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Mice genetically deficient in serotonin are more vulnerable to social stressors

Mice genetically deficient in serotonin -- a crucial brain chemical implicated in clinical depression -- are more vulnerable than their normal littermates to social stressors, according to a Duke study appearing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

10 Feb 2015

Duke University researchers devise new method to activate genes with light

Duke University researchers have devised a method to activate genes in any specific location or pattern in a lab dish with the flip of a light switch by crossing a bacterium's viral defense system with a flower's response to sunlight.

9 Feb 2015

Lintec to commercialize carbon nanotubes developed at UTD

Lintec of America recently announced an exclusive license to commercialize novel fabrication methods for carbon nanotube (CNT) macrostructures, including sheets, yarns and ribbons, developed at the University of Texas at Dallas.

9 Feb 2015

Scientists show pattern of connectivity in newly-generated hippocampal neurons

Research by a team of scientists from Cologne, Munich and Mainz has shown an unprecedented degree of connectivity reorganization in newly-generated hippocampal neurons in response to experience, suggesting their direct contribution to the processing of complex information in the adult brain.

9 Feb 2015

Study provides further evidence of cerebellum's role in higher cognitive functions

Grasping an object involves a complex network of brain functions. First, visual cues are processed in specialized areas of the brain. Then, other areas of the brain use these signals to control the hands to reach for and manipulate the desired object.

9 Feb 2015

Meditation appears to help preserve the brain's gray matter

Since 1970, life expectancy around the world has risen dramatically, with people living more than 10 years longer. That's the good news.

6 Feb 2015

Newly found peptide may reduce desire for food

Researchers have identified a peptide and hormone that when administered to a specific area of the brain may reduce the desire for food. The study, which appears in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, may one day lead to medications that treat obesity and binge eating disorders.

5 Feb 2015

Retigabine drug could reduce debilitating impact of strokes

New research suggests that an already-approved drug could dramatically reduce the debilitating impact of strokes, which affect nearly a million Americans every year.

5 Feb 2015

Researchers report that neurons in the brain are connected like a social network

Neurons in the brain are wired like a social network, report researchers from Biozentrum, University of Basel. Each nerve cell has links with many others, but the strongest bonds form between the few cells most similar to each other.

5 Feb 2015

Alzheimer's brains commonly have many neurons with more DNA and genomic copies of APP gene

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found diverse genomic changes in single neurons from the brains of Alzheimer's patients, pointing to an unexpected factor that may underpin the most common form of the disease.

5 Feb 2015

Study could lead to potential drug treatment for fighting addiction

A research team led by the University of Colorado Boulder has discovered a mechanism in the brain that is key to making cocaine seem pleasurable, a finding that could lead to a drug treatment for fighting addiction.

5 Feb 2015

Resveratrol found in red grapes, peanuts may help prevent age-related decline in memory

A compound found in common foods such as red grapes and peanuts may help prevent age-related decline in memory, according to new research published by a faculty member in the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.

5 Feb 2015

Brain scans can predict therapeutic responses to talk therapy

UNC School of Medicine researchers have shown that brain scans can predict which patients with clinical depression are most likely to benefit from a specific kind of talk therapy.

4 Feb 2015

SuperAgers have distinctly different looking brains

SuperAgers, aged 80 and above, have distinctly different looking brains than those of normal older people, according to new Northwestern Medicine research that is beginning to reveal why the memories of these cognitively elite elders don't suffer the usual ravages of time.

4 Feb 2015

Study demonstrates therapeutic potential of new class of synthetic oligonucleotides for DMD treatment

Research efforts associating scientists from the CNRS, UVSQ and INSERM within the Laboratoire END-ICAP, working in collaboration with a team from the University of Bern, has demonstrated the therapeutic potential of a new class of synthetic oligonucleotides in the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) using RNA "surgery".

4 Feb 2015

Two genetic mutations can interact to reduce risk for heart attack

Researchers have determined that two mutations on a single gene can interact in a way that lowers the carrier's risk for a heart attack.

4 Feb 2015

MGH, MIT researchers reveal how the brain controls different sleep states

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have added another piece to the complex puzzle of how the brain controls one of the most essential functions - sleep.

4 Feb 2015

Research opens door to development of new therapies to block HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders

While antiretroviral therapies have significantly improved and extended the lives of many HIV patients, another insidious and little discussed threat looms for aging sufferers - HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). The disorders, which strike more often in HIV patients over age 50, can result in cognitive impairment, mild to severe, making everyday tasks a challenge.

3 Feb 2015

Researchers successfully monitor expression of genes in neurons

Gene expression within neurons is critical for the formation of memories, but it's difficult to identify genes whose expression is altered by learning. Now researchers have successfully monitored the expression of genes in neurons after rats were exposed to auditory fear conditioning, in which a neutral auditory tone is paired with electric shock.

3 Feb 2015

Vanderbilt researchers discover new reset button for the brain's master biological clock

The discovery of a new reset button for the brain's master biological clock could eventually lead to new treatments for conditions like seasonal affective disorder, reduce the adverse health effects of working the night shift and possibly even cure jet lag.

3 Feb 2015