Brain

Scientists have developed a new computational model to uncover gene regulation, the key to how our body develops – and how it can go wrong.

The researchers, from The University of Manchester (UK), Aalto University (Finland) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory Heidelberg (Germany), say the new method identifies targets of regulator genes.

Scientists have discovered "striking similarities" between human brains, the nervous system of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans and computer chips.

The team of neuroscientists and computer experts from the UK, US and Germany compared the way these systems are organised and found that the same networking principles underlie all three.

Scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), a biomedical research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), have recently developed a zebrafish model for Parkinson's disease that can be used for understanding the mechanism underlying its development. The knowledge gained will be helpful for future screening of new drugs to treat Parkinson's disease (PD).

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– An international team of scientists has discovered striking similarities between the human brain, the nervous system of a worm, and a computer chip. The finding is reported in the journal PloS Computational Biology today.

Researchers reporting online on April 22nd in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, offer more evidence that successful study habits should include plenty of napping. They found that people who take a nap and dream about a task they've just learned perform it better upon waking than either those who don't sleep at all or those who sleep but don't report any associated dreams.

A multi-faceted treatment program for young adults addicted to opioid drugs was unveiled today at the National Institute on Drug Abuse's (NIDA) Blending Conference in Albuquerque, N.M. This eighth meeting in the series brings together researchers and clinicians so their latest findings can be immediately applied to the needs of patients and their families dealing with addictive disorders. NIDA is a component of the National Institutes of Health.

RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech students Mridhula Thangaraj and Chris Monceaux will participate in a symposium on 'Regenerative Medicine - Wound Healing' at the 2010 Experimental Biology meeting, April 24-28 at the Anaheim (CA) Convention Center.

The Experimental Biology meeting is part of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology's (FASEB) 2010 Annual Meeting.

The standard practice of cooling and then rewarming a patient to prevent organ damage during cardiac bypass surgery may impair the body's mechanism that controls blood flow to the brain, potentially increasing the patient's risk of stroke, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – April 21, 2010 – Although genetics is the most significant known determinant of human intelligence, how specific genes affect intelligence remains largely unknown. A multi-institution team led by a University of Utah (U of U) USTAR researcher has found that the brain gene STX1A plays a significant role in the level of intelligence displayed by patients with Williams Syndrome (WS). The study may have implications for the understanding of intelligence and treatment of neurological disease in the general population.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Images from racial theme parties that are posted on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace not only elicit different reactions from different people based on their race and their attitudes toward diversity, they also represent an indirect way to express racist views about minorities, according to published research by a University of Illinois professor who studies the convergence of race and the Internet.

The largest ever trial of fish oil supplements has found no evidence that they offer benefits for cognitive function in older people.

The OPAL study investigated the effects of taking omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplements over a two year period on the cognitive function of participants aged 70-80 years.

The number of people with cognitive impairment is rising and it is estimated that by 2040, more than 81 million people globally will have dementia.

Losing a parent to suicide makes children more likely to die by suicide themselves and increases their risk of developing a range of major psychiatric disorders, according to a study led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center that is believed to be the largest one to date on the subject.

A report on the findings will appear in the May issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have discovered the way in which red wine consumption may protect the brain from damage following a stroke.

Two hours after feeding mice a single modest dose of resveratrol, a compound found in the skins and seeds of red grapes, 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 resveratrol suffered significantly less brain damage than the ones that had not been given the compound.

Age dramatically delays the time if takes to recover the sense of taste following a significant nerve injury, Medical College of Georgia researchers said.

When old rats received nerve injuries similar to ones that can occur in ear or dental surgery, their taste buds took essentially twice as long to recover function as their younger counterparts, Dr. Lynnette McCluskey, neuroscientist in the MCG Schools of Graduate Studies and Medicine reported during the Association for Chemoreception Sciences annual meeting April 21-25.

Nerve cells communicate with each other by means of electrical impulses. To create such an impulse, the cells exchange charged ions with their environment. However, the role played by the ever-present chloride channels remained obscure, although some theories predicted a relation between the chloride channel ClC-2 and epilepsy.