Brain

Tiny electrodes have been coated with a drug-loaded polymer in an attempt to design an implant capable of detecting a number of neurological symptoms, such as those associated with an epileptic seizure, and treating them simultaneously.

In a study published today, 2 June 2011, in IOP Publishing's Journal of Neural Engineering, researchers have developed a novel technology to precisely modulate individual neurons in rats, allowing the molecular, neuronal, and circuit functions to be analysed with unprecedented precision.

An advanced imaging technique has revealed that some U.S. military personnel with mild blast-related traumatic brain injuries have abnormalities in the brain that have not been seen with other types of imaging.

The abnormalities were found in the brain's white matter, the wiring system that nerve cells in the brain use to communicate with each other.

The study is reported June 2 in The New England Journal of Medicine by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany.

People who are deaf benefit from better vision due to the fact their retinas develop differently, experts at the University of Sheffield have shown.

The research, which was funded by RNID – Action on Hearing Loss and published today (1 June 2010) in the journal PLoS ONE suggests that the retina of adults who are either born deaf or have an onset of deafness within the very first years of life actually develops differently to hearing adults in order for it to be able to capture more peripheral visual information.

Painting army vehicles with high contrast geometric patterns - 'dazzle camouflage' - affects the perception of their speed and thus could make them less susceptible to rocket propelled grenade attacks, according to new research from the University of Bristol.

Scientists at the University of Southern California have pinned down the region of the brain responsible for a key survival trait: our ability to comprehend a scene—even one never previously encountered—in a fraction of a second.

The key is to process the interacting objects that comprise a scene more quickly than unrelated objects, according to corresponding author Irving Biederman, professor of psychology and computer science in the USC Dornsife College and the Harold W. Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience.

WASHINGTON, DC (June 1, 2011) -- The anatomy of migraine – a close look at the neurobiology of the disease – focuses on the thalamus, the area of the brain that is involved in sensory perception and regulation of motor functions, in one a major session of the 53rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society meeting here this week.

WASHINGTON, DC – June 1, 2011 – Migraine researchers from all over the world are gathering in Washington, DC on June 2-5 to share important new scientific data on the disease at the annual conference of the American Headache Society, spotlighting "New Discoveries in Headache Medicine."

Among the important new work to be presented is groundbreaking new science in the unique role of the thalamus in migraine, implications of the recent identification of a gene for migraine with aura, and the correlation between childhood abuse and migraine in later life.

WASHINGTON, DC (June 2, 2011) -- As many as one-third of sufferers of migraine with aura experience forewarning symptoms even the day before an attack that might create an opportunity for intervention and prevention. Later during the actual migraine episode then a significant number of migraine sufferers experience aura prior to an attack, which is characterized by visual disturbances, illusions, zigzag lines, blind spots, speech disturbances, and tingling or numbness on one side of the body.

WASHINGTON, DC (June 1, 2011) -- The discovery of a gene for migraine holds great promise in the quest for new approaches -- possibly even a pill -- for preventing the disease, says a panel of experts presenting data at the annual scientific meeting of the American Headache Society. So far, there is no therapy that prevents an attack.

People who feel secure in in their relationship with their partner have a more satisfactory sex life and are more able to be sensitive in the affection they give. However, people who are insecure, who tend towards anxiety or avoidance and are compulsive or controlling in their affection experience more conflict in their sexual desire and are less happy in their relationships, according to a study by the University of the Basque Country.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Medical imaging systems allow neurologists to summon 3-D color renditions of the brain at a moment's notice, yielding valuable insights. But sometimes there can be too much detail; important elements can go unnoticed.

DALLAS – June 1, 2011 – A drug already approved for people with cancer shows early potential as a therapy for a common form of dementia, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

"Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) holds promise as a first-generation drug for the prevention and treatment of familial frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a progressive, inherited neurodegenerative disease for which there is no treatment," said Dr. Joachim Herz, director of the Center for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases and the study's senior author.

Long-term relationships make the commonly abused drug amphetamine less appealing, according to a new animal study in the June 1 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest that social bonds formed during adulthood lead to changes in the brain that may protect against drug abuse.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Children who are bullies or have conduct problems at school, are more likely to be sleepy during the day according to University of Michigan Medical School researchers.

Researchers looked at elementary school students in the Ypsilanti, Michigan public schools who had exhibited conduct problems like bullying or discipline referrals and found that there was a two-fold higher risk for symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing, particularly daytime sleepiness among these students. The study was published last week in the journal Sleep Medicine.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, the Medical University of South Carolina and American Life Science Pharmaceuticals of San Diego have demonstrated that oral administration of a cysteine protease inhibitor, E64d, not only reduces the build-up of β-amyloid (Aβ) in the brains of animal models for Alzheimer's disease, but also results in a substantial improvement in memory deficit.

A paper detailing the findings has been published as an early online version and is scheduled for publication in the September 6 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.