Brain

A group of eminent psychological scientists articulates a cutting-edge model for training in clinical science in a new special series of articles in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The model -- known as the Delaware Project -- reenvisions the way in which clinical scientists are trained, and proposes a new way of developing and implementing clinical interventions that integrates clinical practice with the latest scientific research.

The degree to which students' exam scores differ owes more to their genes than to their teachers, schools or family environments, according to new research from King's College London published today in PLOS ONE.

The study, which took place in the UK, looked at students' scores for their GCSE's (General Certificate of Secondary Education), a UK-wide examination at the end of compulsory education at 16 years old.

MADISON — Poverty may have direct implications for important, early steps in the development of the brain, saddling children of low-income families with slower rates of growth in two key brain structures, according to researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

By age 4, children in families living with incomes under 200 percent of the federal poverty line have less gray matter — brain tissue critical for processing of information and execution of actions — than kids growing up in families with higher incomes.

In a novel study of U.S. Marines investigating the association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over time, a team of scientists led by researchers from the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that TBIs suffered during active-duty deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan were the greatest predictor for subsequent PTSD, but found pre-deployment PTSD symptoms and high combat intensity were also significant factors.

MINNEAPOLIS – New research suggests that even in the absence of a concussion, blows to the head during a single season of football or ice hockey may affect the brain's white matter and cognition, or memory and thinking abilities. The study is published in the December 11, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. White matter is brain tissue that plays an important role in the speed of nerve signals.

Two groups of Dartmouth athletes were studied: 80 football and ice hockey players in the contact sports group, and 79 athletes drawn from such noncontact sports as track, crew and Nordic skiing. The football and hockey players wore helmets equipped with accelerometers, which enabled the researchers to compile the number and severity of impacts to their heads. Players who sustained a concussion during the season were not included in the analysis.

(Washington, DC) – Grammar is sometimes shaped by restrictions on language use. This is the key finding of a new study to be published in the December issue of the scholarly journal Language, demonstrating how taboos can bring on changes to language structures. The paper, "Preference organization driving structuration: Evidence from Australian Aboriginal Interaction for pragmatically motivated grammaticalization" is authored by Joe Blythe of the University of Melbourne, Australia, and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Scientists have discovered how to fix sleep disturbances in mice with traumatic brain injuries — a discovery that could lead to help for hundreds of thousands of people who have long-term and debilitating sleep and wakefulness issues after they suffer concussions.

What scientists found helpful was giving the mice something all humans produce from foods in their normal diets — something called branched chain amino acids.

Scientists who fed a cocktail of key amino acids to mice improved sleep disturbances caused by brain injuries in the animals. These new findings suggest a potential dietary treatment for millions of people affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI)—a condition that is currently untreatable.

"If this type of dietary treatment is proved to help patients recover function after traumatic brain injury, it could become an important public health benefit," said study co-leader Akiva S. Cohen, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

AUSTIN, Texas – New psychology research, which could have important public health implications for alleviating some side effects of antidepressants, shows that engaging in exercise at the right time significantly improves sexual functioning in women who are taking the antidepressants.

The study, published online in Depression and Anxiety, shows that sexual dysfunction can be effectively treated with an inexpensive, non-invasive prescription of moderately intense workouts.

This news release is available in French.

This news release is available in French.

HOUSTON – (Dec. 11, 2013) – Pregnant women are more likely to experience discrimination in the job search process than nonpregnant women, but they can minimize bias by addressing negative pregnancy stereotypes in the application process, according to a new study from researchers at Rice University, the University of Houston-Downtown and George Mason University.

Montreal, December 11, 2013 — Newspaper headlines worldwide tout the benefits of single-sex schools: Girls 75% more likely to take math if they go to a single-sex private school, Will boys learn better if girls aren't allowed? Single-sex education is best for girls in stereotypically male subjects…

The lifelong fallout of a concussive brain injury is well-documented. A blow to the head – whether it comes from an NFL tackle, a battlefield explosion or a fall off a ladder – can cause brain damage responsible for a debilitating degree of memory loss, mood swings, seizures and more.

And though the blunt instrument that inflicts such damage is typically known, the cellular mechanisms that inflict such trouble have so far remained a mystery.