Brain

A new brain-imaging technique enables people to 'watch' their own brain activity in real time and to control or adjust function in pre-determined brain regions. The study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro, McGill University and the McGill University Health Centre, published in NeuroImage, is the first to demonstrate that magnetoencephalography (MEG) can be used as a potential therapeutic tool to control and train specific targeted brain regions.

A new study from the University of Surrey, published today in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), found that the daily rhythms of our genes are disrupted when sleep times shift.

In Europe as well as worldwide, cocaine is the second most frequently used drug after cannabis. Chronic cocaine users display worse memory performance, concentration difficulties, and attentional deficits but also their social skills are affected as previous studies at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich suggested.

In computers it's called "RAM", but the mechanism is conceptually similar to what scientists call a "working memory" in the brain of humans and primates: when we interact with the environment our senses gather information that a temporary memory system keeps fresh and readily accessible for a few minutes, so that the body can carry out operations (for example, an action). For the first time, a research team coordinated by Mathew Diamond of the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste has shown that this memory system also exists in simpler mammals like rodents.

Urinary incontinence, a shuffling gait, and deteriorating reasoning skills are all indicators pointing to a Parkinsonian or Alzheimer type disease. An equally plausible explanation is hydrocephalus, commonly known as "water on the brain." With this diagnosis, the brain produces either too much cerebral fluid, or it cannot "drain off" these fluids with adequate sufficiency. The consequence: Pressure in the brain rises sharply, resulting in damage. A shunt system – a kind of silicon tube that physicians implant into the patient's brain, provides relief.

Struggling to remember information presented months earlier is a source of anxiety for students the world over. New research suggests that a computer-based individualized study schedule could be the solution. The study findings show that personalized review helped students remember significantly more material on a tests given at the end of the semester and a month later.

Vitamin D status appears to be associated with reduced disease activity in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and a slower rate of disease progression, according to a study by Alberto Ascherio, M.D., Dr.P.H., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues.

MS is a common cause of neurological disability and vitamin D status may be related to the disease process, according to the study background.

New York, NY–Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have identified a new molecular mechanism by which cocaine alters the brain's reward circuits and causes addiction. Published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Dr. Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the preclinical research reveals how an abundant enzyme and synaptic gene affect a key reward circuit in the brain, changing the ways genes are expressed in the nucleus accumbens.

What causes brain damage and inflammation in severe cases of Gaucher disease? Little is known about the events that lead to brain pathology in some forms of the disease, and there is currently no treatment available – a bleak outlook for sufferers and their families. Now, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered a new cellular pathway implicated in Gaucher disease. Their findings, published today in Nature Medicine, may offer a new therapeutic target for the management of this disease, as well as other related disorders.

Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014, Cleveland: Cleveland Clinic researchers have identified a protein in the brain that plays a critical role in the memory loss seen in Alzheimer's patients, according to a study to be published in the journal Nature Neuroscience and posted online today.

The protein – Neuroligin-1 (NLGN1) – is known to be involved in memory formation; this is the first time it's been linked to amyloid-associated memory loss.

Rare in history are moments like the 1960s civil rights movement, in which members of a majority group vocally support minority groups in their fight against prejudice. New research not only confirms the power of speaking up for those facing prejudice but also underlines the importance of exactly what is communicated. Looking at YouTube video messages, researchers found that homosexual youth found the most comfort in messages that both supported them and advocated social change.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — We need to reach for things, so a connection between arm length and our ability to judge depth accurately may make sense. Given that we grow throughout childhood, it may also seem reasonable that such an optimal depth perception distance should be flexible enough to change with a lengthening arm.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Peer-Led Team Learning in undergraduate education is growing in popularity in universities across the country in courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – known collectively as the STEM disciplines. New research by faculty and students from the School of Science and the Center for Teaching and Learning at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis evaluates peer-led team learning for STEM focusing on its newest iteration – cyber peer-led team learning.

Brain imaging experiments have revealed for the first time how ecstasy produces feelings of euphoria in users.

Results of the study at Imperial College London, parts of which were televised in Drugs Live on Channel 4 in 2012, have now been published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

The findings hint at ways that ecstasy, or MDMA, might be useful in the treatment of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Autophagy – or how cells tidy up