Brain

UK researchers have discovered a gene that regulates alcohol consumption and when faulty can cause excessive drinking. They have also identified the mechanism underlying this phenomenon.

The study showed that normal mice show no interest in alcohol and drink little or no alcohol when offered a free choice between a bottle of water and a bottle of diluted alcohol.

However, mice with a genetic mutation to the gene Gabrb1 overwhelmingly preferred drinking alcohol over water, choosing to consume almost 85% of their daily fluid as drinks containing alcohol.

Dl-3n-butylphthalide can effectively treat cerebral ischemia; however, the mechanisms underlying the effects of dl-3n-butylphthalide on microcirculation disorders following diffuse brain injury remain unclear. According to a study by Prof. Jianmin Li and team from Hebei United University of China, models of diffuse brain injury were established in Sprague-Dawley rats with the vertical impact method, and dl-3n-butylphthalide at 80 and 160 mg/kg was given via intraperitoneal injection immediately after diffuse brain injury.

Negative motor evoked potentials after cerebral infarction, indicative of poor recovery of limb motor function, tend to be accompanied by changes in fractional anisotropy values and the cerebral peduncle area on the affected side, but the characteristics of these changes have not been reported. As reported previously, the lower limit value of fractional anisotropy of the cerebral peduncle in healthy volunteers is 0.36, and the lower limit of the asymmetry of the cerebral peduncle area is 0.83.

Although we know that mild cognitive impairment is a transitional stage between normal aging and Alzheimer's disease, changes in brain networks during this transformation have yet to be studied. Dr. Jie Xiang and colleagues from Taiyuan University of Technology, China constructed brain networks using resting-state functional MRI data that were extracted from four populations (normal controls, patients with early mild cognitive impairment, patients with late mild cognitive impairment, and patients with Alzheimer's disease) using the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative data set.

Scientists have found evidence of a link between social and economic status and childhood attention deficit disorder (ADHD) in the UK.

A team led by the University of Exeter Medical School analysed data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a database of more than 19,500 UK children born between 2000 and 2002.

CHICAGO – Premature birth appears to trigger developmental processes in the white matter of the brain that could put children at higher risk of problems later in life, according to a study being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Researchers from Brown University and Banner Alzheimer's Institute have found that infants who carry a gene associated with increased risk for Alzheimer's disease tend to have differences in brain development compared to children without the gene. The study, published in JAMA Neurology, demonstrates some of the earliest developmental differences associated with a gene variant called APOE-E4, a common genotype and a known risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's.

STANFORD, Calif. — A new study led by a Stanford University School of Medicine researcher shows that decreased estrogen levels after menopause are largely unrelated to changes in cognitive ability and mood. It did find, however, a possible link between levels of another hormone — progesterone — and cognition among younger postmenopausal women.

How is the bond between people in love maintained? Scientists at the Bonn University Medical Center have discovered a biological mechanism that could explain the attraction between loving couples: If oxytocin is administered to men and if they are shown pictures of their partner, the bonding hormone stimulates the reward center in the brain, increasing the attractiveness of the partner, and strengthening monogamy. The results are published in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" (PNAS).

AUSTIN, Texas — In the largest, most in-depth study to date on regret surrounding sexual activity, a team of psychology researchers found a stark contrast in remorse between men and women, potentially shedding light on the evolutionary history of human nature.

Psychology shows that it doesn't take much to put you in a bad mood. Just reading the morning news can do it. And being in a bad mood slows your reaction time, and affects your basic cognitive abilities like speech, writing, and counting. If you read a depressing newspaper headline in the morning, you may perform worse at work throughout the day.

Our sense of smell is often the first response to environmental stimuli. Odors trigger neurons in the brain that alert us to take action. However, there is often more than one odor in the environment, such as in coffee shops or grocery stores. How does our brain process multiple odors received simultaneously?

Many parents spend thousands of dollars on computer-based training programs that claim to help children with ADHD succeed in the classroom and in peer relationships while reducing hyperactivity and inattentiveness. But a University of Central Florida researcher says parents are better off saving their hard-earned cash.

As dish size increases, so do portion size and the amount of food actually eaten—but could personality traits play a role in how susceptible people are to this plate-size bias? New research by the Cornell Food and Brand Lab indicates that extraverted and introverted children respond differently to environmental cues, such as plate size, when it comes to portion control.

Rats whose mothers were fed a high-fat diet during pregnancy and nursing were able to stave off some of the detrimental health effects of obesity by exercising during their adolescence, new Johns Hopkins research shows.

Even though the rat offspring weighed the same as their sedentary counterparts, the exercising rats had fewer fat deposits and their brains were better able to respond to a hormone known to suppress the appetite — long after they stopped running on their exercise wheels.