Brain

Proteins play important roles in the human body, particularly neuroproteins that maintain proper brain function.

Brain diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's are known as "tangle diseases" because they are characterized by misfolded and tangled proteins which accumulate in the brain.

Proteins play important roles in the human body, particularly neuroproteins that maintain proper brain function.

Brain diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's are known as "tangle diseases" because they are characterized by misfolded and tangled proteins which accumulate in the brain.

BETHESDA, Md. (Sept. 25, 2013)—Several studies have shown that expecting a reward or punishment can affect brain activity in areas responsible for processing different senses, including sight or touch. For example, research shows that these brain regions light up on brain scans when humans are expecting a treat. However, researchers know less about what happens when the reward is actually received—or an expected reward is denied. Insight on these scenarios can help researchers better understand how we learn in general.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- An unprecedented study of preterm birth suggests that only some of the problems previously associated with preterm birth are actually caused by preterm birth itself.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Radiation oncology physicians who encounter an unfamiliar case when cross covering for another physician experience higher levels of perceived workload and may perhaps also effects on performance, according to research conducted at the University of North Carolina.

New research that looked at whether two commonly prescribed statin medicines, used to lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or 'bad cholesterol' levels in the blood, can adversely affect cognitive function has found that one of the drugs tested caused memory impairment in rats.

Alexandria, VA – Superstorm Sandy slammed against the U.S. Eastern Seaboard in October 2012, inundating iconic communities. Those communities have been rebuilding since then and things are almost back to normal for most. But something else has had to be rebuilt as well: the structured procedures for issuing warnings. The goal is to help communities better comprehend what natural disasters will bring their doorsteps.

Philadelphia, PA, September 25, 2013 – Prenatal cocaine exposure affects both behavior and brain. Animal studies have shown that exposure to cocaine during in utero development causes numerous disruptions in normal brain development and negatively affects behavior from birth and into adulthood.

A big challenge in medical science is to get medicine into the brain when treating patients with neurological diseases. The brain will do everything to keep foreign substances out and therefore the brains of neurological patients fight a constant, daily battle to throw out the medicine prescribed to help the patients.

The problem is the so-called blood-brain barrier, which prevents the active substances in medicine from travelling from the blood into the brain.

A class of flame retardants that has been linked to learning difficulties in children has rapidly declined in pregnant women’s blood since the chemicals were banned in California a decade ago, according to a study led by researchers at UC San Francisco.

MADISON, Wis. – In evolutionary terms, smell is among the oldest of the senses. In animals ranging from invertebrates to humans, olfaction exerts a primal influence as the brain continuously and subconsciously processes the steady stream of scent molecules that waft under our noses.

And while odors – whether the aroma of stinky socks or the sweet smell of baking bread – are known to stir the emotions, how they exert their influence biologically on the emotional centers of the human brain, evoking passion or disgust, has been a black box.

When individuals with psychopathy imagine others in pain, brain areas necessary for feeling empathy and concern for others fail to become active and be connected to other important regions involved in affective processing and decision-making, reports a study published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

PHILADELPHIA— At least 30 percent of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) suffer some form of mental dysfunction as reflected in anxiety, depression, and especially delirium. In mechanically-ventilated ICU patients, the incidence of delirium is particularly high, about 80 percent, and may be due in part to damage in the hippocampus, though how ventilation is increasing the risk of damage and mental impairment has remained elusive.

PHILADELPHIA (September 24, 2013)— Dieters and weight loss researchers are familiar with the principle: The more weight you've lost, the harder it is to keep it off. A complex and vicious cycle of biological and behavioral factors make it so.

But eating disorder research has largely overlooked this influence, and Dr. Michael Lowe, a professor of psychology at Drexel University, has published a flurry of research studies showing that needs to change.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The brains of older people are slowing but experience more than makes up for the decline, a University of California, Riverside assistant professor of management and several colleagues found when asking the participants a series of financially related questions.