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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.

Human placenta plays an active role in serotonin synthesis

Research at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California's Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute shows for the first time that the human placenta plays an active role in synthesizing serotonin, paving the way to new treatment strategies that could mitigate health impacts such as cardiovascular disease and mental illness.

22 Apr 2011

Coquitlam student earns top prize in 2011 British Columbia SABC competition

Ground-breaking research by a 17-year-old Coquitlam student who found a way to observe the effects of ethanol on early brain development in an intact and awake brain has earned him the top prize in the 2011 British Columbia sanofi-aventis BioTalent Challenge.

22 Apr 2011

Engineering researchers use carbon nanotubes to create synthetic brain

Engineering researchers the University of Southern California have made a significant breakthrough in the use of nanotechnologies for the construction of a synthetic brain. They have built a carbon nanotube synapse circuit whose behavior in tests reproduces the function of a neuron, the building block of the brain.

22 Apr 2011

Roundtable to discuss about advances in neuroscience

Jamie Tyler, assistant professor in the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, has been invited to speak at a Royal Society of London high level workshop on May 11-12 on the security implications of advances in neuroscience.

22 Apr 2011

Mindfulness meditation may enhance mental abilities

The positive effects of mindfulness meditation on pain and working memory may result from an improved ability to regulate a crucial brain wave called the alpha rhythm.

22 Apr 2011

Scientists to develop new technique for early-stage Alzheimer's detection

Scientists at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow are developing a technique based on a new discovery which could pave the way towards detecting Alzheimer's disease in its earliest stages - and could help to develop urgently-needed treatments.

22 Apr 2011

Marinus initiates ganaxolone Phase 2 trial in posttraumatic stress disorder

Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the leader in the development of neurosteroids for central nervous system disorders, today announced commencement of a proof-of-concept clinical trial of its lead candidate ganaxolone for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder.

22 Apr 2011

EPO doping drug can reduce cerebral malaria related deaths

Almost 3.3 billion people, half of the world's population, risk being infected with malaria. Despite having effective means against malaria, the WHO reports 250 million cases of malaria each year and more than 700,000 related deaths. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have now discovered that EPO, the doping drug known from professional cycling, can significantly reduce cerebral malaria related deaths.

22 Apr 2011

Two Canadian health researchers earn UBC recognition

Two of Canada's most eminent health researchers - Dr. Jacques Genest at McGill University and Dr. Michael Hayden at the University of British Columbia - have been awarded the inaugural Margolese National Brain and Heart Disorders Prizes, the most lucrative prizes bestowed by UBC.

22 Apr 2011

Nearly 50% of children with autism elope

Today, the Interactive Autism Network (IAN), www.ianproject.org, the nation's largest online autism research project, reveals the preliminary results of the first major survey on wandering and elopement among individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and announces the launch of a new research survey on the association between pregnancy factors and ASD.

21 Apr 2011

First UCLA patient with hand transplant doing well at six-and-a-half weeks

Six-and-a-half weeks after receiving the first hand transplant in the western United States, Emily Fennell is becoming so accustomed to her new right hand that she barely remembers when she didn't have one.

21 Apr 2011

Lovelace Medical Center upgrades to Gamma Knife Perfexion system

AMERICAN SHARED HOSPITAL SERVICES, a leading provider of turnkey technology solutions for advanced radiosurgical and radiation therapy services, announced today that it has entered into a contract to supply a Gamma Knife® Perfexion™ system to Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

21 Apr 2011

Toddlers having insecure emotional relationship with mothers at increased risk for obesity

Toddlers who do not have a secure emotional relationship with their parents, and particularly their mothers, could be at increased risk for obesity by age 4 ½, according to new research.

21 Apr 2011

Nutlin-3a molecules stimulate signal to induce cell death and senescence in brain cancer

Researchers of Apoptosis and Cancer Group of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have found that a small molecule, Nutlin-3a, an antagonist of MDM2 protein, stimulates the signalling pathway of another protein, p53.

21 Apr 2011

Stanford and SanBio initiate SB623 Phase 1/2a clinical trial for stroke disability

The Stanford University School of Medicine and SanBio Inc. today announced the initiation of a Phase 1/2a clinical trial testing the safety and efficacy of a novel allogeneic cell therapy product, SB623, on patients suffering from stable deficits resulting from previous stroke injuries.

21 Apr 2011

Scientists discover critical pathway in the brain linked to stress response

A team of neuroscientists at the University of Leicester, UK, in collaboration with researchers from Poland and Japan, has announced a breakthrough in the understanding of the 'brain chemistry' that triggers our response to highly stressful and traumatic events.

21 Apr 2011

Abuse during childhood substantially increases risk of depression in adolescence

Queen's University professor Kate Harkness has found that a history of physical, sexual or emotional abuse in childhood substantially increases the risk of depression in adolescence by altering a person's neuroendocrine response to stress.

21 Apr 2011

Military personnel with TBI should receive adequate protein and calories immediately after trauma

To help alleviate the effects of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), the U.S. Department of Defense should ensure that all military personnel with this type of injury receive adequate protein and calories immediately after the trauma and through the first two weeks of treatment, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

21 Apr 2011

Scientists discover 'small molecule' substance that blocks cholesterol formation in the brain

A needle-in-the-haystack search through nearly 390,000 chemical compounds had led scientists to a substance that can sneak through the protective barrier surrounding the brain with effects promising for new drugs for Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. They report on the substance, which blocks formation of cholesterol in the brain, in the journal, ACS Chemical Biology.

21 Apr 2011

Early musical study may provide cognitive benefits as we age

Those childhood music lessons could pay off decades later - even for those who no longer play an instrument - by keeping the mind sharper as people age, according to a preliminary study published by the American Psychological Association.

21 Apr 2011