Brain

STANFORD, Calif. — Coaxing a patient's own cells to hunt down and tackleinfected or diseased cells is a promising therapeutic approach for manydisorders. But until now, efforts to follow these specially modifiedcells after their reintroduction to the body have relied on short-termmonitoring techniques that don't give a complete picture of the cells'status.

BETHESDA, Md. (Nov. 18, 2008) − A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the mouse brain, and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical which promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells.

A University of Iowa-led international research team has found a new gene associated with the brain disorder epilepsy. While the PRICKLE1 gene mutation was specific to a rare form of epilepsy, the study results could help lead to new ideas for overall epilepsy treatment.

The findings, which involved nearly two dozen institutions from six different countries, appear in the Nov. 7 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Since the historical discovery of the speech center in the left cortex in 150 years ago, functional differences between left and right hemisphere have been well known; language is mainly handled by left hemisphere, while spatial recognition is more specialized to the right hemisphere. However, the structural differences of synapses underlying left-right difference of the brain remained unknown.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new study shows that a drug that increases the release of growth hormone failed to slow the rate of progression of Alzheimer's disease in humans. The new research is published in the November 18, 2008, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

CHAPEL HILL – If scientists knew exactly what a breast cancer cell needs to spread, then they could stop the most deadly part of the disease: metastasis. New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine takes a step in that direction.

Carol Otey, Ph.D. and UNC colleagues reduced the ability of breast cancer cells to migrate by knocking down the expression of a protein called palladin.

They also found higher levels of palladin in four invasive breast cancer cell lines compared to four non-invasive cell lines.

As the global population continues to grow exponentially, our social connections to one another remain relatively small, as if we're all protagonists in the Kevin Bacon game inspired by "Six Degrees of Separation," a Broadway play and Hollywood feature that were popular in the 1990s.

In fact, classic studies show that if we were to route a letter to an unknown person using only friends or acquaintances who we thought might know the intended recipient, it would take five or six intermediary acquaintances before the letter reaches its intended destination.

In the December 1st issue of G&D, Dr. Fred H. Gage (The Salk Institute for Biological Studies) and colleagues reveal a role for the Hippo signaling pathway in the regulation of vertebrate neural development, identifying new factors – and potential therapeutic targets – that may be involved in congenital brain size disorders and neurological tumor formation.

Their paper will be made available online ahead of print on 11/17 at http://genesdev.org.

Historically, scientists have regarded itching as a less intense version of the body's response to pain, but researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have determined that pain and itch actually are regulated by different molecular mechanisms.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A new study by researchers at UC Davis Medical Center suggests that the sudden unexplained deaths of some epilepsy patients may be a result of their brains not telling their bodies to breathe during seizures.

"Significant drops in blood oxygen levels are more common than we thought in patients with partial seizures," said study senior author Masud Seyal, a professor of neurology at UC Davis Medical Center and director of the UC Davis Comprehensive Epilepsy Program.

In a November 16 advance, online publication of the journal Nature, the researchers say their discovery revamps common beliefs about how such potentially lethal infections may be ravaging the brain and suggests the possibility of new treatments.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Nov. 17, 2008 -- A Cray XT high-performance computing system at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the world's fastest supercomputer for science. The annual ranking of the world's top 500 computers (www.top500.org) will be released Tuesday in Austin at an annual international supercomputing conference.

New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests cooling the brain may prevent the death of nerve cells that has been observed in infant mice exposed to anesthesia. The effects of anesthesia on human infants and young children have been debated among neuroscientists, but growing evidence suggests exposure to anesthetic drugs during brain development may contribute to behavioral and developmental delays.

A class of drugs that are used in premature infants to treat chronic lung damage can cause damage in the brain. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests the drugs may cause cognitive and motor-control problems even when they are given before birth.

PROVIDENCE, RI – A new study by researchers from The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine suggests increased physical activity after bariatric surgery can yield better postoperative outcomes.

According to the study, published online by the journal Obesity, previously inactive patients who became physically active after bariatric surgery lost more weight and achieved greater improvements in quality of life than those patients who remained inactive.