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BUSM investigators receive MRA's Jackie King Young Investigator Awards

Boston University School of Medicine researchers Neil Joseph Ganem, PhD and Anurag Singh, PhD, each have received the Jackie King Young Investigator Awards from the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), the largest private funder of melanoma research. Both serve as assistant professors of pharmacology & experimental therapeutics and medicine.

17 Jul 2015

Cognitive training can help reduce civilian shooting casualties

Although firing a gun seems like one action, it is made up of many smaller decisions and movements that require coordination between multiple brain areas. The sudden decision to not shoot, called 'response inhibition,' is critical when someone innocent comes into the line of fire. That is what soldiers in war experience when they're about to pull the trigger and then realize that their target is a civilian or an ally. Or when a law enforcement officer realizes that a person they thought was armed and dangerous is actually an innocent bystander.

17 Jul 2015

Neuroscientists interpret code the brain uses to make noisy neuronal circuits

By analyzing the signals of individual neurons in animals undergoing behavioral tests, neuroscientists at Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Geneva and the University of Rochester have deciphered the code the brain uses to make the most of its inherently "noisy" neuronal circuits.

17 Jul 2015

Having high blood pressure in midlife can affect cognition many years later

Having high blood pressure in your 50's may impact your ability to keep track or plan ahead in your 80's. This study reports a connection between high blood pressure at a younger age can affect cognition many years later. It currently appears in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

17 Jul 2015

Alternative approach to treat fatal blood clots found to be more effective in patients

Potentially fatal blood clots account for thousands of emergency room visits each year and often those patients are admitted to the hospital, treated with an injectable anticoagulant and monitored for a few days.

17 Jul 2015

Next-generation tissue implant allows neuroscientists to wirelessly control neurons inside the brains of mice

A study showed that scientists can wirelessly determine the path a mouse walks with a press of a button. Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, created a remote controlled, next-generation tissue implant that allows neuroscientists to inject drugs and shine lights on neurons deep inside the brains of mice.

17 Jul 2015

$New study shows cannabinoid cannabidiol can help heal bone fractures$

New study shows cannabinoid cannabidiol can help heal bone fractures

Cannabis -- marijuana, hashish -- was used as a go-to medical remedy by societies around the world for centuries. But the therapeutic use of marijuana was banned in most countries in the 1930s and '40s due to a growing awareness of the dangers of addiction. The significant medical benefits of marijuana in alleviating symptoms of such diseases as Parkinson's, cancer, and multiple sclerosis have only recently been reinvestigated.

17 Jul 2015

Transcranial magnetic stimulation holds promise for tinnitus patients

In the largest U.S. clinical trial of its kind funded by the Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, researchers at the VA Portland Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science University found that transcranial magnetic stimulation significantly improved tinnitus symptoms for more than half of study participants.

17 Jul 2015

Increased radiation dose offers survival benefit for men with medium- and high-risk prostate cancer

Increased radiation dose is associated with higher survival rates in men with medium- and high-risk prostate cancer, but not men with low-risk prostate cancer, according to a new study from Penn Medicine published this week in JAMA Oncology. Already-high survival rates for men with low-risk prostate cancer were unaffected by higher radiation dosages compared to lower radiation dosages.

17 Jul 2015

Neuronal activity in the brain's prefrontal cortex is nuanced and complex, new study finds

Results of a new study reported this week by David Moorman of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Gary Aston-Jones of Rutgers University suggest that adjusting behavior based on previous events involves an unexpected mix of neurons working together in the brain's prefrontal cortex.

17 Jul 2015

Kessler Foundation, University of Bordeaux team up to study emotional processing deficits in MS people

Kessler Foundation received $65,500 as part of a two-year $140,000 grant from the ARSEP Foundation of France to the University of Bordeaux, to launch a collaborative study of emotional processing deficits in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Helen Genova, Ph.D., and Jean Lengenfelder, Ph.D., of Kessler Foundation and Bruno Brochet, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Bordeaux are the principal investigators.

17 Jul 2015

Changes in body temperature can cause sudden cardiac death, finds SFU research

Scientists, including SFU professor Peter Ruben, have found that sudden death caused by cardiac arrhythmia can be triggered by changes in body temperature. The study is published in the Journal of Physiology.

17 Jul 2015

Genetic mutation associated with severe loss of body fat, appearance of premature aging in children identified

Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute have identified a genetic mutation associated with the appearance of premature aging and severe loss of body fat in children.

17 Jul 2015

Adverse life events in childhood can increase woman's risk of preterm birth

Like most health professionals, David Olson has known for some time of the dangers posed by excessive stress. His latest research, though, is giving surprising new insight into how chronic stress in childhood can have an impact years after it occurred in women giving birth.

17 Jul 2015