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.

Lantheus Medical Imaging announces the launch of ABLAVAR

Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc., a worldwide leader in diagnostic imaging, today announced the launch of ABLAVAR™ (gadofosveset trisodium), a unique, injectable MRA imaging agent used to evaluate aortoiliac occlusive disease (AIOD) in adults with known or suspected peripheral vascular disease (PVD).

20 Jan 2010

BrainTrust Canada and CSPS partner to distribute Concussion Cards to all CSPS ski patrollers

During this week - National Learn to Ski & Snowboard Week - BrainTrust Canada and the Canadian Ski Patrol System (CSPS) have launched a partnership which includes the distribution of Concussion Cards as a prevention and management tool to all 5,000 CSPS ski patrollers across the country.

20 Jan 2010

Novel approach could speed up discovery for new psychiatric drugs

Researchers from the University of British Columbia and Harvard University have co-developed a system that captures on video and barcodes the behavioral responses of zebrafish to chemical compounds on a large scale. The approach could dramatically speed up the discovery of new psychiatric drugs.

20 Jan 2010

Motor deficits can still persist in TBI victims long after the recovery

Even after regaining normal walking speed, traumatic brain injury (TBI) victims have not necessarily recovered all their locomotor functions, according to a study supervised by Universit- Laval's Bradford McFadyen and recently published in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

20 Jan 2010

Taking opioids long term could hold small risk of addition

Coping with chronic non-cancer pain is a way of life for millions of Americans. Unfortunately, many older adults, in particular, hesitate to take opioids — a kind of narcotic — for fear of addiction. However, a new review finds that taking opioids long term is associated with clinically significant pain relief in some patients with a very small risk of addition.

20 Jan 2010

Gene study could result in personalized therapies for patients with deadly brain cancer

New findings by researchers at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center suggest that the most common form of malignant brain cancer in adults, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is probably not a single disease but a set of diseases, each with a distinct underlying molecular disease process.

20 Jan 2010

TCGA study reveals four distinct molecular subtypes of GBM

The most common form of malignant brain cancer in adults, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is not a single disease but appears to be four distinct molecular subtypes, according to a study by the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network. The researchers of this study also found that response to aggressive chemotherapy and radiation differed by subtype.

20 Jan 2010

New method for diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder

Researchers at the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis VA Medical Center have identified a biological marker in the brains of those exhibiting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

20 Jan 2010

Pouchlike structure inside the heart can raise stroke risk

UC Irvine cardiologists have found a pouchlike structure inside the heart's left atrial chamber that may be a potent source of stroke-causing blood clots.

20 Jan 2010

UB researchers show controlled individualized exercise training program relieves PCS

University at Buffalo researchers are the first to show that a controlled individualized exercise training program can bring athletes and others suffering with post-concussion syndrome (PCS) back to the playing field or to their daily activities.

20 Jan 2010

Study shows lack of protease-activated receptors may cause neural tube defects

New research, published by Cell Press in the January 19th issue of the journal Developmental Cell, provides intriguing insight into how the nervous system forms during very early embryonic development.

20 Jan 2010

HSF1A stimulates more protein chaperones and reduces protein misfolding

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have found some compounds that improve a cell's ability to properly "fold" proteins and could lead to promising drugs for degenerative nerve diseases, including Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

20 Jan 2010

Researchers show how gliomas can evade drugs aimed at blocking EGFR

Researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores UCSD Cancer Center have shown one way in which gliomas, a deadly type of brain tumor, can evade drugs aimed at blocking a key cell signaling protein, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR),that is crucial for tumor growth.

20 Jan 2010

World Vision warns children are vulnerable to various forms of exploitation following Haiti’s quake

As the response to Haiti's devastating earthquake enters its second week, Christian humanitarian agency, World Vision warns that children could endure lasting damage from the unique dangers that particularly target them.

20 Jan 2010

GEH, Exelon Generation agree to a landmark deal to deploy GEH’s isotope generation technology

Seeking to address a growing demand for the domestic and global supply of cobalt-60, a radioisotope used for treating cancer and other biomedical applications, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Exelon Generation Company have agreed to a landmark deal to deploy GEH’s isotope generation technology.

20 Jan 2010

Finding supports modularity of mind theory

Recognizing faces is an important social skill, but not all of us are equally good at it. Some people are unable to recognize even their closest friends (a condition called prosopagnosia), while others have a near-photographic memory for large numbers of faces.

20 Jan 2010