Brain

WATERLOO, Ont. (Wednesday June 10, 2009) – A new parent questionnaire, developed at the University of Waterloo, will help health practitioners to more accurately gauge the acquisition of language skills in children with autism.

The pioneering Language Use Inventory (LUI) is among a set of measures for evaluating spoken language development in children with autism spectrum disorders, recommended by an expert panel.

A new study uncovers a pivotal role for the human frontal lobe in the promotion of behavioral flexibility during voluntary choice. The work, published by Cell Press in the June 11th issue of the journal Neuron, presents a critical new neural mechanism that supports the decision to adapt or maintain behavior when change is not explicitly instructed by the external environment.

A recent study reveals changes specific to the mother mouse brain that may improve the detection of isolation calls from a mouse baby. The research, published by Cell Press in the June 11th issue of the journal Neuron, provides fascinating new insight into how call-evoked neural inhibition plays a key role in the brain's representation of this important communication vocalization.

Emory University researchers have identified a surprising mechanism in the brains of mother mice that focuses their awareness on the calls of baby mice. Their study, published June 11 in Neuron, found that the high-frequency sounds of mice pups stand out in a mother's auditory cortex by inhibiting the activity of neurons more attuned to lower frequency sounds.

PHILADELPHIA – New research from Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience (JHN) may redefine how Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP) is diagnosed. Eduardo De Sousa, M.D., assistant professor of Neurology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, and director of the Electrodiagnostic Neuromuscular Lab at JHN, led the study which looked at the number of demyelinating features that are needed to differentiate between CIDP, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease) and diabetic neuropathy.

Alcohol consumption by pregnant women hinders brain development in their children by interfering with the genetic processes that control thyroid hormone levels in the fetal brain, a new animal study found. Results will be presented Wednesday at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Researchers at Imperial College London have identified a new appetite suppressant for promoting weight loss that they say works in rodents and may one day be used to develop an effective anti-obesity treatment. Results of the new study were presented at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Rutgers researchers have discovered a potential new way to treat childhood epilepsy using a widely available therapeutic drug.

Rutgers neuroscientist Gabriella D'Arcangelo and her colleagues have published their research findings in the journal Disease Models and Mechanisms (in press) and the paper has just appeared online.

Montreal, June 10, 2009 - Clinicians from the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) have perfected an operation, which was previously considered too dangerous, to control refractory insular epilepsy, using an innovative microsurgery technique. According to a study published as the feature article in the latest issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery , the new surgical technique is both safe and beneficial for patients.

In a discovery that could lead to new treatment approaches for depression, researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have shown that internet-based therapy programs are as effective as face-to-face therapies in combating the illness.

Patients in a clinician-assisted internet-based treatment program experienced rates of recovery similar to those achieved by face-to-face therapy, the research found.

Are the cognitively superior brains of humans, in part, responsible for our higher rates of cancer? That's a question that has nagged at John McDonald, chair of Georgia Tech's School of Biology and chief research scientist at the Ovarian Cancer Institute, for a while. Now, after an initial study, it seems that McDonald is on to something. The new study is available online in the journal Medical Hypothesis and will appear in the forthcoming issue of the journal.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – Parental presence at bedtimes appears to have a greater negative impact on infant sleep than actual co-sleeping, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday, June 10, at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. –A bidirectional association exists between couples' sleep quality and the quality of their relationship, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday, June 10, at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. –Naps with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep refresh the brain's empathetic sensitivity for evaluating human emotions by decreasing a negative bias and amplifying recognition of positive emotions, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday, June 10, at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

Researchers in Japan have detected a peptide in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that can show whether a person is developing Alzheimer's disease. Measuring the level of this peptide could show that the disease process has started, long before any serious damage is done to the brain.