Brain

Anglers rely on fish finders to help them locate the big catch. Now Tel Aviv University researchers in tissue engineering have developed a "fat finder" that can help scientists accelerate their research into new fat-melting drugs.

The brains of problem gamblers react more intensely to near misses than casual gamblers, new research from the University of Cambridge has found. The results could help explain what keeps problem gamblers betting even though they keep losing.

The study involved scanning the brains of 20 gamblers using functional magnetic resonance imaging while they played a computerised slot machine. Participants' gambling habits ranged from regular, social gamblers to those with severe problem gambling.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a compound in dark chocolate may protect the brain after a stroke by increasing cellular signals already known to shield nerve cells from damage.

Ninety minutes after feeding mice a single modest dose of epicatechin, a compound found naturally in dark chocolate, the scientists induced an ischemic stroke by essentially cutting off blood supply to the animals' brains. They found that the animals that had preventively ingested the epicatechin suffered significantly less brain damage than the ones that had not been given the compound.

CHICAGO --- Researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have discovered a link between sporadic and familial forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

New research on the properties of the clot-busting stroke drug tPA (tissue-type plasminogen activator) suggests that tPA can act as a neuroprotectant and may form the keystone of an adaptive response to a reduction in blood flow.

Scientists from Emory University School of Medicine have shown that certain parts of the brains of mice lacking the gene for tPA are more vulnerable to stroke. In addition, tPA can protect neurons in the same part of the brain from the stress of hypoxia (low oxygen).

Washington, DC — The brains of problem gamblers react more intensely to "near misses" than casual gamblers, possibly spurring them on to play more, according to new research in the May 5 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The researchers found the brain region that responds to rewards by delivering a dose of the chemical dopamine was especially active in these individuals.

A groundbreaking trial to test bone marrow stem cell therapy with a small group of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) has been shown to have possible benefits for the treatment of the disease.

Drinking alcohol over a long period of time profoundly affects the brain, which adapts to the intoxicant and causes withdrawal symptoms when consumption stops.

Neuroscientists from the University of Southampton's School of Biological Sciences investigated alcohol dependency and withdrawal using tiny 1mm long C. elegans worms. Despite the worm's evolutionary distance from humans, and very simple brain of just 302 nerve cells, it exhibits similar alcohol-dependent behaviours.

• The brain's nucleus accumbens (NAC) is a core region of the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system.
• The mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system plays an important role in addiction.
• New findings show distinct gene expression patterns for alcoholics, smokers and smoking alcoholics in the NAC.

• Medical inpatients often demonstrate unhealthy drinking practices.
• A new study on the effectiveness of hospital interventions has found that focusing on alcohol-attributable illnesses may serve as the strongest catalyst for changing drinking habits.

• Driver's license suspension is often used for individuals convicted of driving under the influence (DUI).
• A new study has found that many suspended drivers do not reinstate, continue to drive uninsured, and create danger on the roads for others.
• Results support license reinstatement with continued controls, such as interlocks as a condition of reinstatement.

May 4 – TORONTO – Greater levels of a brain protein called monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) – may explain why postpartum blues and clinical depression are so common after childbirth according to an important study published today in the Archives of General Psychiatry.