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.

Avastin (bevacizumab) shows promise in phase II study of glioblastoma multiforme

Genentech, Inc. has announced that both study arms of a randomized, multi-center Phase II clinical study of Avastin (bevacizumab) administered alone or in combination with irinotecan chemotherapy demonstrated encouraging six-month progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate in patients with relapsed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer.

19 Nov 2007

New insight into how cystatin C may lower the risk for Alzheimer's disease

For unknown reasons a protein called amyloid beta aggregates into toxic plaques in the brain, killing neurons.

19 Nov 2007

University of Illinois at Chicago receives $2.2 million grant to develop drugs to suppress cocaine cravings

The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy has received a $2.2 million federal grant to develop therapeutics to suppress the cravings of cocaine addicts.

19 Nov 2007

Block buster cancer drug Avastin gives hope to brain tumor victims

According to a new study the blockbuster cancer drug Avastin has shown promising results in treating brain cancer victims.

19 Nov 2007

New understanding of how brain processes memory

Scientists at The University of Arizona have added another piece of the puzzle of how the brain processes memory.

16 Nov 2007

Brain's left hemisphere picks up peripheral noise

Our brain is very good at picking up speech even in a noisy room, an adaptation essential for holding a conversation at a cocktail party, and now we are beginning to understand the neural interactions that underlie this ability.

16 Nov 2007

From successful aging to severe dementia

A recently published special issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease contains the contributions from experts in the field of aging, dementia and Alzheimer's disease, who attended the "Fourth Annual Meeting on Brain aging and Dementia - From successful aging to severe dementia”, Held in Perugia in October 2006 under the auspices of the Italian Psychogeriatric Association, a member of the International Psychogeriatric Association, the meeting celebrates the centenary of Alzheimer's first description of the disease.

16 Nov 2007

New computational theory of brain function

Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientist Marcel Just and Stanford postdoctoral fellow Sashank Varma have put forward a new computational theory of brain function that provides answers to one of the central questions of modern science:

16 Nov 2007

Brain compensatory mechanisms contribute to recovery from spinal cord injury

A research team led by Tadashi Isa, a professor at the Japanese National Institute for Physiological Sciences, NIPS (SEIRIKEN), and Dr. Yukio Nishimura (University of Washington, Seattle), have found that brain compensatory mechanisms contribute to recovery from spinal cord injury.

16 Nov 2007

Biomarkers for Alzheimer's can be trusted in clinical trials

The best-established biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease have a low natural variation over two years. The results speak for the inclusion of these biomarkers in clinical trials of novel drugs against Alzheimer’s disease.

16 Nov 2007

University of Delaware research to shed light on osteoporosis

Ten million people in the United States are estimated to already have bone diseases, and almost 34 million more are estimated to have low bone mass, putting them at increased risk for osteoporosis, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

16 Nov 2007

Drug to treat children with bipolar disorder gets priority review

An anti-psychotic drug already approved in the U.S. to treat adults and adolescents with schizophrenia may soon be available for youngsters age 10 to 17 years of age suffering from bipolar disorder.

15 Nov 2007

Gene splicing in humans and chimps explains differences

Researchers are closer to understanding why humans differ so greatly from chimpanzees in the way they look, behave, think, and fight off disease, despite having genes that are nearly 99% identical.

15 Nov 2007

Scientists zero in on the cellular machinery that enables neurons to fire

Toy robots with removable body parts - you probably had fun swapping their heads, imagining how it would affect their behavior. Scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health have been performing similar experiments on ion channels - pores in our nerve cells - to sort out the channels' key functional parts.

15 Nov 2007

Largest study to investigate risk factors of autism to begin enrolling families

Researchers from Kaiser Permanente and the California Department of Public Health, as well as from five other sites nationwide, will begin enrolling families in the largest study to date investigating the genetic and environmental factors that may cause autism and other developmental disabilities.

15 Nov 2007

Hormone orexin links sleep, hunger and metabolism

While investigating how the hormone orexin might control sleep and hunger, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered, to their surprise, that it activates a protein, HIF-1, long known to stimulate cancerous tumor growth.

15 Nov 2007

Lonesome people may have lower levels of specific brain hormone

The anxiety and aggression that result from social isolation have been traced to altered levels of an enzyme that controls production of a brain hormone.

15 Nov 2007

New drug may restore memory with Alzheimer's disease

A 2006 study by MetLife found that adults over age 55 fear Alzheimer's disease more than cancer, and with good reason. Alzheimer's creeps up on patients and their families, robbing more than half of all Americans over age 85 of their memory and ability to care for themselves.

14 Nov 2007

Higher risk of infant death among late preterm infants

Babies born just a few weeks premature are six times more likely to die during their first week of life, than full-term babies, according to an analysis published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

14 Nov 2007

Neurofibromatosis 1 gene drives pivotal decision in early brain development

A gene linked to pediatric brain tumors is an essential driver of early brain development, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.

14 Nov 2007