Brain

SEATTLE—It's rare to hear good news about dementia. But that's what a New England Journal of Medicine Perspective article reports. The article discusses several recent studies that show how age-adjusted rates in aging populations have declined for people born later in the last century, particularly in those older people most likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The Perspective also describes what researchers have reported to be associated with this encouraging trend.

Boston, MA – Pop a pill or be poked by a needle? Being able to orally deliver microscopic particles—know as nanoparticles—loaded with medicine is a simple, convenient way to treat patients for various diseases, such as cancer or diabetes. But so far, nanoparticles can only be given via injection since they have trouble being readily absorbed by the intestine, which limits their usefulness.

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Drugs delivered by nanoparticles hold promise for targeted treatment of many diseases, including cancer. However, the particles have to be injected into patients, which has limited their usefulness so far.

Now, researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have developed a new type of nanoparticle that can be delivered orally and absorbed through the digestive tract, allowing patients to simply take a pill instead of receiving injections.

Scientists are a step closer to understanding how some of the brain's 100 billion nerve cells co-ordinate their communication. The study is published today [27 Nov] in the journal Cell Reports.

The University of Bristol research team investigated some of the chemical processes that underpin how brain cells co-ordinate their communication. Defects in this communication are associated with disorders such as epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia, and therefore these findings could lead to the development of novel neurological therapies.

LA JOLLA, Calif., and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., November 27, 2013 – A team of researchers has brought new clarity to the picture of how gene-environmental interactions can kill nerve cells that make dopamine. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that sends messages to the part of the brain that controls movement and coordination. Their discoveries, described in a paper published online in Cell today, include identification of a molecule that protects neurons from pesticide damage.

HOUSTON, Nov. 27, 2013 – Do fruit flies hold the key to treating dementia? Researchers at the University of Houston (UH) have taken a significant step forward in unraveling the mechanisms of Pavlovian conditioning. Their work will help them understand how memories form and, ultimately, provide better treatments to improve memory in all ages.

Studies have shown that Fructus corni has a protective effect on hepatocytes, and has anticancer, antioxidative, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties. 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, a compound extracted from wine-processed Fructus corni, has a protective effect on hippocampal neurons damaged by H2O2. Prof.

Understanding the pathogenesis of brain edema may allow for the prevention and treatment of edema in the field of neurosurgery, thus resulting in better treatments for intracranial diseases. Wanyin Ren and colleagues from Guangdong Medical College, China established an experimental model of traumatic brain injury in Sprague-Dawley rats according to Feeney's free falling method, and harvested the brains harvested at 2, 6 and 24 hours, and at 3 and 5 days after injury for observing pathological changes of brain tissues and expression of occludin and connexin 43.

Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly, which is pathologically characterized by selective loss of dopaminergic neurons. Compound preparations of Chinese medicines that can tonify the kidney have been reported to significantly improve symptoms of Parkinson's disease. However, the mechanism of action remains unclear. To investigate whether Chinese medicines that tonify the kidney can protect in vitro cultures of dopaminergic neurons, a recent study published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No.

BEER-SHEVA, Israel…November 27, 2013 – A Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) study indicates that children are more likely to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) if their mother is already afflicted.

In the study published in the Journal of Depression & Anxiety, while fewer than 10 percent (8.4 percent) of the mothers were suffering from PTSD, more than a fifth (21 percent) of their children presented PTSD symptoms. Children who developed PTSD symptoms also had more psychosomatic complaints such as constipation, diarrhea and headaches.

Scrutiny of physician relationships with industry has culminated in passage of the US Physician Payments Sunshine Act (part of the Affordable Care Act), intended to bring greater transparency to such relationships.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass -- A $500 "nano-camera" that can operate at the speed of light has been developed by researchers in the MIT Media Lab.

The three-dimensional camera, which was presented last week at Siggraph Asia in Hong Kong, could be used in medical imaging and collision-avoidance detectors for cars, and to improve the accuracy of motion tracking and gesture-recognition devices used in interactive gaming.

WASHINGTON, DC — A drug that acts like a growth-promoting protein in the brain reduces degeneration and motor deficits associated with Huntington's disease in two mouse models of the disorder, according to a study appearing November 27 in the Journal of Neuroscience. The findings add to a growing body of evidence that protecting or boosting neurotrophins — the molecules that support the survival and function of nerve cells — may slow the progression of Huntington's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

West Orange, NJ. November 26, 2013. Because the concept of permanent neurological injury has given way to recognition of the brain's potential for long-term regeneration ad reorganization, rehabilitations strategies are undergoing radical changes. The potential for five new translational interventions was examined in an article published ahead of print on November 13 by Neurology Clinical Practice: Barrett AM, Oh-Park M, Chen P, Ifejika NL: Five New Things in Neurorehabilitation. doi: 10.1212/01.CPJ.0000437088.98407.fa. Drs.

As shoppers across the nation prepare to pounce on Black Friday sales, researchers at UC Berkeley are looking at what happens to commerce when there's no set price tag. In an exhaustive study of consumer behavior, they found that shoppers spend more money when engaged in a chain of goodwill known as "Pay-it-forward" than when they can name their own price.