia in brain neurons

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered that a gene linked to dyslexia has a surprising biological function: it controls cilia, the antenna-like projections that cells use to communicate.

20 Jun 2011

NOCSAE receives $1.1M research grants to advance science of sports medicine

The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) awarded $1.1 million in research grants to advance the science of sports medicine – specifically related to concussion.

20 Jun 2011

Novel vaccine approach for prostate cancer

Mayo Clinic investigators and collaborators from the United Kingdom cured well-established prostate tumors in mice using a human vaccine with no apparent side effects. This novel cancer treatment approach encourages the immune system to rid itself of prostate tumors without assistance from toxic chemotherapies and radiation treatments.

20 Jun 2011

Scientists discover three susceptibility genes for development of progressive supranuclear palsy

An international research team, co-led by scientists at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida, have discovered three potential susceptibility genes for development of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative disease that causes symptoms similar to those of Parkinson's disease but is resistant to Parkinson's medications.

20 Jun 2011

New insight into progressive supranuclear palsy

There are new genetic clues on risk factors and biological causes of a rare neurodegenerative disease called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), according to a new study from an international genetics team led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

20 Jun 2011

MA launches national campaign to raise awareness on meningitis

This Father's Day is a special day for Angels Dads on Meningitis (ADOM). Angel dads from across the country came together in Denver, Colorado to launch a national campaign on meningitis awareness.

20 Jun 2011

Mother and baby cytomegalovirus screening important to prevent consequences

According to health experts, pregnant women and newborns should be screened for a virus that causes brain damage and deafness. The study that appeared in the latest issue of The Medical Journal of Australia yesterday says hundreds of cases of cytomegalovirus (CMV) are likely being missed each year in Australia because of a lack of screening, denying babies treatment for the condition.

19 Jun 2011

FDA approves NULOJIX

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved NULOJIX, the first selective T-cell costimulation blocker indicated for the prophylaxis of organ rejection in adult patients receiving a kidney transplant, in combination with basiliximab induction, mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), and corticosteroids.

18 Jun 2011

Protein synthesis in cerebellum plays key role in memory consolidation

Scientists and educators alike have long known that cramming is not an effective way to remember things. With their latest findings, researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan, studying eye movement response in trained mice, have elucidated the neurological mechanism explaining why this is so.

18 Jun 2011

Researchers uncover protein structural clues associated to PD

Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) have uncovered structural clues about the protein linked to Parkinson's disease (PD), which ultimately could lead to finding a cure for the degenerative neurological disorder.

18 Jun 2011

Careful, well-designed studies needed for evaluating patients with MS: SIRF panel

Evaluating patients with multiple sclerosis who have narrowed jugular and azygos veins-and the value of widening those veins with angioplasty-warrants careful, well-designed research, noted members of a Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation's Research Consensus Panel.

17 Jun 2011

Precisely mapped allosteric binding site will facilitate design of drugs with minimal side effects

Structural biologists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have obtained a precise molecular map of the binding site for an allosteric inhibitor in a subtype of the NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor, which is commonly expressed in brain cells.

17 Jun 2011

Self-perception of body traced to specialized multisensory neurons

By taking advantage of a "body swap" illusion, researchers have captured the brain regions involved in one of the most fundamental aspects of self-awareness: how we recognize our bodies as our own, distinct from others and from the outside world. That self-perception is traced to specialized multisensory neurons in various parts of the brain that integrate different sensory inputs across all body parts into a unified view of the body.

17 Jun 2011

Fast-acting antidepressant effect of ketamine

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists are shedding new light on why the anesthetic drug ketamine produces a fast-acting antidepressant response in patients with treatment-resistant depression.

17 Jun 2011