Brain

Big data sets are full of dirty data, and these outliers, typos and missing values can produce distorted models that lead to wrong conclusions and bad decisions, be it in healthcare or finance. With so much at stake, data cleaning should be easier.

Philadelphia, August 31, 2016 - Migraine in America 2016, a national survey by Health Union of more than 3,900 individuals experiencing migraines, reveals that patients have numerous treatment options, but are often dissatisfied with results. A summary infographic is also available.

It is now possible for machines to learn how natural or artificial systems work by simply observing them, without being told what to look for, according to researchers at the University of Sheffield.

This could mean advances in the world of technology with machines able to predict, among other things, human behaviour.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Researchers at Oregon State University and other institutions have discovered a type of drug delivery system that may offer new hope for patients with a rare, ultimately fatal genetic disorder - and make what might become a terrible choice a little easier.

No treatment currently exists for this disease, known as Niemann Pick Type C1 disease, or NPC1, that affects about one in every 120,000 children globally, and results in abnormal cholesterol accumulation, progressive neurodegeneration and eventual death.

A research group under the leadership of Linköping University Professor Markus Heilig has identified an enzyme whose production is turned off in nerve cells of the frontal lobe when alcohol dependence develops. The deficiency in this enzyme leads to continued use of alcohol despite adverse consequences.

The discovery is now published in the number-one ranked psychiatric journal from the Nature Publishing Group, and could mean completely new possibilities for treating alcoholism.

While many scientists explore what people have in common, several studies publishing online to Social Psychological and Personality Science show us how differences help us understand individuals.

The company you keep: Personality and friendship characteristics

DALLAS, Aug. 29, 2016 -- Food fortified with folic acid, a B vitamin required in human diets for numerous biological functions, was associated with reduced rates of congenital heart defects, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Researchers have discovered a mechanism of intercellular communication that helps explain how biological systems and actions - ranging from a beating heart to the ability to hit a home run - function properly most of the time, and in some scenarios quite remarkably.

The findings are an important basic advance in how cell sensory systems function, they shed light on the poorly-understood interaction between cells - and they also suggest that some of the damage done by cancer cells can be seen as a "failure to communicate."

There's no human instinct more basic than speech, and yet, for many people, talking can be taxing. 1 in 14 working-age Americans suffer from voice disorders that are often associated with abnormal vocal behaviors - some of which can cause damage to vocal cord tissue and lead to the formation of nodules or polyps that interfere with normal speech production.

We all know that we can quickly lose cardiovascular endurance if we stop exercising for a few weeks, but what impact does the cessation of exercise have on our brains? New research led by University of Maryland School of Public Health researchers examined cerebral blood flow in healthy, physically fit older adults (ages 50-80 years) before and after a 10-day period during which they stopped all exercise. Using MRI brain imaging techniques, they found a significant decrease in blood flow to several brain regions, including the hippocampus, after they stopped their exercise routines.

Dogs have the ability to distinguish vocabulary words and the intonation of human speech through brain regions similar to those that humans use, a new study reports. Attila Andics et al. note that vocabulary learning "does not appear to be a uniquely human capacity that follows from the emergence of language, but rather a more ancient function that can be exploited to link arbitrary sound sequences to meanings." Words are the basic building blocks of human languages, but they are hardly ever found in nonhuman vocal communications.

A test that can detect Parkinson's disease in the early stages of the illness has moved a step closer.

Scientists have developed a way of detecting a molecule linked to the condition in samples of spinal fluid from patients.

Experts say that the test needs to be validated with a larger sample group but they are optimistic that it could one day help to improve diagnosis of the disease.

The test detects a protein molecule called alpha-synuclein, which forms sticky clumps called Lewy bodies inside the brain cells of people with Parkinson's and some types of dementia.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A team of researchers from Florida State University, Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health has found existing drug compounds that can both stop Zika from replicating in the body and from damaging the crucial fetal brain cells that lead to birth defects in newborns.

One of the drugs is already on the market as a treatment for tapeworm.

To remember events in the order they occur, the brain's neurons function in a coordinated way that is akin to a symphony, a team of New York University scientists has found. Their findings offer new insights into how we recall information and point to factors that may disrupt certain types of memories.

The cause of a disease that targets blood vessels in the brain - leading to multiple debilitating symptoms and, often, to early death - has been tracked to a single mutated gene, opening up the immediate possibility of improved patient care through genetic testing, and of future treatments.