Brain

In the constant cross talk between our brain and our gut, two gut hormones are already known to tell the brain when we have had enough to eat. New research suggests that boosting levels of these hormones simultaneously may be an effective new weapon in the fight against obesity.

Relationship problems can keep us awake at night. But new research from UC Berkeley suggests that sleepless nights also can worsen lovers' fights.

UC Berkeley psychologists Amie Gordon and Serena Chen have found that people are much more likely to lash out at their romantic partners over relationship tensions after a bad night's sleep.

"Couples who fight more are less happy and less healthy," said Gordon, a doctoral student in psychology and lead author of the study published online in the journal, Social Psychological and Personality Science.

The most common thing that couples want from each other during a conflict is not an apology, but a willingness to relinquish power, according to a new Baylor University study.

Giving up power comes in many forms, among them giving a partner more independence, admitting faults, showing respect and being willing to compromise. The study is published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

UC Davis MIND Institute researchers have identified the specific antibodies that target fetal brain proteins in the blood of a subset of women whose children are diagnosed with autism. The finding is the first to pinpoint a specific risk factor for a significant subset of autism cases, as well as a biomarker for drug development and early diagnosis. The researchers have named autism related to these antibodies "Maternal Autoantibody-Related," or MAR autism.

Researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute have found that prenatal exposure to specific combinations of antibodies found only in mothers of children with autism leads to changes in the brain that adversely affect behavior and development.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Many brain-training companies tout the scientific backing of their products – the laboratory studies that reveal how their programs improve your brainpower. But according to a new report, most intervention studies like these have a critical flaw: They do not adequately account for the placebo effect.

The new analysis appears in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science.

ITHACA, N.Y. – U.S. intelligence agents – like the embattled Edward Snowden – are more prone to irrational inconsistencies in decision making when compared to college students and post-college adults. That's according a new Cornell University study to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science.

Given the importance of early childhood development on subsequent health, there may be knock-on effects across the life course, suggest the authors.

The authors looked at whether bedtimes in early childhood were related to brain power in more than 11,000 seven year olds, all of whom were part of the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).

When people sing in a choir their heart beats are synchronised, so that the pulse of choir members tends to increase and decrease in unison. This has been shown by a study from the Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg that examined the health effects for choir members.

MENLO PARK, Calif.—July 8, 2013—A hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's is that by the time symptoms appear, significant brain damage has already occurred—and currently there are no treatments that can reverse it. A team of SRI International researchers has demonstrated that measurements of electrical activity in the brains of mouse models of Huntington's disease could indicate the presence of disease before the onset of major symptoms.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Rhode Island Hospital successfully treated a 21-year-old patient with severe neuroinvasive Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), minimizing neurological deficits and resulting in a very positive outcome. The findings from this treatment are published online in advance of print in the journal Neurocritical Care.

A female's exposure to distress even before she conceives causes changes in the expression of a gene linked to the stress mechanism in the body — in the ovum and later in the brains of the offspring from when they are born, according to a new study on rats conducted by the University of Haifa.

A device that trains the brain to turn sounds into images could be used as an alternative to invasive treatment for blind and partially-sighted people, researchers at the University of Bath have found.

The vOICe sensory substitution device is a revolutionary tool that helps blind people to use sounds to build an image in their minds of the things around them.

A research team, led by Dr Michael Proulx, from the University's Department of Psychology, looked at how blindfolded sighted participants responded to an eye test using the device.

Philadelphia, PA -- Major depressive disorder is associated with a dysregulation of brain regions including the prefrontal cortex and limbic system. The relationship between structural and functional abnormalities in these brain regions in depressed patients is far from clear. However, both types of changes are assumed to underlie the symptoms of this disorder.

This lack of understanding prompted Dr. Bart de Kwaasteniet at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam and his colleagues to use a multimodal neuroimaging approach to further investigate this relationship.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Researchers at the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, led by faculty member Donna Wilcock, have recently published a new paper in the Journal of Neuroscience detailing an advance in treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Gammagard™ IVIg is a therapy that has been investigated for treatment of Alzheimer's. Despite small clinical studies that have reported efficacy of the approach, the mechanism of action is poorly understood.