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Johns Hopkins scientists identify autism gene linked to severity of social interaction deficits

With the help of two sets of brothers with autism, Johns Hopkins scientists have identified a gene associated with autism that appears to be linked very specifically to the severity of social interaction deficits.

7 Apr 2011

Molecular switch regulating protein behavior increases human susceptibility to schizophrenia, mood disorders

Johns Hopkins researchers report the discovery of a molecular switch that regulates the behavior of a protein that, when altered, is already known to increase human susceptibility to schizophrenia and mood disorders.

7 Apr 2011

Study explores physical effect of freeway pollution on brain cells

If mice commuted, their brains might find it progressively harder to navigate the maze of Los Angeles freeways.

7 Apr 2011

A2AAR-selective agonists may prevent permanent vision damage from traumatic optic nerve injury

Scientists want to protect the optic nerve when the eye takes a blow on the battlefield or in a car wreck.

7 Apr 2011

Scientists uncover SREBP-2 role in autophagy and cholesterol generation

Not all cholesterol is bad. Every cell requires it for growth - they either have to get cholesterol somewhere or they die. In a new study published April 6 in the journal Cell Metabolism, researchers from Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and their collaborators found that a protein sensor known to balance cholesterol sources can also access a previously underappreciated cellular fat storage depot.

6 Apr 2011

Alcohol binge-drinking in teen years could affect decision-making and related behaviors as adults

Adolescents represent the majority of people who binge drink. This may come as a surprise to some, but recent surveys indicate that episodes of heavy alcohol drinking within the previous two weeks are reported by 12 percent of 8th graders, 22 percent of 10th graders, 28 percent of 12th grade seniors and 44 percent of college students.

5 Apr 2011

Researchers identify new gene that can influence person's risk of developing epilepsy

Vanderbilt University researchers have identified a new gene that can influence a person's risk for developing epilepsy. The findings, reported in the March 29 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could improve molecular diagnostic tools and point to novel therapeutic targets for epilepsy.

5 Apr 2011

Promising results for new depression treatment

A new, non-invasive treatment for depression that delivers barely perceptible electric currents to the scalp has had promising results in a Sydney trial, and researchers are now looking for participants for a follow up study.

4 Apr 2011

Researchers pinpoint effects of enhanced adult neurogenesis in hippocampus

Adult mice engineered to have more newborn neurons in their brain memory hub excelled at accurately discriminating between similar experiences - an ability that declines with normal aging and in some anxiety disorders.

4 Apr 2011

Researchers develop new way to stimulate neuron production in adult brain

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have developed a new way to stimulate neuron production in the adult mouse brain, demonstrating that neurons acquired in the brain's hippocampus during adulthood improve certain cognitive functions.

4 Apr 2011

Insight into traumatic brain injury

Researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center have described for the first time how the brain's memory center repairs itself following severe trauma - a process that may explain why it is harder to bounce back after multiple head injuries.

1 Apr 2011

How brain's memory center repairs itself after severe trauma

1 Apr 2011

Closer to deciphering the 'language of the brain'

The moment we open our eyes, we perceive the world with apparent ease. But the question of how neurons in the retina encode what we "see" has been a tricky one. A key obstacle to understanding how our brain functions is that its components-neurons-respond in highly nonlinear ways to complex stimuli, making stimulus-response relationships extremely difficult to discern.

1 Apr 2011

Clontech launches new SMARTer Ultra Low RNA Kit

Clontech Laboratories, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc., today announced the launch of its SMARTer Ultra Low RNA Kit for Illumina Sequencing, which was developed in collaboration with Illumina, Inc.

31 Mar 2011

Researchers develop new virus-based nerve-tracing technique

If, as Shakespeare's Juliet declared, a rose by any other name smells as sweet - to you and to me and to anyone else who sniffs it - then one might assume that our odor-sensing nerve cells are all wired in the same way. Alas, they are not, according to a new study from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute.

31 Mar 2011

Tips on neurobiology of learning

Everyone would like MDs to have the best education - and to absorb what they are taught. The lead article in the April 4 issue of the journal Academic Medicine connects research on how the brain learns to how to incorporate this understanding into real world education, particularly the education of doctors.

31 Mar 2011

New discovery may improve cochlear implants for deafness

University of Utah scientists used invisible infrared light to make rat heart cells contract and toadfish inner-ear cells send signals to the brain.

28 Mar 2011

Findings conflict with traditional view of how epileptic seizures begin

The first study to examine the activity of hundreds of individual human brain cells during seizures has found that seizures begin with extremely diverse neuronal activity, contrary to the classic view that they are characterized by massively synchronized activity.

28 Mar 2011

Major breakthrough in brain signal processing

A team of Neuroscientists from NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, have made a major breakthrough in understanding how signals are processed in the human brain.

28 Mar 2011

Scientists discover how neurons communicate with each other

There are billions of neurons in the brain and at any given time tens of thousands of these neurons might be trying to send signals to one another. Much like a person trying to be heard by his friend across a crowded room, neurons must figure out the best way to get their message heard above the din.

28 Mar 2011