Brain

MiRNAs likely play an important role in the occurrence and development of depression, and can be used as potential targets for treatment of depression. Studies have shown that miR-137 expression is downregulated in the brain from depression patients with suicidal behavior. Moreover, miR-137 expression is also downregulated in peripheral blood from stroke patients. However, it is not yet known if miRNAs are associated with post-stroke depression. To test this, Dr.

An injury potential is the direct current potential difference between the site of spinal cord injury and the healthy nerves. Its initial amplitude is a significant indicator of the severity of spinal cord injury. This injury potential, as well as injury current, can be modulated by direct current field stimulation; however, the appropriate parameters of the electrical field are hard to define. Dr.

Psychosis is a common non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease whose pathogenesis remains poorly understood. Parkinson's disease in conjunction with psychosis has been shown to induce injury to extracorticospinal tracts as well as within some cortical areas.

Washington, DC – Older adults who took music lessons as children but haven't actively played an instrument in decades have a faster brain response to a speech sound than individuals who never played an instrument, according to a study appearing November 6 in the Journal of Neuroscience. The finding suggests early musical training has a lasting, positive effect on how the brain processes sound.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research shows that chronic stress changes gene activity in immune cells before they reach the bloodstream. With these changes, the cells are primed to fight an infection or trauma that doesn't actually exist, leading to an overabundance of the inflammation that is linked to many health problems.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 5, 2013) — As the population of older adults continues to grow, researchers at the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging are engaged in work to understand the mechanisms of a variety of diseases that predominately affect those of advanced age.

Israeli soldiers captured during the 1973 Yom Kippur War were subjected to brutal torture in Egypt and Syria. Held alone in tiny, filthy spaces for weeks or months, sometimes handcuffed and blindfolded, they suffered severe beatings, burns, electric shocks, starvation, and worse. And rather than receiving treatment, additional torture was inflicted on existing wounds.

Software that can recognize patterns in data is commonly used by scientists and economics. Now, researchers in the US have applied similar algorithms to help them more accurately diagnose breast cancer. The researchers outline details in the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics.

Philadelphia, PA, November 5, 2013 – Childhood neglect and abuse, whether physical or psychological, confers a lifetime vulnerability to stress, anxiety, and mood problems. Such early-life stress is also suspected to contribute to the development of chronic pain in adulthood.

University of Granada researchers have analysed similarities and differences in psychological profile and brain function when comparing cocaine addicts and gambling addicts. The study reveals that gambling addicts present brain function abnormalities affecting their decision-making capacity.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — There's good news and there's bad news. Which do you want to hear first?

That depends on whether you are the giver or receiver of bad news, and if the news-giver wants the receiver to act on the information, according to researchers at the University of California, Riverside.

It's complicated.

Peripheral or central nerve injury often leads to neuropathic pain, a chronic condition that can manifest behaviorally as spontaneous pain, hyperalgesia and allodynia, and which also results in neurological dysfunction. Acupuncture has been used to treat neuropathic pain for a long time, but its mechanisms of action remain unknown.

Wars, earthquakes, major traffic accidents, and terrorist attacks may bring about profound spiritual pains, and even cause extreme fear and helplessness for people that have experienced or witnessed these unusual threats or disasters. This persistent and constant mental disorder caused by psychological trauma is termed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Can brain structural damage alter as symptoms improve? As PTSD progresses, brain structure inevitably changes, however, no PTSD symptoms have been clearly described in previous PTSD imaging studies.

A large body of evidence shows that spinal circuits are significantly affected by training, and that intrinsic circuits that drive locomotor tasks are located in lumbosacral spinal segments in rats with complete spinal cord transection. However, after incomplete lesions, the effect of treadmill training has been debated, which is likely because of the difficulty of separating spontaneous stepping from specific training-induced effects. According to a study published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No.

New research indicates that a disruption of brain signals for reward and punishment contributes to increased pain sensitivity, known as hyperalgesia, in fibromyalgia patients. Results published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology, suggest that this altered brain processing might contribute to widespread pain and lack of response to opioid therapy in patients with fibromyalgia.