Brain

The research team led by Professor Magdalena Goetz of Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Munich reports a major step forward in discovering a therapy for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or stroke. The researchers were able to convert glial cells of the brain into two different functional classes of neurons. The findings are published on May 18 in the renowned journal PLoS Biology.

About 10 percent of fathers experience prenatal or postpartum depression, with rates being highest in the 3 to 6 month postpartum period, according to an analysis of previous research appearing in the May 19 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on mental health.

James F. Paulson, Ph.D., of the East­ern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Va., presented the findings of the study at a JAMA media briefing on mental health.

DETROIT – A unique program for patients with depression has resulted in two and a half years without a single suicide from Henry Ford's patient population.

The program, chronicled in an article in this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, was created by the Behavioral Health Services division of Henry Ford Health System in 2001.

Researchers have identified an important cancer gene that could lead to more effective drugs being developed to fight paediatric high grade glioma, a disease which currently has a poor prognosis.

The discovery, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, was one of a number of significant genetic differences found between the adult and youth form of the disease. Gliomas are the most common brain tumour in children.

During the year following hospitalization for a traumatic brain injury, a majority of patients experienced major depression, according to a study in the May 19 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on mental health.

Charles H. Bombardier, Ph.D., of the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, presented the findings of the study at a JAMA media briefing on mental health.

It is time to reassess mental disorders, recognizing that these are disorders of brain circuits likely caused by development processes, according to a commentary in the May 19 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on mental health.

Thomas R. Insel, M.D., Director, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, Md., presented the commentary at a JAMA media briefing on mental health.

A genetic variant of a receptor in the brain's reward circuitry plays an important role in determining whether the neurotransmitter dopamine is released in the brain following alcohol intake, according to a study led by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. Dopamine is involved in transmitting the euphoria and other positive subjective effects produced by alcohol.

By the age of 5, Rachel, who lives on a farm near a small town in Iowa, had been struggling with seizures brought on by intractable epilepsy for nearly three years.

New research shows a possible explanation for the link between mental health and creativity. By studying receptors in the brain, researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have managed to show that the dopamine system in healthy, highly creative people is similar in some respects to that seen in people with schizophrenia.

Swimsuit season is almost upon us. For most of us, the countdown has begun to lazy days lounging by the pool and relaxing on the beach. However, for some of us, the focus is not so much on sunglasses and beach balls, but how to quickly shed those final five or ten pounds in order to look good poolside. It is no secret that dieting can be challenging and food cravings can make it even more difficult. Why do we get intense desires to eat certain foods? Although food cravings are a common experience, researchers have only recently begun studying how food cravings emerge.

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Parents, educators and developmental psychologists have long been interested in how children understand the relationship between human and non-human animals. For decades, the consensus was that as children begin reasoning about the biological world, they adopt only one -- markedly "anthropocentric" -- vantage point, favoring humans over non-human animals when it comes to learning about properties of animals.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new study shows that altered blood flow in the brain due to high blood pressure and other conditions may lead to falls in elderly people. The research will be published in the May 18, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Each year, unintentional falls in the United States account for more than 16,000 deaths and 1.8 million emergency room visits.

BOSTON—Altered blood flow in the brain is associated with slow gait and falls in elderly people, according to a new study published by the Institute for Aging Research of Hebrew SeniorLife. Falls among the elderly can be deadly and costly. Nearly 1.8 million older Americans fall each year, resulting 16,000 deaths and $20 billion in direct health-care costs.

(PHILADELPHIA) Patients who received hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for their recurrent brain cancers lived longer lives, according to researchers at Thomas Jefferson University.

Not only does hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (H-SRT) provide longer survival, patients do not experience side effects commonly seen with use of chemotherapies and targeted therapies, the researchers found. They believe these findings, reported online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, set a new bar for the treatment of recurrent gliomas.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Sleeping newborns are better learners than thought, says a University of Florida researcher about a study that is the first of its type. The study could lead to identifying those at risk for developmental disorders such as autism and dyslexia.

"We found a basic form of learning in sleeping newborns, a type of learning that may not be seen in sleeping adults," said Dana Byrd, a research affiliate in psychology at UF who collaborated with a team of scientists.