Brain

BARCELONA, SPAIN (7 October 2013) – Glutamergic agents may one day be used as a novel treatment for mood and anxiety disorders, new research presented at the 26th ECNP Congress suggests.

"Our results suggest the glutamatergic system is a truly viable target for antidepressant Profug development," says Professor Gerard Sanacora, from the Yale School of Medicine, Connecticut, US.

BARCELONA, SPAIN (6 October 2013) – Increasing evidence suggests that epigenetic regulation is associated with the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and targeting it may one day lead to novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, research suggests.

Scientists at The School for Mental Health and Neuroscience at Maastricht University, the Netherlands, have been performing parallel studies in mice and men to investigate the role of epigenetic mechanisms in ageing and AD.

BARCELONA, SPAIN (7 October 2013) – Food addiction is not yet recognised as a mental disorder but certain obese individuals clearly display addictive-like behaviour towards food. To achieve a formal diagnostic status, 'food addiction' requires a stronger evidence base to support the claim that certain ingredients have addictive properties identical to addictive drugs of abuse. This topic is up for debate in the session, 'Binge eating obesity is a food addiction'.

Resolving a long-standing mystery in human evolution, new research from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute indicates that early hominids developed finger dexterity and tool use ability before the development of bipedal locomotion.

Ideologues on both ends of the political spectrum are equally likely to believe their opinions are superior to others', but their feelings of superiority emerge for distinct political issues, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

These findings suggest that, while people with moderate attitudes tend to be more evenhanded, those on the extreme ends of the political spectrum seem especially convinced that their viewpoints are the only "correct" ones.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY – The cerebral cortex contains two major types of neurons: principal neurons that are excitatory and interneurons that are inhibitory, all interconnected within the same network. New research now reveals that one class of inhibitory neurons – called VIP interneurons -- specializes in inhibiting other inhibitory neurons in multiple regions of cortex, and does so under specific behavioral conditions.

Understanding how genes act in specific tissues is critical to our ability to combat many human diseases, from heart disease to kidney failure to cancer. Yet isolating individual cell types for study is impossible for most human tissues.

A new method developed by researchers at Princeton University and the University of Michigan called "in silico nano-dissection" uses computers rather than scalpels to separate and identify genes from specific cell types, enabling the systematic study of genes involved in diseases.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The left and right hemispheres of Albert Einstein's brain were unusually well connected to each other and may have contributed to his brilliance, according to a new study conducted in part by Florida State University evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk.

"This study, more than any other to date, really gets at the 'inside' of Einstein's brain," Falk said. "It provides new information that helps make sense of what is known about the surface of Einstein's brain."

(Boston)--In a commentary in this week's issue of Lancet, pediatricians from Boston Medical Center (BMC) call the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program), one of America's most cost-effective and successful public health programs in the country. According to the authors, not only does it make life much better for children and families, it also saves society money.

PHILADELPHIA - A team of experts in neurocritical care, engineering, and informatics, with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have devised a new way to detect which stroke patients may be at risk of a serious adverse event following a ruptured brain aneurysm. This new, data-driven machine learning model, involves an algorithm for computers to combine results from various uninvasive tests to predict a secondary event. Preliminary results were released at the Neurocritical Care Society Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

A team of pediatric neurosurgeons andneuroradiologists at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center has developed a way to minimize dangerous radiation exposure in children with a condition that requires repeat CT scans of the brain. The experts say they reduced exposure without sacrificing the diagnostic accuracy of the images or compromising treatment decisions.

NEW YORK (October 3, 2013)—Heated debates about the quantifiable value of arts and literature are a common feature of American social discourse. Now, two researchers from The New School for Social Research have published a paper in Science demonstrating that reading literary fiction enhances a set of skills and thought processes fundamental to complex social relationships—and functional societies.

The biggest threat to the contribution that childhood vaccines make to societal well-being doesn't come from deficits in public comprehension, distrust of science, or misinformation campaigns, but rather from the failure of governmental and other institutions to use evidence-based strategies to anticipate and avoid recurring threats to the science communication environment—the myriad everyday channels through which the public becomes apprised of decision-relevant science.

How does the human brain control compliance with social norms? The biological mechanisms that underlie norm compliance are still poorly understood. In a new study, Christian Ruff, Giuseppe Ugazio, and Ernst Fehr from the University of Zurich show that the lateral prefrontal cortex plays a central role in norm compliance.

Prefrontal cortex controls norm behavior

Warning Instagrammers: you might want to stop taking so many pictures of your food.

New research out of Brigham Young University finds that looking at too many pictures of food can actually make it less enjoyable to eat.

Turns out your foodie friend's obsession with taking pictures of everything they eat and posting it on Instagram or Pinterest may be ruining your appetite by making you feel like you've already experienced eating that food.