Brain

The effects of Amyloid beta (Aβ)-Aβ-binding alcohol dehydrogenase (ABAD) may exacerbate Alzheimer's disease pathology. Therefore, blocking Aβ-ABAD-mediate effects with ABAD decoy peptide (ABAD-DP) may be a potential therapeutic strategy for Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Jiang Wu and team from the First Hospital of Jilin University in China successfully constructed a recombinant adenovirus constitutively secreting and expressing Aβ-ABAD decoy peptide (rAAV/ABAD-DP-6His).

Shuganjieyu capsule has been approved for clinical treatment by the State Food and Drug Administration of China since 2008. In the clinic, Shuganjieyu capsule is often used to treat mild to moderate depression. Prof. Jingping Zhao and team from the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University in China conducted a study to examine the effect of Shuganjieyu capsule on behavioral changes in a rat model of depression.

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Supervisors who are abusive to individual employees can actually throw the entire work team into conflict, hurting productivity, finds new research led by a Michigan State University business scholar.

The study, conducted in China and the United States, suggests the toxic effect of nonphysical abuse by a supervisor is much broader than believed. Published online in the Journal of Applied Psychology, it's one of the first studies to examine the effect of bad bosses in employee teams. Teams are increasingly popular in the business world.

BOSTON – As people grow older, they often have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, and tend to awaken too early in the morning. In individuals with Alzheimer's disease, this common and troubling symptom of aging tends to be especially pronounced, often leading to nighttime confusion and wandering.

The area of the brain involved in multitasking and ways to train it have been identified by a research team at the IUGM Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal and the University of Montreal. The research includes a model to better predict the effectiveness of this training. Cooking while having a conversation, watching a movie while browsing the Web, or driving while listening to a radio show – multitasking is an essential skill in our daily lives.

The calls of many animals, from whales to wolves, might contain more language-like structure than previously thought, according to study that raises new questions about the evolutionary origins of human language.

The study, published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, analyzed the vocal sequences of seven different species of birds and mammals and found that the vocal sequences produced by the animals appear to be generated by complex statistical processes, more akin to human language.

Stimulating nerves in your ear could improve the health of your heart, researchers have discovered.

A team at the University of Leeds used a standard TENS machine like those designed to relieve labour pains to apply electrical pulses to the tragus, the small raised flap at the front of the ear immediately in front of the ear canal.

The stimulation changed the influence of the nervous system on the heart by reducing the nervous signals that can drive failing hearts too hard.

Between 3-6% of children in the UK have substantial difficulties learning to read, a condition often referred to as "dyslexia." They are at high risk of educational underachievement, explain consultant ophthalmologist Philip Griffiths and colleagues in an editorial.

An accumulation of evidence supports the view that dyslexia is a verbal (not visual) disorder, and shows that reading difficulties are best addressed by interventions that target underlying weaknesses in phonological language skills and letter knowledge.

new web-based program developed by University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center researchers will provide a simple, free way for healthcare providers to determine which brain tumor cases require testing for a genetic mutation.

LIVERPOOL, UK – 19 August 2014: An engineer at the University of Liverpool has found how worms move around, despite not having a brain to communicate with the body.

Dr Paolo Paoletti, alongside his colleague at Harvard, Professor L Mahadevan, has developed a mathematical model for earthworms and insect larvae which challenges the traditional view of how these soft bodied animals get around.

New fundamental knowledge about the regulation of stem cells in the nerve tissue of zebrafish embryos results in surprising insights into neurodegenerative disease processes in the human brain. A new study by scientists at VIB and KU Leuven identifies the molecules responsible for this process.

Zebrafish as a model

Spontaneous gesture can help children learn, whether they use a spoken language or sign language, according to a new report.

Previous research by Susan Goldin-Meadow, the Beardsley Ruml Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Psychology, has found that gesture helps children develop their language, learning and cognitive skills. As one of the nation's leading authorities on language learning and gesture, she has also studied how using gesture helps older children improve their mathematical skills.

Electroacupuncture has traditionally been used to treat pain, but its effect on pain following brachial plexus injury is still unknown. In a recent study reported on the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 14, 2014), rat models of an avulsion injury to the left brachial plexus root (associated with upper-limb chronic neuropathic pain) were given electroacupuncture stimulation at bilateral Quchi (LI11), Hegu (LI04), Zusanli (ST36) and Yanglingquan (GB34). After electroacupuncture therapy, chronic neuropathic pain in the rats' upper limbs was significantly attenuated.

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction is associated with neuronal apoptosis, which may result from post-surgery inflammation, the phosphorylation of tau protein and the accumulation of amyloid in aged people. 5′adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) can be involved in anti-inflammation, neuronal repair and anti-inflammation of the body through different downstream proteins and pathways. In addition, the activation of AMPK regulates tau protein phosphorylation and reduces amyloidogenesis in neurons.

A recent study reported by Haigang Chang and co-workers from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University in China verified the effects of transient axonal glycoprotein-1 (TAG-1) on cell viability and p53, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and amyloid precursor protein (APP) intracellular C-terminal domain (AICD) expression in U251 glioma cells. Their pilot study showed that the signaling pathways induced by TAG-1, TAG-1/APP/AICD/p53 and TAG-1/APP/AICD/EGFR, did not inhibit glioma development by inhibiting cell proliferation or by inducing apoptosis.