Brain

Hurricane season has arrived, sparking renewed debate regarding possible links between global warming and the frequency and severity of hurricanes, heat waves and other extreme weather events.

Meanwhile, a related discussion has ensued among international-security experts who believe climate-change-related damage to global ecosystems and the resulting competition for natural resources may increasingly serve as triggers for wars and other conflicts in the future.

A Monash University scientist has discovered key appetite control cells in the human brain degenerate over time, causing increased hunger and potentially weight-gain as we grow older.

The research by Dr Zane Andrews, a neuroendocrinologist with Monash University's Department of Physiology, has been published in Nature.

Dr Andrews found that appetite-suppressing cells are attacked by free radicals after eating and said the degeneration is more significant following meals rich in carbohydrates and sugars.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Plastic coatings could someday help neural implants treat conditions as diverse as Parkinson's disease and macular degeneration.

The coatings encourage neurons in the body to grow and connect with the electrodes that provide treatment.

Jessica O. Winter, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State University described the research Thursday, August 21 at the American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia. She is also an assistant professor of biomedical engineering.

Pregnant women who endure the psychological stress of being in a war zone are more likely to give birth to a child who develops schizophrenia. Research published today in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry supports a growing body of literature that attributes maternal exposure to severe stress during the early months of pregnancy to an increased susceptibility to schizophrenia in the offspring.

Pregnant women who endure the psychological stress of being in a war zone are more likely to give birth to a child who develops schizophrenia. Research published in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry (embargoed for release on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 7:01 p.m. EST) supports a growing body of literature that attributes maternal exposure to severe stress during the early months of pregnancy to an increased susceptibility to schizophrenia in the offspring.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research suggests that a select group of compounds that interact with a protein in the brain might be used in the early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other dementia disorders.

Scientists have discovered that these compounds interact in three specific ways with the tau protein, which is the subject of a growing body of research into the causes and progression of dementia.

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Dr. Edward Duckworth is part of a new generation of neurosurgeons who are making brain surgery a lot easier on patients.

At Loyola University Hospital, Duckworth is using less-invasive techniques to remove tumors, to repair life-threatening aneurysms and to dramatically reduce seizures in epilepsy patients.

Rather than removing large sections of the skull or face, Duckworth is reaching the brain through much smaller openings. And in certain cases, he goes through the nose to get to the brain.

New research led by Chu Chen, PhD, Associate Professor of Neuroscience at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, provides evidence that one of the only naturally occurring fatty acids in the brain that has the ability to interact with the receptors originally identified as the targets of THC (the psychoactive component of marijuana) can help to protect brain cells from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

LOS ANGELES (Aug. 19, 2008) – When virally infected cells in the brain called astrocytes come in contact with anti-viral T cells of the immune system, they undergo a unique series of changes that dramatically reorganize their shape and function, according to researchers at the Board of Governors Gene Therapeutics Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Intriguingly, the new data indicate that astrocytes may defend themselves from attacking T cells by engulfing (gobbling up) the aggressors.

UPTON, NY -- Vigabatrin, a medication proposed as a potential treatment for drug addiction by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, also leads to rapid weight loss and reduced food intake according to a new animal study from the same research group. The study will be published online August 20, 2008, by the journal Synapse. Vigabatrin is currently undergoing U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved Phase II clinical trials against cocaine and methamphetamine addiction across the U.S.

Reporting in the open-access journal PLoS ONE on August 20, researchers have discovered that our society can influence the way we recognise other people's faces.

Because face recognition is effortlessly achieved by people from all different cultures it was considered to be a basic mechanism universal among humans. However, by using analyses inspired by novel brain imaging technology, researchers at the University of Glasgow have discovered that cultural differences cause us to look at faces differently.

A new test for West Nile virus in horses that could be modified for use on humans and wildlife may help track the spread of the disease, according to an article in the September issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology.

When a group of University of Oklahoma researchers began studying the environmental fate of spilt petroleum, a problem that has plagued the energy industry for decades, they did not expect to eventually isolate a community of microorganisms capable of converting hydrocarbons into natural gas.

Washington, DC – Just one night without sleep can increase the amount of the chemical dopamine in the human brain, according to new imaging research in the August 20 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Because drugs that increase dopamine, like amphetamines, promote wakefulness, the findings offer a potential mechanism explaining how the brain helps people stay awake despite the urge to sleep. However, the study also shows that the increase in dopamine cannot compensate for the cognitive deficits caused by sleep deprivation.

A report published by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in the August 20 issue of JAMA suggests that measuring how much an individual's performance varies across several neuropsychological tests enhances the accuracy of predicting whether older adults will develop dementia.