Brain

Though it has been prescribed for over 50 years to treat bipolar disorder, there are still many questions regarding exactly how lithium works. However, in a study appearing in this month's Journal of Lipid Research, researchers have provided solid evidence that lithium reduces brain inflammation by adjusting the metabolism of the health-protective omega-3-fatty acid called DHA.

CHICAGO—Despite grim prognoses and aggressive treatments, cancer patients suffering from malignant gliomas -- primary brain tumors -- often rate their quality of life more optimistically than their caregivers do, according to a new Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine study.

The research suggests how important it is for caregivers to speak up if there is something more to be said, said Daniel Jacobs, a clinical researcher at Feinberg and lead author of the paper. "A caregiver may help to give a more complete clinical picture," he said.

(Boston) ― A team of researchers has discovered that the protein that forms plaques in the brain in Alzheimer's disease also accumulates in the eyes of people with Down syndrome. The new findings in Down syndrome show that the toxic protein, known as amyloid-β, that causes Alzheimer's pathology in the brain also leads to distinctive cataracts in the eyes. The discovery is leading the researchers to develop an innovative eye test for early detection of Alzheimer's pathology in both disorders.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Despite the distraction potential of laptops in college classrooms, new research shows that they can actually increase students' engagement, attentiveness, participation and learning.

To achieve this, however, the instructor must set the right stage, says University of Michigan professor Perry Samson.

Samson is a professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences who has received honors for his educational technology work.

Flirtation may seem largely visual – the preening, the coy eye contact – but voice plays a role, too.

Lowering your voice may be a means of demonstrating attraction, says Susan Hughes, assistant professor of psychology at Albright College in Reading, Pa., in a study, "Vocal and Physiological Changes in Response to the Physical Attractiveness of Controversial Partners," to be published in the fall by the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified a drug that improves communication between nerve cells in a mouse model of Phelan-McDermid Syndrome (PMS). Behavioral symptoms of PMS fall under the autism spectrum disorder category. The research will be presented Friday at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in Philadelphia.

Because people with depression often do not recognize they have a problem or are unable to describe their distress, many do not seek treatment. About a quarter of those with major depression are undiagnosed, according to several studies, and fewer than half receive treatment.

To improve recognition and treatment of depression, primary care physicians should do three things: help their patients name their distress, provide explanations for the depression that conform to patients' experiences and reduce blame and stigma.

Researchers from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) have found a new Alzheimer's-related mechanism that could give rise to the development of new therapies against this disease. The study was recently published in the Cell Calcium journal, and the authors have already applied for a European patent to protect the commercial exploitation of this new discovery.

Two University of Arizona researchers have studied the relationship between Arizona's 2007 law that bans smoking in public places and hospitalization rates for a range of ailments related to secondhand smoke exposure.

Their results: Admissions for acute myocardial infarction or AMI, stroke, asthma and angina decreased following the implementation of the ban.

Reductions in hospital charges are estimated to total more than $16 million in the first 13 months after the ban.

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine determined that excess abdominal fat places otherwise healthy, middle-aged people at risk for dementia later in life. Preliminary findings suggest a relationship between obesity and dementia that could lead to promising prevention strategies in the future. Results of this study are published early online in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association.

(Garrison, NY) Shifting children from the controversial diagnosis of bipolar disorder to one that more accurately reflects their symptoms will not by itself decrease the rate of psychopharmacologic treatment and is not enough to help troubled children flourish, according to a commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers at The Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute, and a physician-researcher at Stony Brook University School of Medicine.