Face and voice are the two main features by which we recognize other people. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences have now discovered that there is a direct structural connection consisting of fiber pathways between voice- and face-recognition areas in the human brain. The exchange of information, which is assumed to take place between these areas via this connection, could help us to quickly identify familiar people in everyday situations and also under adverse conditions.
Brain
Roanoke, Va. – The discovery that low-intensity, pulsed ultrasound can be used to noninvasively stimulate intact brain circuits holds promise for engineering rapid-response medical devices. The team that made that discovery, led by William "Jamie" Tyler, an assistant professor with the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, has now produced an in-depth article detailing this approach, which may one day lead to first-line therapies in combating life-threatening epileptic seizures.
Quebec City, September 8, 2011—Sleep disorders affect 40% of adult Canadians according to a study conducted by Université Laval researchers under the supervision of Dr. Charles M. Morin. The work of Dr. Morin and his colleagues will be presented at the 4th World Congress on Sleep Medicine which runs September 10-14 in Quebec City, Canada.
Dr. Morin's team surveyed a sample of 2,000 people across the country to draw a portrait of Canadians' sleep quality.
Montreal, September 8, 2011 — "There's no place like home," an iconic line uttered by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, might apply to learning the ABC's, math and other core subjects. A new study from Concordia University and Mount Allison University has found that homeschooling — as long as it's structured or follows a curriculum — can provide kids with an academic edge.
Experts have confirmed it: tics are not a rare or uncommon disorder. It is the second study to be conducted in Spain to date, and the first of great importance, revealing that the prevalence of these motor disorders in the child population is 16.86%. The incidence is greater in boys than girls, and they tend to disappear or reduce with age.
NEW YORK (Sept. 7, 2011) -- Patients at a high risk for a second stroke who received intensive medical treatment had fewer strokes and deaths than patients who received a brain stent in addition to the medical treatment, a large nationwide clinical trial has shown. The investigators published the results in today's online first edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health, funded the trial.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—September 8, 2011— A scientist at the Gladstone Institutes has identified how the lack of a brain chemical known as dopamine can rewire the interaction between two groups of brain cells and lead to symptoms of Parkinson's disease. This discovery offers new hope for treating those suffering from this devastating neurodegenerative disease.
Patients at a high risk for a second stroke who received intensive medical treatment had fewer strokes and deaths than patients who received a brain stent in addition to the medical treatment, a large nationwide clinical trial has shown. The investigators published the results in the online first edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health, funded the trial.
(CHICAGO) – Patients with narrowed arteries in the brain who received intensive medical treatment had fewer strokes and deaths than patients who received a brain stent in addition to medical treatment, according to the initial results from the first, nationwide stroke prevention trial to compare the two treatment options. The results of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) study called Stenting versus Aggressive Medical Management for Preventing Recurrent Stroke in Intracranial Stenosis (SAMMPRIS) are published in the online first edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
To prevent a common type of stroke, intensive medical therapy could be better by itself than in combination with surgery that props open affected arteries. But it remains to be seen whether the apparent advantage will prove true over the long term.
The findings, from a national clinical trial conducted by University of Florida researchers and colleagues, will be published online in The New England Journal of Medicine online on Wednesday, Sept. 7.
LOS ANGELES (STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL WEDS. SEPT. 7, 2011 AT 5 PM EDT) -- An article appearing in the Sept. 7 New England Journal of Medicine, reporting on National Institutes of Health research on brain stents, says aggressive medical treatment without stenting is better for high-risk stroke patients.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Any exercise that gets the heart pumping may reduce the risk of dementia and slow the condition's progression once it starts, reported a Mayo Clinic study published this month in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Researchers examined the role of aerobic exercise in preserving cognitive abilities and concluded that it should not be overlooked as an important therapy against dementia.
Pay attention! It's a universal warning, which implies that keeping close watch helps us perceive the world more accurately. But a new study by Yale University cognitive psychologists Brandon Liverence and Brian Scholl finds that intense focus on objects can have the opposite effect: It distorts perception of where things are in relation to one another. The findings will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
LA JOLLA, CA – September 7, 2011 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found what may be a major cause of congenital hydrocephalus, one of the most common neurological disorders of childhood that produces mental debilitation and sometimes death in premature and newborn children.
The research appears in the September 7, 2011, issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine.