Brain

Glioblastoma is the most common ma-lignant primary brain tumor in adults. The aggressive growth manner, characterized by marked angiogenesis and extensive tumor cell invasion into normal brain parenchyma with frequent formation of tumor microsatellites at distal sites, makes eradication impossible even after extensive microsurgical resection combined with current standard chemoradiation and adjuvant temozolomide. Thus, novel therapeutic strategies must to be investigated for the development of a more effective treatment strategy.

At present, fiber tracking algorithms are divided into deterministic tractography and probabilistic tractography. In deterministic algorithms, scholars proposed the fiber assignment by continuous tracking algorithm, the tensor deflection algorithm, the tensorline algorithm. Deterministic algorithms track fibers mainly depending on diffusion direction; however, they are susceptible to noise and partial volume effects, which result in the accumulation of tracking errors.

Analysis: Political drive to screen for pre-dementia: not evidence based and ignores the harms of diagnosis

A political drive, led by the UK and US, to screen older people for minor memory changes (often called mild cognitive impairment or pre-dementia) is leading to unnecessary investigation and potentially harmful treatment for what is arguably an inevitable consequence of ageing, warn experts on bmj.com today.

Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is one of the most devastating cerebrovascular catastrophes causing death in 40 to 50% of the cases. The most common cause of SAH is a rupture of an intracranial aneurysm. If the aneurysm is found, it can be treated before the possible rupture. However, some intracranial aneurysms will never rupture – the problem is that the doctors don't know which aneurysms will and which will not. So, they don't know which patients should be treated and who can safely be left untreated.

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 9, 2013 — An ingredient in a medicinal tea brewed from tree bark by tribal healers on the South Pacific island of Samoa — studied by scientists over the last 25 years — is showing significant promise as a drug lead in the long-sought goal of eliminating the AIDS virus from its sanctuaries in the body and thus eradicating the disease, a scientist said here today.

White matter loss in an area of the brain known as the fornix may be associated with cognitive decline in healthy elderly patients and may be helpful in predicting the earliest clinical deterioration, according to a study by Evan Fletcher, Ph.D., of the University of California, Davis, and colleagues.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — The degeneration of a small, wishbone-shaped structure deep inside the brain may provide the earliest clues to future cognitive decline, long before healthy older people exhibit clinical symptoms of memory loss or dementia, a study by researchers with the UC Davis Alzheimer's Disease Center has found.

Sept. 9, 2013 – Toronto, Canada –Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and University Health Network (UHN) have found a new link between early-onset Parkinson's disease and a piece of DNA missing from chromosome 22. The findings help shed new light on the molecular changes that lead to Parkinson's disease.

The study appears online today in JAMA Neurology.

For American teenagers, most text messaging is as harmless as passing notes, but University of Texas at Dallas researchers have discovered that engaging in antisocial texting can actually predict deviant behavior.

On Monday, in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, scientists reported a correlation between the frequency with which adolescents text about antisocial behaviors and the likelihood that they will engage in them.

Men with smaller testes than others are more likely to be involved in hands-on care of their toddlers, a new study conducted by anthropologists at Emory University finds. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published the results of the study Sept. 9.

Campaigns to get young people to stop smoking may be more successful by focusing on the positive benefits, such as having more money and better skin, rather than emphasising negative outcomes like increased disease risk, a study from Wellcome Trust researchers suggests.

The findings reveal that young people have greater difficulty in learning from bad news to interpret their risk of future events, which might explain why they often do not respond to warnings.

The varied influence of climate change on temperature and precipitation may have an equally wide-ranging effect on the spread of West Nile virus, suggesting that public health efforts to control the virus will need to take a local rather than global perspective, according to a study published this week in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Studies of a therapy designed to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) suggest that the treatment dramatically slows onset and progression of the deadly disease, one of the most common neuromuscular disorders in the world. The researchers, led by teams from The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and the Ludwig Institute at the University of California, San Diego, found a survival increase of up to 39 percent in animal models with a one-time treatment, a crucial step toward moving the therapy into human clinical trials.

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 9, 2013 — In an advance toward providing mosquito-plagued people, pets and livestock with an invisibility cloak against these blood-sucking insects, scientists today described discovery of substances that occur naturally on human skin and block mosquitoes' ability to smell and target their victims.

SAN ANTONIO (Sept. 9, 2013) — Research from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio suggests the exciting possibility of using cell transplants to treat schizophrenia.

Cells called "interneurons" inhibit activity within brain regions, but this braking or governing function is impaired in schizophrenia. Consequently, a group of nerve cells called the dopamine system go into overdrive. Different branches of the dopamine system are involved in cognition, movement and emotions.