Brain

A drug belonging to a class of compounds now used to treat cancer may also be able to restore memory defects in patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study conducted by scientists at Columbia University Medical Center, which appeared in The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

The loss of short, day-to-day memories is often the first sign of Alzheimer's - a disease that is expected, by the year 2050, to afflict 120 million people worldwide.

A new study that was carried out at the University of Haifa has identified another component in the chain of actions that take place in the neurons in the process of forming memories. This discovery joins a line of findings from previous studies that together provide a better understanding of the most complex processes in nature – the process of memory formation and storage in the human brain. The new study has been published in the prestigious Journal of Neuroscience.

The belief that healthy older brains are substantially smaller than younger brains may stem from studies that did not screen out people whose undetected, slowly developing brain disease was killing off cells in key areas, according to new research. As a result, previous findings may have overestimated atrophy and underestimated normal size for the older brain.

NEW YORK - In the first functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of its kind, neurologists and psychiatrists at Columbia University have identified an area of thebrain involved in the earliest stages of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders.

Activity in this specific region of the hippocampus may help predict the onset of the disease, offering opportunities for earlier diagnosis and for the development of drugs for schizophrenia prevention.

Details of the findings were published in the September 7, 2009, issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

It was nine years ago that University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers discovered that a mysterious human protein called zonulin played a critical role in celiac disease and other autoimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes. Now, scientists have solved the mystery of zonulin's identity, putting a face to the name, in a sense. Scientists led by Alessio Fasano, M.D., have identified zonulin as a molecule in the human body called haptoglobin 2 precursor.

St. Louis, Sept. 6, 2009 — An international team of scientists has identified two more genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. The findings are reported in the online edition of the journal Nature Genetics.

British scientists have discovered two new genes associated with Alzheimer's disease, while French colleagues uncovered a third. The results, from the largest ever Alzheimer's genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 16,000 individuals, are published in Nature Genetics. They are the first new genes found to be associated with the common form of Alzheimer's disease since 1993.

NEW YORK - A drug now used to treat cancer may also be able to restore memory deficits in patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study conducted by scientists at Columbia University Medical Center, which appeared in the September issue of The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease: Volume 18:1.

The loss of short, day-to-day memories is often the first sign of Alzheimer's - a disease that is expected, by the year 2050, to afflict 120 million people worldwide.

UCSF researchers have successfully used protease inhibitors to restore to normal levels a key protein involved in early brain development. Reduced levels of that protein have been shown to cause the rare brain disorder lissencephaly, which is characterized by brain malformations, seizures, severe mental retardation and very early death in human infants.

A harmless shard from the shell of a common childhood virus may halt a biological process that kills a significant percentage of battlefield casualties, heart attack victims and oxygen-deprived newborns, according to research presented Sunday, September 6, 2009, at the 12th European meeting on complement in human disease in Budapest, Hungary.

DURHAM, N.C. – Sticking with what you know often comes at the price of learning about more favorable alternatives.

Managing this trade-off is easy for many, but not for those with conditions such as Alzheimer's disease or obsessive-compulsive disorder who are trapped in simple routines.

Using brain scans in monkeys, Duke University Medical Center researchers are now able to predict when monkeys will switch from exploiting a known resource to exploring their options.

TORONTO -- Researchers at the University of Toronto have identified a protein which plays a key role in the development of neurons, which could enhance our understanding of how the brain works, and how diseases such as Alzheimer's occur.

CHAPEL HILL – In laying down the neural circuitry of the developing brain, billions of neurons must first migrate to their correct destinations and then form complex synaptic connections with their new neighbors.

Cities are organized like brains, and the evolution of cities mirrors the evolution of human and animal brains, according to a new study by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Just as advanced mammalian brains require a robust neural network to achieve richer and more complex thought, large cities require advanced highways and transportation systems to allow larger and more productive populations. The new study unearthed a striking similarity in how larger brains and cities deal with the difficult problem of maintaining sufficient interconnectedness.

(Boston) -- The joys of motherhood for many women can also lead other new moms to experience postpartum depression and even worse – ideas for committing suicide.

For these women contemplating taking their own lives, the mother-infant relationship and development was a negative experience, with greater mood disturbances, cognitive distortions, low maternal self-esteem, negative perceptions of their effectiveness as a new parent and noticeably less responsiveness to their infants' cues.