Brain

LOS ANGELES (EMBARGOED UNTIL FEB. 9, 2011 AT 9:15 PM EST) – Whether or not you're fond of Indian, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern food, stroke researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center think you may become a fan of one of their key spices.

Fears that most UK companies would slash investment in skills training as a result of the recession have proved to be largely unfounded, researchers at Cardiff University and the University of London have concluded. Although some employers have cut spending to the bone, total expenditure on training has reduced only slightly.

Stem Cell scientists in Australia have found that patients suffering from hearing problems which began during infancy and childhood could benefit from a transplant of stem cells from their nose. The research, published today in STEM CELLS, reveals that mucosa-derived stem cells can help preserve hearing function during the early-onset of sensorineural hearing loss.

CINCINNATI—Poorer patients have more severe ischemic strokes, or strokes resulting from blockages in blood vessels in the brain, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC).

A study led by Dawn Kleindorfer, MD, an associate professor in the department of neurology, found that increasing poverty in the neighborhood where the stroke patient lived was associated with worse stroke severity at presentation, independent of other known factors associated with stroke outcomes.

Thirty years ago, the first human fetal surgery was performed at the University of California, San Francisco. Now, a randomized controlled trial has proven definitively that fetal surgery can help certain patients before birth.

Performing delicate surgery in the womb, months before birth, can substantially improve outcomes for children with a common, disabling birth defect of the spine. Experts at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) co-led a new landmark study showing that fetal surgery for spina bifida greatly reduces the need to divert fluid from the brain, improves mobility and improves the chances that a child will be able to walk independently.

Spina bifida is the most common birth defect of the central nervous system, affecting about 1,500 babies born each year in the United States.

"Man is but a worm" was the title of a famous caricature of Darwin's ideas in Victorian England. Now, 120 years later, a molecular analysis of mysterious marine creatures unexpectedly reveals our cousins as worms, indeed.

An international team of researchers, including a neuroscientist from the University of Florida, has produced more evidence that people have a close evolutionary connection with tiny, flatworm-like organisms scientifically known as "Acoelomorphs."

CINCINNATI—While smoking and alcohol use remained relatively stable over a 13-year study period, street drug use among stroke patients rose more than nine-fold, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC).

The findings are being presented Wednesday, Feb. 9, in Los Angeles at International Stroke Conference (ISC) 2011, the annual meeting of the American Stroke Association, by Felipe De los Rios, MD, of the UC Department of Neurology and the UC Neuroscience Institute. De los Rios is a fourth-year resident in the neurology department.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – People who have memory problems or other declines in their mental abilities may be at higher risk for stroke, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 63rd Annual Meeting in Honolulu April 9 to April 16, 2011.

PORTLAND, Ore. – The dietary concerns of too much fructose is well documented. High-fructose corn syrup has become the sweetener most commonly added to processed foods. Many dietary experts believe this increase directly correlates to the nation's growing obesity epidemic. Now, new research at Oregon Health & Science University demonstrates that the brain – which serves as a master control for body weight – reacts differently to fructose compared with another common sweetener, glucose.

New research using a mouse model of the motor neuron disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) reveals an abnormality in the way that sensory information is relayed to motor neurons in the spinal cord. Importantly, this disruption in communication occurs very early in disease progression and precedes the neuronal death and muscle weakness that are the hallmark of the disease.

LA JOLLA, CA – Embargoed by the journal Neuron until February 9, 2011, noon, Eastern time – A study from The Scripps Research Institute has unveiled a surprising mechanism that controls brain formation. The findings have implications for understanding a host of diseases, including some forms of mental retardation, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and autism.

The research, led by Scripps Research Professor Ulrich Mueller, was published in the journal Neuron on February 10, 2011.

Motorcycle helmets, long known to dramatically reduce the number of brain injuries and deaths from crashes, appear to also be associated with a lower risk of cervical spine injury, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

Montreal, February 9, 2011 – Cortisol, the so-called stress hormone, seems to behave in contradictory ways in children. Some youngsters with behavioral problems have abnormally high levels of cortisol, while others with identical problems have abnormally low levels. What's going on?

How easy is it to fake remorse? Not so easy if your audience knows what to look for. In the first investigation of the nature of true and false remorse, Leanne ten Brinke and colleagues, from the Centre for the Advancement of Psychology and Law (CAPSL), University of British Columbia and Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada, show that those who fake remorse show a greater range of emotional expressions and swing from one emotion to another very quickly - a phenomenon referred to as emotional turbulence - as well as speak with more hesitation.