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CSHL researchers describe new pathway that controls fear memories in the mouse brain

Some people have no fear, like that 17-year-old kid who drives like a maniac. But for the nearly 40 million adults who suffer from anxiety disorders, an overabundance of fear rules their lives. Debilitating anxiety prevents them from participating in life's most mundane moments, from driving a car to riding in an elevator.

20 Jan 2015

PTEN protein helps prevent autoimmune diseases

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have discovered that a protein widely known for suppressing tumor formation also helps prevent autoimmune diseases and other problems by putting the brakes on the immune response.

15 Jan 2015

New study reveals how COX-2 inhibitors can increase risk of heart attack in arthritis patients

A class of drug for treating arthritis - all but shelved over fears about side effects - may be given a new lease of life, following the discovery of a possible way to identify which patients should avoid using it.

11 Dec 2014

Discovery opens up new routes to strengthen anti-smoking efforts to control TB

TB is an infectious disease that kills 1.5 million people each year, and smoking is the biggest driver of the global TB epidemic. Medical scientists at Trinity College Dublin and St James's Hospital in Ireland have unlocked the mechanism underlying the connection between smoking and Tuberculosis (TB).

17 Nov 2014

Scratching itchy skin causes the brain to release serotonin, intensifies itchy feeling

Turns out your mom was right: Scratching an itch only makes it worse. New research from scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that scratching causes the brain to release serotonin, which intensifies the itch sensation.

31 Oct 2014

Research findings could help find ways to enhance overall learning, memory

The more curious we are about a topic, the easier it is to learn information about that topic. New research publishing online October 2 in the Cell Press journal Neuron provides insights into what happens in our brains when curiosity is piqued.

3 Oct 2014

Researchers identify control mechanism for mood disorders

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a control mechanism for an area of the brain that processes sensory and emotive information that humans experience as "disappointment."

19 Sep 2014

New study sheds light on relationship between schizophrenia and smoking stems

Schizophrenia is associated with increased rates and intensity of tobacco smoking. A growing body of research suggests that the relationship between schizophrenia and smoking stems, in part, from an effort by patients to use nicotine to self-medicate symptoms and cognitive impairment associated with the disease.

17 Sep 2014

Study ties eating in response to food cues to habit-forming region in obese adults

People who are obese may be more susceptible to environmental food cues than their lean counterparts due to differences in brain chemistry that make eating more habitual and less rewarding, according to a National Institutes of Health study published in Molecular Psychiatry.

9 Sep 2014

New evidence puts into doubt the long-held depression belief

New evidence puts into doubt the long-standing belief that a deficiency in serotonin - a chemical messenger in the brain - plays a central role in depression. In the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience, scientists report that mice lacking the ability to make serotonin in their brains (and thus should have been "depressed" by conventional wisdom) did not show depression-like symptoms.

28 Aug 2014

Study explores how changes in dopamine transporter function linked to brain disorders

Recent published research in the Journal of Clinical Investigation demonstrates how changes in dopamine signaling and dopamine transporter function are linked to neurological and psychiatric diseases, including early-onset Parkinsonism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

23 Jul 2014

Researchers uncover several gene networks with potentially important roles in autism

A large new analysis of DNA from thousands of patients has uncovered several underlying gene networks with potentially important roles in autism.

9 Jun 2014

Gene networks may offer attractive targets for developing new autism drugs

A large new analysis of DNA from thousands of patients has uncovered several underlying gene networks with potentially important roles in autism.

6 Jun 2014

Brain circuit problem may contribute to auditory hallucinations of schizophrenia

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified problems in a connection between brain structures that may predispose individuals to hearing the "voices" that are a common symptom of schizophrenia. The work appears in the June 6 issue of the journal Science.

6 Jun 2014

Scientists use a flash of light to erase and restore memory

Using a flash of light, scientists have inactivated and then reactivated a memory in genetically engineered rats. The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, is the first cause-and-effect evidence that strengthened connections between neurons are the stuff of memory.

2 Jun 2014

Mice with 'mohawk hairstyles' reveal clues to development of autism

"Aha" moments are rare in medical research, scientists say. As rare, they add, as finding mice with Mohawk-like hairstyles.

26 May 2014

Antidepressant stops growth of plaques in mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

A commonly prescribed antidepressant can reduce production of the main ingredient in Alzheimer's brain plaques, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Pennsylvania.

15 May 2014

Northwestern University awarded NIH grant to conduct phase III Parkinson's neuroprotective study

Tanya Simuni, M.D., medical director of Northwestern University's Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center, was awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct a $16 million phase III study of the safety and efficacy of the drug isradipine as a potential neuroprotective agent in Parkinson's disease.

2 Apr 2014

Georgia Regents Medical Center explores new treatment for Parkinson's disease-related constipation

Georgia Regents Medical Center is among about a dozen centers nationally exploring the potential of a new drug that may offer relief to people with Parkinson's who have failed standard approaches to treating constipation.

5 Mar 2014

New research points to potential target for treating triple negative breast cancer

New research from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and Georgia Regents University finds that a protein that fuels an inflammatory pathway does not turn off in breast cancer, resulting in an increase in cancer stem cells. This provides a potential target for treating triple negative breast cancer, the most aggressive form of the disease.

17 Feb 2014