Brain

New research has shown human neural stem cells could improve blood flow in critical limb ischemia through the growth of new vessels. Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is a disease that severely obstructs arteries and reduces the blood flow to legs and feet. CLI remains an unmet clinical problem and with an ageing population and the rise in type II diabetes, the incidence of CLI is expected to increase.

Although PCBs have been banned in the United States since 1979, University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine researcher Maryse Bouchard has found that higher levels of the toxin was associated with lower cognitive performance in seniors. There is a significant association between PCB levels and cognitive abilities among individuals aged 70 to 84 years; the correlation was also detected to a lesser extent among people aged 60-69 years. This analysis also showed that the association differed by sex.

This news release is available in French.

Scientists have figured out how calcium channels – the infinitesimal cell membrane pores that generate electrical signals by gating a charged-particle influx – have solved a "needle in a haystack" problem.

One of the smallest parts of the brain is getting a second look after new research suggests it plays a crucial role in decision making.

A University of British Columbia study published today in Nature Neuroscience says the lateral habenula, a region of the brain linked to depression and avoidance behaviors, has been largely misunderstood and may be integral in cost-benefit decisions.

LOS ANGELES (NOV. 23, 2013) – Eight of 16 patients participating in a study of an experimental immune system therapy directed against the most aggressive malignant brain tumors – glioblastoma multiforme – survived longer than five years after diagnosis, according to Cedars-Sinai researchers, who presented findings Nov. 23 at the Fourth Quadrennial Meeting of the World Federation of Neuro-Oncology.

Washington D.C., November 22, 2013 – A new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) found that an estimated two million more children in the United States (U.S.) have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) between 2003-04 and 2011-12. One million more U.S. children were taking medication for ADHD between 2003-04 and 2011-12. According to the study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

Spanish scientists, from the Tissue Engineering Research Group, from the Dept. of Histology at the University of Granada, have managed, for the first time, to grow artificial skin from stem cells of umbilical cord. Their study, published in the prestigious journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine, shows the ability of Wharton jelly mesenschymal stem cells to turn to oral-mucosa or skin-regeneration epithelia.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — In 2008, the CEO of British Petroleum, Tony Hayward announced that BP's safety record was among the best in the industry. Under his leadership, BP ran operational safety training sessions for its employees and encouraged a culture of safety to satisfy its stakeholders, including employees, the community, and the environment.

"In finance, the first condition for a bubble occurs when too much liquidity is concentrated on too few assets. The second is the presence of speculators. In science, similarly, if too much research funding is focused on too few research topics, and all researchers speculate in the same fashionable scientific templates to attract funding, a potential science bubble may be forming," explains professor of Formal Philosophy Vincent F. Hendricks from University of Copenhagen.

The physical decline experienced by Parkinson's disease patients eventually leads to disability and a lower quality of life. Depending on the individual, the disorder can progress rapidly or slowly.

UCL scientists have shown that there are widespread differences in how genes, the basic building blocks of the human body, are expressed in men and women's brains.

Based on post-mortem adult human brain and spinal cord samples from over 100 individuals, scientists at the UCL Institute of Neurology were able to study the expression of every gene in 12 brain regions. The results are published today in Nature Communications.

A UT Arlington assistant engineering professor has developed a computational model that can more accurately predict when an epileptic seizure will occur next based on the patient's personalized medical information.

The research conducted by Shouyi Wang, an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, has been in the paper "Online Seizure Prediction Using an Adaptive Learning Approach" in IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Do drinking and marriage mix? That depends on who's doing the drinking — and how much — according to a recent study by the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).

Researchers followed 634 couples from the time of their weddings through the first nine years of marriage and found that couples where only one spouse was a heavy drinker had a much higher divorce rate than other couples.

But if both spouses were heavy drinkers? The divorce rate was the same as for couples where neither were heavy drinkers.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Obesity may alter the way we taste at the most fundamental level: by changing how our tongues react to different foods.

In a Nov. 13 study in the journal PLOS ONE, University at Buffalo biologists report that being severely overweight impaired the ability of mice to detect sweets.

Compared with slimmer counterparts, the plump mice had fewer taste cells that responded to sweet stimuli. What's more, the cells that did respond to sweetness reacted relatively weakly.