Brain

The information carried by the electrical activity of neurons is a mixture of stored memories, environmental circumstances, and current state of mind, scientists have found in a study of laboratory rats. The findings, which appear in the journal PLoS Biology, offer new insights into the neurobiological processes that give rise to knowledge and memory recall.

BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL…July 17, 2013 -- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have discovered that a single dose of methylphenidate (MPH), used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy, helps to improve balance control during walking, hence reducing the risk of falls among elderly adults.

Falls in older adults are the leading cause of hip fractures and other injury-related visits to emergency rooms and of accidental death. Age-related deterioration in gait and balance is a major contributor to falls in older adults.

Atherosclerosis is widely recognized as an independent risk factor for stroke, and its occurrence is closely related to lipid metabolism. numerous studies using transgenic and knockout animals have shown that scavenger receptor class B type I has a protective effect against atherosclerosis. Previous studies of scavenger receptor class B type I gene polymorphisms have focused on the exon 1 G4A polymorphism and the exon 8 C1050T polymorphism, and these polymorphic loci impact blood lipid levels and are involved in the dyslipidemia in diabetes patients.

Cochlear implants, electrical prosthetic devices that stimulate inner ear neurons of individuals who have lost their cochlear sensory cells, restore usable hearing to deaf patients. Cochlear implant electrodes are placed in the fluid-filled scala tympani of the cochlea, at a significant distance from the spiral ganglion and even from the spiral ganglion dendrites. Stimulation via a cochlear implant electrode pair is therefore likely to activate large numbers of neurons concurrently.

Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory emphasizes the development of a series of nested environment systems with which an individual interacts. These systems interact with the individual, and also affect the development of the individual. The theory is that the natural environment is the major source influencing human development, which is often ignored by scholars in the laboratory. U Brofenbrenner saw the individual's experience "as a set of nested structures, each inside the next, like a set of Russian dolls".

There is evidence that mild dehydration has a negative effect on the brain's performance.

Caroline Edmonds and colleagues from the University of East London and the University of Westminster here report that drinking water can improve performance on tasks that require a rapid response, particularly when thirsty.

CHICAGO — Because of a diet low in fish and seafood, children and adults in North America and other parts of the world, have a "nutrition gap" of omega-3 fatty acids, particularly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA),according to a presentation at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Expo in Chicago®.

CHICAGO – People with impaired glucose tolerance—the precursor to Type 2 diabetes—often show impaired cognitive function that may be alleviated through a diet designed specifically for their condition, according to a panel discussion at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Expo®.

In a study released today, education researchers found that personifying energy allowed students to grapple with difficult ideas about how energy works. Contrasted with more traditional lectures and graphs, this innovative instructional technique may be useful for teaching about other ideas in physical science, which commonly deals with things that change form over time.

It's a wonder we still put up with passwords.

We forget our highly secretive combinations, so we frequently have them reset and sent to our cellphones and alternative email addresses. We come up with clever jumbles of letters and words, only to mess up the order. We sit there on the login screen, desperately punching in a code we should know by heart.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Premenopausal women who aren't interested in sex and are unhappy about this reality have distinctive blood flow patterns in their brains in response to explicit videos compared to women with normal sexual function, researchers report.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found that preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who receive high-quality early intervention benefit developmentally regardless of the treatment model used -- a surprising result that may have important implications for special-education programs and school classrooms across the country.

Dogs can learn, retain and replay actions taught by humans after a short delay. According to a new study by Claudia Fugazza and Adám Miklósi, from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, this deferred imitation provides the first evidence of dogs' cognitive ability to both encode and recall actions. The research is published in Springer's journal Animal Cognition.

NEW YORK (July 16, 2013) -- Weill Cornell Medical College neurologist Dr. Norman Relkin reported new findings today from the Phase 3 clinical trial of IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin) in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) in Boston, Mass. While the primary study outcomes were negative, observations from the subgroup analyses include whether there may be a dose-dependent reduction of beta amyloid in the blood and brain of IVIG-treated Alzheimer's patients who have the ApoE4 genotype.

Philadelphia, Pa. (July 16, 2013) - Research using electronic clinical data (ECD) has the potential to make major contributions to health care research and improve patient outcomes. However, many complex issues remain unanswered.