Brain

A small, pilot study is examining how mobile technology might support deaf and hard-of-hearing college students when an interpreter can't physically be present at the time the services are requested. The University of Cincinnati research will be presented on June 19, at the Critical Link 7 International Conference in Toronto. The conference is themed, "Global Awakening: Leading Practices in Interpreting."

Aggression in school-age children may have its origins in children 3 years old and younger who witnessed violence between their mothers and partners, according to a new Case Western Reserve University study.

"People may think children that young are passive and unaware, but they pay attention to what's happening around them," said Megan Holmes, assistant professor of social work at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Next time you're doing a slow burn in security screening at the airport, calm yourself with the assurance that a more deliberate baggage scanner may do a better job.

In a laboratory test of visual searching ability, scientists found trained Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening officers were a lot slower than undergraduate students and other civilians. But the amateurs were sloppier.

New research shows that every third person who is diagnosed for the first time with a mood disorder has been admitted to hospital with an infection prior to the diagnosis. The study is the largest of its kind to date to show a clear correlation between infection levels and the risk of developing mood disorders.

A study from investigators at MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) found that African-American or Hispanic children diagnosed with autism were significantly less likely than white children to have received subspecialty care or procedures related to conditions that often accompany autism spectrum disorders.

Researchers have discovered a pathway by which the brain controls a molecule critical to forming long-term memories and connected with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

The discovery was made by a team of scientists led by Alexei Morozov, an assistant professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute.

A mechanism that cells use to group together and move around the body – called 'chase and run' - has been described for the first time by scientists at UCL.

Published in Nature Cell Biology, the new study focuses on the process that occurs when cancer cells interact with healthy cells in order to migrate around the body during metastasis. Scientists know that cancer cells recruit healthy cells and use them to travel long distances, but how this process takes place and how it could be controlled to design new therapies against cancer remains unknown.

WASHINGTON — Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center say their new work suggests that Gulf War illness may have two distinct forms depending on which brain regions have atrophied. Their study of Gulf War veterans, published online today in PLOS ONE, may help explain why clinicians have consistently encountered veterans with different symptoms and complaints.

WORCESTER – Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have developed a novel transgenic system which allows them to remotely activate individual brain cells in the model organism Drosophila using ambient temperature. This powerful new tool for identifying and characterizing neural circuitry has lead to the identification of a pair of neurons – now called Fdg neurons – in the fruit fly that decide when to eat and initiate the subsequent feeding action.

This news release is available in German.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass - In the near future, a buzz in your belt or a pulse from your jacket may give you instructions on how to navigate your surroundings.

Think of it as tactile Morse code: vibrations from a wearable, GPS-linked device that tell you to turn right or left, or stop, depending on the pattern of pulses you feel. Such a device could free drivers from having to look at maps, and could also serve as a tactile guide for the visually and hearing impaired.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) has identified an abnormal metabolic pathway that drives cancer-cell growth in a particular glioblastoma subtype. The finding might lead to new therapies for a subset of patients with glioblastoma, the most common and lethal form of brain cancer.

• Finasteride is a synthetic drug for the treatment of male pattern hair loss and an enlarged prostate.
• Rodent research has shown that finasteride can reduce alcohol intake.
• A preliminary study of men with finasteride-related sexual side effects indicates that finasteride may decrease drinking.

CHICAGO --- In a surprising new finding, a Northwestern Medicine® study has found a common molecular vulnerability in autism and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Both disorders have symptoms of social impairment and originate during brain development in utero.

This the first research to explore a common mechanism for these disorders and link their molecular vulnerabilities.

The difference between extroverts and introverts comes down to a person's sensitivity to the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. When we encounter "rewards", dopamine activates positive emotions, such as, euphoria and elation, and motivational feelings like desire and craving.

Richard Depue and Yu Fu from Cornell University, USA, here explain why extroverts consistently seek out rewarding environments: in extroverts, dopamine has a stronger capacity to promote the formation of mental associations between environmental stimuli and rewards.