Brain

A new study provides critical insight into the disabling depression experienced by many women during early motherhood. The research, published by Cell Press in the July 31 issue of the journal Neuron, reveals new details about the pathogenesis of postpartum depression and provides a mouse model that may lead to development of new treatments for mood disorders associated with pregnancy.

New research has uncovered a fundamental cellular mechanism that may drive pathological drug-seeking behavior. The study, published by Cell Press in the July 31 issue of the journal Neuron, examines the brain's reward circuitry and details strikingly distinct influences of self-administered cocaine compared to natural rewards or passive cocaine injection.

One of the major unanswered questions surrounding Alzheimer's disease – whether and how the amyloid plaques found in the brains of patients with the neurodegenerative disorder actually damage neurons – may be closer to an answer. Using an advanced imaging technique that reveals how brain cells are functioning, researchers from the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MGH-MIND) have found that levels of intracellular calcium are significantly elevated in neurons close to plaques in the brains of an Alzheimer's mouse model.

Irvine, Calif. — UC Irvine researchers have identified the brain mechanism that switches off traumatic feelings associated with bad memories, a finding that could lead to the development of drugs to treat panic disorders.

Scientists from UCI and the University of Muenster in Germany found that a small brain protein called neuropeptide S is involved in erasing traumatic responses to adverse memories by working on a tiny group of neurons inside the amygdala where those memories are stored.

Researchers have pinpointed a mechanism in the brains of mice that could explain why some human mothers become depressed following childbirth. The discovery could lead to improved treatment for postpartum depression. Supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health, of the National Institutes of Health, the study used genetically engineered mice lacking a protein critical for adapting to the sex hormone fluctuations of pregnancy and the postpartum period.

WORCESTER, Mass.—In recent years, a class of small molecules known as microRNA have been found to play an important role in regulating gene products in most animal and plant species. A new study now indicates that microRNA may influence the development of alcohol tolerance, a hallmark of alcohol abuse and dependence. Researchers supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) report the findings in the July 31 issue of the journal Neuron.

Autopsies usually point to a cause of death but now a study of brain tissue collected during these procedures, may explain an underlying cause of major depression and suicide. The international research group, led by Dr. Michael O. Poulter of Robarts Research Institute at The University of Western Ontario and Dr. Hymie Anisman of the Neuroscience Research Institute at Carleton University, is the first to show that proteins that modify DNA directly are more highly expressed in the brains of people who commit suicide.

NEW YORK, July 26, 2008 – The following news tips are based on poster and oral presentations at the Alzheimer's Association 2008 International Conference to be held in Chicago from July 26 to July 31. Each presentation is embargoed for a specific date and time.

Brain Atrophy and Biomarkers May Help Identify People at Risk for Alzheimer's Susan de Santi, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, NYU Langone Medical CenterEMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL TUESDAY, July 29, 2008 at 12:30 p.m. CT

It often seems that certain aspects of our personalities are influenced by events that occurred in our childhoods. A recent study by Dr. Akaysha Tang's research team from the University of New Mexico Psychology Department (http://atlab.unm.edu) and collaborators at Rockefeller University examined how early life experience influences social skills and ability to handle stressful situations using a rat model. The study will be published on July 30th in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE.

In a new study published in the online-open access journal PLoS ONE, Per Christiansen at the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark, reports the finding that the evolution of skull and mandible shape in sabercats and modern cats were governed by different selective forces, and the two groups evolved very different adaptations to killing.

Aging impairs the consolidation of memories during sleep, a process important in converting new memories into long-term ones, according to new animal research in the July 30 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings shed light on normal memory mechanisms and how they are disrupted by aging.

The Same Dose of Anthracycline Is Not Safe for Everyone

Not all patients can tolerate the currently recommended cumulative dose of epirubicin. New models can help physicians calculate the epirubicin dose associated with a 5 percent risk of cardiotoxicity for individual patients.

JULY 29, 2008, WHITE PLAINS, NY – Babies born too soon and too small accounted for a growing proportion of infant deaths, according to new statistics released today from the National Center for Health Statistics, (NCHS).

Babies who died of preterm-related causes accounted for 36.5 percent of infant deaths in 2005, up from 34.6 percent in 2000, according to "Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2005 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set," Vol. 57, No. 2, of the National Vital Statistics Report, released today by the NCHS.

A new drug has been shown to improve the brain function of people with early stage Alzheimer's disease and reduce a key protein associated with the disease in the spinal fluid, in a small study published today in the journal Lancet Neurology and presented at the 2008 Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease.

Managers seeking to hire star employees away from competitors are likely to be disappointed with their costly new employee's performance – and the star is likely to be unhappy, too – according to the Management Insights feature in the current issue of Management Science, the flagship journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®).