Brain

Cancer-related cognitive impairment is often referred to as 'chemobrain' and anthracycline-based chemotherapy may have greater negative effects on particular cognitive domains and brain network connections than nonanthracycline-based regimens, according to an article published online by JAMA Oncology.

Chemotherapy for breast cancer is often associated with cognitive problems in patients. However, it is unclear whether certain regimens are associated with greater cognitive difficulties than others.

Philadelphia, PA, December 3, 2015 - Several studies have demonstrated that the primary active constituent of cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (?9-THC), induces transient psychosis-like effects in healthy subjects similar to those observed in schizophrenia. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects are not clear.

TORONTO, ON - A good poker face might prevent others knowing what cards you're holding but it won't prevent them from knowing if you've gained or lost weight. That's because our faces reveal many things, including whether our weight has changed. Now, researchers in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto have determined the amount of weight people need to gain or lose before others notice or find them more attractive.

By delivering genes for a certain signal substance and its receptor into the brain of test animals with chronic epilepsy, a research group at Lund University in Sweden with colleagues at University of Copenhagen Denmark has succeeded in considerably reducing the number of epileptic seizures among the animals. The test has been designed to as far as possible mimic a future situation involving treatment of human patients.

MINNEAPOLIS - How fast elderly people walk may be related to the amount of amyloid they have built up in their brains, even if they don't yet have symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in the December 2, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

ST. LOUIS -- In a study published this week in ACS Chemical Neuroscience, Saint Louis University researchers report that treating mice with a compound, SR1078, reduces autistic behavior. The drug, developed by Thomas Burris, Ph.D., chair of pharmacology and physiology at SLU, and his lab, increases the expression of genes that are known to be low in the brains of autistic patients.

Neurons communicate with each other through specialized structures called synapses.

The information is transmitted in the form of synaptic vesicles that contain specific chemical messengers called neurotransmitters

The amount and coordinated release of neurotransmitters regulates synaptic strength which is critical to maintain proper communication between neurons.

New research from of the Sexuality and Gender Laboratory at Queen's University shows that heterosexual women have more diverse patterns of sexual response than previously reported.

(PHILADELPHIA) - Although a number of treatments exist to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, to date, none reliably slow the progression of the disease. In 2013, a molecule called GM1 ganglioside showed promise in patients for not only relieving symptoms but also slowing disease progression. However, GM1 ganglioside has been difficult to make and to deliver to patients for regular use.

"And how does that make you feel? Empathy is the foundation of therapeutic intervention. But how can you know if your therapist is or will be empathetic? Technology developed by researchers from USC, University of Washington, and the University of Utah can tell you.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY -- Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have resolved a decades-long debate about how the brain is modified when an animal learns.

Using newly developed tools for manipulating specific populations of neurons, the researchers have for the first time observed direct evidence of synaptic plasticity -- changes in the strength of connections between neurons -- in the fruit fly brain while flies are learning.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Scientists have recently found evidence that professional football players are susceptible to a progressive degenerative disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repetitive brain trauma. Now, researchers on Mayo Clinic's Florida campus have discovered a significant and surprising amount of CTE in males who had participated in amateur contact sports in their youth.

About one-third of these men whose brains had been donated to the Mayo Clinic Brain Bank had evidence of CTE pathology. CTE only can be diagnosed posthumously.

Mitochondria, the tiny structures inside our cells that generate energy, may also play a previously unrecognized role in mind-body interactions. Based on new studies of stress responses, this insight may have broad implications for human psychology and for the biology of psychiatric and neurological diseases.

A pioneering scientist in mitochondrial medicine has led research in animals showing how alterations in mitochondrial function lead to distinct physiological changes in hormonal, metabolic and behavioral systems in response to mild stress.

A new technique developed at Caltech that uses gas-filled microbubbles for focusing light inside tissue could one day provide doctors with a minimally invasive way of destroying tumors with lasers, and lead to improved diagnostic medical imaging.

Clinical trials are testing whether oxytocin, sometimes called the "love hormone" for its role in intimacy and social bonding, has potential as a treatment for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. New research by behavioral neuroscientists Michael Steinman, Brian Trainor and colleagues at the University of California, Davis, suggests oxytocin may have different effects in men and women--and in certain circumstances the hormone may actually trigger anxiety.