Brain

Philadelphia, PA, July 18, 2016 - A new study in Biological Psychiatry reports that variations in 16p11.2, a region of the genome associated with risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), have distinct effects on cognition. The findings highlight the diversity of people with ASD.

Extra or missing copies of genetic material in a small region of the genome in chromosome 16, designated 16p11.2, increases the risk of autism spectrum disorders. Known as duplications or deletions, these alterations in the 16p11.2 genomic region are also associated with intellectual disability.

Human intelligence is being defined and measured for the first time ever, by researchers at the University of Warwick.

Led by Professor Jianfeng Feng in the Department of Computer Science, studies at Warwick and in China have been recently undertaken to quantify the brain's dynamic functions, and identify how different parts of the brain interact with each other at different times - namely, to discover how intellect works.

Cognitive brain training improves executive function whereas aerobic activity improves memory, according to new Center for BrainHealth research at The University of Texas at Dallas.

Researchers are constantly striving to develop better and safer flame retardants. For example, Sabyasachi Gaan's team at Empa's Advanced Fibers Laboratory, synthesised three new agents that have the same or improved flame retardancy as existing products. However, before a flame retardant is ready for mass production, it is essential to ensure its safety for humans.

MANHATTAN, KANSAS -- If you have visited Alaska's Katmai National Park in the month of July, you probably enjoyed watching brown bears fish for salmon at the iconic Brooks Falls.

But what if you saw the same scene on a live webcam? Would you have the same emotional response as viewing the bears in their natural surroundings?

NEW YORK, NY, July 18, 2016--A toxic Alzheimer's protein can spread through the brain--jumping from one neuron to another--via the extracellular space that surrounds the brain's neurons, suggests new research from Columbia University Medical Center.

The study has been published online in Nature Neuroscience.

The spread of the protein, called tau, may explain why only one area of the brain is affected in the early stages of Alzheimer's but multiple areas are affected in later stages of the disease.

Researchers at McMaster University have found a rich new record of vitamin D deficiency, one that resides in the teeth of every person and remains viable for hundreds of years or more.

The team of anthropologists has determined that looking into the microscopic structure of teeth opens a window into the lives and challenges of people who lived hundreds of years ago, and whose only record is their skeletal remains.

The neural architecture in the auditory cortex - the part of the brain that processes sound - of profoundly deaf and hearing people is virtually identical, a new study has found.

The study raises a host of new questions about the role of experience in processing sensory information, and could point the way toward potential new avenues for intervention in deafness. The study is described in a June 18 paper published in Scientific Reports.

"Under the microscope, it looks like a knotted tangle of tubes. It was initially studied by Maurizio De Crescenzi's team at the University of Rome Tor Vergata for cleaning up spilled hydrocarbons in the sea," explains Laura Ballerini, SISSA Professor and coordinator of the recently-published study. It was Maurizio Prato's intuition, however, that pushed them to investigate the possibility of applying such a material to nerve tissue.

Researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have published an in-depth analysis of a comprehensive molecular atlas of brain development in the non-human primate. This analysis uncovers features of the genetic code underlying brain development in our close evolutionary relative, while revealing distinct features of human brain development by comparison.

Food chemists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have found that garlic aroma is evident in the breast milk of women who have consumed garlic. This is caused by allyl methyl sulfide (AMS) - a metabolite which is first formed in a strong concentration during breastfeeding. Whether the aroma has an impact on which food preferences children develop and whether they like garlic in later life needs to be clarified by further research.

In this review, the current state of knowledge in designing pharmacologically active small molecules to possess physicochemical properties sufficient to engender blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetration is examined. The success rate to achieve clinical approval of drugs target to central nervous system (CNS) indications is the lowest of all disease states.

The purpose of our study was to investigate the nonlinear dynamic properties of neural ensemble activity in the primary visual cortex of rats following differential visual stimuli. The relative wavelet energy (RWE), wavelet entropy (WS), and the mean WS were extracted from LFPs recorded in rat V1 during three distinct visual stimuli: low ambient light, a uniform grey computer screen, and simple pictures of common scenes. The RWE of the ? band (31?62.5 Hz) is much higher in response to pictures, at least during certain periods of image presentation, and shows semi-periodic fluctuations.

WORCESTER, MA - Using a systems-biology approach, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School made a startling discovery that immune system signaling can directly affect, and even change, social behavior in mice and other model animals. Published in Nature, these findings could have great implications for neurological diseases such as autism-spectrum disorders and schizophrenia.

National Institutes of Health, Brain and Behavioral Research Foundation, FRAXA Research Foundation

DURHAM, N.C. -- A single chemical receptor in the brain is responsible for a range of symptoms in mice that are reminiscent of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), according to a Duke University study that appears online in the journal Biological Psychiatry.