Brain

(BOSTON/WORCESTER, Mass.) - Scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University developing novel nanotherapeutics for clearing obstructed blood vessels have teamed up with researchers at University of Massachusetts' New England Center for Stroke Research (NECSTR) to develop a new, highly effective drug-device combination for treating life-threatening blood clots in patients with stroke.

Hearing well impacts every area of a child's life -- language and speech development, social skills, and future academic and life success.

Yet little research has been conducted which focuses on infants and preschoolers with mild to severe hearing loss to determine what support or services will help them succeed.

A large-scale, longitudinal study, the first-of-its-kind in the nation, has followed children ranging in age from six months to seven years old who experienced mild to severe hearing loss.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (Oct. 27, 2015) - Alcohol and nicotine use have long been known to go hand in hand. Previous research shows that more than 85 percent of U.S. adults who are alcohol-dependent also are nicotine-dependent. Now, researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine have found that nicotine cancels out the sleep-inducing effects of alcohol. It's a finding that sheds light on the reason alcohol and nicotine usage are so closely linked.

People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have reduced activity of the protein serum and glucocorticoid regulated kinase 1 (SGK1) in their prefrontal cortices, and experimentally reducing the protein's activity in rats leads to PTSD-like behavior, according to a new study in PLOS Biology. The study by Pawel Licznerski, Ronald Duman and colleagues of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University publishing in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology on Oct. 27th, suggests that augmenting activity of SGK1 may be therapeutic in PTSD.

DETROIT - The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $3 million grant to Wayne State University for an institutional transformation project aimed at reformulating teaching approaches in STEM courses.

People who have had an episode of major depression are at high risk for having another episode. Now, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that the risk of recurrence is significantly lower for people with complete, rather than partial depressive symptom resolution.

When people talk or sing, they often nod, tilt or bow their heads to reinforce verbal messages. But how effective are these head gestures at conveying emotions?

Very effective, according to researchers from McGill University in Montreal. Steven R. Livingstone and Caroline Palmer, from McGill's Department of Psychology, found that people were highly accurate at judging emotions based on head movements alone, even in the absence of sound or facial expressions.

In a study of federal marketplace insurance plans, nearly 15 percent completely lacked in-network physicians for at least 1 specialty, a practice found among multiple states and issuers, raising concerns regarding patient access to specialty care, according to a study in the October 27 issue of JAMA.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2015 -- As Halloween approaches, you may be watching more horror flicks. And afterwards, you might be imagining ghouls and axe murderers around every corner. The fear you feel as you watch a victim die, the screams you make when the killer jumps out on screen--these responses are surprisingly similar to those of the poor victim in the movie. What happens in your brain when you're about to die? This week, Reactions walks you through the chemistry of your last moments.

Fifteen years ago, a study showed that the brains of London cab drivers had an enlargement in the hippocampus, a brain area associated with navigation. But questions remained: Did the experience of navigating London's complex system of streets change their brains, or did only the people with larger hippocampi succeed in becoming cab drivers?

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Weight and physical activity levels are both factors in a child's ability to acquire and use knowledge, a new study finds.

"The question this paper asks that has not been asked before is whether it is just fitness that influences children's cognition," said Dr. Catherine Davis, clinical health psychologist at the Georgia Prevention Institute at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. "What we found is weight and physical activity both matter."

An astrophysics student at The Australian National University (ANU) has turned to artificial intelligence to help her to see into the hearts of galaxies.

PhD student Elise Hampton was inspired by neural networks to create a program to single out from thousands of galaxies the subjects of her study - the most turbulent and messy galaxies.

"I love artificial intelligence. It was actually a very simple program to write, once I learnt how," said Ms Hampton, who is studying at the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

It is fascinating to observe a robot exploring its physical possibilities and surroundings, and subsequently developing different self-taught behaviors without any instructions.

A busy kitchen is a place where all of the senses are on high alert--your brain is processing the sound of sizzling oil, the aroma of spices, the visual aesthetic of food arranged on a plate, the feel and taste of taking a bite. While these signals may seem distinct and independent, they actually interact and integrate together within the brain's network of sensory neurons.

Insulin, the hormone essential to all mammals for controlling blood sugar levels and a feeling of being full after eating, plays a much stronger role than previously known in regulating release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers, new studies by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center show.