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Does culture influence the brain?

The infamous and ubiquitous middle finger salute forwell, you know. Such gestures that convey meaning without speech are used and recognized by nearly everyone in our society, but to someone from a foreign country, they may be incomprehensible.

18 Jul 2007

Research on proteases and pathological processes

A research group of the UAB Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine and the UAB Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, directed by Francesc Xavier Aviles, is the coordinator of a European project aimed at studying proteases with fluorescent molecules that allow their monitoring in healthy and pathological situations.

18 Jul 2007

Parkinson's and manganese air pollution link

A University of Toronto study is the first in North America to draw a link between Parkinson's and manganese air pollution, and suggests industry-generated pollutants poses a greater health risk than traffic-generated manganese.

17 Jul 2007

Discovery of molecular mechanism behind fear

Researchers from MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have uncovered a molecular mechanism that governs the formation of fears stemming from traumatic events.

16 Jul 2007

UAB receives grants to investigate novel approaches to treat Parkinson's disease

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) has awarded two research grants to UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) researchers to investigate novel approaches to treat Parkinson's disease.

13 Jul 2007

Bak protein's deadly double whammy

When a cell is seriously stressed, say by a heart attack, stroke or cancer, a protein called Bak just may set it up for suicide, researchers have found.

13 Jul 2007

Startling discovery on the development of human embryonic stem cells

In this week's Nature, researchers of the McMaster Cancer and Stem Cell Research Institute show that human embryonic stem (ES) cells can actually produce distinctive niche cells, which then release stem-cell nourishing proteins to help keep their parents ticking over.

12 Jul 2007

Neural stem cells for Parkinson's disease

A University of South Florida neuroscientist reports that the cutting-edge research study of human stem cells in primates with Parkinson's disease is compelling on several fronts , particularly how the transplanted cells did their job of easing disease symptoms.

11 Jul 2007

Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners starts U.S. phase II trial of CPP-109 in patients with cocaine dependence

Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. a specialty pharmaceutical company that acquires or in-licenses, develops and commercializes prescription drugs for the treatment of drug addiction, today announced that it has initiated its randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled U.S. Phase II clinical trial of CPP-109 in patients with cocaine dependence.

11 Jul 2007

Top brain experts say alcohol does not destroy brain cells

At an international neural stem cell conference in Australia, ninety of the world's top scientists in neural stem cell and brain development research, from 11 different countries were brought together last month by the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI).

11 Jul 2007

Cigarette smoking associated with reduced risk for developing Parkinson's disease

A pooled analysis of data from previous studies suggests that cigarette smoking appears to be associated with a reduced risk for developing Parkinson's disease, with long-term and current smokers at the lowest risk, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Neurology.

10 Jul 2007

Potential new treatment pathway for Parkinson's

In the vast majority of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, the disorder arises not because of a genetic defect, but because some external insult triggers the death of dopamine-producing neurons.

9 Jul 2007

Researchers discover brain pathway of depression in rats

Scientists' hunt for the cause of depression has implicated so many suspects and found so many treatments with different mechanisms that the condition remains an enigma.

9 Jul 2007

The brain predicts our perception of the outside world

The human brain anticipates our perception of the outside world. For example, it is capable of predicting if we are going to perceive tactile stimulation of weak intensity or, on the contrary, if a more intense stimulation will be perceived more or less painfully.

9 Jul 2007