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Nighttime dying linked to sleep apnea from brain cell loss

Aim to grow old and die peacefully in your sleep? Be careful what you wish for. A new UCLA study suggests that some people die in their sleep because they stop breathing due to a cumulative loss of cells in the brain's breathing command-post. The online edition of Nature Neuroscience reports the findings.

7 Aug 2005

Researchers pinpoint specific cause of defects in motor learning in Fragile X patients

While researchers have long known the genetic defect underlying Fragile X syndrome, they are still tracing how that defect creates the complex mix of mental retardation, hyperactive behavior, attention deficits, and other problems in the disorder.

3 Aug 2005

First evidence that complex genetic interactions account for autism risk

Using a novel analysis of the interactions among related genes, Duke University Medical Center researchers have uncovered some of the first evidence that complex genetic interactions account for autism risk. The Duke team found that the brain mechanism that normally stops or slows nerve impulses contributes to the disease.

3 Aug 2005

Drugs with similar chemical attributes as Ecstasy might offer useful alternatives to current therapies for Parkinson's disease

Amphetamines, including the drug popularly known as Ecstasy, can reverse the symptoms of Parkinson's disease in mice with an acute form of the condition, according to new research at Duke University Medical Center.

2 Aug 2005

Brain may interpret the information it receives from sensory neurons using a code more complicated than scientists previously thought

...according to new research from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. By studying how monkeys perceive a vibrating object when it touches the skin, scientists found that changes in an animal's attention over time influence how a sensory signal is interpreted.

1 Aug 2005

Action of dopamine may be particularly important for understanding psychiatric conditions

Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered a new mechanism by which chronically high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine exert their effects on the brain.

28 Jul 2005

Nerve-insulating substance called myelin can lead to functional improvements in animals with spinal cord injury

Combining partially differentiated stem cells with gene therapy can promote the growth of new "insulation" around nerve fibers in the damaged spinal cords of rats, a new study shows.

26 Jul 2005

Neuroscientists identify how the brain processes and stores emotional experiences as long-term memories

The research, performed on rats, could help neuroscientists better understand why emotionally arousing events are remembered over longer periods than emotionally neutral events, and may ultimately find application in treatments for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

26 Jul 2005

U.S. scientists find 3 molecules that could help fight Alzheimer's

A team of scientists at the Neuroscience Research Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, say they have identified three molecules that appear to stop a key culprit behind Alzheimer's disease.

25 Jul 2005

Hearing protein TRPA1 also involved with pain perception

The same protein that “translates” sound into nerve signals to the brain and enables individuals to hear is also required for pain perception, researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have found.

21 Jul 2005

Cocaine induces abnormal enhancement of neuronal connections

Researchers working with rats have zeroed in on the brain circuitry mechanism whose disruption contributes to the impulsive behavior seen in users of cocaine as well as other psychostimulant drugs. The same circuitry has been implicated in such disorders as schizophrenia, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, wrote the researchers.

21 Jul 2005

Definitive proof that Ab42 is the culprit molecule that underlies the pathology of Alzheimer's disease

One puzzle in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research is why mice engineered to have the abnormal protein underlying the disease in humans show little pathology of the disease. Specifically, such mice are genetically altered to overproduce mutant human amyloid precursor protein (APP).

21 Jul 2005

New research suggests that accumulation of amyloid-beta peptides in cerebral blood vessels causes vascular damage in Alzheimer's disease

New research suggests that accumulation of amyloid-â peptides in cerebral blood vessels, as opposed to the brain itself, may be a more important pathological mediator of Alzheimer's disease. Two independent yet related articles describe such findings in the August issue of The American Journal of Pathology.

21 Jul 2005

Hormonal signaling systems and their role in sex drive

Two University of Edinburgh professors from the Centre for Integrative Physiology describe how "our understanding of how the brain processes information is undergoing a radical shift as we begin to recognize the implications of hormonal signaling systems within the brain itself," explained Gareth Leng.

19 Jul 2005

Researchers have identified a protein that is crucially involved in how our memories are stored and processed

University of Queensland researchers have identified a protein that is crucially involved in how our memories are stored and processed, paving the way for new strategies to treat conditions certain mental disorders.

18 Jul 2005

Nerve cells can also release neurotransmitters outside of synapses

Every neurobiology textbook invariably states that nerve cells communicate with each other through synapses, the specialized cell-cell contacts found at the end of the cells' threadlike extensions. In the journal Science, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences and the University of California at San Diego report that nerve cells, or neurons, may not have to rely on traditionally defined synapses to "talk" to each other.

18 Jul 2005

Novel way in which the brain size of developing mammals may be regulated

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have discovered a novel way in which the brain size of developing mammals may be regulated. They have identified a signaling pathway that controls the orientation in which dividing neural progenitor cells are cleaved during development.

14 Jul 2005

Important role of early experience in shaping neuronal development

Scientists at New York University School of Medicine reveal the important role of early experience in shaping neuronal development and brain plasticity in a new study published in the July 14 issue of the journal Nature.

14 Jul 2005

Single mutation in a human sodium channel gene can trigger pain in people with primary erythromelalgia

Yale School of Medicine researchers report the first demonstration that a single mutation in a human sodium channel gene can trigger pain in people with an inherited pain syndrome known as primary erythromelalgia, according to a study published this month in the journal Brain.

13 Jul 2005

Scientists reveal the important role of early experience in shaping neuronal development

13 Jul 2005

Neuron News and Research

Nighttime dying linked to sleep apnea from brain cell loss

Researchers pinpoint specific cause of defects in motor learning in Fragile X patients

First evidence that complex genetic interactions account for autism risk

Drugs with similar chemical attributes as Ecstasy might offer useful alternatives to current therapies for Parkinson's disease

Brain may interpret the information it receives from sensory neurons using a code more complicated than scientists previously thought

Action of dopamine may be particularly important for understanding psychiatric conditions

Nerve-insulating substance called myelin can lead to functional improvements in animals with spinal cord injury

Neuroscientists identify how the brain processes and stores emotional experiences as long-term memories

U.S. scientists find 3 molecules that could help fight Alzheimer's

Hearing protein TRPA1 also involved with pain perception

Cocaine induces abnormal enhancement of neuronal connections

Definitive proof that Ab42 is the culprit molecule that underlies the pathology of Alzheimer's disease

New research suggests that accumulation of amyloid-beta peptides in cerebral blood vessels causes vascular damage in Alzheimer's disease

Hormonal signaling systems and their role in sex drive

Researchers have identified a protein that is crucially involved in how our memories are stored and processed

Nerve cells can also release neurotransmitters outside of synapses

Novel way in which the brain size of developing mammals may be regulated

Important role of early experience in shaping neuronal development

Single mutation in a human sodium channel gene can trigger pain in people with primary erythromelalgia

Scientists reveal the important role of early experience in shaping neuronal development

Neuroscience - Second Edition eBook

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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