Brain

Think you haven’t got the aptitude to learn a foreign language? New research led by Northwestern University neuroscientists suggests that the problem, quite literally, could be in your head.

“Our study links brain anatomy to the ability to learn a second language in adulthood,” said neuroscientist Patrick Wong, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders at Northwestern and lead author of a study appearing online today (July 25) at , in Cerebral Cortex.

Imagine a chip, strategically placed in the brain, that could prevent epileptic seizures or allow someone who has lost a limb to control an artificial arm just by thinking about it.

It may sound like science fiction, but University of Florida researchers are developing devices that can interpret signals in the brain and stimulate neurons to perform correctly, advances that might someday make it possible for a tiny computer to fix diseases or even allow a paralyzed person to control a prosthetic device with his thoughts.

As any child knows, to answer the question “how many,” one must start by adding up individual objects in a group. This cognitive ability is shared by animals as diverse as humans and birds. Surprisingly, the exact brain mechanisms responsible for this process remained unknown until now.Neurons in the lateral intraparietal area of the monkey brain have been shown to integrate information about space and time. A new study asks whether they also "add up" numerical quantity. Credit: Roitman et al.

A woman – whose identity remains protected – presented herself to researchers after experiencing social embarrassment when she found she was unable to recognise colleagues, people to whom she had already been introduced.

The woman's condition, known as prosopamnesia, is extremely rare and has only been found in a handful of people around the world, according to University of Queensland cognitive neuroscientist Professor Jason Mattingley.

Most children treated in a variety of ways for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) showed sustained improvement after three years in a major follow-up study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Yet increased risk for behavioral problems, including delinquency and substance use, remained higher than normal.

The study followed-up children who had participated in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (MTA).

St. Jude investigators have used the lowly yeast to gain insights into how a dividing human cell ensures that an identical set of chromosomes gets passed on to each new daughter cell. Errors in this critical part of cell division can cause one daughter cell to get extra copies of some chromosomes that should have moved into the other daughter cell, or no copies of other chromosomes—a problem that is prevalent in cancer and can cause miscarriages or disease, such as Down syndrome.

Virtually everyone who joins a new group is sensitive to the fact that, as a newcomer, they must tread carefully for a while, keeping a low profile until becoming sufficiently integrated into the group. When they do offer their ideas, criticisms, and suggestions, existing group members typically resist their contributions.

Why does that happen and what can be done to overcome that resistance? Research published in the July issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSPB), from SAGE, explores those questions.

Children’s memories of events that occurred long ago may be more accurate than their recollections of events that took place recently. These findings may have implications for cases of child sexual abuse, when children are often the only witnesses. In the past, it has been assumed that because memory tends to fade with the passage of time, children’s reports given a long time after an event are less accurate than reports given soon after the events took place.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are the first to observe and measure the internal motion inside proteins, or its “dark energy.” This research, appearing in the current issue of Nature has revealed how the internal motion of proteins affects their function and overturns the standard view of protein structure-function relationships, suggesting why rational drug design has been so difficult.

Between 2 to18 percent of American children are thought to be affected by ADHD, and Ritalin, a stimulant similar to amphetamine and cocaine, remains one of the most prescribed drugs for the behavioral disorder.

A new study says Ritalin use by young children may cause long-term changes in the developing brain. The study is among the first to probe the effects of Ritalin (methylphenidate) on the neurochemistry of the developing brain.

There are lots of things that brain cells need to survive. Add to that list microRNAs. New research from Rockefeller University shows that neurons that cannot produce microRNAs, tiny single strands of RNA that regulate the expression of genes, slowly die in a manner similar to what is seen in such human neurodegenerative disorders as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Although no one has yet found microRNAs to be involved in any disease, their study in mice shows that these tiny snippets of RNA are essential for survival of mature neurons.

MIT researchers have identified a critical link between two proteins found in brain tumors, a discovery that could eventually help treat a form of brain cancer that kills 99 percent of patients.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive brain tumor in adults, strikes about 15,000 people in the United States each year. GBM is currently treated with a combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, but those treatments have proven ineffective. Most patients die within a year.

Researchers have identified a gene-regulating protein in the brains of mice that triggers the animals' ability to cope with the "behavioral despair" caused by inescapable stress. They said their studies have yielded an animal model of resilience that they will use to explore how antidepressants work on the brain circuitry involved in such stress response.

Led by Eric Nestler, the researchers published their findings in the July 19, 2007, issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press.

The link between alcohol and aggression is well known. What’s not so clear is just why drunks get belligerent. What is it about the brain-on-alcohol that makes fighting seem like a good idea? And do all intoxicated people get more aggressive? Or does it depend on the circumstances?

A specific genetic variation may be tied to an increased risk for severe premenstrual depression, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the National Institute of Mental Health have found.

Known medically as premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, this psychiatric condition affects roughly 8 percent of women in their childbearing years. It's characterized by bouts of major depression and/or anxiety and severe irritability during the second half of the menstrual cycle. Symptoms subside with the onset of each menstrual period.