Brain | Page 945 | Science Codex

BUSM researcher finds link between brain signaling and renal function

(Boston) - Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers recently uncovered a brain signaling pathway responsible for regulating the renal excretion of sodium. The findings appear in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

Hypertension, or chronic high blood pressure, affects one-third of adults, significantly increasing cardiovascular risk and mortality. Approximately 50 percent of hypertensive patients are salt-sensitive and exhibit an increase in blood pressure following salt-intake.

High blood caffeine levels in older adults linked to avoidance of Alzheimer's disease

Tampa, FL (June 4, 2012) Those cups of coffee that you drink every day to keep alert appear to have an extra perk – especially if you're an older adult. A recent study monitoring the memory and thinking processes of people older than 65 found that all those with higher blood caffeine levels avoided the onset of Alzheimer's disease in the two-to-four years of study follow-up. Moreover, coffee appeared to be the major or only source of caffeine for these individuals.

PTSD psychotherapy is enhanced with D-cycloserine

Philadelphia, PA, June 4, 2012 – Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is among the most common, distressing, and disabling medical consequences of combat or other extremely stressful life events. The first-line treatment for PTSD is exposure therapy, a type of behavioral therapy where patients confront their fears in a safe environment. Although it is an effective treatment, many patients still experience symptoms after treatment and there is a relatively high drop-out rate.

Facebook photos may reflect unconscious cultural differences

For millions of Facebook users, choosing which photo to use for an online profile is an important decision. Should it be lighthearted or professional, personal or more abstract? According to a study by researchers at the UT Dallas Center for Vital Longevity and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the photos we select may reflect individual preferences, but they also appear to reflect more deeply rooted, unconscious cultural differences.

Physicians may not always report brain cancer patients unfit to drive

LONDON, ON – Ontario doctors are legally required to report patients they consider medically unfit to drive to the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) – yet they may not be doing it. A new study from Lawson Health Research Institute shows doctors treating patients with brain cancer are unclear about how and when to assess and report a patient's ability to drive.

Cleveland Clinic study detects 'chemobrain' in EEG activity

Cleveland, June 4, 2012 – A Cleveland Clinic study has detected significant changes in the electroencephalogram (EEG) brain activity patterns of patients receiving chemotherapy.

The study may give scientific evidence of a condition commonly referred to as "chemobrain" – the fogginess that many patients experience while on chemotherapy. Patients with chemobrain often report short-term memory problems and difficulty concentrating.

Teaching tree-thinking through touch

Cambridge, Mass. - June 4, 2012 - A pair of new studies by computer scientists, biologists, and cognitive psychologists at Harvard, Northwestern, Wellesley, and Tufts suggest that collaborative touch-screen games have value beyond just play.

Two games, developed with the goal of teaching important evolutionary concepts, were tested on families in a busy museum environment and on pairs of college students. In both cases, the educational games succeeded at making the process of learning difficult material engaging and collaborative.

A new multitarget molecule designed with high potential in future treatments for Alzheimer's disease

It acts simultaneously on several targets in the brain
In vitro studies reveal a reduction in the ß-amyloid peptide aggregation, involved in the disease, and a boost in cognitive function
It could lead the development of more efficient drugs than those currently used

Rhythmic firing of nerve cells involved in body's movements

A new model for understanding how nerve cells in the brain control movement may help unlock the secrets of the motor cortex, a critical region that has long resisted scientists' efforts to understand it, researchers report June 3 in Nature.

A different drummer: Stanford engineers discover neural rhythms drive physical movement

Unlike their visual cousins, the neurons that control movement are not a predictable bunch. Scientists working to decode how such neurons convey information to muscles have been stymied when trying to establish a one-to-one relationship between a neuron's behavior and external factors such as muscle activity or movement velocity.

Wisconsin research team reveals novel way to treat drug-resistant brain tumor cells

MADISON — New research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison explains why the incurable brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is highly resistant to current chemotherapies.

The study, from the brain-tumor research lab of Dr. John Kuo, assistant professor of neurological surgery and human oncology at UW School of Medicine and Public Health, also reports success for a combination therapy that knocks out signaling of multiple members of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family in brain-cancer cells.

Skeleton key

Northwestern University researchers are the first to discover that very different complex networks -- ranging from global air traffic to neural networks -- share very similar backbones. By stripping each network down to its essential nodes and links, they found each network possesses a skeleton and these skeletons share common features, much like vertebrates do.

Mammals have evolved to look very different despite a common underlying structure (think of a human being and a bat), and now it appears real-world complex networks evolve in a similar way.

Noninvasive brain stimulation shown to impact walking patterns

(Baltimore, MD) — In a step towards improving rehabilitation for patients with walking impairments, researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute found that non-invasive stimulation of the cerebellum, an area of the brain known to be essential in adaptive learning, helped healthy individuals learn a new walking pattern more rapidly. The findings suggest that cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may be a valuable therapy tool to aid people relearning how to walk following a stroke or other brain injury.

Anxiety disorders in children are not detected in due time

Only few children suffering from anxiety disorders undergo treatment. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have looked into how many children who suffer from the most common yet treatable anxiety disorders that are actually diagnosed in the psychiatric system in Denmark. According to the researchers, the number is surprisingly low compared to other western countries, indicating that anxiety disorders in children and youth are disregarded in Denmark.

Open-fire cooking may affect child cognitive development

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Children exposed to open-fire cooking in developing countries experience difficulty with memory, problem-solving and social skills, according to researchers at the University of California, Riverside and Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif.