Brain

Arlington, Va., and Ridgefield, Conn. (May 10, 2010) – A new survey announced today finds the vast majority (94%) of science teachers wish their students' parents had more opportunities to engage in science with their children. However, more than half (53%) of parents of school-aged children admit that they could use more help to support their child's interest in science.

A new study by researchers from McGill University and the University of British Columbia shows that mice, like humans, express pain through facial expressions.

LOS ANGELES (May 7, 2010) — New research by scientists at Cedars-Sinai's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute suggests that a drug currently approved to treat erectile dysfunction may significantly enhance the delivery of the anti-cancer drug Herceptin to certain hard-to-treat brain tumors. The research, published in the journal PLoS ONE, could help doctors improve treatments for lung and breast cancers that have metastasized to the brain.

AMES, IA - The protein that has long been suspected by scientists of being the master switch allowing brains to function has now been verified by an Iowa State University researcher.

Yeon-Kyun Shin, professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at ISU, has shown that the protein called synaptotagmin1 (Syt1) is the sole trigger for the release of neurotransmitters in the brain.

DALLAS – May 11, 2010 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered how the genetic mutation that causes Fragile X syndrome, the most common form of inherited mental retardation, interferes with the "pruning" of nerve connections in the brain. Their findings appear in the April 29 issue of Neuron.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — More than half a century after researchers identified a promising way to treat diabetes based on blocking the breakdown of insulin in the body, a research team led by a scientist at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have developed potent molecules that can do just that.

Compassion. Self-understanding. Morality. Emotional stability.

These words would seem to describe at least some of the universal traits attributed to wisdom, each of them broadly recognized and valued. In fact, there is no enduring, consistent definition of what it means exactly to be wise. It is a virtue widely treasured but essentially unexplained, a timeless subject only now attracting rigorous, scientific scrutiny.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Previous studies have found that the vast majority of published psychological research in the United States is based on American samples and excludes 95 percent of the world's population. Yet, these results are often generalized and taken as universal. When University of Missouri doctoral student Reid Trotter examined perfectionism and coping methods in Taiwanese culture for his dissertation, he decided to collaborate with a graduate student in Taiwan. From their collaboration, they found that models of perfectionism and coping were not universal.

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- More than half of patients who have cirrhosis of the liver also display neurocognitive impairments such as short term memory loss, a study led by a Loyola University Health System researcher has found.

Loyola neuropsychologist Christopher Randolph, PhD, and colleagues found that 54 percent of 301 cirrhosis patients who were tested scored below the 10th percentile for their age and education on a test that measures neurocognitive abilities.

Stem cells derived from the endometrium (uterine lining) and transplanted into the brains of laboratory mice with Parkinson's disease appear to restore functioning of brain cells damaged by the disease, according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The world's scientific community may be one step closer to understanding age-related memory loss, and to developing a drug that might help boost memory. In an editorial published May 7 in Science, J. David Sweatt, Ph.D., chair of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Neurobiology, says that drugs known as histone deacetylase inhibitors are showing great promise in stopping memory loss – and even in boosting the formation of memory in animal models.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Washing your hands "wipes the slate clean," removing doubts about recent choices.

That's the key finding of a University of Michigan study published in the current (May 7) issue of Science.

The study, conducted by U-M psychologists Spike W. S. Lee and Norbert Schwarz, expands on past research by showing that hand-washing does more than remove the guilt of past misdeeds.

Studies have indicated that insects rely on their brains to respond to what they feel and see. But for the first time, researchers have shown a direct link between neurons at the center of an insect brain and changes in behavior. The findings and a video are published online in Current Biology at noon U.S. eastern time May 6.

A team led by Roy Ritzmann, Case Western Reserve University biology professor, recorded neural activity in the central complex of walking cockroaches – that in itself is a painstaking first.

Endometrial stem cells injected into the brains of mice with a laboratory-induced form of Parkinson's disease appeared to take over the functioning of brain cells eradicated by the disease.

The finding raises the possibility that women with Parkinson's disease could serve as their own stem cell donors. Similarly, because endometrial stem cells are readily available and easy to collect, banks of endometrial stem cells could be stored for men and women with Parkinson's disease.