Brain

Extremely premature babies run a much higher risk of developing autism in later childhood, and even during the neonate period differences are seen in the brains of those who do. This according to a new study by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden. The findings, which are published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, suggest that environmental factors can lead to autism

Interventions targeted at individual students can improve the classroom environment and trigger a second wave of benefits for all classmates, new research shows. The findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, indicate that sharing a classroom with greater numbers of students who participate in a brief intervention can boost all students' grades over and above the initial benefits of the intervention.

Chronic overeating and stress are tied to an increased risk of depression and anxiety, and in a new study, Yale researchers explain why that happens and suggest a possible solution.

The researchers report that the anesthetic ketamine reverses depression-like symptoms in rats fed a high-fat diet in a similar way it combats depression and synaptic damage of chronic stress in people.

New research has shed light on the complex interactions of stem cell function and molecular diffusion in neural tissue, which may explain many phenomena from stem cell differentiation to the formation of the cortex of the brain. While researching new methods of reconstructing 3D neural tissue and neural pathways in the brain and spinal cord, Dr. Richard McMurtrey devised new mathematical approaches for understanding the concentration of nutrients within the 3D tissue constructs and how this could affect tissue growth.

Targeted alpha therapy has the potential to selectively eliminate HIV infected cells from the central nervous system, according to a recent study co-authored by the JRC. The study shows that a specific human antibody labelled with the alpha emitter bismuth-213 can penetrate the blood brain barrier and selectively target and destroy HIV-infected cells while sparing non-infected healthy cells. These findings may open new options for the treatment of HIV associated neurocognitive disorders.

Philadelphia, PA, December 21, 2015 - Investigators have wondered why the brains of some cognitively-intact elderly individuals have abundant pathology on autopsy or significant amyloid deposition on neuroimaging that are characteristic of Alzheimer disease (AD). Researchers reporting in The American Journal of Pathology investigated biochemical factors and identified differences in proteins from parietal cortex synapses between patients with and those without manifestation of dementia.

New Rochelle, NY, Dec. 18, 2015 -- New visualization evidence from a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of the human brain demonstrated previously unidentified structural connections between the brainstem and the forebrain. Specifically, the investigators found neuroanatomic connections between the brainstem regions involved in autonomic and cardiorespiratory function and forebrain regions involved in homeostatic control.

Two newly-developed systems for driverless cars can identify a user's location and orientation in places where GPS does not function, and identify the various components of a road scene in real time on a regular camera or smartphone, performing the same job as sensors costing tens of thousands of pounds.

MADISON, Wis. - Seeing a child steal a toy from a fellow playmate. Watching a stranger cut in line at the grocery store. When we witness something unjust, our emotions often shape our behavior both toward the person wronged and the wrongdoer.

One year ago, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to the discoverers of the mammalian "GPS system" for spatial navigation. Measuring neural activity in cortex, these researchers had found that some cells represent space in a highly surprising manner: As the animal moves through its environment, distinct sets of cells are sequentially activated. Each individual "grid cell" responds to multiple positions in space that form a virtual hexagonal lattice tessellating the environment.

NEW YORK, NY (December 16, 2015) - A network of interacting brain regions known as the default mode network (DMN) was found to have stronger connections in adults and children with a high risk of depression compared to those with a low risk. These findings suggest that increased DMN connectivity is a potential precursor, or biomarker, indicating a risk of developing major depressive disorder (MDD).

The study was published online today in Neuropsychopharmacology.

The central use of language is in conversation, where we take short turns in rapid alternation, a pattern found across unrelated cultures and languages. In the December issue of Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Stephen Levinson from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics reviews new research on turn-taking, focusing on its implications for how languages are structured and for how language and communication evolved.

Mice that had strokes rebounded significantly faster if they received low doses of a popular sleeping aid, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

A University of Virginia Health System news release describing the "missing link" between the brain and the immune system was 2015's most popular - and most shared - science news on EurekAlert!, a science news service operated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- A new study finds that pre-adolescent children who have sustained sports-related concussions have impaired brain function two years following injury.

The results are published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology.

Over a million brain injuries are treated annually in the U.S. While organized sports at all levels have implemented safety protocols for preventing and treating head injuries, most pediatric concussions still result from athletic activities.