Brain

A study conducted by the University of Granada, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, revealed that policemen and ordinary people reason differently than criminals when making decisions. That is, they reason in different ways. This conclusion might have significant implications on criminal jurisdiction.

Toronto – Scientists have found an important clue in the quest to understand why people who suffer from depression in later life are harder to treat and keep well in the long term.

A study led by Toronto's Baycrest has found that older adults with depression don't respond normally to emotional stimuli, such as when they see happy, sad or neutral faces.

Milan, Italy, 4 May 2010 – The ability to infer what another person is thinking is an essential tool for social interaction and is known by neuroscientists as "Theory of Mind" (ToM), but how does the brain actually allow us to do this?

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new study shows that people with a common heart defect may also be more likely to have brain aneurysms. The study is published in the May 4, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Daily transcranial magnetic stimulation—an intervention that uses magnetic currents to activate certain brain areas—appears to help induce remission in patients with treatment-resistant depression, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Among adults beginning antidepressant therapy, the risk of suicide or suicide attempts does not appear to vary by individual type or class of medication, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Rates of mood and anxiety disorders appear to decline with age but the conditions remain common in older adults, especially women, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

"Knowledge of the prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders and co-existing mood-anxiety disorder in older community-dwelling adults is important; these are hidden and undertreated but treatable disorders associated with poor health outcomes," the authors write as background information in the article.

CHAPEL HILL – Brain changes associated with the most common cause of mental retardation can be seen in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of children as young as one to three years old, according to a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Stanford University.

STANFORD, Calif. — Fragile X syndrome is the most common known cause of inherited intellectual disability and autism. Now, researchers using advanced, noninvasive imaging techniques have shown how the brains of very young boys with fragile X syndrome differ from those of young boys without it, providing critical information for the development of treatments for the condition.

CHAPEL HILL – Brain changes associated with the most common cause of mental retardation can be seen in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of children as young as one to three years old, according to a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Stanford University.

BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL, May 3, 2010 – Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have isolated a microalgal strain which produces large amounts of a polyunsaturated fatty acid that could reduce blood pressure, chronic inflammation and blood cholesterol level, reducing the risk for heart attacks.

Stress, sickness and depression can generate inflammation in the brain, which is detrimental to learning. According to a new study that will appear online on May 3rd in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org), T cells level the learning curve by producing a protein that combats inflammation, establishing a more learning-conducive environment in the brain.

Children learn a great deal by imitating adults. A new study of Australian preschoolers and Kalahari Bushman children finds that a particular kind of imitation – overimitation, in which a child copies everything an adult shows them, not just the steps that lead to some outcome – appears to be a universal human activity, rather than something the children of middle-class parents pick up. The work helps shed light on how humans develop and transmit culture.