Brain

June 5, 2010 (Chicago, IL) – Data from the first phase III clinical trial of NovoCure's NovoTTFdevice for treatment of patients with recurrent glioblastoma (GBM) were presented today as alate breaking abstract during the Neuro-Oncology session at the American Society of ClinicalOncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago. Study results show that NovoTTF, a novel, noninvasive,portable medical device, may be as or more effective than the best availablechemotherapies for GBM, but without the toxicity usually associated with cytotoxic or targetedtreatments.

(CHICAGO – June 5, 2010) Researchers from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC) presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology the findings of a pediatric brain tumor study using an experimental drug that targets the underlying genetic makeup of the tumor. The research focused on a new way to attack the tumors by blocking the Hedgehog pathway that is linked to approximately 20 percent of medulloblastomas.

(PHILADELPHIA) Patients with high-grade gliomas who experience acute (early) neurological toxicity during their treatment were more likely to experience chronic (late) neurological toxicity and shortened overall survival, according to researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson. The study will be presented at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago (Abstract #2037).

WESTCHESTER, IL – Individuals with chronic insomnia have an elevated risk of death, according to a research abstract that will be presented Monday, June 7, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

WESTCHESTER, IL – Obstructive sleep apnea patients had reductions of grey-matter volume at baseline but showed significant grey-matter volume increase after three months of CPAP therapy, according to a research abstract that will be presented Monday, June 7, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

WESTCHESTER, IL - Exposure to extraordinarily brief, millisecond flashes of bright light improves alertness at night, according to a research abstract that will be presented Monday, June 7, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

WESTCHESTER, IL – The prevalence of mild sleep-disordered breathing in young children may fluctuate seasonally, suggests a research abstract that will be presented Monday, June 7, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — For the first time, scientists have discovered a possible biological culprit in the development of eating disorders during puberty: a type of estrogen called estradiol.

CINCINNATI—Circulation of cholesterol is regulated in the brain by the hunger-signaling hormone ghrelin, researchers say. The finding points to a new potential target for the pharmacologic control of cholesterol levels.

The animal study, led by Matthias Tschöp, MD, professor in the University of Cincinnati (UC) endocrinology division, appears online ahead of print Sunday, June 6, 2010, in Nature Neuroscience.

Researchers from University Hospitals Case Medical Center's Ireland Cancer Center will present new clinical research findings at the 46th Annual Meeting of The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) June 4-8 in Chicago.

ITHACA, N.Y.: How many more apples can a school cafeteria sell if the fruit is displayed in an attractive basket and placed in a well-lit area?

The researchers have named the pheromone 'darcin', after Jane Austen's hero in Pride and Prejudice, Mr Darcy. Darcin stimulates females to 'learn' an individual male's scent, reinforcing their memory of sexual attraction to that same male.

Previous studies have shown that many mammals, from mice to elephants, use urine to communicate sexual attractiveness. In mice, females learn attraction to a male's scent through contact with urine and recall their attraction when the scent is detected at a distance.

DALLAS – June 3, 2010 – Reducing a protein called beta-amyloid in young mice with a condition resembling Down syndrome improves their ability to learn, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

"This preliminary study in the animal model raises the intriguing possibility that drugs that lower beta-amyloid levels might offer some benefit to children with Down syndrome," said Dr. Craig Powell, assistant professor of neurology at UT Southwestern and co-lead author of the study, which is available in PLoS One, the Public Library of Science's online journal.

Enrichment classes, after-school activities, tutoring, not to mention the gentle prodding of parents — all may count in giving a child that extra academic edge. But parents still puzzle over what the right mix is to make their children excel in school.

It turns out that the missing ingredient could be the friends a child keeps, specifically their in-school friends, the ones who sweat the same tests and homework and complain about the same teachers, rather than those they may make outside of school.

Tampa, Fla. (June 3, 2010) – A team of researchers from several collaborating Baylor University research centers and from Japan's Okayama Graduate School of Medicine have found a way to more consistently isolate pancreatic islet cells from brain dead donors using ductal injection (DI), a process that immediately cools donor islet cells at the injection site. The more successful islet isolation process resulted in the three type 1-diabetes patients, who received islet cell transplants, becoming insulin independent.