Brain

Washington, DC — Adults fluent in English whose first language is Chinese retrieve their native language when reading in English, according to new research in the June 2 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. This study suggests that people who learn a second language in adolescence or later recall the sounds of words from their native language.

Scientists are making strides against cerebral malaria, a fatal form of malaria in children that can ravage the brain and is extremely difficult to treat. New research points to platelets – known for their role in blood clotting – as playing an important role in the disease, stimulating the immune system and turning on molecules that increase inflammation. The inflammation leads to the obstruction of blood vessels in the brain, causing brain damage similar to that seen with a stroke.

Montreal, Quebec – May 31, 2010 – Online learning tools – even password-protected ones – are a lot less private than students and professors believe, warn two Nova Scotia educators.

Wendy Kraglund-Gauthier and David Young both design online courses at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S. In a paper presented at the 2010 Congress for the Humanities and Social Sciences taking place at Montreal's Concordia University, they say most people have a false sense of security about their online dealings.

DETROIT – A synthetic version of a naturally occurring peptide promoted the creation of new blood vessels and repaired damaged nerve cells in lab animals, according to researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

"This successful experiment holds promise for treating clot-induced strokes in humans," says study lead author Daniel C. Morris, M.D., senior staff physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital. "Neurorestorative therapy is the next frontier in the treatment of stroke."

When we get angry, the heart rate, arterial tension and testosterone production increases, cortisol (the stress hormone) decreases, and the left hemisphere of the brain becomes more stimulated. This is indicated by a new investigation lead by scientists from the University of Valencia (UV) that analyses the changes in the brain's cardiovascular, hormonal and asymmetric activation response when we get angry.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. (May 29, 2010) – Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers will present three abstracts at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) that demonstrate progress in the use of the R.E.N.A.L. Nephrometry Scoring to characterize renal mass anatomy and allow standardization of surgical decision-making and comparison of outcomes in patients with kidney cancers.

On average, about five percent of total cancer research funding is spent on investigating metastases (the spread of cancer cells around the body) in Europe, yet metastatic disease is the direct or indirect cause of 90 percent of all cancer deaths, according to an editorial in the European Journal of Cancer (EJC). [1]

Montreal, Quebec – May 28, 2010 –The home-cooked meal is alive and well, says a University of British Columbia researcher. It just doesn't look, taste or feel like a Leave-it-to-Beaver meal from the 1950s.

Dean Simmons is a recent graduate of UBC's Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems program, where his research focused on the practice and significance of domestic cooking to families in British Columbia. He presents the results of that research at the 2010 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences taking place at Montreal's Concordia University.

The majority of Australians (58%) are worried about their brain health and the threat of age-related degenerative brain disease, according to a new survey.

The national survey was commissioned by leading medical research institute Neuroscience Research Australia and polled 1000 Australians aged 18 to over 75.

"More and more Australians are witnessing the debilitating effects of brain diseases like dementia," said Professor Peter Schofield, Executive Director of Neuroscience Research Australia.

• Impulsivity normally decreases during emerging and young adulthood and is associated with reduced substance abuse.
• Not all individuals, however, "mature out" of impulsive behavior.
• A new study has found that 18-to-25-year olds exhibited the largest declines in impulsivity as well as the sharpest decreases in alcohol consumption.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – University of Michigan scientists have provided the most detailed picture yet of a key receptor in the brain that influences the effectiveness of serotonin-related antidepressants, such as Prozac.

The findings, which appear online Monday ahead of print in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, open the door to providing a more targeted treatment of depression and anxiety with fewer side effects.

Scientists have taken another important step toward understanding just how sticking needles into the body can ease pain.

In a paper published online May 30 in Nature Neuroscience, a team at the University of Rochester Medical Center identifies the molecule adenosine as a central player in parlaying some of the effects of acupuncture in the body. Building on that knowledge, scientists were able to triple the beneficial effects of acupuncture in mice by adding a medication approved to treat leukemia in people.

Researchers in the University of Alberta's Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine have made an important discovery that could lead to more effective treatments for spinal-cord injuries. Karim Fouad and David Bennett have identified one of the body's natural self-repair mechanisms that kick in after injury.

Exposure to the common virus that causes cold sores may be partially responsible for shrinking regions of the brain and the loss of concentration skills, memory, coordinated movement and dexterity widely seen in patients with schizophrenia, according to research led by Johns Hopkins scientists.