Neuroscience News and Research

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New study highlights importance soluble proteins, called cytokines, in Alzheimer's

An extraordinary new scientific study, which for the first time documents marked improvement in Alzheimer's disease within minutes of administration of a therapeutic molecule, has just been published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation .

10 Jan 2008

Stress causes whole body deterioration

Stress, to put it bluntly, is bad for you. It can kill you, in fact. A study now reveals that stress causes deterioration in everything from your gums to your heart and can make you more susceptible to everything from the common cold to cancer.

9 Jan 2008

Discovery of a core mechanism underlying Fragile X syndrome

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center are uncovering how brain cells are affected in Fragile X syndrome, the most common cause of inherited mental retardation and the most common genetic cause of autism.

9 Jan 2008

Brain response differences found in way women with irritable bowel syndrome deal with pain

UCLA researchers found that women with IBS cannot effectively turn-off a pain modulation mechanism in the brain, which causes them to be more sensitive to abdominal pain, compared to women without IBS.

9 Jan 2008

Daytime 'Nanna naps' improve memory

A ninety minute daytime nap helps speed up the process of long term memory consolidation, a recent study conducted by Prof. Avi Karni and Dr. Maria Korman of the Center for Brain and Behavior Research at the University of Haifa found.

8 Jan 2008

New method to study extrasensory perception

Psychologists at Harvard University have developed a new method to study extrasensory perception that, they argue, can resolve the century-old debate over its existence.

4 Jan 2008

Effects of sleep deprivation reversed

Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have shown that the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance can be reversed when the naturally occurring brain peptide, orexin-A, is administered in monkeys.

3 Jan 2008

FDA approves Hi-Flex mobile bearing knee prostheses

Mitchell Sheinkop, M.D., will be the first in the U.S. to surgically implant the just-approved Nex Gen LPS-Flex mobile bearing knee on February 20, 2008 at the Neurologic and Orthopedic Hospital of Chicago.

3 Jan 2008

Fish oil benefits

It's good news that we are living longer, but bad news that the longer we live, the better our odds of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

28 Dec 2007

Overeating and obesity triggered by lack of brain-derived neurotrophic factor

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close to one-third of the population in the United States is obese and another third is overweight.

28 Dec 2007

Mutations in a protein called dynein may cause inherited neuropathy

Mutations in a protein called dynein, required for the proper functioning of sensory nerve cells, can cause defects in mice that may provide crucial clues leading to better treatments for a human nerve disorder known as peripheral neuropathy, which affects about three percent of all those over age 60.

28 Dec 2007

Variant of COMT gene linked to impulsive decisions

People with clinical addictions know first-hand the ravages the disease can take on almost every aspect of their lives.

28 Dec 2007

Brain imaging shows there may be a cognitive difference in people with addictions

Scientists have for the first time identified brain sites that fire up more when people make impulsive decisions.

28 Dec 2007

Brain abnormalities found underlying borderline personality disorder

Using new approaches, an interdisciplinary team of scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City has gained a view of activity in key brain areas associated with a core difficulty in patients with borderline personality disorder -- shedding new light on this serious psychiatric condition.

20 Dec 2007

Research may bring new generation of cochlear implants

A Rutgers University team led by neuroscientist Robin Davis is opening new doors to improved hearing for the congenitally or profoundly deaf.

20 Dec 2007

A new brain imaging study identifies 'brain signature' for cigarette cravings

A new brain imaging study by researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania shows that cigarette cravings in smokers who are deprived of nicotine are linked with increased activation in specific regions of the brain.

20 Dec 2007

Depletion of antioxidant glutathione linked to Parkinson's in mice

Scientists at the Buck Institute have shown that mice suffering from a depletion of the antioxidant glutathione in dopamine-producing neurons developed nerve damage and symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) in humans.

20 Dec 2007

Dolphin therapy - a lose-lose situation for people and dolphins

People suffering from chronic mental or physical disabilities should not resort to a dolphin "healing" experience, warn two researchers from Emory University.

20 Dec 2007

War veterans with brain injuries show a faster decline in cognitive functioning as they age

A study of Vietnam war veterans who suffered brain injuries during the conflict has found that the men show a faster decline in their cognitive functioning as they grow older than veterans without such injuries.

20 Dec 2007

Researchers initiate gene therapy trial in patients with advanced skin cancer

Researchers at the Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospitals Case Medical Center are the first in the region to have joined a nationwide clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a gene therapy in patients with advanced melanoma which is aimed to help a patient ' s own immune system fight their cancer.

18 Dec 2007