Brain

Stereoscopic panoramas promise an inviting, immersive experience for viewers but, at high resolutions, distortions can develop that make viewing unpleasant or even intolerable. A team at Disney Research Zurich has found methods to correct these problems, yielding high-quality panoramas at megapixel resolutions.

The researchers will present findings related to their so-called Megastereo project at the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), June 25-27, in Portland, Oregon.

Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have demonstrated that sensory regions in the brain develop in a fundamentally different way than previously thought, a finding that may yield new insights into visual and neural disorders.

Patients given a clot-busting drug within six hours of a stroke are more likely to have a long-lasting recovery than those who do not receive the treatment, new research has found.

A study of more than 3000 patients reviewed the effects of the drug rt-PA, which is given intravenously to patients who have suffered an ischaemic stroke.

The international trial, led by the University of Edinburgh, found that 18 months after being treated with the drug, more stroke survivors were able to look after themselves.

No matter how we jump, roll, sit, or lie down, our brain manages to maintain a visual representation of the world that stays upright relative to the pull of gravity. But a new study of rider experiences on the Hong Kong Peak Tram, a popular tourist attraction, shows that specific features of the environment can dominate our perception of verticality, making skyscrapers appear to fall.

The study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

"Enhancing student engagement has been identified as the key to addressing problems of low achievement, high levels of student misbehavior, alienation, and high dropout rates." – Pitt professor Ming-Te Wang

A landmark three-dimensional (3-D) digital reconstruction of a complete human brain, called the BigBrain, now for the first time shows the brain anatomy in microscopic detail—at a spatial resolution of 20 microns, smaller than the size of one fine strand of hair—exceeding that of existing reference brains presently in the public domain. The new tool is made freely available to the broader scientific community to advance the field of neuroscience.

"BigBrain helps us to generate new knowledge on the healthy and also the diseased brain," says Katrin Amunts, director at the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1) and the C. and O. Vogt Institute of Brain Research at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. For example: "As a consequence of its evolution, the human cerebral cortex is very heavily folded," says the neuroscientist. She explains that this is the reason why, in some areas, the thickness of the cerebral cortex can only be determined very imprecisely using imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke Medicine researchers have identified a receptor in the nervous system that may be key to preventing epilepsy following a prolonged period of seizures.

Their findings from studies in mice, published online in the journal Neuron on June 20, 2013, provide a molecular target for developing drugs to prevent the onset of epilepsy, not just manage the disease's symptoms.

Temporal lobe epilepsy, the most common form of epilepsy, is characterized by recurrent seizures throughout life and often behavioral abnormalities, with devastating impacts on patients and their families. Unfortunately, the condition is often not responsive to anticonvulsants.

LA JOLLA, CA – June 20, 2013 – Neuroscientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have filled in a significant gap in the scientific understanding of how neurons mature, pointing to a better understanding of some developmental brain disorders.

In the new study, the researchers identified a molecular program that controls an essential step in the fast-growing brains of young mammals. The researchers found that this signaling pathway spurs the growth of neuronal output connections by a mechanism called "mitochondrial capture," which has never been described before.

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Human sleeping and waking patterns are largely governed by an internal circadian clock that corresponds closely with the 24-hour cycle of light and darkness. This circadian clock also controls other body functions, such as metabolism and temperature regulation.

Studies in animals have found that when that rhythm gets thrown off, health problems including obesity and metabolic disorders such as diabetes can arise. Studies of people who work night shifts have also revealed an increased susceptibility to diabetes.

A combination of the myxoma virus and the immune suppressant rapamycin can kill glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and deadliest malignant brain tumor, according to Moffitt Cancer Center research. Peter A. Forsyth, M.D., of Moffitt's Neuro-Oncology Program, says the combination has been shown to infect and kill both brain cancer stem cells and differentiated compartments of glioblastoma multiforme.

A line of genetically modified mice that Western University scientists call "Forrest Gump" because, like the movie character, they can run far but they aren't smart, is furthering the understanding of a key neurotransmitter called acetylcholine (ACh). Marco Prado and his team at Robarts Research Institute say the mice show what happens when too much of this neurotransmitter becomes available in the brain. Boosting ACh is a therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease because it's found in reduced amounts when there's cognitive failure.

Lumosity, the leading brain training company, today announced a new web-based, big data methodology for conducting human cognitive performance research. Lumosity's research platform, the Human Cognition Project, contains the world's largest and continuously growing dataset of human cognitive performance, which currently includes more than 40 million people who have been tracked for up to 6 years.

Mindfulness – a mental training that develops sustained attention that can change the ways people think, act and feel – could reduce symptoms of stress and depression and promote wellbeing among school children, according to a new study published online by the British Journal of Psychiatry.