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.

Researchers pinpoint brain region responsible for pain's ability to affect cognitive processing

Anybody who's tried to concentrate on work while suffering a headache knows that pain compellingly commands attention,which is how evolution helped ensure survival in a painful world.

9 Jul 2007

Hospital operators may fail to steer people with stroke symptoms to call 9-1-1

Nearly a quarter of hospital or ,healthline, operators mistakenly routed a caller describing classic stroke symptoms to primary care doctors rather than to 9-1-1, according to a research project published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

9 Jul 2007

Orlistat weight loss drug points to new cancer treatments

Based on their surprising discovery that an obesity drug can kill cancer cells, scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have made a new finding about the drug's effects and are working to design more potent cancer treatments.

9 Jul 2007

Scientists discover protein instrumental to brain development and repair

Scientists at Children's National Medical Center have demonstrated conclusively that a specific protein and its signaling activity are instrumental in myelination and remyelination, processes essential to the creation and repair of the brain's white matter.

9 Jul 2007

Chemical in brain acts like a fuel gauge

The concept that a drop in blood sugar triggers a craving for food is best understood just before lunchtime. But exactly how the process unfolds has proven difficult to explain, even on a full stomach.

9 Jul 2007

Chronic fatigue: clues in the blood

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) believe that blood may hold vital insights into what is happening in the brain of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

8 Jul 2007

Repeated sleep loss affects ability to compensate for lost sleep

We've all experienced that occasional all-too-short night of sleep -- staying out too late at a party on a weeknight, studying into the wee hours for a morning exam or being kept up during the night with a sick child.

4 Jul 2007

Bioethics training helps fight African brain drain

When African professionals migrate to the United States or Europe, it's often called brain drain.

4 Jul 2007

IgG, an immune system antibody significantly higher in spinal fluid of blacks with MS

An antibody frequently used as a diagnostic marker for multiple sclerosis (MS) is present at greater levels in the cerebrospinal fluid of blacks with MS than Caucasians with the disease.

4 Jul 2007

Study shows inaccuracies in cardiac PET-CT imaging

Current PET-CT scanners with standard commercial software designed to provide images of the heart are falsely indicating coronary artery disease in as many as 40 percent of patients, according to a study published today on the cover page of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

4 Jul 2007

Scientists measure distraction

A scientific indicator of how easily distracted you are has been designed by a UCL (University College London) psychologist. It could be used as another assessment tool during the recruitment process and would have particular benefits in fields where employee distraction could lead to fatal errors.

4 Jul 2007

Hearing loss and von Hippel-Lindau disease

Patients with the genetic disorder von Hippel-Lindau disease may suddenly experience hearing loss because of a tumor-associated hemorrhage in the inner ear, according to a study in the July 4 issue of JAMA.

4 Jul 2007

Just one smoke can lead to nicotine addiction

A new study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine shows that 10 percent of youth who become hooked on cigarettes are addicted within two days of first inhaling from a cigarette, and 25 percent are addicted within a month.

4 Jul 2007

Fibrinogen protein may inhibit spinal cord regeneration

Fibrinogen, a blood-clotting protein found in circulating blood, has been found to inhibit the growth of central nervous system neuronal cells, a process that is necessary for the regeneration of the spinal cord after traumatic injury.

4 Jul 2007

Genetic mutation that may alter response to cancer therapeutics found

Researchers from Eli Lilly & Company and the Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) today announced finding a novel recurring mutation of the gene AKT1 in breast, colorectal and ovarian cancers.

4 Jul 2007

Researchers step toward a Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease test

Researchers have shown that a recently developed laboratory method to amplify prions (Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification) can be applied to variant CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease).

4 Jul 2007

Catastrophic head injuries in football dramatically higher at high school level than college level

The incidence of catastrophic head injuries in football is dramatically higher at the high school level than at the college level, according to a study published in the July issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

4 Jul 2007

One in four Britons have mental health problems

The UK's first jargon-fee guide to mental health aimed at the general public is published this week.

4 Jul 2007

Drug gets rid of those nasty memories

A team of scientists say they have found a way to dampen down the impact of bad memories in people's brains.

4 Jul 2007

Exercise good for those brain cells

According to Swedish researchers exercise may stimulate the production of new brain cells in the area of the brain that is important to memory and learning.

2 Jul 2007