Brain

OAK BROOK, Ill. - Using a sophisticated MRI technique, researchers have found abnormalities in the brain's white matter tracts in patients with insomnia. Results of the study were published online in the journal Radiology.

Primary insomnia, in which individuals have difficulty falling or staying asleep for a month or longer, is associated with daytime fatigue, mood disruption and cognitive impairment. Insomnia can also lead to depression and anxiety disorders.

For more than a month in 2015, a multidisciplinary team including infectious disease and critical care physicians and nurses, respiratory therapists and other specialists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) treated a critically ill patient who had contracted Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone.

Two companion papers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research teams suggest that targeting multiple angiogenesis pathways simultaneously could help overcome the resistance to anti-angiogenic treatment inevitably developed by the devastating brain tumor glioblastoma.

A new study has identified a pattern of brain activity that may be a sign of memory problems in people with schizophrenia. The biomarker, which the researchers believe may be the first of its kind, is an important step toward understanding and treating one of the most devastating symptoms of schizophrenia.

The study, led by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), was published today in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Many brain studies show that bilingual adults have more activity in areas associated with executive function, a set of mental abilities that includes problem-solving, shifting attention and other desirable cognitive traits.

Now new findings reveal that this bilingualism-related difference in brain activity is evident as early as 11 months of age, just as babies are on the verge of producing their first words.

It would certainly be pretty strange to see someone trying to call an elevator by pressing the button using their nose, or elbow. But actually why not? Anyone who has ever asked a young child to call the elevator knows very well that using their pointing finger wouldn't necessarily be their first choice, nor the second for that matter ... How does it happen? How does the brain choose the optimal action to achieve a goal and then repeats it to the point where it becomes a deeply ingrained habit that we perform without reflection?

A UT Dallas scientist has found a new neurological mechanism that appears to contribute to a reduction in pain.

According to Dr. Ted Price, associate professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, the discovery of neuroligin-2 as a cause exacerbating chronic pain is significant for the research community. Although the findings likely won't immediately lead to new pain therapies, the findings offer a potential new therapeutic direction to investigate, he said.

HOUSTON - (April 4, 2016) - CEOs who have experienced an independent director's death engage in fewer acquisitions after the director's death, according to a new paper by strategic management experts at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business.

Abuse of prescription opioid medicines used to treat chronic pain has reached epidemic proportions, so much that the White House has announced new efforts to combat addiction and prevent the thousands of overdose-related deaths reported in the U.S. each year.

BOSTON - Understanding the motivations that drive humans to eat is an important consideration in the development of weight loss therapies. Now a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) helps explain how the diabetes and weight loss drug liraglutide acts on brain receptors to make enticing foods seems less desirable. The findings were recently presented at ENDO 2016, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, and will appear in the May issue of the journal Diabetologia.

Some 2 billion X-rays are performed around the world every year. But the average radiology clinic is understaffed. Radiologists are burdened with a growing workload, allowing little time to comprehensively evaluate images -- leading to misdiagnoses and more serious consequences.

In the world of robot communication, it seems actions speak louder than words. Scientists in the UK have discovered that by getting robot avatars to "talk with their hands," we understand them as well as we do our fellow human beings.

A new study from the Universities of Bath and Bristol (UK) suggests that current practices for grouping and evaluating young dancers in ballet could be counterproductive, potentially placing late maturing girls at a significant disadvantage during important phases of their development and at greater risk for injury.

Older drivers can see their driving abilities improve by participating in certain types of training that improves the brain's processing speed and how the mind reacts when attention is divided, according to a new study by a researcher from the University of South Florida and colleagues from several other universities.

A new study examines how well the Internet-based Chinese language version of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale , which evaluates a person's reactions to ambiguous situations and attempts to control the future--compares to the traditional paper-and-pencil test. The validity of the online test and its usefulness in assessing psychological factors that may be predictive of anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and a range of other negative coping strategies are described in the study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.