Brain

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University may have found a new way information is communicated throughout the brain.

Their discovery could lead to identifying possible new targets to investigate brain waves associated with memory and epilepsy and better understand healthy physiology.

They recorded neural spikes traveling at a speed too slow for known mechanisms to circulate throughout the brain. The only explanation, the scientists say, is the wave is spread by a mild electrical field they could detect. Computer modeling and in-vitro testing support their theory.

Graph theoretical analysis is proving to be helpful in understanding complex networks in the brain. Investigators in the Republic of Korea used a graph theoretical approach in examining the changes in the configuration of the two hemispheres of the brain in 12 patients after stroke. They found it helped understand the dynamic reorganization of both hemispheric networks in the brain and to predict recovery of motor function. Their findings are published in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.

Do students think best when on their feet? A new study by the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health indicates they do.

Findings published recently in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health provide the first evidence of neurocognitive benefits of stand-height desks in classrooms, where students are given the choice to stand or sit based on their preferences.

Researchers at Tohoku University's School of Medicine have found an explanation for the correlation between eating fish during pregnancy, and the health of the baby's brain.

Dietary lipid contains fatty acids such as omega-6 and omega-3, which are essential nutrients for many animals and humans. The research group, led by Professor Noriko Osumi, found that a balanced intake of lipids by pregnant women is necessary for the normal brain formation of the unborn child.

AMES, Iowa - Social justice educational initiatives often focus on giving a voice to students of color and low-income students, but Katy Swalwell, an assistant professor of education at Iowa State University, says such efforts alone may not be enough to bring about real change.

Swalwell is not dismissing the need to empower students from oppressed and marginalized communities. However, she points to the continued lack of political power for certain socioeconomic groups, despite an increase in youth engagement.

PHILADELPHIA (January 14, 2016) - A new study from the Monell Center, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and collaborating institutions reports a uniquely identifiable odor signature from mouse models of Alzheimer's disease. The odor signature appears in urine before significant development of Alzheimer-related brain pathology, suggesting that it may be possible to develop a non-invasive tool for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers from the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Copenhagen have developed a cell line, which may be used to investigate new drugs and help predict whether they are able to enter the brain.

MINNEAPOLIS - Men who have high levels of urate, also known as uric acid, in their blood may be less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, according to a study published in the Jan. 13, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Urate is formed when other chemicals, called purines, are broken down in the body. Purines are found in food, and some purines are the building blocks of DNA. Studies have suggested that urate may play a protective role with brain cells.

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered a mechanism that may explain how the brain can recall nearly all of what happened on a recent afternoon -- or make a thorough plan for how to spend an upcoming afternoon -- in a fraction of the time it takes to live out the experience. The breakthrough in understanding a previously unknown function in the brain has implications for research into schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, Alzheimer's disease and other disorders where real experiences and ones that exist only in the mind can become distorted.

LA JOLLA, CA - January 13, 2016 - Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered that a lipid (fat molecule) in brain cells may act as a "switch" to increase or decrease the motivation to consume nicotine.

The team's findings in animal models point to a way that a drug might someday return this lipid to normal levels, perhaps making it easier for smokers to quit.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) has been called the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Worldwide, more than a quarter million U.S. military have been diagnosed with mTBI. Numerous reports show that many veterans exposed to explosions have suffered mTBIs, but exactly how their brains are affected has been unclear.

A new study presented in the journal Nature could change the view of the role of motor neurons. Motor neurons, which extend from the spinal cord to muscles and other organs, have always been considered passive recipients of signals from interneuronal circuits. Now, however, researchers from Sweden´s Karolinska Institutet have demonstrated a new, direct signalling pathway through which motor neurons influence the locomotor circuits that generate rhythmic movements.

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego have created the first stem cell-derived in vitro cellular model of a rare, but devastating, neurodegenerative condition called Cockayne syndrome (CS).

The findings are published in the current online issue of the journal Human Molecular Genetics.

When one spouse passes away, his or her characteristics continue to be linked with the surviving spouse's well-being, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings also indicate that this link between the deceased spouse and surviving spouse is as strong as that between partners who are both living.

Do students think best when on their feet? A new study by the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health claims they do.

This paper says it is the first evidence of neurocognitive benefits of standing desks in classrooms, where students are given the choice to stand or sit based on their preferences. Ranjana Mehta, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, researched freshman high school students who used standing desks. Testing was performed at the beginning and again at the end of their freshman year.