Brain

Deciphering the functions of multiple rare genes may be at the core of understanding the genetic factors that cause autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), according to a new study published June 9 in the journal Nature by dozens of top autism researchers around the world, including Yale Child Study Center Director Fred R. Volkmar, M.D.

SALT LAKE CITY – An international consortium of researchers from more than 70 universities, including the University of Utah, has reported that a study of nearly 2,300 people supports the growing consensus that autism is caused in part by rare genetic changes called copy number variants (CNVs).

Mount Sinai researchers and the Autism Genome Project Consortium (AGP) announced today that they have identified new autism susceptibility genes that may lead to the development of new treatment approaches. These genes, which include SHANK2, SYNGAP1, DLGAP2 and the X-linked DDX53–PTCHD1 locus, primarily belong to synapse-related pathways, while others are involved in cellular proliferation, projection and motility, and intracellular signaling.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Driving to and from work is a habit for most commuters – we do it without really thinking. But before our commutes became routine, we had to learn our way through trial-and-error exploration. A new study out of MIT has found that there are two brain circuits involved with this kind of learning and that the patterns of activity in these circuits evolve as our behaviors become more habitual.

Children who suffer from the devastating disease Spinal Muscular Atrophy are set to benefit from a new breakthrough in therapy developments by researchers at the University of Sheffield.

The research, which was published yesterday (9 June 2010) in Science Translational Medicine, has shown that a novel gene transfer system has the potential to provide an effective therapeutic treatment for SMA patients.

Athens, Ga. – Disease is a private matter to many of us. For many reasons, we want to keep it to ourselves, and no cluster of disorders challenges patients' need for privacy more than inflammatory bowel disease.

Neuroscientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that removing three key inhibitory molecules from myelin – the insulating material that surrounds nerve cell fibers – does not significantly boost the ability of injured spinal axons to regenerate and restore themselves to full function.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory found that single brain cells, if confronted with a difficult task, can identify objects as dissimilar as sports cars and dogs.

Researchers have never been sure exactly how specialized cells in the brain can be. Do different neurons each contribute to unique thoughts or can some neurons be cognitive "generalists" and participate in multiple thoughts? To answer this, MIT researchers examined the prefrontal cortex, the brain's executive in charge of decision-making and planning.

Your mother was right: Fish really is "brain food." And it seems that even pre-humans living as far back as 2 million years ago somehow knew it.

When someone suffers a stroke, time is critical--more than a million brain cells die each minute, starved of nourishment due to critical damage in a cerebral blood vessel.

Now, researchers have developed a new tool for efficiently removing blood clots in the brain, the leading cause of strokes. The tool overcomes limitations in current emergency stroke treatments, potentially extending the time for a victim to get help.

WESTCHESTER, IL – Continuous positive airway pressure therapy helps restore memory consolidation in adults with obstructive sleep apnea, suggests a research abstract that will be presented Wednesday, June 9, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

Defects in insulin action – which occur in diabetes and obesity – could directly contribute to psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators Aurelio Galli, Kevin Niswender, and colleagues have discovered a molecular link between impaired insulin signaling in the brain and schizophrenia-like behaviors in mice.

Defects in insulin function – which occur in diabetes and obesity – could directly contribute to psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have discovered a molecular link between impaired insulin signaling in the brain and schizophrenia-like behaviors in mice. The findings, reported June 8 in PLoS Biology, offer a new perspective on the psychiatric and cognitive disorders that affect patients with diabetes and suggest new strategies for treating these conditions.

Patients in the early to moderate stages of Alzheimer's Disease could have their cognitive impairment slowed or even reversed by switching to a healthier diet, according to researchers at Temple University.