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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.

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

Neuralstem signs MoU with BaYi Brain Hospital for ischemic stroke program in China

Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE Amex: CUR) announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BaYi Brain Hospital in Beijing, China.

21 Apr 2011

Number of stressful events experienced during pregnancy linked to child behaviour outcomes

Research from Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research has found a link between the number of stressful events experienced during pregnancy and increased risk of behavioural problems in children.

21 Apr 2011

New survey: Breastfeeding mothers show greater response to their infant's cry

A new study from The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry finds that mothers who feed their babies breast milk exclusively, as opposed to formula, are more likely to bond emotionally with their child during the first few months after delivery.

21 Apr 2011

Prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides linked to lower IQ in children

In a new study suggesting pesticides may be associated with the health and development of children, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health have found that prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides - widely used on food crops - is related to lower intelligence scores at age 7.

21 Apr 2011

Mindfulness meditation may help make decisions rationally rather than emotionally

If a friend or relative won $100 and then offered you a few dollars, would you accept this windfall? The logical answer would seem to be, sure, why not? "But human decision making does not always appear rational," said Read Montague, professor of physics at Virginia Tech and director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute.

21 Apr 2011

Brain trauma helped by nutrition

According to a report by the Institute of Medicine, military personnel who suffer traumatic brain injury need to be fed adequately and immediately to reduce the severity of trauma and improve their chance of survival. This finding has implications for people sustaining head injuries in other situations, such as sports and traffic accidents.

20 Apr 2011

Stealth Peptides launches mitochondrion targeting compound Bendavia at Experimental Biology 2011

Stealth Peptides Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing innovative mitochondrial therapies, introduced its lead clinical candidate, Bendavia™, a novel compound that targets the mitochondrion, during multiple scientific sessions of the Experimental Biology 2011 meeting.

20 Apr 2011

Blocking abnormal movement of mutated human FUS gene also blocks ALS process

In the first animal model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), developed by Dr. Udai Pandey, Assistant Professor of Genetics at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, Dr. Pandey's lab has found in fruit flies that blocking the abnormal movement of a protein made by a mutated gene called FUS also blocks the disease process.

20 Apr 2011

New biosensor microchip with 'nanosensors' could simultaneously monitor thousands of protein-binding events

Stanford researchers have developed a new biosensor microchip that could significantly speed up the process of drug development. The microchips, packed with highly sensitive "nanosensors," analyze how proteins bind to one another, a critical step for evaluating the effectiveness and possible side effects of a potential medication.

20 Apr 2011

Researchers discover new way to force cancer cells to self-destruct

Researchers at The Wistar Institute have found a new way to force cancer cells to self-destruct. Low doses of one anti-cancer drug currently in development, called Gamitrinib, sensitize tumor cells to a second drug, called TRAIL, also currently in clinical development as part of an anticancer regimen.

20 Apr 2011

Minimizing neurological side effects in high-grade glioma patients may improve survival

Minimizing neurological side effects in patients with high-grade glioma from chemoradiation may result in improved patient survival, a new study from radiation oncologists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson suggests. These findings were reported in the April issue of the British Journal of Cancer.

20 Apr 2011

Spanish tool measures infant pain rapidly and simply

It turns out to be difficult to find out exactly how much a child who cannot yet speak suffers after a surgical operation. Researchers at the University Hospital of La Paz, in Madrid, have validated the 'Llanto' scale, the first, and only, tool in Spanish which measures infant pain rapidly and simply.

20 Apr 2011

RCSI conducts study to examine psychiatric disorders in people with epilepsy

Researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, have conducted the first study of its kind to examine in detail, the basis of psychiatric disorders which occur in people with epilepsy.

20 Apr 2011

Swinburne University of Technology acquires Elekta's Neuromag TRIUX MEG system

Certain brain processes happen in the blink of an eye – and even faster – which has made pinpointing these events virtually impossible. The advent of magnetoencephalography (MEG) changed all that, enabling researchers to capture brain electrical activity measured in milliseconds, and offering the potential to reveal the nature of innumerable brain disorders and diseases.

From Elekta 20 Apr 2011

Scientists detect several biomarkers to screen active drugs for Batten disease

Goethe University and Harvard Medical School start screening for active ingredients for the treatment of Batten disease

20 Apr 2011

Hypothalamus plays a key role in obesity and type 2 diabetes

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20 Apr 2011

Rituxan receives FDA approval for treating two rare diseases

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Rituxan (rituximab), in combination with glucocorticoids (steroids), to treat patients with Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), two rare disorders that cause blood vessel inflammation (vasculitis).

20 Apr 2011

Combination therapy restores skilled use of limb in rodent model

After the acute treatment window closes, the only effective treatment for stroke is physical/occupational therapy. Now scientists from Children's Hospital Boston report a two-pronged molecular therapy that leads to significant recovery of skilled motor function in a rat model of stroke.

20 Apr 2011

Flexibility of the brain can predict learning capability

An international team of scientists has developed a way to predict how much a person can learn, based on studies at UC Santa Barbara's Brain Imaging Center.

20 Apr 2011