Brain

A study made with 191 patients reveal that symptoms of hyperactivity due to the deficit of attention and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are associated with more impulsivity and more severity, and probably a worse prognosis in patients with eating disorders.

ADHD in adults is poorly investigated and, although several studies have reported associations between this disorder and abnormal eating behaviour, so far it had not been described associations between ADHD and eating disorders in adults.

More and more Americans are consuming artificial sweeteners as an alternative to sugar, but whether this translates into better health has been heavily debated. An opinion article published by Cell Press on July 10th in the journal Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism reviews surprising evidence on the negative impact of artificial sweeteners on health, raising red flags about all sweeteners—even those that don't have any calories.

LA JOLLA, CA – July 10, 2013 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have published one of the first laboratory studies of MDPV, an emerging recreational drug that has been sold as "bath salts." The TSRI researchers confirmed the drug's powerful stimulant effects in rats and found evidence that it could be more addictive than methamphetamine, one of the most addictive substances to date.

July 10, 2013 - If you see your partner flirt with someone else, you may feel hurt, angry, and jealous. The last thing you might expect is to start thinking of yourself more like your rival. New research suggests just that: that jealousy can prompt people to change how they view themselves relative to competitors for their partners' attention.

Is there a brain area for mind-wandering? For religious experience? For reorienting attention? A recent study casts serious doubt on the evidence for these ideas, and rewrites the rules for neuroimaging.

Brain mapping experiments attempt to identify the cognitive functions associated with discrete cortical regions. They generally rely on a method known as "cognitive subtraction." However, recent research reveals a basic assumption underlying this approach—that brain activation is due to the additional processes triggered by the experimental task—is wrong

Philadelphia, PA -- Many people with schizophrenia have marked problems with motivation, failing to initiate and persist in goal-directed behavior. These negative symptoms of schizophrenia can be disabling and prevent individuals from realizing their potential.

For many years it was thought this was due to an inability to experience pleasure associated with successful goal attainment. However, recent laboratory studies have shown that hedonic experience is actually intact in people with schizophrenia, calling for new approaches to better understand these motivational deficits.

The rates of regional brain loss and cognitive decline caused by aging and the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are higher for women and for people with a key genetic risk factor for AD, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in a study published online July 4 in the American Journal of Neuroradiology.

PHILADELPHIA – Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that, across a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, cerebrovascular disease affecting circulation of blood in the brain was significantly associated with dementia. The researchers contend that people already exhibiting clinical features of Alzheimer's disease and other memory impairments may benefit from effective therapies currently available to reduce vascular problems.

Children who were later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder had excessive cerebral spinal fluid and enlarged brains in infancy, a study by a multidisciplinary team of researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found, raising the possibility that those brain anomalies may serve as potential biomarkers for the early identification of the neurodevelopmental disorder.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The idea that females are more resilient than males in responding to stress is a popular view, and now University at Buffalo researchers have found a scientific explanation. The paper describing their embargoed study will be published July 9 online, in the high-impact journal, Molecular Psychiatry.

In a groundbreaking new study from UC San Francisco, researchers have found that children affected with sensory processing disorders (SPD) have quantifiable differences in brain structure, showing a biological basis for the disease that sets it apart from other neurodevelopmental disorders.

In May, the Los Angeles school board voted to ban suspensions of students for "willful defiance" and directed school officials to use alternative disciplinary practices. The decision was controversial, and the question remains: How do you discipline rowdy students and keep them in the classroom while still being fair to other kids who want to learn?

DETROIT – While stem-cell therapy offers great promise for the treatment of stroke, much research remains to be done to show its long-term effectiveness and to understand the potential for dangerous side effects.

Spontaneous survivors of acetaminophen overdose have significantly lower overall health compared to survivors or transplant recipients following acute liver failure caused by non-drug induced liver injury according to a new study published online in Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society. Findings show that acetaminophen overdose survivors report more days of impaired mental and physical health, and activity limitations due to poor health, pain, anxiety and depression.

Brain cancer is the primary cause of cancer mortality in children. Even in cases when the cancer is cured, young patients suffer from the stress of a treatment that can be harmful to the developing brain. In a search for new target structures that would create more gentle treatments, cancer researchers are systematically analyzing all alterations in the genetic material of these tumors. This is the mission of the PedBrain consortium, which was launched in 2010.