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Study examines brain and behavior relationships in response to morally laden scenarios

People's moral responses to similar situations change as they age, according to a new study at the University of Chicago that combined brain scanning, eye-tracking and behavioral measures to understand how the brain responds to morally laden scenarios.

30 May 2011

Patients with body dysmorphic disorder have less brain activity in visual processing

People suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD - a severe mental illness characterized by debilitating misperceptions that one appears disfigured and ugly - process visual information abnormally, even when looking at inanimate objects, according to a new UCLA study.

27 May 2011

Study: Stress may trigger Alzheimer's disease

Stress promotes neuropathological changes that are also seen in Alzheimer's disease. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich have discovered that the increased release of stress hormones in rats leads to generation of abnormally phosphorylated tau protein in the brain and ultimately, memory loss.

27 May 2011

New insight into how genes and proteins go awry in autism to alter the mind

For decades, autism researchers have faced a baffling riddle: how to unravel a disorder that leaves no known physical trace as it develops in the brain.

26 May 2011

Precision ophthalmic tint lenses reduce migraine, study shows

Precision tinted lenses have been used widely to reduce visual perceptual distortions in poor readers, and are increasingly used for migraine sufferers, but until now the science behind these effects has been unclear.

26 May 2011

Taking prenatal vitamins early during pregnancy can reduce risk of having children with autism

Women who reported not taking a daily prenatal vitamin immediately before and during the first month of pregnancy were nearly twice as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder as women who did take the supplements - and the associated risk rose to seven times as great when combined with a high-risk genetic make-up, a study by researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute has found.

26 May 2011

New data on why aging brain is less resilient and less capable of learning from life experiences

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have published new data on why the aging brain is less resilient and less capable of learning from life experiences. The findings provide further insight into the cognitive decline associated with aging and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. The study is published in the May 25 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

25 May 2011

Electrical disturbances in injured brain lead to poor recovery

Electrical disturbances that spread through an injured brain like tsunamis have a direct link to poor recovery and can last far longer than previously realized, researchers at the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute have found.

20 May 2011

Scientists discover single neuron that enables adaptive regulation of sparseness in olfactory codes

The brain is a coding machine: it translates physical inputs from the world into visual, olfactory, auditory, tactile perceptions via the mysterious language of its nerve cells and the networks which they form. Neural codes could in principle take many forms, but in regions forming bottlenecks for information flow or in areas important for memory, sparse codes are highly desirable.

16 May 2011

Two new research studies on schizophrenia

Two new research studies published in Biological Psychiatry point to progressive abnormalities in brain development that emerge as vulnerable individuals develop schizophrenia.

12 May 2011

Research provides insight into brain reorganization following sensory loss

The part of the brain that uses hearing to determine sound location is reorganized in deaf animals to locate visual targets, according to a new study by a team of researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Western Ontario in Canada.

11 May 2011

New technique can reveal fat distribution in healthy human brain

Mapping the fat distribution of the healthy human brain is a key step in understanding neurological diseases, in general, and the neurodegeneration that accompanies Alzheimer's disease in particular. Antonio Veloso and colleagues, from the University of the Basque Country in Leioa, Spain, find a new technique to reveal the fat distribution of three different areas of the healthy human brain.

5 May 2011

New insights into structure and function of brain

For more than 50 years, a dominating assumption in brain research was that nerve cells in the cortex of the brain are organised in the form of microscopically small columns. Subsequently, it became a textbook standard that connections are created predominantly between nerve cells within these columns.

2 May 2011

Penn State launches unique oral hygiene approach for dementia patients

Nurses who care for patients with dementia now have a tailored approach to dental hygiene for their charges, thanks to a pilot study by a team of nurses.

2 May 2011

New study sheds light on how sleep-deprived lifestyles might impair brain function

A new study in rats is shedding light on how sleep-deprived lifestyles might impair functioning without people realizing it.

28 Apr 2011

USPTO grants Cortex patent for CX1739 AMPAKINE molecule

Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Notice of Allowance for a patent that protects its lead AMPAKINE® molecule, CX1739.

26 Apr 2011

New findings can lead to better understanding of neurological development, cancer metastasis

By shedding new light on how cells migrate in the developing brain, researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center also may have found a new mechanism by which other types of cells, including cancer cells, travel within the body.

25 Apr 2011

Mindfulness meditation may enhance mental abilities

The positive effects of mindfulness meditation on pain and working memory may result from an improved ability to regulate a crucial brain wave called the alpha rhythm.

22 Apr 2011

Swinburne University of Technology acquires Elekta's Neuromag TRIUX MEG system

Certain brain processes happen in the blink of an eye – and even faster – which has made pinpointing these events virtually impossible. The advent of magnetoencephalography (MEG) changed all that, enabling researchers to capture brain electrical activity measured in milliseconds, and offering the potential to reveal the nature of innumerable brain disorders and diseases.

From Elekta 20 Apr 2011

Combination therapy restores skilled use of limb in rodent model

After the acute treatment window closes, the only effective treatment for stroke is physical/occupational therapy. Now scientists from Children's Hospital Boston report a two-pronged molecular therapy that leads to significant recovery of skilled motor function in a rat model of stroke.

20 Apr 2011