Brain

Hospital MRIs may be better at predicting long-term outcomes for people with mild traumatic brain injuries than CT scans, the standard technique for evaluating such injuries in the emergency room, according to a clinical trial led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH).

Reappraisal is a widely-used cognitive strategy that can help people to regulate their reactions to emotionally charged events. Now, new research suggests that reappraisal may even be effective in changing people's emotional responses in the context of one of the most intractable conflicts worldwide: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Negative intergroup emotions play a crucial role in decisions that perpetuate intractable conflicts," observes lead researcher Eran Halperin of the New School of Psychology at the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel.

"Bah, humbug!" is the line most closely associated with Ebenezer Scrooge, the famous miser from "A Christmas Carol."

But the authors of a new study on life-changing experiences give author Charles Dickens high marks for his portrayal of Scrooge's sudden switch to saintliness.

Former grad student Jon Skalski and Brigham Young University psychology professor Sam Hardy conducted an in-depth study of 14 people who experienced profound, sudden and lasting change. They say the fictional Scrooge would fit right in.

Humans are adept at setting goals and updating them as new situations arise — for example, a person who is playing a video game may switch to a new goal when their phone rings.

Now, Princeton University researchers have identified mechanisms that govern how the brain incorporates information about new situations into our existing goals, according to research recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Scientists at The University of Manchester have for the first time identified why a patient who appears outwardly healthy may develop Parkinson's disease.

STANFORD, Calif. — A method of analyzing brain structure using advanced computer algorithms accurately predicted 76 percent of the time whether a patient had lower back pain in a new study by researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The study, which will be published online Dec. 17 in Cerebral Cortex, reported that using these algorithms to read brain scans may be an early step toward providing an objective method for diagnosing chronic pain.

Rudolph's nose is red because it is richly supplied with red blood cells which help to protect it from freezing and to regulate brain temperature.

This superior "nasal microcirculation" is essential for pulling Santa Claus's sleigh under extreme temperatures, reveals a study in the annual Christmas issue on bmj.com today, which may even contain some real studies, though we don't know because we are too busy laughing at the rest and seeing how many the BBC prints as real.

DURHAM, N.C. – Using an artificial protein that stimulates the body's natural immune system to fight cancer, a research team at Duke Medicine has engineered a lethal weapon that kills brain tumors in mice while sparing other tissue. If it can be shown to work in humans, it would overcome a major obstacle that has hampered the effectiveness of immune-based therapies.

A study by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers adds further support to the possibility that increasing levels of the antioxidant urate may protect against Parkinson's disease. In their report published in PNAS Early Edition, the investigators report that mice with a genetic mutation increasing urate levels were protected against the kind of neurodegeneration that underlies Parkinson's disease, while the damage was worse in animals with abnormally low urate.

PITTSBURGH—African American adolescents tend to have more success in school if their parents instill in them a sense of racial pride, reducing their vulnerability to the effects of racial discrimination from teachers and peers.

The two infamous proteins, amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau, that characterize advanced Alzheimer's disease (AD), start healthy neurons on the road to cell death long before the appearance of the deadly plaques and tangles by working together to reactivate the supposedly blocked cell cycle in brain cells, according to research presented on Dec. 17 at the American Society for Cell Biology's Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Want your children to be healthier snackers? A new Cornell study finds that serving children combined snacks of vegetables and cheese led them to eat 72 percent fewer calories — and be just as satisfied as those who were served only potato chips.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A desire for expensive, high-status goods is related to feelings of social status - which helps explain why minorities are attracted to bling, a new study suggests.

Previous research had shown that racial minorities spend a larger portion of their incomes than do whites on conspicuous consumption – buying products that suggest high status.

But a new study showed that whites could be induced to crave expensive, high-status products if they imagined themselves in a low-status position.

BETHESDA, Md. (Dec. 17, 2012)—It is well known that people with Down syndrome (DS) suffer from marked muscle weakness. Even the simple tasks of independent living, such as getting out of a chair or climbing a flight of stairs, can become major obstacles. This can reduce the quality of life for those with DS and lead to a loss of independence. Now, a new study sheds light on some of the suspected causes of muscle weakness.

A leading international expert on autism at the University of Leicester has been involved in contributing to a major new study of global health.

Professor Terry Brugha, of the Department of Health Sciences, is co-author of two papers in The Lancet's special issue on the Global Burden of Disease.

Because of his work on Autism Epidemiology, which was used to develop one new element of these global data syntheses, Professor Brugha was a co-author at the University of Leicester on two of the reports.