Brain

PITTSBURGH—Most teenagers who drink alcohol do so with their friends in social settings, but a new study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh reveals that a significant number of adolescents consume alcohol while they are alone.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Computer engineers and hearing scientists at The Ohio State University have made a potential breakthrough in solving a 50-year-old problem in hearing technology: how to help the hearing-impaired understand speech in the midst of background noise.

In the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, they describe how they used the latest developments in neural networks to boost test subjects' recognition of spoken words from as low as 10 percent to as high as 90 percent.

Philadelphia, PA, November 18, 2013 – Thirteen years ago, an article in this journal first reported that the anesthetic medication, ketamine, showed evidence of producing rapid antidepressant effects in depressed patients who had not responded to prior treatments. Ketamine works by blocking one of the targets for the neurotransmitter glutamate in the brain, the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor.

Being bored has just become a little more nuanced, with the addition of a fifth type of boredom by which to describe this emotion. The finding has been published in Springer's journal Motivation and Emotion. In cooperation with colleagues at the University of Munich, the University of Ulm, McGill University in Montreal, and the City University of New York, educational research by Dr. Thomas Goetz of the University of Konstanz and the Thurgau University of Teacher Education provides insight into how boredom is experienced in everyday life.

Findings from a 15-year study published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, a journal of the Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology, indicate that human error is the most common cause of infant asphyxiation at birth. Inadequate fetal monitoring, lack of clinical skills, and failure to obtain senior medical staff assistance are most often cited in Norwegian compensation claims following birth asphyxia.

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (Nov. 18, 2013) – Teachers and parents like to use board games to teach skills that range from fair play to counting. When it comes to improving early number skills, a new report by Boston College and Carnegie Mellon University researchers finds that how children count is what really counts.

Games like Chutes & Ladders require players to count out the spaces along which they move their tokens at each turn. Earlier studies have pointed to the benefits to young children of playing games that require counting.

Chicago – Francis Kim, M.D., of Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, and colleagues evaluated whether early prehospital cooling (lowering body temperature) improved survival to hospital discharge and neurological outcome in cardiac arrest patients with or without ventricular fibrillation (VF).

A study out today in the journal Nature Medicine suggests a potential new treatment for the seizures that often plague children with genetic metabolic disorders and individuals undergoing liver failure. The discovery hinges on a new understanding of the complex molecular chain reaction that occurs when the brain is exposed to too much ammonia.

"Virtual reality hands" — controlled by stroke survivors' thoughts — could help them recover use of their hands and arms, according to a small study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2013.

"Using a brain-computer interface, we've created an environment where people who may be too physically impaired to move can practice mental imagery to help regain use of their arms and hands," said Alexander Doud, M.S., lead author.

Performing CPR for 38 minutes or longer can improve a patient's chance of surviving cardiac arrest, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2013.

Sustaining CPR that long also improves the chances that survivors will have normal brain function, researchers said.Cardiac arrest occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, causing it to suddenly stop beating.

NEW ORLEANS – Nov. 16, 2013 – Research presented today at the 117th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology shows promising data about a device that helps people who have lost their vision due to a blinding genetic disease to recognize common objects. In the study, the researchers found when the objects' outlines had been enhanced, there was increased recognition. The device, called the Argus II, is the first FDA-approved retinal implant for adults with retinitis pigmentosa.

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (November 15, 2013) – A protein shed by HIV-infected brain cells alters synaptic connections between networks of nerve cells, according to new research out of the University of Minnesota. The findings could explain why nearly half of all patients infected with the AIDS virus experience some level of neurocognitive impairment.

The research was published in the current volume of the Journal of Neuroscience.

ST. LOUIS -- Enhanced extracts made from special antioxidants in spearmint and rosemary improve learning and memory, a study in an animal model at Saint Louis University found.

"We found that these proprietary compounds reduce deficits caused by mild cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to Alzheimer's disease," said Susan Farr, Ph.D., research professor geriatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

A fully re-envisioned Master of Public Health program was launched by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in the fall of 2012, ushering in the most sweeping changes in public health education in decades.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have used a new sequencing method to identify a group of genes used by the brain's immune cells – called microglia – to sense pathogenic organisms, toxins or damaged cells that require their response. Identifying these genes should lead to better understanding of the role of microglia both in normal brains and in neurodegenerative disorders and may lead to new ways to protect against the damage caused by conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.