Neuroscience News and Research

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Methamphetamine use has long-term behavioral consequences

Young adults who use methamphetamine may be more vulnerable to age-related brain degeneration when they grow older, new animal research suggests.

16 Aug 2007

New avenues for the treatment of amblyopia

Contrary to accepted dogma, a University of Maryland researcher has developed a method that allows an adult to recover function in an eye that has been damaged and dysfunctional throughout life.

13 Aug 2007

Scientists take plumber's approach to Alzheimer's

Scientists are trying a plumber's approach to rid the brain of the amyloid buildup that plagues Alzheimer's patients: Simply drain the toxic protein away.

13 Aug 2007

Independent brain networks control human walking

In a study published in the August issue of Nature Neuroscience, researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland found that there are separate adaptable networks controlling each leg and there are also separate networks controlling leg movements, e.g., forward or backward walking.

8 Aug 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

Caffeine may help older women protect their thinking skills

Caffeine may help older women protect their thinking skills, according to a study published in the August 7, 2007, issue of Neurology ®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

7 Aug 2007

How the brain produces fever responses during infections

With the finding that fever is produced by the action of a hormone on a specific site in the brain, scientists have answered a key question as to how this adaptive function helps to protect the body during bacterial infection and other types of illness.

6 Aug 2007

As we mature, we are able to create more contextually rich memories

MIT neuroscientists exploring how memory formation differs between children and adults have found that although the two groups have much in common, maturity brings richer memories.

6 Aug 2007

Physical exercise is known to be good for the aging brain, but what about mental stimulation?

Does enrichment that helps older people work well for the young and middle aged, or do they need something else?

6 Aug 2007

Ddiscovery of a novel molecular switch offers potential for epilepsy

The discovery of a novel molecular switch that powerfully modulates nerve cell activity offers the potential for new mood disorder and epilepsy treatments, University of California, Irvine researchers report.

6 Aug 2007

New treatment for glaucoma shows promise

Iowa State University researchers have developed a new technique that successfully treated rats for blindness caused by glaucoma.

3 Aug 2007

Neck muscles could play a crucial role in controlling blood pressure, heart rate and breathing

A chance discovery in the lab has helped University of Leeds scientists to show how the treatment for a stiff neck could do wonders for your blood pressure.

3 Aug 2007

Autonomous glial mechanism may drive circadian rhythms

Glial cells of the nervous system, once thought to function strictly as support cells for neurons, are now thought to actively modulate them.

2 Aug 2007

Music moves brain to pay attention

Using brain images of people listening to short symphonies by an obscure 18th-century composer, a research team from the Stanford University School of Medicine has gained valuable insight into how the brain sorts out the chaotic world around it.

2 Aug 2007

Deep brain stimulation a miracle for man with severe brain injury

In what must seem to his family to be a miracle, a man who had been in a near-vegetative state for six years has regained the ability to use words and gestures, chew and swallow and drink from a cup.

1 Aug 2007

Scientists discover brain cell development process implicated in mental retardation

New Brunswick, N.J. , Scientists at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, have discovered a biological process in brain cell development that may help explain some causes of mental retardation.

1 Aug 2007

Neuroprotectin D1 protects retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells

Two papers to be published in the Early Edition online of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the week of July 30-August 3, 2007 report findings that demonstrate that neuroprotectin D1 (NPD1) protects against damage to retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and identifies an important trigger for its production and novel molecular mechanisms that support vision.

1 Aug 2007

Interactive 3-D technology guides neurological surgeons through the brain during procedure

Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience is one of first medical centers in the U.S. to develop and begin using translational, interactive 3-D technology to map the human brain and help guide neurological surgeons during epilepsy surgery and procedures to remove malignant brain tumors.

1 Aug 2007

First mouse model of schizophrenia

Johns Hopkins researchers have genetically engineered the first mouse that models both the anatomical and behavioral defects of schizophrenia, a complex and debilitating brain disorder that affects over 2 million Americans.

1 Aug 2007

donepezil improves symptoms of severe Alzheimer's

A drug initially used to treat mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease improved the memory and global function of people with severe Alzheimer's disease and was safe and effective, according to a study published in the July 31, 2007, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

1 Aug 2007