Brain

June 1, 2009 -- A drug with potential to prevent epilepsy caused by a genetic condition may also help prevent more common forms of epilepsy caused by brain injury, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Scientists found that the FDA-approved drug rapamycin blocks brain changes believed to cause seizures in rats. In a paper last year, the same group showed that rapamycin prevents brain changes in mice triggered by one of the most common genetic causes of epilepsy, tuberous sclerosis (TS).

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — University of Michigan scientists have found that a deficiency in a key tumor suppressor gene in the brain leads to the most common type of adult brain cancer. The study, conducted in mice that mimic human cancer, points the way to more effective future treatments and a way to screen for the disease early.

Appearing June 2 in Cancer Cell, the U-M team's findings in mice show for the first time that:

Researchers studying a difficult-to-treat form of childhood epilepsy called infantile spasms have developed a line of mice that experiences seizures with features closely resembling those occurring in patients with infantile seizures. These genetically engineered mice provide a new opportunity for scientists to test treatments that may benefit children.

INDIANAPOLIS - Many drugs commonly prescribed to older adults for a variety of common medical conditions including allergies, hypertension, asthma, and cardiovascular disease appear to negatively affect the aging brain causing immediate but possibly reversible cognitive impairment, including delirium, in older adults according to a clinical review now available online in the Journal of Clinical Interventions in Aging, a peer reviewed, open access publication.

It is commonly known that alcoholism and alcohol intoxications are connected with severe violent crimes such as homicides. For instance, in Finland even 80 per cent of these crimes happen in alcohol intoxications. It has not, however, been clear why only a minority of alcoholics in intoxications become irritated and impulsively aggressive or even commit severe violent crimes.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A program aimed at reducing criminal behavior in juvenile justice teens has yielded a surprising side benefit. The program is also reducing the teens' rate of pregnancy, according to a new study out this week.

WASHINGTON — Spending hours taking a high-pressure aptitude test may make people feel mentally fatigued, but that fatigue doesn't necessarily lead to lower test scores, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. If anything, performance might actually improve on a longer test, the study found.

"The experience of fatigue during testing does not appear to be, in and of itself, detrimental to test performance," said co-authors Phillip Ackerman, PhD, and Ruth Kanfer, PhD.

In what is believed to be the first U.S. study designed to prevent anxiety disorders in the children of anxious parents, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center have found that a family-based program reduced symptoms and the risk of developing an anxiety disorder among these children.

PITTSBURGH, May 30 – Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) have identified eight genes that help predict a melanoma patient's response to treatment. The new findings are being presented at the 45th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), May 29 to June 2, in Orlando, Fla.

PASADENA, Calif.—Theta oscillations are a type of prominent brain rhythm that orchestrates neuronal activity in the hippocampus, a brain area critical for the formation of new memories. For several decades these oscillations were believed to be "in sync" across the hippocampus, timing the firing of neurons like a sort of central pacemaker. A new study conducted by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) argues that this long-held assumption needs to be revised.

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (May 28, 2009) – While minimally invasive coil treatments for those with a ruptured brain aneurysm have proved to be a more effective technique than traditional surgical operation in selected patients, the superior procedure is drastically more expensive, according to new research from the Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Research Center at University of Minnesota Medical School.

Troy, N.Y. — Sleep disturbances increase as we age. Some studies report more than half of seniors 65 years of age or older suffer from chronic sleep disturbances. Researchers have long believed that the sleep disturbances common among the elderly often result from a disruption of the body's circadian rhythms—biological cycles that repeat approximately every 24 hours.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – People who feel pressure to look attractive are more fearful of being rejected because of their appearance than are their peers, according to a new study by researchers at the University at Buffalo and the University of Kent.

The study of appearance-based rejection sensitivity among college students was conducted by Lora Park, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and graduate student Ann Marie DiRaddo, of the University at Buffalo, and Rachel Calogero, Ph.D., a lecturer in psychology at the University of Kent.

JUPITER, FL, May 28, 2009 –Current tests to identify specific strains of infectious prions, which cause a range of transmissible diseases (such as mad cow) in animals and humans, can take anywhere from six months to a year to yield results – a time-lag that may put human populations at risk.

Now, a group of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute's Florida campus have developed a new method that cuts this critical time lag by several months.

The new research was published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE on May 29, 2009.

People who commit filicide, the killing of their own child, are no more psychotically disordered than other homicide offenders. Research published in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry has shown that prevention of filicide cannot remain the task of psychiatry alone, but health care and society at large must work to prevent the danger.