Cortex News and Research

RSS

ESPINA software tool allows to study brain structure in greater depth

Researchers at the UPM and CSIC, within the Cajal Blue Brain project, develop ESPINA, a new freeware software tool that allows to study the brain structure in greater depth.

10 Nov 2011

Aristolochic acid leads to kidney failure, upper urinary tract cancer

Aristolochic acid, a component of a plant used in herbal remedies since ancient times and still used in certain herbal medicines worldwide, leads to kidney failure and upper urinary tract cancer in individuals exposed to the toxin.

10 Nov 2011

Simple portable test can diagnose 'vegetative' patients with consciousness

The Coma Science Group, led by Dr Steven Laureys, has developed, along with its partners in London, Ontario, (Canada) and Cambridge (England), a portable test which will permit a simpler and less expensive diagnosis of 'vegetative' patients who still have consciousness, despite the fact that they do not have the means to express it.

9 Nov 2011

Ground-breaking study into causes of high blood pressure

A researcher from the University of Leicester's Department of Cardiovascular Sciences has been involved in a ground-breaking study into the causes of high blood pressure.

9 Nov 2011

Study: Children with autism have more prefrontal brain neurons

In a small, preliminary study that included 13 male children, those with autism had an average 67 percent more prefrontal brain neurons and larger than average brain weight, than children without autism, according to a study in the Nov. 9 issue of JAMA.

9 Nov 2011

Prenatal processes gone awry linked to children with autism

A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego Autism Center of Excellence shows that brain overgrowth in boys with autism involves an abnormal, excess number of neurons in areas of the brain associated with social, communication and cognitive development.

9 Nov 2011

Prefrontal cortex neurons from individuals with autism show changes in chromatin structures

Neurons in the prefrontal cortex of individuals with autism show changes at numerous sites across the genome, according to a study being published Online First by the Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

8 Nov 2011

Nanocomposite brain probe induces less scarring after implantation

A hard probe inserted in the cerebral cortex of a rat model turns nearly as pliable as the surrounding gray matter in minutes, and induces less of the tough scarring that walls off hard probes that do not change, researchers at Case Western Reserve University have found.

4 Nov 2011

Brain and cooperation

When Nancy Grace and her partner danced a lively rumba to Spandau Ballet's 1980's hit, "True," on a recent "Dancing with the Stars," more was going on in the legal commentator's brain than worry over a possible wardrobe malfunction. Deep in Grace's cortex, millions of neurons were hard at work doing what they apparently had been built to do: act and react to partner Tristan MacManus's movements to create a pas de deux that had the dancers functioning together (for the most part) like a well-oiled machine.

4 Nov 2011

Impulsive men have lower levels of GABA in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Impulsive individuals tend to display aggressive behavior and have challenges ranging from drug and alcohol abuse, to problem gambling and difficult relationships. They are less able to adapt to different social situations. Impulsivity is also a common feature of psychiatric disorders.

4 Nov 2011

Nmnat1 protein may help prevent brain damage in babies with cerebral palsy

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that a protein may help prevent the kind of brain damage that occurs in babies with cerebral palsy.

3 Nov 2011

Hippocampus supports both recollection and familiarity memories

Human memory has historically defied precise scientific description, its biological functions broadly but imperfectly defined in psychological terms. In a pair of papers published in the November 2 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of California, San Diego report a new methodology that more deeply parses how and where certain types of memories are processed in the brain, and challenges earlier assumptions about the role of the hippocampus.

2 Nov 2011

Targeted brain stimulation increases cigarette cravings

Targeted brain stimulation increases cigarette cravings, a new study in Biological Psychiatry has found, which may ultimately lead to new treatments that reverse these effects. Cues associated with cigarette smoking, such as watching someone else smoke, elicit craving and may provoke relapse when smokers are attempting to quit.

1 Nov 2011

Scientists pinpoint brain circuitry linked to decision-making

What drives addicts to repeatedly choose drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, overeating, gambling or kleptomania, despite the risks involved? Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have pinpointed the exact locations in the brain where calculations are made that can result in addictive and compulsive behavior.

31 Oct 2011

Study: Many fetal expression changes are reversed immediately after birth

The "switching on" or expression of specific genes in the human genome is what makes each human tissue and each human being unique. A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, and the National Institute of Mental Health found that many gene expression changes that occur during fetal development are reversed immediately after birth.

29 Oct 2011

A glimpse into non-waking consciousness of lucid dreamers

When people dream that they are performing a particular action, a portion of the brain involved in the planning and execution of movement lights up with activity. The finding, made by scanning the brains of lucid dreamers while they slept, offers a glimpse into the non-waking consciousness and is a first step toward true "dream reading,".

28 Oct 2011

Critical migrating neurons in the human brain decline during infancy

José Manuel García Verdugo, full professor of Cell Biology at University of Valencia, together with a University of California research team, has participated in the discovery of new pathways of neurons migrating from lateral ventricles to the prefrontal cortex. The work done in chidren at early ages reveals a new cell pathway which may increase the amount of neurons in regions important for cognitive tasks, emotional processes and spatial perception.

22 Oct 2011

New neuroconomics study reveals how you make decisions

New research reveals how we make decisions. Birds choosing between berry bushes and investors trading stocks are faced with the same fundamental challenge - making optimal choices in an environment featuring varying costs and benefits.

22 Oct 2011

RetroSense, WSU sign license agreement for channelrhodopsin-based approaches

RetroSense Therapeutics, LLC, a Michigan-based company, announced that it has executed its exclusive, worldwide option and signed a license agreement for novel gene-therapy approaches for treating blindness developed at Wayne State University's School of Medicine.

19 Oct 2011

Micro-electrical stimulators for spinal cord injuries

A new wireless device to help victims of spinal cord injury is receiving attention in the research community. Mesut Sahin, PhD, associate professor, in the department of biomedical engineering at NJIT, recently has published and presented news of his findings to develop micro-electrical stimulators for individuals with spinal cord injuries.

18 Oct 2011