Brain

Even before they stand up, infants have a rough idea of how to walk; they just need some time to lay down the right neural wiring. Understanding how babies take their first steps can also help us to improve the rehabilitation of patients recovering from spinal cord injury, and children with cerebral palsy.

Anyone who has held a baby near to the floor and seen the child 'walking' around has caught a glimpse of our inborn instinct for walking. This primitive stepping reflex is the foundation on which children build an independent walking motion.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- An unprecedented alliance of leading scientists, health professionals, and children's and environmental health advocates agree for the first time that today's scientific evidence supports a link between exposures to toxic chemicals in air, water, food and everyday products and children's risks for neurodevelopmental disorders.

TUCSON, Ariz. - Physicians may be drawing conclusions too soon about survival outcomes of patients who suffered a cardiac arrest outside the hospital.

Brisbane, Australia: A new study has found many Australian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may not be diagnosed until long after initial signs appear, prompting calls for improvements to the diagnostic process.

Researchers from QUT's (Queensland University of Technology) School of Psychology and Counselling conducted a national study of paediatricians, psychologists and psychiatrists to investigate issues related to ASD assessment and diagnosis in children.

A new study has found that paracetamol (acetaminophen), which is used extensively during pregnancy, has a strong association with autism spectrum symptoms in boys and for both genders in relation to attention-related and hyperactivity symptoms.

Eating a type of powdered food supplement, based on a molecule produced by bacteria in the gut, reduces cravings for high-calorie foods such as chocolate, cake and pizza, a new study suggests.

Scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Glasgow asked 20 volunteers to consume a milkshake that either contained an ingredient called inulin-propionate ester, or a type of fibre called inulin.

Scientists from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS were able to make real-time observations over a period of several months that reveal how new adult-born neurons are formed and evolve in the olfactory bulb of mice. They made the surprising discovery that there is constant structural plasticity in the connections established by these new neurons with the circuits into which they are recruited. The scientists showed that this neuronal dynamism can enable optimal processing of sensory information by the olfactory bulb.

A new study analyzing traffic stops in Vermont shows that black and Hispanic drivers are pulled over, searched and arrested far more often than whites, yet white drivers are more likely to be carrying illegal contraband.

While strokes are known to increase risk for dementia, much less is known about diseases of large and small blood vessels in the brain, separate from stroke, and how they relate to dementia. Diseased blood vessels in the brain itself, which commonly is found in elderly people, may contribute more significantly to Alzheimer's disease dementia than was previously believed, according to new study results published in June in The Lancet Neurology, a British medical journal.

An unprecedented alliance of leading scientists, medical experts, and children's health advocates argue that today's scientific evidence supports a link between exposures to toxic chemicals in air, food, and everyday products and children's risks for neurodevelopmental disorders. The alliance, known as Project TENDR, which stands for "Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental Risks," is calling for immediate action to significantly reduce exposures to toxic chemicals to protect brain development.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- In a new report, dozens of scientists, health practitioners and children's health advocates are calling for renewed attention to the growing evidence that many common and widely available chemicals endanger neurodevelopment in fetuses and children of all ages.

A clinical trial testing mobile videoconferencing as a means for physicians to diagnose stroke patients while they're being transported to the hospital has found that a tablet-based system produced diagnoses highly correlating with a bedside assessment -- a finding that could have important implications for the early treatment of stroke and for preventing the disability it causes.

iTREAT

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Researchers have made two new scientific points with a set of experiments in which they induced people to perceive colors that weren't really there -- one concerning how the brain works and the other concerning how to work the brain.

Working with colleagues in Japan, the scientists at Brown University used a novel technique to surreptitiously train a small group of volunteers to associate vertical stripes with the color red and -- to a lesser extent as a consequence -- horizontal stripes with the color green.

Researchers from the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology at King's College London have shed light on how we perceive and recognise specific visual stimuli.

Corporate volunteering programs are widely credited by business leaders and volunteers for giving participants valuable work-related skills that improve their job performance. A new study suggests there is truth to these claims, but that the extent to which each skill is developed is linked to the personal characteristics of the volunteer and the nature of the volunteering experience.