Brain

Cancer Commons, an initiative of CollabRx, a provider of information technology to personalize cancer treatments and accelerate research, announces the publication of a molecular disease model of melanoma (MDMM) which classifies the disease into molecular subtypes, rather than traditional histological or cellular subtypes, and describes treatment guidelines for each subtype, including specific assays, drugs, and clinical trials. The paper, titled "Molecular Disease Model for Melanoma," by Vidwans et al, was published in the March 30th issue of PLoS ONE.

Depression erodes intimate relationships. A depressed person can be withdrawn, needy, or hostile—and give little back.

But there's another way that depression isolates partners from each other. It chips away at the ability to perceive the others' thoughts and feelings. It impairs what psychologists call "empathic accuracy" —and that can exacerbate alienation, depression, and the cycle by which they feed each other.

LA JOLLA, CA – March 30, 2011 – If, as Shakespeare's Juliet declared, a rose by any other name smells as sweet – to you and to me and to anyone else who sniffs it – then one might assume that our odor-sensing nerve cells are all wired in the same way. Alas, they are not, according to a new study from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute.

New research out of the University of Cincinnati suggests that being diagnosed with asthma is significantly associated with a greater risk for a lifetime history of daily smoking and nicotine dependence. The findings are reported in the online preview issue of the Journal of Health Psychology.

Most people have had trouble remembering something they just heard. Now, a University of Missouri researcher found that forgetfulness may have something to do with being in a good mood. Elizabeth Martin, a doctoral student of psychology in the College of Arts and Science, has found that being in a good mood decreases your working memory capacity.

Researchers using two brain-imaging technologies have found that apparently normal older individuals with brain deposits of amyloid beta – the primary constituent of the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients – also had changes in brain structure similar to those seen in Alzheimer's patients. Results of the study, which has received early online publication in the Annals of Neurology, may help identify individuals who could be candidates for therapies to prevent the development of dementia.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Sexual harassment may have become so commonplace for women that they have built up resistance to harassing behavior they consider merely "bothersome," suggests a provocative new study by Michigan State University researchers.

This effect, said lead investigator Isis Settles, may be similar to the way people build up immunity to infection following exposure to a virus.

Post-sex blues is not a sexual behaviour commonly discussed, but a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) study of more than 200 young women has found one in three (32.9 per cent) had experienced the phenomenon at some point.

QUT Associate Professor Robert Schweitzer's research, published in the latest International Journal of Sexual Health, looked at the prevalence of postcoital dysphoria or the experience of negative feelings following otherwise satisfactory intercourse.

The first two stereo-EEG explorations in Finland were carried out by neurosurgeons of the Epilepsy surgery team in Helsinki University Central Hospital this spring. The method reinforces other examination methods already in use and opens an excellent opportunity in the exploration of the electric activity of both the surface and the deep brain structures during epileptic seizures. The examination also enables exact localization of the functionally important areas of the brain and improves safety of epilepsy surgery at a later stage.

In the Faculty of Nursing, students are taught the importance of connecting with the community, and nursing professor Vera Caine has come up with a way for students to not only learn about working in the community, but also to actually be a part of it.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., - Gliomas are brain invaders. A kind of malignant tumor cell, gliomas branch out like tendrils from a central tumor source, spreading cancer throughout the brain. Traditional therapies, such as cutting out the tumor surgically, can be ineffective if the cells have already spread. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham may have come upon a way to stop a glioma invasion in its tracks, using a drug already approved for use in Europe.

Los Angeles, CA (MARCH XX, 2011) College women who engage in "fat talk" (women speaking negatively about the size and shape of their bodies) face greater dissatisfaction with their bodies and are more likely to have internalized an ultra-thin body ideal than those who engage in fat talk less frequently, according to a review article from Psychology of Women Quarterly (published by SAGE).

LOS ANGELES (March 29, 2011) – Patients suffering from dystonia, an uncommon yet potentially crippling movement disorder, get better results if they begin deep brain stimulation therapy sooner rather than later, according to an international study published in the March issue of the Journal of Neurology.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Women's appreciation of their bodies is only indirectly connected to their body mass index (BMI), a common health measure of weight relative to height, according to recent research.

The most powerful influence on women's appreciation of their bodies is how they believe important others view them, the study suggests. On the flip side, the more women are able to focus on the inner workings of their body – or how their bodies function and feel – rather than how they appear to others, the more they will appreciate their own bodies.

EUGENE, Ore. -- (March 29, 2011) -- New research from the University of Oregon concludes that even brief training can help people learn how to be more supportive when friends and family members disclose traumatic events and other experiences of mistreatment.