Brain

In 2009, the DNA alphabet expanded. Scientists discovered that an extra letter or "sixth nucleotide" was surprisingly abundant in DNA from stem cells and brain cells.

Now, researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have mapped the patterns formed by that letter in the brains of mice, observing how its pattern of distribution in the genome changes during development and aging.

Those patterns, stable or dynamic depending on the gene, suggest that 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) has its own distinct functions, which still need to be fully brought to light.

What drives addicts to repeatedly choose drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, overeating, gambling or kleptomania, despite the risks involved?

Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have pinpointed the exact locations in the brain where calculations are made that can result in addictive and compulsive behavior.

An international team of researchers have found the existence of a genuine hypnotic state. The researchers studied the 'trance stare', a glazed look in the eyes that has often been associated with hypnosis in the popular culture but rarely studied scientifically. These findings have major implications for psychology and neurosciences, as they confirm the existence of a novel mental state in humans.

Roanoke, Va. – A research team led by investigators at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute has demonstrated the first rapid measurements of dopamine release in a human brain and provided preliminary evidence that the neurotransmitter can be tracked in its movement between brain cells while a subject expresses decision-making behavior.

For decades the amyloid hypothesis has dominated the research field in Alzheimer's disease. The theory describes how an increase in secreted beta-amyloid peptides leads to the formation of plaques, toxic clusters of damaged proteins between cells, which eventually result in neurodegeneration. Scientists at Lund University, Sweden, have now presented a study that turns this premise on its head.

The "switching on" or expression of specific genes in the human genome is what makes each human tissue and each human being unique. A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, and the National Institute of Mental Health found that many gene expression changes that occur during fetal development are reversed immediately after birth. Reversals of fetal expression changes are also seen again much later in life during normal aging of the brain.

WASHINGTON – Being reminded of the concept of God can decrease people's motivation to pursue personal goals but can help them resist temptation, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (October 27, 2011) – In a development that sheds new light on the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a team of Whitehead Institute scientists has identified connections between genetic risk factors for the disease and the effects of a peptide toxic to nerve cells in the brains of AD patients.

A drug treatment has been proven to prevent lesions from cerebral cavernous malformation — a brain blood vessel abnormality that can cause bleeding, epilepsy and stroke — for the first time in a new study.

The drug fasudil, which prevented the formation of lesions in a genetic mouse model of the disease, shows potential as a valuable new tool in addressing a clinical problem that is currently treatable only with complex surgery.

Poorer countries and those that spend proportionately less money on health care have more stroke and stroke deaths than wealthier nations and those that allocate more to health care, according to new research in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Poorer countries also had a greater incidence of hemorrhagic stroke — caused by a burst blood vessel bleeding in or near the brain — and had more frequent onset at younger ages.

TORONTO, Ont., October 27, 2011 – People living in poor countries or countries that spend proportionately less on health-care are about 30 per cent more likely to have a stroke, a new study shows.

They are also more likely to die from a stroke within 30 days, have a stroke at a younger age or have a hemorrhagic stroke – a more severe type caused by a burst blood vessel bleeding in or near the brain.

(HONOLULU, HAWAII, OCTOBER 24, 2011) -- Sleeping less than 8 hours a night may be linked to weight gain in teens, according to new survey results presented at CHEST 2011. Furthermore, obesity was linked to short sleep duration in teen males, with the fewest hours slept linked to the highest BMI levels.

When people dream that they are performing a particular action, a portion of the brain involved in the planning and execution of movement lights up with activity. The finding, made by scanning the brains of lucid dreamers while they slept, offers a glimpse into the non-waking consciousness and is a first step toward true "dream reading," according to a report published online in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 27.

Parents who joke and pretend with their toddlers are giving their children a head start in terms of life skills. Most parents are naturals at playing the fool with their kids, says a new research project. However parents who feel they may need a little help in doing this can learn to develop these life skills with their tots.

Uh-oh. Here comes temptation—for a dieter, it's a sweet treat; an alcoholic, a beer; a married man, an attractive, available woman. How to defeat the impulse to gratify desire and stick to your long-term goals of slimness, sobriety, or fidelity?

Here's some advice: Don't stop and think. Thinking may not help.

That is one surprising conclusion of a new study by Loran Nordgren and Eileen Chou at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.