Brain

In his thesis Stefan Visscher studied 238 cases of antibiotic treatment of which – with hindsight – only 157 patients were actually suffering from pneumonia. An absence of suitable patient-friendly tests makes it difficult to determine with certainty whether or not a patient has developed pneumonia.

An increasing amount of information is available nowadays via the Internet. Yet can all this information be found? Search engines are already effective in searching for documents, yet are far less good at searching for entities, such as persons. Krisztian Balog introduces two new models in his thesis that make finding the right person quicker and more accurate.

An Australian study has flagged an important truth for the medical research community. Like their human counterparts, male and female mice are not only different, their respective genetic responses can often be the reverse of what you'd expect from pharmacological results. This has important ramifications for laboratory and clinical testing.

Dr Tim Karl, behavioural neuroscientist at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, found the opposite of what he expected in female mice when he investigated the anxiety behaviours of males and females in specific mouse models.

A clinical trial led by Paul S. Aisen, M.D., professor of neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, showed that high-dose vitamin B supplements did not slow the rate of cognitive decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease. The study will be published in the October 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

PASADENA, Calif.--Genetically modifying a receptor found on the neurons that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine has given California Institute of Technology (Caltech) researchers a unique glimpse into the workings of the brain's dopamine system--as well as a new target for treating diseases that result from either too much or too little of this critical neurotransmitter.

The mysteries of the human genome are slowly being revealed – but the more we uncover the more complicated the picture becomes. This was one key message to emerge from the European Science Foundation's 3rd Functional Genomics Conference held in Innsbruck, Austria, on 1-4 October.

Displays of altruism or selflessness towards others can be sexually attractive in a mate. This is one of the findings of a study carried out by biologists and a psychologist at The University of Nottingham.

In three studies of more than 1,000 people Dr Tim Phillips and his fellow researchers discovered that women place significantly greater importance on altruistic traits that anything else. Their findings have been published in the British Journal of Psychology.

UCLA scientists have found that for computer-savvy middle-aged and older adults, searching the Internet triggers key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. The findings demonstrate that Web search activity may help stimulate and possibly improve brain function.

The study, the first of its kind to assess the impact of Internet searching on brain performance, is currently in press at the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and will appear in an upcoming issue.

UPTON, NY — Using positron emission tomography (PET) to track tracer doses of methamphetamine in humans' brains, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory find that the addictive and long-lasting effects of this increasingly prevalent drug can be explained in part by its pharmacokinetics — the rate at which it enters and clears the brain, and its distribution. This study in 19 healthy, non-drug-abusing volunteers includes a comparison with cocaine and also looked for differences by race.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., October 13, 2008 — Could an aversion to bitter substances or an overall heightened sense of taste help protect some people from becoming addicted to nicotine? That's what researchers at UVA have found using an innovative new method they've developed to analyze the interactions of multiple genetic and environmental factors. Their findings one day may be key in identifying people at risk for nicotine dependence.

Researchers at The University of Nottingham are hoping to learn more about the causes of autism and Asperger's Syndrome, by putting a controversial theory to the test.

The team in the Social Cognition Group in the School of Psychology are looking for volunteers to take part in a series of tests that include computer tasks and puzzles, a short interview and a Magnetic Resonance brain scan (MRI).

What is it that allows some brands to succeed and some to fail? Why is it sometimes better to be first and other times more advantageous to reach the market later? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research takes a close look at the learning process consumers use to evaluate brands.

Brain imaging shows that the brains of teens that use marijuana are working harder than the brains of their peers who abstain from the drug. At the 2008 annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Boston, Mass., Krista Lisdahl Medina, a University of Cincinnati assistant professor of psychology, presented collaborative research with Susan Tapert, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.

The first few weeks at university can be a difficult time for freshers as they attempt to settle in to their new academic and social life.

Researchers at the University of Leicester have found that a high proportion of freshers use the internet to smooth the settling-in process.

The University is now exploring ways of using internet platforms that most students are familiar with -- social networking sites and podcasting -- to help new arrivals get their bearings.