Brain

Challenging the limits of learning

Tel Aviv -- Although we're convinced that baby is brilliant when she mutters her first words, cognitive scientists have been conducting a decades-long debate about whether or not human beings actually "learn" language.

Unfolding pathogenesis in Parkinson's

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, reveals that damaged alpha-synuclein proteins (which are implicated in Parkinson's disease) can spread in a 'prion-like' manner, an infection model previously described for diseases such as BSE (mad cow disease).

Stress, anxiety both boon and bane to brain

MADISON — A cold dose of fear lends an edge to the here-and-now — say, when things go bump in the night.

"That edge sounds good. It sounds adaptive. It sounds like perception is enhanced and that it can keep you safe in the face of danger," says Alexander Shackman, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

But it sounds like there's also a catch, one that Shackman and his coauthors — including Richard Davidson, UW-Madison psychology and psychiatry professor — described in the Jan. 19 Journal of Neuroscience.

Case Western Reserve and Athersys show regenerative benefit of MultiStem after spinal cord injury

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX) announced a joint scientific study on spinal cord injury will be published today in the January issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. The study, by leading researchers from the Department of Neurosciences at the School of Medicine and scientists at Athersys, presents data supporting the potential therapeutic benefit of Athersys' MultiStem® program for spinal cord injury.

Unlocking the secret(ase) of building neural circuits

Unlocking the secret(ase) of building neural circuits

Parental divorce linked to suicidal thoughts

TORONTO, ON –Adult children of divorce are more likely to have seriously considered suicide than their peers from intact families, suggests new research from the University of Toronto

New CPR technique for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest increases survival by 53 percent

New CPR technique for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest increases survival by 53 percent

A study led by Dr. Tom P. Aufderheide, professor of emergency medicine at The Medical College of Wisconsin, shows an alternative method of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation increases long-term survival of patients.

Watching others smoke makes smokers plan to light up

Watching others smoke makes smokers plan to light up

Seeing actors smoke in a movie activated the brain areas of smokers that are known to interpret and plan hand movements, as though they too were about to light a cigarette, according to a new study in the Jan. 19 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

Unlocking the secret(ase) of building neural circuits

Unlocking the secret(ase) of building neural circuits

Treatment with kudzu extract does not cause an increase in alcohol's intoxicating effects

  • Extract from the kudzu root has long been thought to be a remedy for alcoholism
  • However, since the precise mechanism of action is unknown, a new study set out to unravel its mystery
  • The results show that the participants treated with kudzu experienced no adverse consequences that could decrease alcohol intake

Imaging procedure can identify biomarker associated with Alzheimer's disease

Preliminary research suggests that use of a type of molecular imaging procedure may have the ability to detect the presence of beta-amyloid in the brains of individuals during life, a biomarker that is identified during autopsy to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease, according to a study in the January 19 issue of JAMA.

Study: Abuse rates higher among deaf and hard-of-hearing children compared with hearing youths

A new study at Rochester Institute of Technology indicates that the incidence of maltreatment, including neglect and physical and sexual abuse, is more than 25 percent higher among deaf and hard-of-hearing children than among hearing youths. The research also shows a direct correlation between childhood maltreatment and higher rates of negative cognition, depression and post-traumatic stress in adulthood.

Sharply focused on neurons, light controls a worm's behavior

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 18, 2011 -- Physicists and bioengineers have developed an optical instrument allowing them to control the behavior of a worm just by shining a tightly focused beam of light at individual neurons inside the organism.

New molecule could save brain cells from neurodegeneration, stroke

New molecule could save brain cells from neurodegeneration, stroke

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered a molecule that can make brain cells resistant to programmed cell death or apoptosis.

NIH-funded study uses new technology to peek deep into the brain

Changes within deep regions of the brain can now be visualized at the cellular level, based on research on mice, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Published Sunday in Nature Medicine, the study used a groundbreaking technique to explore cellular-level changes over a period of weeks within deep brain regions, providing a level of detail not possible with previously available methods. The study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.