Brain

LOS ANGELES (STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL JULY 15, 2008 AT 12:01 A.M. EDT) – Researchers conducting a clinical trial of a dendritic cell vaccine designed to fight malignant brain tumors called glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) have found a correlation between the "intensity" of a patient's immune response and clinical outcome, according to an article in the July 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research.

Children in full-day kindergarten have slightly better reading and math skills than children in part-day kindergarten, but these initial academic benefits diminish soon after the children leave kindergarten. This loss is due, in part, to issues related to poverty and the quality of children's home environments.

Colombian children living in war zones exhibited an understanding that stealing or hurting others is wrong. But when asked to consider revenge as a motive, many said it is acceptable to steal or hurt others for revenge. These vulnerabilities were more pronounced among teenagers.

Those are the findings of a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Utah. One of the first studies to consider how growing up in a war zone affects children's moral development, the research appears in the July/August 2008 issue of the journal Child Development.

Children from immigrant families are assumed to give up their families' ethnic and cultural background in order to assimilate with American culture. But a new study shows that in fact, they find ways to combine their cultural heritage with their identification as members of American society, especially during the high school years. The types of labels they create and use could foreshadow the types of labels used by the larger society in the years to come.

Kidney transplants should be carried out during the day if possible. At least this is the conclusion suggested by a survey just published by urologists and internists at the University of Bonn (Transplantation Proceedings, vol. 40, p. 1341 ff.). Hence operations carried out at night require a further operation more than twice as often as other operations. Moreover, the risk of premature failure of the transplant is higher with operations taking place at night. The reason is probably that the surgeon is more alert and focused during the day.

In the July 15th issue of G&D, Dr. Matthew Scott and colleagues at Stanford University School of Medicine reveal that a protein called Nucleostemin 3 links the serotonin and insulin signaling pathways in the control of Drosophila body size.

Nucleostemin proteins were originally identified in mammals, where they are associated with undifferentiated, proliferating stem cells. In human cells, Nucleostemin expression has been linked with certain types of cancer.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Mild Alzheimer's disease patients with higher physical fitness had larger brains compared to mild Alzheimer's patients with lower physical fitness, according to a study published in the July 15, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Which is easier to remember: 4432879960 or 443-297-9960? The latter, of course. Adults seem to know automatically, in fact, that long strings of numbers are more easily recalled when divided into smaller "bite-sized chunks," which is why we break up our telephone and Social Security numbers in this way.

Huntington's disease normally only begins to cause its tell-tale memory and physical coordination impairments after affected individuals reach the age of 30. The nerve damage that creates these impairments is thought to be partly due to a destructive immune response in the brain. The current study now shows that this inflammatory response starts to brew elsewhere in the body long before it inflicts brain damage.

A different cutoff point on an existing mental function assessment may more effectively assess the risk of dementia in highly educated older adults, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The common practice of administering heparin soon after cardioembolic stroke is associated with an increased risk for serious bleeding, according to an article posted online today that will appear in the September 2008 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, it appears that anticoagulation with warfarin therapy may safely begin shortly after stroke.

CHAPEL HILL, NC — In one of the first studies to link molecular genetic variants to adolescent delinquency, sociological research published in the August issue of the American Sociological Review identifies three genetic predictors—of serious and violent delinquency—that gain predictive precision when considered together with social influences, such as family, friends and school processes.

LONDON (14 July 2008) -- Escalating global demand for fuel, food and wood fibre will destroy the world's forests, if efforts to address climate change and poverty fail to empower the billion-plus forest-dependent poor, according to two reports released today by the U.S.-based Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), an international coalition comprising the world's foremost organisations on forest governance and conservation.

Philadelphia, PA, July 14, 2008 – Biological Psychiatry is particularly proud to announce the publication of an issue dedicated to the product of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Cognitive Neuroscience Approaches to the Treatment of Impaired Cognition in Schizophrenia, or CNTRICS, initiative. This July 1, 2008 issue includes eight articles on CNTRICS: one commentary, one overview paper of the CNTRICS meeting, and six review papers on the ideas developed at the first of the three scheduled CNTRICS meetings.

ROCHESTER, Minn. - A new Mayo Clinic study shows that variations in the serotonin transporter gene could explain why some people with depression respond better than others to treatment with citalopram (Celexa), an antidepressant medication.