Brain

A well-known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease triggers a cascade of signaling that ultimately results in leaky blood vessels in the brain, allowing toxic substances to pour into brain tissue in large amounts, scientists report May 16 in the journal Nature.

The results come from a team of scientists investigating why a gene called ApoE4 makes people more prone to developing Alzheimer's. People who carry two copies of the gene have roughly eight to 10 times the risk of getting Alzheimer's disease than people who do not.

NEW YORK, N.Y. (May 15, 2012) – Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, is a major sponsor and scientific participant in the 2012 International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR). Organized by the International Society of Autism Research, IMFAR brings together more than 1800 scientists, clinicians, students, parents and individuals with autism from 40 countries to discuss and share the latest research into autism's causes, treatments and diagnoses.

WASHINGTON, DC, May 16, 2012 — Children in the United States and Great Britain share a number of common risk factors that increase the likelihood that they will have behavioral problems—and Britain's broader social welfare programs don't appear to mitigate those risks, according to a new study in the June issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior (JHSB).

After seeing faces for less than a blink of an eye, college students have accuracy greater than mere chance in judging others' sexual orientation. Their "gaydar" persisted even when they saw the photos upside-down, and gay versus straight judgments were more accurate for women's faces than for men's.

The findings, published May 16 in the open-access online journal PLoS ONE, suggest that we unconsciously make gay and straight distinctions.

For decades, scientists have studied Caenorhabditis elegans – tiny, transparent worms – to glean clues about how neurons develop and function. A new Harvard study suggests that the worms' nervous system is much more capable and complex than previously thought, and has a way to monitor its own motion, a model one day could serve to develop treatments for disorders like schizophrenia.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Text messaging is a surprisingly good way to get candid responses to sensitive questions, according to a new study to be presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

"The preliminary results of our study suggest that people are more likely to disclose sensitive information via text messages than in voice interviews," says Fred Conrad, a cognitive psychologist and Director of the Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR).

New research from North Carolina State University shows that the United States and Great Britain share common risk factors that increase the likelihood of behavioral problems in children – and that Britain's broader social welfare programs don't appear to mitigate those risks.

The researchers – from NC State, California State University Northridge and the University of Illinois (UI) – evaluated data from a 1994 study of children between the ages of five and 13 in the U.S. and a 1991 study of children in the same age range from England, Scotland and Wales.

While experiments in the 1970s using electrical brain stimulation identified areas of the brain responsible for starting locomotion, the precise neuron-by-neuron pathway has not been described in any vertebrate – until now.

To find this pathway, Dr Edgar Buhl and colleagues in Bristol's School of Biological Sciences studied a small, simple vertebrate: the Xenopus frog tadpole.

PITTSBURGH—Classrooms have become smarter, thanks to the use of digital devices such as computers, SMART™ boards, and other handheld devices. But are these technological advancements birthing a new and smarter generation of engineers? According to a University of Pittsburgh study, yes: Students using such tools are more successful than those who don't because the technologies promote better working memory and more flexible and transitional thinking.

The study's findings were published in the April issue of the Journal of Mechanical Design.

Nearly half of all diabetics suffer from neuropathic pain, an intractable, agonizing and still mysterious companion of the disease. Now Yale researchers have identified an unexpected source of the pain and a potential target to alleviate it.

A team of researchers from Yale and the West Haven Veterans Affairs Medical Center describes in the May 15 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience how changes in the structure of dendritic spines – microscopic projections on the receiving branches of nerve cells – are associated with pain in laboratory rats with diabetes.

• Prenatal exposure to alcohol can disrupt the brain's executive function (EF) and adaptive functioning.
• A new study examines these abilities in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
• While results indicate similarities in the relation between EF and adaptive abilities among children with ADHD or PAE, the patterns of abilities in these children were different.

• Researchers know that the use of various substances is associated with reduced educational attainment.
• A new study has examined substance use and education among male twins from a veteran population.
• Results indicate a strong relationship among early alcohol use, alcohol dependence, daily nicotine use, and fewer years of educational attainment.

• Resiliency is a measure of a person's ability to flexibly adapt their behaviors to fit the surroundings in which they find themselves.
• New findings suggest that resiliency in early adolescence is associated with better working memory performance and may protect against later alcohol problems and drug use.
• This protective factor may work through basal ganglia structures of the brain.

(CHICAGO) – Two studies by neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center suggest that, in the future, colonic tissue obtained during either colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy may be used to predict who will develop Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder of aging that that leads to progressive deterioration of motor function due to loss of neurons in the brain that produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter essential to executing movement.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- An increasing number of highly educated women are opting for families, according to a national study co-authored by a University at Buffalo economist.

Qingyan Shang, an assistant professor at UB, says the study uncovers what may be the reversal of a trend by highly educated women.