Brain

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Mayo Clinic-led international consortium has found a mechanism that may help explain Parkinson's and other neurological disorders.

MADISON — University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have solved the mystery surrounding a "rogue protein" that plays a role in the release of neurotransmitters and hormones in the brain.

We've all experienced the feeling of not knowing where we are. Being disoriented is not pleasant, and it can even be scary, but luckily for most of us, this sensation is temporary. The brain employs a number of tricks to reorient us, keeping our confusion to a minimum and quickly pointing us in the right direction. Research has suggested that animals and young children mainly rely on geometric cues (e.g. lengths, distances, angles) to help them get reoriented. Human adults, however, can also make use of feature cues (e.g. color, texture, landmarks) in their surrounding area.

CORAL GABLES, FL (January 09, 2008)--Birdsongs are used extensively as models for animal signaling and human speech, offering a glimpse of how our own communicating abilities developed. A new study by Adrienne DuBois, a graduate student at the University of Miami (UM) College of Arts and Sciences Department of Biology, shows that the Swamp Sparrow has the ability to emit songs that are physically difficult to produce during hostile situations, implying that songbirds use sophisticated vocal performances as signals in aggressive communication.

(PHILADELPHIA) – Efforts to fight the toll of cardiac arrest have typically focused on pre-hospital factors -- bystander CPR education and improvement, public defibrillation programs, and quicker EMS response. But new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reveals that the hospital where patients are cared for after being resuscitated plays a key role in their chances of survival following these incidents, which takes the lives of more than 300,000 Americans each year.

The pain-relieving effects of nitrous oxide – laughing gas – may be enhanced by suggestion or hypnosis, according to a new study by UCL (University College London). The study's findings – that people are more suggestible under the gas – mean that dental patients may benefit from being coached to relax while undergoing sedation.

New cells are born every day in the brain's hippocampus, but what controls this birth has remained a mystery. Reporting in the January 1 issue of Science, neuroscientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered that the birth of new cells, which depends on brain activity, also depends on a protein that is involved in changing epigenetic marks in the cell's genetic material.

TORONTO – One reason racism persists is that many people imagine they would respond strongly to a racist act but actually respond with indifference, a new study led by York University shows.

Published in the Jan. 9 issue of Science, "Mispredicting Affective and Behavioral Responses to Racism" examines why acts of blatant racism against blacks still occur with alarming regularity, even though being labeled as a racist in modern society has become a powerful stigma.

Heart disease patients living in poorer areas of B.C. are up to twice as likely to die from chronic diseases than patients living in better-off areas, a University of British Columbia study has found.

The research, released this week in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE, found coronary-artery disease patients living in lower socioeconomic neighbourhoods are more vulnerable to death from chronic disease, particularly cancer.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University's School of Dentistry (www.ohsu.edu/sod) have discovered that the nerve cells controlling heart rate and blood pressure synthesize a molecule known to be critically important for proper nervous system growth. The finding could someday play a significant role in the prevention of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and high blood pressure. According to the National Institutes of Health, SIDS is the leading cause of death in children between 1 month and 1 year of age.

In ant society, workers normally give up reproducing themselves to care for their queen's offspring, who are their brothers and sisters. When workers try to cheat and have their own kids in the queen's presence, their peers swiftly attack and physically restrain them from reproducing.

Now, a new study published online on January 8th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, explains just how the cheaters get caught red-handed. Experimental evidence shows that chemical hydrocarbons produced by those sneaky sorts are a dead giveaway of their fertility status.

In 1913 Theodore Roosevelt added cartographer to his resume when he and his crew ventured up an unspeakably dangerous and uncharted tributary named the River of Doubt. Now, on a charting expedition of their own, Rockefeller University scientists have completed a journey that has also defied expectation.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In the early days of the Internet, some scholars once predicted a lessening of racism and race-based discrimination in online interactions thanks to the anonymity and race-neutral nature of the medium. But according to a new study published by a University of Illinois professor who studies race and the Internet, adolescents are increasingly experiencing both individual and vicarious discrimination online, which in turn triggers stress, depression and anxiety.

New Rochelle, NY, January 8, 2009—Natural gas, believed to be among the cleanest forms of fuel, does emit ultrafine airborne particulate matter when burned in home appliances such as stove tops and water heaters, according to a report in the December 2008 issue (Volume 25, Number 10) of Environmental Engineering Science journal, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The paper is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/ees

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Students' successes in the first grade can affect more than their future report cards. In a new study, University of Missouri researchers found links among students' weak academic performance in the first grade, self-perceptions in the sixth grade, and depression symptoms in the seventh grade.