Brain

San Antonio, Texas (June 6, 2011)—Researchers the world over are advancing positron emission tomography (PET) as an effective method of early detection for Alzheimer's disease, a currently incurable and deadly neurological disorder. Three studies presented at SNM's 58th Annual Meeting are providing new insights into the development of Alzheimer's disease while opening the door to future clinical screening and treatments.

San Antonio, Texas (June 6, 2011)—A new study presented at SNM's 58th Annual Meeting could throw open the door to a recently established area of obesity research. Investigators have developed a novel molecular imaging agent that targets estrogenic mechanisms in the brain to find out what effect an enzyme called aromatase has on body mass index (BMI), a measurement of body fat based on height and weight. Aromatase is crucial for the production of estrogen in tissues throughout the body, including the brain.

Paying attention to something and being aware of it seems like the same thing -they both involve somehow knowing the thing is there. However, a new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that these are actually separate; your brain can pay attention to something without you being aware that it's there.

When teens start experiencing changes in moods or emotions, they tend to fear sharing their blue days with their families and adults who can help them. As a consequence, they often suffer in silence.

Case Western Reserve University KL2 Clinical Research Scholar and Instructor Melissa Pinto-Foltz from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing wants to find the magical elixir that helps teens speak up, seek help and then stick with treatments that get them feeling better.

The first results of a multicenter Phase 2 clinical trial on a new brain cancer vaccine tailored to a patient's own tumor will be announced on Monday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2011 Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Obesity is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, but weight loss due to bariatric surgery may reduce the risk of this common dementia, a new study suggests. The results will be presented Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

"Our study shows for the first time that weight loss resulting from bariatric surgery leads to a reduction in the expression of genes related to Alzheimer's disease," said the study's main author, Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, professor at State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Any parent knows that newborns still have a lot of neurological work to do to attain fully acute vision. In a wide variety of nascent animals, genes provide them with only a rough wiring plan and then leave it to the developing nervous system to do its own finish work. Two studies by Brown University researchers provide new evidence of a role for exposure to light in the environment as mouse pups and tadpoles organize and refine the circuitry of their vision systems.

INDIANAPOLIS – Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine have discovered a peptide that short circuits a pathway for chronic pain. Unlike current treatments this peptide does not exhibit deleterious side effects such as reduced motor coordination, memory loss, or depression, according to an article in Nature Medicine posted online June 5, 2011.

An Indiana University study that exposed older veterans with stroke to yoga produced "exciting" results as researchers explore whether this popular mind-body practice can help stroke victims cope with their increased risk for painful and even deadly falls.

The pilot study involved 19 men and one woman, average age of 66. For eight weeks, they participated in a twice weekly hour-long group yoga class taught by a yoga therapist who dramatically modified the poses to meet the veterans' needs.

Moral responses change as people age says a new study from the University of Chicago.

Both preschool children and adults distinguish between damage done either intentionally or accidently when assessing whether a perpetrator has done something wrong, said study author Jean Decety. But, adults are much less likely than children to think someone should be punished for damaging an object, for example, especially if the action was accidental.

An article demonstrating how tools for modeling traffic on the Internet and telephone systems can be used to study information flow in brain networks will be published in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology on 2nd June 2011.

(Cincinnati, OH) – An IRSF funded study published today in the journal Science has shown that the childhood disorder Rett syndrome, can be reestablished in adult animals by "switching off" a critical disease causing gene in healthy adult animals. The gene was "switched off" in adult mice by use of a sophisticated genetic trick, resulting in the appearance of behaviors typically seen in Rett syndrome. The leading author Christopher McGraw, MD/PhD student, carried out the study in the laboratory of Dr.

The use of clot-busting drugs to treat acute ischemic stroke increased from 2005 through 2009 — but is still low, according to research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Clot-busting drugs are known as thrombolytics, and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is the only FDA-approved thrombolytic for treating acute ischemic stroke, which is caused by a blood clot in the brain.

Survival rates of wealthier patients and those younger than 70 with glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor, have improved since 2000, whereas rates for those living in poorer areas and older than 70 have remained stagnant, according to an abstract being presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago by Thomas Jefferson University Hospital researchers on Saturday, June 4. (ABSTRACT #6089).