Brain

WASHINGTON – A little bit of stress goes a long way and can have far-reaching effects.

Neuroscientists from the University of Washington have found that a single exposure to uncontrollable stress impairs decision making in rats for several days, making them unable to reliably seek out the larger of two rewards.

The research was presented here Tuesday (Nov. 18) at a press conference on "Our Stressed Out Brains" during the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting by Lauren Jones, a UW psychology doctoral student.

WASHINGTON – Amendments that restrict civil marriage rights of same-sex couples – such as Proposition 8 that recently passed in California – have led to higher levels of stress and anxiety among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults, as well as among their families of origin, according to several new studies to be published by the American Psychological Association.

Combine the aphorisms that "practice makes perfect" and "timing is everything" into one and you might get something resembling findings published in this month's issue of Psychological Science. Proper spacing of lessons, the researchers report, can dramatically enhance learning. And larger gaps between study sessions result in better recall of facts.

Conversely: Cramming – whether it's math for a midterm or a foreign language in anticipation of a trip abroad – is not effective in the long haul.

(CHICAGO) – A study is under way at Rush University Medical Center using a small, soft-patch device made of a Gore-tex-type material – often used to make durable outerwear – to close a common hole found in the heart called a patent foramen ovale (PFO) in order to prevent recurrent strokes and transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) in adults.

Rush is the only academic medical center in the Chicago area involved in the trial and one of only 50 sites in the U.S. and the world.

When picking through a basket of fruit, it doesn't seem very difficult to recognize a green pear from a green apple. This is easy, thanks to "feature binding"— a process by which our brain combines all of the specific features of an object and gives us a complete and unified picture of it. For example, upon first seeing the fruit basket, our brain immediately gets to work, connecting (or binding) information about each fruit's shape to its color to ensure that we select the green apple we are craving instead of a green pear.

All of us have experienced being in a new place and feeling certain that we have been there before. This mysterious feeling, commonly known as déjà vu, occurs when we feel that a new situation is familiar, even if there is evidence that the situation could not have occurred previously. For a long time, this eerie sensation has been attributed to everything from paranormal disturbances to neurological disorders.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- New research in mice suggests that high levels of social support may provide some protection against strokes by reducing the amount of damaging inflammation in the brain.

Researchers at Ohio State University found that male mice that lived with a female partner before and after a stroke had a much higher survival rate compared to those mice that lived alone.

In addition, the paired mice suffered much less brain damage than did the surviving solitary mice.

A study conducted on hundreds of rats could help us understand how the brain identifies specific sounds in a noisy environment. The investigation, soon to be published in the journal Brain, was conducted by Alex Martin of the Université de Montréal Department of Psychology.

"Our ears have thousands of ciliated cells with different sensitivities," says Martin. "These cells identify the frequencies that make up a particular sound, but also the spectrum of different frequencies that blend together. That is why we can identify different instruments playing the same note."

All great athletes know that in order to perform well, they can't just depend on their physical capabilities. Speed and efficiency in decision-making are just as essential. Two researchers from the School of Optometry of the Université de Montréal have discovered how to train the brain of athletes to improve their overall athletic performance.

NEW YORK (Nov. 18, 2008) – Thousands of Americans suffering from the chronic inflammatory bowel condition known as Crohn's disease are leading longer, healthier lives due to innovative new surgeries, according to experts at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Between the ages of six months and six years old, close to 90 percent of children have at least one sleep-related problem. Among the most common issues are night terrors, teeth-grinding and bed-wetting.

CINCINNATI—A very low risk of complication is associated with a routine test that determines whether a brain aneurysm treated with endovascular coiling has started to recur, a study led by the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute has shown.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Early breast health education may be the key to lowering breast cancer mortality rates in Washington, D.C., which has the highest rates in the country, according to research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The United States does not have enough effective teachers – a problem that could be corrected partly by improving working conditions at low-income schools and determining the best forms of teacher recruitment, according to a national panel of experts led by a Michigan State University scholar.

The University of Leicester has a strong presence at the premier annual conference for the international e-learning community.

Presentations by members of the University will be made at the Online Educa 2008 conference, to be held in Berlin from the 3rd to 5th December.

Nine members of staff are attending the conference where they will discuss new developments in e-learning.