Brain

New Rochelle, NY, May 16, 2011—Ongoing, intrinsic brain activity that is not task-related accounts for the majority of energy used by the human brain. This surprising finding, along with other recent discoveries about the brain and its function, structure, and organization, are described in "The Restless Brain," an Instant Online article in the groundbreaking new neuroscience journal Brain Connectivity, a bimonthly peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com).

Boston, MA— Scientists from Schepens Eye Research Institute are the first to regenerate large areas of damaged retinas and improve visual function using IPS cells (induced pluripotent stem cells) derived from skin. The results of their study, which is published in PLoS ONE this month, hold great promise for future treatments and cures for diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, diabetic retinopathy and other retinal diseases that affect millions worldwide.

WASHINGTON — Even healthy adults with a safe driving record tend to make more driving errors as they age, including potentially dangerous mistakes, such as failing to check blind spots, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association.

For those soldiers worried about the stigma associated with seeing a therapist, virtual reality applications for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be the alternative to the traditional "talk therapy." A new paper¹, by Albert Rizzo from the University of Southern California, Institute for Creative Technologies, Los Angeles, and his team, reviews how virtual reality applications are being designed and implemented across various points in the military deployment cycle, to prevent, identify and treat combat-related PTSD.

Obese, asthmatic, anxious or depressed children are more likely to experience excessive daytime sleepiness, or EDS, according to Penn State College of Medicine sleep researchers.

"Although EDS in children is commonly assumed by physicians and the public to be the result of sleep-disordered breathing or inadequate sleep, our data suggest that EDS in young children is more strongly associated with obesity and mood issues as it is in adults," said Edward Bixler, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and vice chair of research, Sleep Research and Treatment Center.

ATS 2011, DENVER – Sleep problems among urban minority children, including resistance to going to bed, shortened sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness are much more common than previously thought, according to a study conducted by researchers in New York.

The results of the study will be presented at the ATS 2011 International Conference in Denver.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and King's College London have independently identified DNA on chromosome 3 that appears to be related to depression.

Major depression affects approximately 20 percent of people at some point during their lives, and family studies have long suggested that depression risk is influenced by genetics. The new studies identify a DNA region containing up to 90 genes.

May 13, 2010 – (Toronto) – A new study involving Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has found a gene connected with a type of intellectual disability called Joubert syndrome.

CAMH Senior Scientist Dr. John Vincent has identified this gene that, when defective, leads to Joubert syndrome. This research is published in the 13 May 2011 issue of Cell.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- At first glance, a diagram of the complex network of genes that regulate cellular metabolism might seem hopelessly complex, and efforts to control such a system futile.

However, an MIT researcher has come up with a new computational model that can analyze any type of complex network — biological, social or electronic — and reveal the critical points that can be used to control the entire system.

Since 2008, the U.S. economy has been "seizing" uncontrollably. Now a Tel Aviv University researcher says that a comparison of the multifaceted economic downturn with the uncontrolled spasms of an epileptic is not inappropriate — and may say something about the origins of the disaster.

Researchers at Hewlett Packard and the University of California, Santa Barbara, have analysed in unprecedented detail the physical and chemical properties of an electronic device that computer engineers hope will transform computing.

Memristors, short for memory resistors, are a newly understood circuit element for the development of electronics and have inspired experts to seek ways of mimicking the behaviour of our own brains' activity inside a computer.

A protective molecule has been identified in the brain which, if used artificially, may prevent brain damage from the likes of stroke, head injury and Alzheimer's.

They may be uncomfortable talking about it, but it's definitely going on.

The human brain has yet to explain the origin of one its defining features – the deep fissures and convolutions that increase its surface area and allow for rational and abstract thoughts.

An international collaboration of scientists from the Yale School of Medicine and Turkey may have discovered humanity's beneficiary – a tiny variation within a single gene that determines the formation of brain convolutions – they report online May 15 in the journal Nature Genetics.