Brain

WASHINGTON -- Advances in neuroscience research could benefit the Army, particularly in areas of soldier training and education. However, an emerging trend of using individual variability in neural processes such as cognition, stress response, and decision making to improve group performance is likely to challenge conventional approaches to training and educating soldiers, says a new report from the National Research Council.

WASHINGTON -- Advances in neuroscience research could benefit the Army, particularly in areas of soldier training and education. However, an emerging trend of using individual variability in neural processes such as cognition, stress response, and decision making to improve group performance is likely to challenge conventional approaches to training and educating soldiers, says a new report from the National Research Council.

Tampa, Fla. (May. 11, 2009) – Transplanted embryonic stem cells are recognized as a potential treatment for patients suffering from the effects of spinal cord injury (SCI). However, in studies using embryonic stem cells transplanted into SCI laboratory animals, a serious drawback has been the development of tumors following transplantation.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, May 11, 2009 – Modern societies face the increasing burden of age-related diseases, in particular Alzheimer's disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). There is some evidence that the causes underlying both diseases are linked. Do AD and T2D represent the endpoint of aged, exhausted, and dysfunctional cells having reached their maximal life expectancy or are AD and T2D the consequences of living in superabundance including excessive food supply, work demands, psychosocial stress, and an excessive sedentary life style?

CHAPEL HILL -- How might disruption of a single gene in the brain cause the severe cognitive deficits associated with Angelman syndrome, a neurogenetic disorder? Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and Duke University now believe they have the answer: impaired brain plasticity.

Durham, N.C., and Chapel Hill, N.C. -- Researchers at Duke University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina have discovered in mice how a single disrupted gene can cause a form of severe mental retardation known as Angelman syndrome.

HOUSTON (May 10, 2009) –The mystery of genetic disease is only partially solved with the identification of a mutated gene. Often, the pattern of disease – the features or disorders associated with it – vary in type and severity among those who are affected. Scientists, physicians and patients all ask why.

When you're on a diet, deciding to skip your favorite calorie-laden foods and eat something healthier takes a whole lot of self-control--an ability that seems to come easier to some of us than others. Now, scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have uncovered differences in the brains of people who are able to exercise self-control versus those who find it almost impossible.

When having an extremely high body image can lead to health problems

For many women, body image is a constant struggle; a poor self-image can lead to a host of both mental and physical health problems. But a new study out of Temple University finds that an extremely good body image can also take its toll on a woman's health.

Pattern of firing in nerve cells may show degree of confidence in choice

Countless times a day people judge their confidence in a choice they are about to make -- that they now can safely turn left at this intersection, that they aren't sure of their answer on a quiz, that their hot coffee has cooled enough to drink.

PORTLAND, Ore – Oregon Health & Science University researchers, along with scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, are uncovering new information about the mind by studying the brain while it is at rest. It is believed this research will one day provide new tools for diagnosing mental health disorders and monitoring the progress of treatments. The researchers' latest findings are published in the journal the Public Library of Science Computational Biology.

A new study published online on May 7th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, has found the source of silkworms' attraction to mulberry leaves, their primary food source. A jasmine-scented chemical emitted in small quantities by the leaves triggers a single, highly tuned olfactory receptor in the silkworms' antennae, they show.

Researchers at the Université de Montreal (UdeM) and the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), McGill University have discovered that cells which normally support nerve cell (neuron) survival also play an active and major role in the death of neurons in the eye. The findings, published this week in The Journal of Neuroscience, may lead to more streamlined therapies for a variety of acute and chronic neurological disorders, including glaucoma and retinal artery occlusion.

A deadly brain disorder in toddlers may find its first treatment in drugs for Alzheimer's disease.

UCLA scientists have discovered how a form of the rare genetic disease known as Sanfilippo syndrome develops in the young brain, causing severe mental retardation and death as early as age 14. Published this week in the early online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the findings suggest that new Alzheimer's drugs may provide therapy for the currently untreatable metabolic disorder.

New research led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) identifies three genes that specifically mediate the metastasis, or spread, of breast cancer to the brain and illuminates the mechanisms by which this spread occurs. The study was published online today in Nature.