Brain

PITTSBURGH—When grabbing a coffee mug out of a cluttered cabinet or choosing a pen to quickly sign a document, what brain processes guide your choices?

Brains that maintain healthy nerve connections as we age help keep us sharp in later life, new research funded by the charity Age UK has found.

Older people with robust brain 'wiring' – that is, the nerve fibres that connect different, distant brain areas – can process information quickly and that this makes them generally smarter, the study suggests.

According to the findings, joining distant parts of the brain together with better wiring improves mental performance, suggesting that intelligence is not found in a single part of the brain.

Fat Bastard's revelation "I eat because I'm depressed and I'm depressed because I eat" in the Austin Powers film series may be explained by sophisticated neuroscience research being undertaken by scientists affiliated with the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CR-CHUM) and the university's Faculty of Medicine. "In addition to causing obesity, rich foods can actually cause chemical reactions in the brain in a similar way to illicit drugs, ultimately leading to depression as the 'come-downs' take their toll," explain lead researcher, Dr. Stephanie Fulton.

Pathological aging (PA) is used to describe the brains of people which have Alzheimer's disease (AD)-like pathology but where the person showed no signs of cognitive impairment whilst they were alive. New research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Alzheimer's Research & Therapy, shows that PA and AD brains contain similar amyloid β (Aβ) plaques and that while on average AD brains contain more Aβ there was considerable overlap in Aβ subtypes. These results suggest that PA may simply be an early stage of AD.

The stubby arms of Tyrannosaurus rex obviously weren't designed for hand-to-hand combat. However, the abelisaurids of the Southern hemisphere were even less well equipped in that department–and upper limb reduction began very early in their evolution.

AMHERST, Mass. – New fish-tagging studies of young bluefin tuna in Atlantic waters off New England by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are offering the first fishery-independent, year-round data on dispersal patterns and habitat use for the popular game fish. The availability of miniaturized pop-up satellite tags suitable for smaller (two- to five-year-old) fish helped make the research possible.

(Phoenix, AZ May 22, 2012) -- Researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center have unveiled how and why the public perceives some magic tricks in recent studies that could have real-world implications in military tactics, marketing and sports.

WASHINGTON – Many of the wrongful convictions identified in a report this week hinged on a misidentified culprit — and a new report in a top journal on psychological science reveals the paradox of reforms in eyewitness identification procedure. In our efforts to make sure that good guys don't get locked up, we could let more bad guys go.

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have reported the results of groundbreaking research into the prevention of cerebral oedema or swelling of the brain, a major cause of death in people who have sustained a traumatic injury to the brain, out of hospital cardiac arrest or stroke.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – When brain cells start oozing too much of the amyloid protein that is the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, the astrocytes that normally nourish and protect them deliver a suicide package instead, researchers report.

Amyloid is excreted by all neurons, but rates increase with aging and dramatically accelerate in Alzheimer's. Astrocytes, which deliver blood, oxygen and nutrients to neurons in addition to hauling off some of their garbage, get activated and inflamed by excessive amyloid.

(May 22, 2012) – The national gastroenterology societies have issued a new document on sedation training for gastrointestinal endoscopy. The Multisociety Sedation Curriculum for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (MSCGE) grew out of the need for a complete and programmatic approach to the training of procedure sedation. The document is published jointly in Gastroenterology, American Journal of Gastroenterology, GIE:Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Hepatology and in Gastroenterology Nursing.

Athens, Ga.– University of Georgia researchers have developed a map of the human brain that shows great promise as a new guide to the inner workings of the body's most complex and critical organ.

With this map, researchers hope to create a next-generation brain atlas that will be an alternative option to the atlas created by German anatomist Korbinian Brodmann more than 100 years ago, which is still commonly used in clinical and research settings.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other types of dementia are most common in the very elderly, and are associated with huge health costs. With a rapidly ageing population throughout the world, factors that affect the risk of cognitive decline and dementia are of great importance.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When thousands of psychiatrists attend their field's largest annual meeting each year, the presentations they hear about research into drug treatments report overwhelmingly on positive results.

That's the finding of a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology by two young psychiatrists from the University of Michigan and Yale University, who analyzed the presentations given at two recent meetings of the American Psychiatric Association.

Children with pelvic and thigh fractures develop dangerous blood clots so rarely that anti-clotting therapy should be given only to those with underlying conditions that increase clotting risk, according to a study from Johns Hopkins Children's Center.