Brain

A lack of sunlight is associated with reduced cognitive function among depressed people. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health used weather data from NASA satellites to measure sunlight exposure across the United States and linked this information to the prevalence of cognitive impairment in depressed people.

Accumulation of the synaptic protein alpha-synuclein, resulting in the formation of masses called Lewy bodies in the brain, is a hallmark of Parkinson's and other related neurodegenerative diseases, that then spread throughout the brain. Now, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea, have described how this mechanism works. Their findings, which show neuron-to-neuron transmission of alpha-synuclein, will appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

ST. PAUL, Minn. – "Silent" strokes, which are strokes that don't result in any noticeable symptoms but cause brain damage, are common in people over 60, and especially in those with high blood pressure, according to a study published in the July 28, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

It is widely known that the brain perceives information before it reaches a person's awareness. But until now, there was little way to determine what specific mental tasks were taking place prior to the point of conscious awareness.

Researchers have discovered that the enzyme, endothelin converting enzyme-2 (ECE-2), may cause the decrease in blood flow in the brain seen in Alzheimer's disease and contribute to progression of the disease.

The study by Jennifer Palmer, BRACE/Reverend Williams PhD Scholar and colleagues at the University of Bristol's Dementia Research Group is published in the current issue [July 2009] of the American Journal of Pathology.

Switching off a key DNA repair system in the developing nervous system is linked to smaller brain size as well as problems in brain structures vital to movement, memory and emotion, according to new research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists.

7/28/09, Portland, OR. Overconsumption of fatty, sugary foods leads to changes in brain receptors, according to new animal research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The new research results are being presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB). The results have implications for understanding bulimia and other binge eating disorders.

7/28/09, Portland, OR. Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB) shows that exposing rats to a context associated with eating chocolate activates a part of the brain's reward system known as the orexin system. This finding helps explain why eating can be triggered by environmental cues even in the absence of hunger. The results have implications for the development of new drug treatments for overeating.

7/28/09, Portland, OR. Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB) finds that women who possess genetic modifications associated with low activity of the reward neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain when they imagine eating appetizing foods are more prone to weight gain.

Nearly all species have some ability to detect light. At least three types of cells in the retina allow us to see images or distinguish between night and day. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered in fish yet another type of cell that can sense light and contribute to vision.

Reporting in this week's Nature, the team of neuroscientists shows that retinal horizontal cells, which are nerve cells once thought only to talk to neighboring nerve cells and not even to the brain, are light sensitive themselves.

In 1881, the optimistic Irish economist Francis Edgeworth imagined a strange device called a "hedonimeter" that would be capable of "continually registering the height of pleasure experienced by an individual." In other words, a happiness sensor.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---New research shows that training your brain may be just as effective as training your muscles in preventing ACL knee injuries, and suggests a shift from performance-based to prevention-based athletic training programs.

The ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, is one of the four major ligaments of the knee, and ACL injuries pose a rising public health problem as well as an economic strain on the medical system.

Dog breeds selected to work in visual contact with humans, such as sheep dogs and gun dogs, are better able to comprehend a pointing gesture than those breeds that usually work without direct supervision. A series of tests, described in BioMed Central's open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions, should caution researchers against making simple generalizations about the effects of domestication and on dog-wolf differences in the utilization of human visual signals.

A study of memory deficits has found that HIV infection and chronic alcoholism have synergistic, damaging effects on brain function. The results will be published in the October issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

Impaired attention is the most prominent stroke-related neuropsychological change and is reported in at least 46 percent and as many as 92 percent of stroke survivors, said Suzanne L. Barker-Collo, Ph.D., a senior lecturer and neuropsychologist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Impaired attention can reduce cognitive productivity and the ability to focus on tasks. It's key to re-learning motor skills. She addressed this issue in a study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.