Brain

Grimacing, we flinch when we see someone accidentally hit their thumb with a hammer. But is it really pain we feel? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig and other institutions have now proposed a new theory that describes pain as a multi-layered gradual event which consists of specific pain components, such as a burning sensation in the hand, and more general components, such as negative emotions.

NEW YORK, New York (23 March 2016) -- New research presented by the Population Council shows that programs that educate girls, teach them about their rights and build skills for modern livelihoods can reduce the likelihood of child marriage by up to one-third in Bangladesh. This is the first rigorously evaluated study to provide evidence on approaches to delay child marriage in a region where two out of three girls is married before the legal age of 18.

A study financed by the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris has been conducted under the direction of Monica Zilbovicius in the Inserm Unit 1000 on a particular region of the brain, the superior temporal sulcus (STS), influencing perception and behaviour of the gaze. This work has shown that transcranial magnetic stimulation (non-invasive and painless) of the STS can selectively and transiently inhibit the subject's gaze into the eyes of the person speaking to them.

Whether taking photos recreationally or professionally, photographers understandably want their snapshots to appear sharp and clear. Image clarity is dependent on exposure time, or the amount of time that a camera's sensor is exposed to light while a photograph is being taken. During this period, the shutter opens and the camera counts the number of photons emitted by the subject.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) - A research study that followed children from birth up to age 38 has found that people who smoked cannabis four or more days of the week over many years ended up in a lower social class than their parents, with lower-paying, less skilled and less prestigious jobs than those who were not regular cannabis smokers. These regular and persistent users also experienced more financial, work-related and relationship difficulties, which worsened as the number of years of regular cannabis use progressed.

Making changes to the early lives of young pheasants can help prevent them dying needlessly, University of Exeter researchers have found.

Creating a three dimensional environment for birds bred for field sports can help many more survive when they are released into the wild, a new study shows.

Giving pheasants raised perches in their pens during their first seven weeks helps them grow larger with bigger leg bones, fly higher and grasp, and roost off the ground safe from predators. This makes them less likely to be killed than birds bred without perches.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Enhancing sleep after a head injury may help prevent some damage to brain cells, according to a study in rats published March 23 in The Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers at University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland found that enhancing the slow-wave cycle of sleep after head trauma minimized damage to axons -- the thin extensions that nerve cells use to send signals to other cells -- and helped preserve normal brain function. The finding may offer a treatment strategy for a condition that has very few effective therapies.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - All children are screened for a host of conditions at birth, such as Phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder that is passed by mutated genes from both parents to their offspring. PKU is rare, only affecting one in every 10,000 children in the U.S.; therefore, it is seldom studied. Currently the primary way to manage the disease is through a restricted diet.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- A healthy brain is critical to a person's cognitive abilities, but measuring brain health can be a complicated endeavor. A new study by University of Illinois researchers reports that healthy brain metabolism corresponds with fluid intelligence - a measure of one's ability to solve unusual or complex problems - in young adults.

The results are reported in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

SEATTLE--Meditation long has been practiced as a way to calm the mind, and possibly achieve enlightenment. Now, new research conducted by Group Health Research Institute shows that quieting the mind may be a non-drug alternative to help decrease chronic low back pain.

A team of researchers at Group Health Research Institute, a division of Group Health, explored alternatives to pain medication in treating low back pain, a chronic and costly condition that plagues eight in 10 Americans at some point in their lives.

Montreal, March 22, 2016 -- The proportion of older adults with age-related vision loss is estimated to be as high as one in three over the age of 50. In Canada, that's roughly 3.6 million people. Many of these individuals turn to adaptive devices designed to magnify objects and text, but these devices can be prohibitively expensive, uni-functional and bulky.

TORONTO, March 22, 2016 - Motivating willingness to change is important in treating a person with severe worry. For this, integrating motivational interviewing (MI) techniques into the commonly practised cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the ideal option, a study led by a York University researcher reveals.

A strange sensation, but familiar to anyone who has ever been given local anaesthesia and watched while a doctor operated on their leg or arm: in that moment, your own body part seems foreign, as if it doesn't belong to your body. One reason for this is that the brain still knows which position the limb occupied before the local anaesthetic took effect. As soon as it wears off, the spooky sensation disappears.

Persistent sense of estrangement

Premature birth is a harsh change of environment for a baby. Until birth, the baby is confined to the mother's womb, surrounded by soft lighting and filtered noise. When infants are born, they are attacked by several visual, sound, and tactile stimulations. These stimulations thus constitute unpleasant factors for them. Their impact has not been studied in depth yet.

Nagoya, Japan - When the surrounding environment makes us uncomfortable, we are inclined to move to a more agreeable one.

Studies have shown that animals do the same. They organize sequences of movements to migrate to preferred environments. Understanding how environmental information is converted to sensory information in the brain is vital for a deeper understanding of animal behavior and human perception. However, not much is known about this process.