Neurophysiology News and Research

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Neurophysiology is a discipline within the health sciences which deals with the measurement and assessment of nervous system function rather than the anatomy of the nervous system. It helps to diagnose and monitor the progress of nervous disorders.

Neural prosthetic devices

MIT researchers have developed a new algorithm to help create prosthetic devices that convert brain signals into action in patients who have been paralyzed or had limbs amputated.

4 Oct 2007

Wilmot Cancer Center adds gastrointestinal, brain cancer experts

Three specialists in gastrointestinal and brain cancers recently joined the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center to meet the growing need in the Rochester and Upstate New York region.

1 Oct 2007

UIC receives $9.6 million grant for autism research

The University of Illinois at Chicago has been awarded a $9.6 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish an Autism Center of Excellence.

7 Aug 2007

Which brain processes enable humans to rapidly access their personal knowledge?

What happens if humans perceive either familiar or unfamiliar objects? The answer to these questions may lie in the direction of information flow transmitted between specialized brain areas that together establish a dynamic cortical network.

7 Aug 2007

New research on fixational eye movements

Susana Martinez-Conde, Ph.D., director of the Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience, and Stephen Macknik, Ph.D., director of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, are featured on the cover of the August issue of Scientific American for their research on fixational eye movements.

25 Jul 2007

Discovery of new brain mechanism involved with waking up

How do we wake up? How do we shift from restful sleep to dreaming? Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have discovered a new brain mechanism that just might explain how we do that.

20 Jul 2007

Novel mutation associated with muscle identified

The study demonstrates that muscle weakness experienced by persons with a regulatory protein tropomyosin mutation is directly related to a mechanism by which the mutant tropomyosin modulates contractile speed and force-generation capacity.

17 Jun 2007

The Phi Complex as a neuromarker of human social coordination

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) have been able to identify neural signatures of effective, real-time coordination between people in one of the first studies in the field of social neuroscience to actually record, measure and analyze both behavior and brain activity simultaneously in two interacting humans.

16 May 2007

New insights into how the brain controls movements

In the children's game "red light green light," winners are able to stop, and take off running again, more quickly than their comrades.

19 Apr 2007

Researchers identify neurocircuit that controls the brain's response to fear

Results suggest that it may be possible to understand psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety or depression, from the underlying neurophysiology - workings of the brain.

21 Sep 2006

Keeping neurons in synch reduces epileptic seizures by 90%

The brain's septum helps prevent epileptic seizures by inducing rhythmical electrical activity in the circuits of another area of the brain known as the hippocampus, according to a new study in the Journal of Neurophysiology.

5 Jul 2006

How the brain rewires after lesions

Scientists from Bochum investigate the reorganizational capacity of the adult brain.

3 Jul 2006

Novel research points to promising relief target for chronic pain

By some accounts, chronic pain affects nearly 100 million Americans from such varied causes as arthritis, sciatica, cancer, diabetes. Most forms of pain result from identifiable causes which serve the "good" purpose in warning of a real physical problem that needs attention, or rest.

6 Jun 2006

New method found showing how nerve cells can selectively filter and transfer signals

Scientists from Gvttingen and Bochum find evidence for a new mechanism, with which our nerve cells are able to filter signals and transfer them selectively.

28 Apr 2006

Early intervention is a critical consideration in efforts to preserve the musculoskeletal system after spinal cord injury

Richard Shields, Ph.D., University of Iowa professor in the Graduate Program in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, can foresee a time when it might be possible to cure spinal cord injury (SCI).

7 Apr 2006

Laughter is the best medicine

There's no doubt that laughter feels good, but is there real neurophysiology behind it and what can you do about it?

3 Apr 2006

Safer treatment for depression

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, with the help of a team of Pittsburgh high school science teachers, have developed a wireless device that is implanted in the neck to fight depression and epileptic seizures.

23 Jan 2006

Pitt team develop wireless treatment for depression, seizures

19 Jan 2006

First recordings from medial mammillary body cells in awake animals

It's often said that the key to Bill Bradley's basketball success was summed up in the title of the 1965 book by John McPhee, "A sense of where you are." Bradley always seemed to know where all nine other players were, where Bradley himself was in relation to the basket – and where the open spot was to be found for his stylized jump shot.

4 Oct 2005

Kids at risk of TV / videogame seizures

The Epilepsy Foundation today issued new recommendations for families on how to limit the risk of seizures triggered by flashing images and certain patterns on television, videogames, computers and other video screens.

19 Sep 2005