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.

Human brain observed to shut down 'self'

Everybody has experienced a sense of "losing oneself" in an activity--whether a movie, sport, sex, or meditation. Now, researchers have caught the brain in the act of losing "self" as it shuts down introspection during a demanding sensory task. New findings show that self-related function actually shuts down during such intense sensory tasks.

28 Apr 2006

New theory on how the brain detects motion

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered a neural circuit that is likely to play an important role in the visual perception of moving objects. Their finding, published in the April issue of the journal Neuron, forces neurobiologists to rethink the neural pathways that our brain relies on to detect motion.

28 Apr 2006

Tumour specific drugs may render therapies based on a tumor's anatomical location obsolete

The results of a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis could eventually have oncologists removing their specialties from their shingles by making therapy based on a tumor's anatomical location obsolete.

28 Apr 2006

Amyloid protein content in the brain linked to Alzheimer's disease risk

Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected to the University of Antwerp are the first to show that the quantity of amyloid protein in brain cells is a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Amyloid protein has already been known to be the primary component of the senile plaques in the brains of patients. The new discovery demonstrates that the greater the quantity of the protein that is produced, the younger the dementia patient is.

28 Apr 2006

Economic benefit of federally finded clinical trials exceeds $15 billion

A comprehensive review of all phase III clinical trials supported by one Federal agency finds that, estimated conservatively, the economic benefit in the United States from just eight of these trials exceeded $15 billion over the course of 10 years. The study also found that new discoveries from the trials were responsible for an estimated additional 470,000 healthy years of life. The clinical trials were sponsored by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

28 Apr 2006

Economic benefit of federally finded clinical trials exceeds $15 billion

28 Apr 2006

Researchers figure out how nuclear pores duplicate before cells divide

Researchers have long wondered how nuclear pores - the all-important channels that control the flow of information in and out of a cell's nucleus - double in number to prepare for the split to come when a cell divides. Now, for the first time, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies watched as new funnel-like pore structures formed from scratch, and inserted themselves into the nuclear membrane.

28 Apr 2006

Osteoporosis could be caused by factors other than declining estrogen levels

New evidence in the April 21, 2006 Cell challenges the long-standing notion that declining estrogen levels alone lead to osteoporosis after women go through menopause. The researchers rather found that high levels of pituitary-derived follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) cause bone loss in mice. The pituitary is a master gland found at the base of the brain.

26 Apr 2006

Friends and family can protect against Alzheimer's disease

Having close friends and staying in contact with family members offers a protective effect against the damaging effects of Alzheimer's disease according to research by physicians at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The study, which is currently posted online in The Lancet Neurology, will be published in the May print edition of the journal.

26 Apr 2006

Researchers identify characteristics that may lead to alcoholism

Those who are male and have behavioral disinhibition have the highest risk of developing alcoholism. Also, individuals with a family history of alcoholism (FH+) have a greater risk of developing alcoholism themselves than do persons with no family history, while FH+ individuals who are male and have behavioral disinhibition may have the greatest risk of developing alcoholism. Researchers caution that these combined characteristics indicate a greater probability, not certainty, of developing alcoholism.

26 Apr 2006

Human brain simultaneously communicates in both analog and digital modes

A new study shows that brain cells use a mix of analog and digital coding at the same time to communicate efficiently.

26 Apr 2006

Prefrontal cortex in the brain damaged by both alcoholism and chronic smoking

Alcoholism is commonly associated with chronic smoking, and both alcohol and nicotine are believed to act on the same brain region. Research builds upon previous research that identified four potential alcohol-sensitive genes in the prefrontal cortex, finding that smoking also influences the expression of these genes.

26 Apr 2006

Expert says fetuses cannot feel pain and fetal pain relief is not required during abortions

Proposals to tell women seeking abortions that their unborn child will feel pain, or to provide pain relief during abortions, are scientifically unsound and may put women at unnecessary risk, argues Stuart Derbyshire, a senior psychologist at the University of Birmingham.

26 Apr 2006

Transplanted human tissue linked to seven cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the UK

Seven cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) associated with transplanted human tissue have occurred in the UK over a period of 33 years, reveals a study published ahead of print in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

25 Apr 2006

Prenatal exposure to alcohol can change child's circadian rhythms

Altered sleeping and eating patterns, behavioral problems, attention deficits and depression in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders may indicate that their biological rhythms, which are controlled by circadian systems, have been affected by alcohol exposure during development.

25 Apr 2006

Study shows drugs work differently in the brains of men and women

A Johns Hopkins discovery could lead to tailored treatments for drug abuse and neurological diseases after providing what is believed to be the first evidence in people that amphetamines have a greater effect on men's brains than women's.

24 Apr 2006

Yale researchers show how smell works within the brain

Yale scientists have systematically plotted the responses of the entire Drosophila (fruit fly) olfactory system, providing the first multi-dimensional map of the range of odorants sensed and the regions of the brain that are stimulated.

23 Apr 2006

Research sheds light on eating disorders, compulsive gambling and drug abuse

Researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS) report in the April 23 issue of Nature that they have identified neurons that encode the values that subjects assign to different items. The activity of these neurons might facilitate the process of decision-making that occurs when someone chooses between different goods.

23 Apr 2006

Protein discovery opens up new therapeutic possibilities for epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases

UC Irvine researchers have found that a protein best known for building connections between nerve cells and muscle also plays a role in controlling brain cell activity.

23 Apr 2006

Link between expectancy, visual cues and the desire to smoke

In a study recently published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) and the Department of Psychology at McGill University found that when people expect to smoke in the near future, external cues such as watching someone smoke affects their brain more than their level of craving or how long they have gone without a cigarette.

23 Apr 2006