Brain

Researchers have found evidence that a direct interaction between vitamin D and a common genetic variant alters the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). The research, published on 6 February in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, suggests that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy and the early years may increase the risk of the offspring developing MS later in life.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A Brown University research team has discovered something in the brain that could serve as a target for future autism and mental retardation treatments.

Discovery of the novel Fragile X granule is detailed in the Feb. 4, 2009, issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. This finding opens a new line of research about potential treatments for autism, a neurological disorder that strikes young children and can impair development of social interaction and communication.

A comprehensive plan to help health care professionals diagnose and treat primary ovarian insufficiency—a menopause-like condition affecting girls and young women that may occur years before normal menopause is expected—has been developed by a scientist at the National Institutes of Health.

Lawrence Nelson, M.D., head of NIH's Integrative and Reproductive Medicine Unit, provided recommendations based on the research he has conducted at the NIH. His recommendations are published in the Clinical Practice feature of the February 5 New England Journal of Medicine.

Montreal, February 5, 2009 – Mental deficiency is the most frequently occurring, yet least understood handicap in children. Even a mild form can lead to social isolation, bullying and require assistance with simple tasks. The most common variety, non-syndromic mental deficiency (NSMD), is defined as affecting an otherwise normal looking child. With few physical clues in affected children to point researchers towards candidates to study, progress in identifying genetic causes of NSMD has been very slow. Yet that is beginning to change.

Hartford, Conn., February 04, 2009 - Though treatment of pain and attention to end-of-life care for pediatric cancer patients has improved over the last few decades, there is still work to be done. Additionally, opioid prescriptions for pediatric cancer patients while hospitalized during the last week of life vary greatly among hospitals. These were the findings of a study and editorial published in Pediatric Blood & Cancer.

PROVIDENCE, RI – Researchers from the neuropsychology department and pediatric hematology/oncology department at Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children's Hospital have published the results of their findings on parents' needs for information about the neurocognitive late effects (NCLE) of treatment for childhood cancer. The findings indicate that although parents report feeling knowledgeable about NCLE, they continue to need further information. The study was first published online for the journal Pediatric Blood & Cancer, and appears in the Feb. 2009 print edition.

MIT researchers who study the structure of protein-based materials with the aim of learning the key to their lightweight and robust strength have discovered that the particular arrangement of proteins that produces the sturdiest product is not the arrangement with the most built-in redundancy or the most complicated pattern. Instead, the optimal arrangement of proteins in the rope-like structures they studied is a repeated pattern of two stacks of four bundled alpha-helical proteins.

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have discovered a gene that when mutated causes obesity by dampening the body's ability to burn energy while leaving appetite unaffected.

Like Russell Crowe's character in A Beautiful Mind, life is often difficult for the 2.4 million Americans with schizophrenia. A late or incorrect diagnosis and the lack of effective treatment options can destroy a sufferer's quality of life.

Schizophrenia usually emerges between the ages of 18 and 30, but diagnosis before the disease manifests could be the key to developing more successful treatments, says Prof. Talma Hendler, of Tel Aviv University's Department of Psychology.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 3, 2009 – New research from the University of Virginia Health System could help explain why some alcoholics are more severe drinkers than others. A UVA team has found strong evidence that the serotonin transporter gene, SLC6A4, plays a significant role in influencing drinking intensity among alcohol-dependent individuals.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study provides a first glimpse of exactly what people find offensive about super-sized houses which have sprouted up in neighborhoods around the country.

Researchers found that people particularly dislike when these large homes, often derisively called "McMansions," are more than two times as tall as surrounding homes, and when their architectural style is not compatible with the neighboring homes.

Is more of a good thing better? A gene known as LIS1 is crucial for ensuring the proper placement of neurons in the developing brain. When an LIS1 gene is missing, brains fail to develop the characteristic folds; babies with lissencephaly or 'smooth brain' are born severely mentally retarded. But new research by Prof. Orly Reiner of the Institute's Molecular Genetics Department, which recently appeared in Nature Genetics, shows that having extra LIS1 genes can cause problems as well.

BETHESDA, Md. (Feb 4, 2009) - Training people to avoid falls by repeatedly exposing them to unstable situations in the laboratory helped them to later maintain their balance on a slippery floor, according to new research from the Journal of Neurophysiology.

The study furthered the understanding of how the brain develops fall prevention strategies that can be generalized to a variety of conditions. The research could eventually help people, including the elderly, for whom falling is an important health issue.

Even when our eyes are closed, the visual centers in our brain are humming with activity. Weizmann Institute scientists and others have shown in the last few years that the magnitude of sense-related activity in a brain that's disengaged from seeing, touching, etc., is quite similar to that of one exposed to a stimulus. New research at the Institute has now revealed details of that activity, explaining why, even though our sense centers are working, we don't experience sights or sounds when there's nothing coming in through our sensory organs.

While al Qaeda is the primary terrorist/extremist threat in East Africa, the region suffers more broadly from a danger of radical Islamist groups and organizations that the United States and its allies must address to reshape the region's security environment, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.