Fishing for memories

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In our interaction with our environment we constantly refer to past experiences stored as memories to guide behavioral decisions. But how memories are formed, stored and then retrieved to assist decision-making remains a mystery. By observing whole-brain activity in live zebrafish, researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute have visualized for the first time how information stored as long-term memory in the cerebral cortex is processed to guide behavioral choices.

Ketamine shows significant therapeutic benefit in people with treatment-resistant depression

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Patients with treatment-resistant major depression saw dramatic improvement in their illness after treatment with ketamine, an anesthetic, according to the largest ketamine clinical trial to-date led by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The antidepressant benefits of ketamine were seen within 24 hours, whereas traditional antidepressants can take days or weeks to demonstrate a reduction in depression.

For combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, 'fear circuitry' in the brain never rests

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NEW YORK, May 18, 2013. Chronic trauma can inflict lasting damage to brain regions associated with fear and anxiety. Previous imaging studies of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, have shown that these brain regions can over-or under-react in response to stressful tasks, such as recalling a traumatic event or reacting to a photo of a threatening face. Now, researchers at NYU School of Medicine have explored for the first time what happens in the brains of combat veterans with PTSD in the absence of external triggers.

College women exceed NIAAA drinking guidelines more frequently than college men

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• In 1990, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) issued guidelines that define low-risk drinking, which differ for men and women.

• New research shows that female college student drinkers exceed NIAAA guidelines for weekly drinking more frequently than their male counterparts.

Individuals who drink heavily and smoke may show 'early aging' of the brain

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• Alcohol treatment interventions work best when patients understand and are actively involved in the process.

• A first-of-its-kind study looks at the interactive effects of smoking status and age on neurocognition in one-month-abstinent alcohol dependent (AD) individuals in treatment.
• Results show that AD individuals who currently smoke have more problems with memory, ability to think quickly and efficiently, and problem-solving skills than those who do not smoke, effects which seem to become greater with increasing age.

Study identifies new approach to improving treatment for MS and other conditions

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(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Working with lab mice models of multiple sclerosis (MS), UC Davis scientists have detected a novel molecular target for the design of drugs that could be safer and more effective than current FDA-approved medications against MS.

Study: Brain makes call on which ear is used for cell phone

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DETROIT – If you're a left-brain thinker, chances are you use your right hand to hold your cell phone up to your right ear, according to a newly published study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

The study – to appear online in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery – shows a strong correlation between brain dominance and the ear used to listen to a cell phone. More than 70% of participants held their cell phone up to the ear on the same side as their dominant hand, the study finds.

UT Arlington physicist's tool has potential for brain mapping

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A new tool being developed by UT Arlington assistant professor of physics could help scientists map and track the interactions between neurons inside different areas of the brain.

Researchers say they are shocked by new statistics on head injuries among people who are homeless

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TORONTO, May 16, 2013—Men who are heavy drinkers and homeless for long periods of time have 400 times the number of head injuries as the general population, according to a new study by researchers who said they were shocked by their findings.

These men have 170 times as many severe head injuries as the general population and 300 times as many injuries that cause bleeding in the brain.

The study by Dr. Tomislav Svoboda, a family physician at St. Michael's Hospital, appears online in Emergency Medicine Journal.

Fast and painless way to better mental arithmetic? Yes, there might actually be a way

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In the future, if you want to improve your ability to manipulate numbers in your head, you might just plug yourself in. So say researchers who report in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on May 16 on studies of a harmless form of brain stimulation applied to an area known to be important for math ability.

"With just five days of cognitive training and noninvasive, painless brain stimulation, we were able to bring about long-lasting improvements in cognitive and brain functions," says Roi Cohen Kadosh of the University of Oxford.