Brain

A study conducted by researchers in The Netherlands confirmed that children with idiopathic new-onset epilepsy have a significantly higher rate of remission than those with remote symptomatic epilepsy. Results of this study are now available online in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy.

Gothenburg, Sweden: A fast, simple and non invasive test of the ability to smell may be an important tool to screen people who are likely to develop Parkinson's disease (PD), in which motor symptoms only become evident at a later stage of the disease, a German scientist will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today (Saturday). Dr. Silke Nuber, from the Department of Medical Genetics, University of Tübingen, Germany, will say that her team's research could help in the development of treatments for the early stages of the disease.

PHILADELPHIA –- Contradicting a popular model of self-control, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist says the data from a 2007 study argues against the idea that glucose is the resource used to manage self control and that humans rely on this energy source for will power.

The analysis, conducted by Robert Kurzban and published in the current issue of the journal Evolutionary Psychology, shows that evidence previously presented in favor of the claim that the brain consumes extra glucose when people exert self-control shows no such thing.

Insects may have tiny brains the size of a pinhead, but the latest research from the University of Adelaide shows just how clever they really are.

For the first time, researchers from the University's Discipline of Physiology have worked out how insects judge the speed of moving objects.

and Spanish.

Montreal, 10 June 2010—North America's nearly 2,000 marine protected areas represent an unprecedented effort to protect the continent's fragile marine environments and are found throughout the marine ecoregions that encircle our continent.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Nearly half of patients hospitalized with bipolar disorder may suffer from hypertension, and the younger a person is diagnosed with the psychiatric condition the more likely they are to develop high blood pressure, according to a recent Michigan State University study.

The study, led by MSU psychiatrist Dale D'Mello, analyzed 99 patients hospitalized for bipolar disorder, a condition sometimes called manic-depressive disorder and characterized by mood swings ranging from depression to mental hyperactivity known as mania.

Highly credentialed and experienced professors are better at preparing students for long-term academic success than their less-experienced counterparts, but that ability isn't necessarily reflected in their students' teaching evaluations. That's according to research by a pair of economists published in this month's Journal of Political Economy.

The study's authors, Scott Carrell of U.C. Davis and James West of the U.S. Air Force Academy, say their results raise questions about the value of student evaluations as measures of instructor quality.

NEW YORK (June 10, 2010) -- In what has been hailed as a breakthrough, scientists from Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical College have outlined the molecular mechanism of membrane transport. The research shows how a protein transforms its shape to transport substances across the cell membrane in order to regulate transmission of the brain's messages across the synaptic gap from one neuron to another.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- When children belong to a youth club, they gain a stronger sense of who they are as a person, an Ohio State University study has revealed.

The study suggests that even small improvements in self concept go a long way toward keeping children out of trouble.

"The more kids participate in these clubs, the better self concept they have," said Dawn Anderson-Butcher, an associate professor of social work at Ohio State. "And then that self concept makes children less vulnerable to engaging in problem behaviors."

Researchers have discovered how mutations in the presenilin 1 gene cause early-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). The finding, reported online in the journal Cell, opens the door to developing novel treatments for this form of the mind-robbing disease and for the more common, late-onset form that develops later in life and affects millions of people worldwide.

A team of biologists has isolated genes that regulate the sleep-feeding conflict. The study, which appears in the latest issue of the journal Current Biology, offers new insights into how the brain chooses between behaviors that are critical for survival.

The work was conducted by researchers in New York University's Department of Biology, the Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine at NYU School of Medicine, and the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

WORCESTER, Mass.— In the quest to better understand how the brain chooses between competing behaviors necessary for survival, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and New York University have isolated two genes in the fruit fly Drosophila that work together to mediate the need to sleep and the need to eat. The study, which appears in the online version of Current Biology, offers insights that may be used to understand sleep-and metabolism-related disorders in humans.

Researchers of the University of Granada have developed a new computer program that allows early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease through processed images. This new system has enhanced successful early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease up to 90%, which is an important progress within this area of study.

Philadelphia, PA, 10 June, 2010 - Sex "addiction" is a concept that has had particularly high visibility recently with the publicity associated with Tiger Woods. Persons with addictive or compulsive disorders frequently display an inability to inhibit behaviors once they become maladaptive, despite adverse consequences of their behavior. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is a brain region involved in decision-making and behavioral flexibility, and it has been identified as a potential mediator of behavioral inhibition.

A research conducted at the University of Granada has identified the different effects of being of a nervous disposition and being anxious at a given moment on what happens around us. Being of a nervous disposition and being anxious at a given moment affects our attention to what happens.