Brain

Moxibustion may have protective effects on the stomach mucous membrane against stress gastric ulcer. The potential mechanism of moxibustion may be mediated by transforming growth factor-α, gastric mucosa cell proliferation, inhibition of apoptosis, and the expression of heat shock protein-70. Previous studies have shown that somatic sensation by acupuncture and visceral nociceptive stimulation can converge in the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) where neurons integrate signals impacting on the function of organs.

Ghrelin, a brain-gut peptide that induces anxiety and other abnormal emotions, contributes to the effects of insomnia on emotional behavior. In contrast, the traditional Chinese Medicine remedy Wen Dan Tang reduces insomnia-related anxiety, which may perhaps correspond to changes in the brain-gut axis. This suggests a possible relationship between Wen Dan Tang's pharmacological mechanism and the brain-gut axis. Based on this hypothesis, a research team from Beijing University of Chinese Medicine in China generated a sleep deprivation rat model, and orally administered Wen Dan Tang.

In children, primary spinal tumors comprise 4% of all tumors from the central nervous system. Spinal tumors can present with a variety of clinical signs and symptoms in children such as pain followed by motor regression, gait disturbance, sphincter dysfunction, sensory symptoms, torticollis, and kyphoscoliosis. Treatment of spinal tumors is based on tumor type, but surgical resection is the mainstay. Moreover, physical treatment and rehabilitation implementation are necessary in order to minimize the symptoms of the patients and develop present functions. Prof.

People seeking help or information online about cutting and other forms of self-injury are likely finding falsehoods and myths, according to new research from the University of Guelph.

Only about 10 per cent of websites providing information about non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) are endorsed by health or academic institutions, according to a study published recently in JAMA Pediatrics, a journal of the American Medical Association.

The researchers studied 400 individuals 80-98 years old over a six-year period. Every two years, the subjects were assessed in terms of physical and mental measures as well as personality aspects such as extraversion, which reflects the inclination to be outgoing, and emotional stability. The results show that even if the emotional stability remained constant over the period, the participants became less outgoing.

Mild hypothermia has been shown to exert apparent neuroprotective effects in animal models of diffuse axonal injury. However, the clinical efficacy of mild hypothermia is controversial. Thus, a noninvasive, accurate, and objective technique is urgently required to verify the effect of mild hypothermia in diffuse axonal injury and its prognosis. Fractional anisotropy values in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can quantitatively reflect the consistency of nerve fibers after brain damage, where higher values generally indicate less damage to nerve fibers.

Washington (March 31, 2014) — The use of metformin, a common regulator of blood glucose for diabetics, does not help protect against heart failure in non-diabetic patients who have suffered a heart attack, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.

The GIPS-III trial is the first double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study conducted to evaluate whether four months of metformin treatment preserved left ventricular function in non-diabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have discovered that a commonly used anesthetic technique to reduce the blood pressure of patients undergoing surgery could increase the risk of starving the brain of oxygen.

Reducing blood pressure is important in a wide range of surgeries – such as sinus, shoulder, back and brain operations – and is especially useful for improving visibility for surgeons, by helping to remove excess blood from the site being operated on.

Increasing expression of bone morphogenetic proteins at the lesion site of the central nervous system possibly induces oligodendrocyte precursor cells to differentiate into type-2 astrocytes. While the restriction of oligodendrocyte differentiation could affect remyelination, it remains poorly understood how type-2 astrocytes regulate regeneration and functional recovery.

According to a paper published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 2, 2014), both depressive patients and healthy controls presented typical small-world attributes, and compared with healthy controls, characteristic path length was significantly shorter in depressive patients, suggesting development toward randomization. Patients with depression showed apparently abnormal node attributes at key areas in cortical-striatal-pallidal-thalamic circuits. In addition, right hippocampus and right thalamus were closely linked with the severity of depression.

Acupuncture has therapeutic effects on cerebral ischemia, dementia, epilepsy and other brain diseases, and also functions to repair the nervous system. Dazhui (GV14) and Baihui (GV20) are the preferred acupoints for treatment. However, whether acupuncture can treat addiction and prevent readdiction through changes to brain cell ultrastructure remains unknown.

Drug-dependent people who least take the future into account may, paradoxically, be the ones to benefit the most from certain treatments.

The human instinct to choose instant gratification, such as a drug high, over a later benefit, such as good health — known as future or delay discounting — is strong in people with drug dependencies. An important component of addiction is failure to exert self-control in recognition of future consequences.

Spouses who regulate their emotions together in a satisfactory manner are more fulfilled sexually, psychologically, and relationally, among couples in which the woman has provoked vestibulodynia (PVD), also known as "vulvar vestibulitis". This was discovered by Nayla Awada, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the Université de Montréal, in a study which she conducted with 254 couples in which the woman was diagnosed with PVD. PVD is characterized by often chronic pain felt on the "vestibule," or entrance of the vagina, especially during penetration.

Ever notice how Harry Potter's T-shirt abruptly changes from a crewneck to a henley shirt in "The Order of the Phoenix," or how in "Pretty Woman," Julia Roberts' croissant inexplicably morphs into a pancake? Don't worry if you missed those continuity bloopers. Vision scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered an upside to the brain mechanism that can blind us to subtle changes in movies and in the real world.

Tweaking a specific cell type's ability to absorb potassium in the brain improved walking and prolonged survival in a mouse model of Huntington's disease, reports a UCLA study published March 30 in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience. The discovery could point to new drug targets for treating the devastating disease, which strikes one in every 20,000 Americans.