Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today

Studying Communication Within The Brain With Cutting-Edge MRI Techniques

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PST

Innovative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that can measure changes in the microstructure of the white matter likely to affect brain function and the ability of different regions of the brain to communicate are presented in an article in the groundbreaking new neuroscience journal Brain Connectivity, a bimonthly peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc....

The Brain's Quick Interceptions Help You Navigate The World

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PST

When you are about to collide into something and manage to swerve away just in the nick of time, what exactly is happening in your brain? A new study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro, McGill University shows how the brain processes visual information to figure out when something is moving towards you or when you are about to head into a collision...

Why The Middle Finger Has Such A Slow Connection

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Each part of the body has its own nerve cell area in the brain - we therefore have a map of our bodies in our heads. The functional significance of these maps is largely unclear. What effects they can have is now shown by RUB neuroscientists through reaction time measurements combined with learning experiments and "computational modelling"...

Increased Understanding Of Gene's Potentially Protective Role In Parkinson's

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Treatments for Parkinson's disease, estimated to affect 1 million Americans, have yet to prove effective in slowing the progression of the debilitating disease...

Head, Neck Impacts Accumulate Fastest In Fighters Who Don't Wear Headgear

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

The use of padded headgear and gloves reduces the impact that fighters absorb from hits to the head, according to newly published research from Cleveland Clinic. In their biomechanics lab at Cleveland Clinic's Lutheran Hospital, the researchers replicated hook punches to the head using a crash test dummy and a pendulum...

CD97 Gene Expression And Function Correlate With WT1 Protein Expression And Glioma Invasiveness

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center's VCU Massey Cancer Center and Harold F...

First European Clinical Practice Guidelines For Wilson's Disease Published By EASL

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

The first European Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) for the diagnosis and management of Wilson's disease are published by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) on the EASL website*...

Lab-Made Neurons Allow Scientists To Study A Genetic Cause Of Parkinson's

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

By reverse engineering human skin cells to become induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and then coaxing them to become neural dopamine cells, scientists in the US have developed a way to study a genetic cause of Parkinson's disease in lab-made neurons...

Former Welders Suffer Increased Clumsiness

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PST

Welders who are exposed to manganese from welding fumes, risk developing increased clumsiness - and the result may remain decades after exposure has ceased. This is the finding of a study at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, of former shipyard workers...

Strategy Shift With Age Can Lead To Navigational Difficulties

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

A Wayne State University researcher believes studying people's ability to find their way around may help explain why loss of mental capacity occurs with age. Scott Moffat, Ph.D...

Images Of Nerve Cells In The Brain Of A Living Mouse

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

To explore the most intricate structures of the brain in order to decipher how it functions - Stefan Hell's team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen has made a significant step closer to this goal...

Zinc Control Mechanisms Could Be Key To Aggressive Breast Cancer Treatments

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

The body's control mechanisms for delivering zinc to cells could be key to improving treatment for some types of aggressive breast cancer. New research by Cardiff University and King's College London has identified the switch which releases zinc into cells, with important implications for a number of diseases. Zinc has long been known to play a vital part in human health...

Swedish Twin Study Finds Cognitive Problems Common Among Non-Demented Elderly

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Both subjective and objective cognitive impairment are highly common among non-demented elderly Swedes, with an overall prevalence of 39 percent and 25 percent respectively, according to a nationwide twin study by researchers at the Aging Research Center of Karolinska Institutet, Sweden...

Patient Sensitivity To Important Drug Target In Deadly Brain Cancer Predicted

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

A recent discovery by Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) scientists enables the prediction of patient sensitivity to proposed drug therapies for glioblastoma - the most common and most aggressive malignant brain tumor in humans...

Working Memory And The Brain

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Researchers have long known that specific parts of the brain activate when people view particular images. For example, a region called the fusiform face area turns on when the eyes glance at faces, and another region called the parahippocampal place area does the same when a person looks at scenes or buildings...

News From The Journal Of Clinical Investigation: Feb. 6, 2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:00:00 PST

IMMUNOLOGY: How a stomach-colonizing bacterium protects against asthma The bacterium Helicobacter pylori can be found colonizing the stomach lining of almost half the world's population. Although persistent infection with Helicobacter pylori increases an individual's risk of developing stomach cancer, it also decreases their risk of developing asthma...

Researchers Find Additional Benefits Of Cord Blood Cells In Mice Modeling ALS

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PST

Repeated, low-dose injections of mononuclear cells derived from human umbilical cord blood (MNC hUCB, tradename: U-CORD-CELL™) have been found effective in protecting motor neuron cells, delaying disease progression and increasing lifespan for mice modeling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, report University of South Florida ...

After Concussion, Over-Reliance On Computer Tests In Return-To-Plan Decisions Questioned

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

A new study by researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus and Pace University is critical of the widespread use of computerized neuropsychological tests (CNT) in decisions regarding when athletes can return to play after suffering a concussion. "Our knowledge of the effects of concussions continues to evolve," said Thomas Redick, assistant professor of psychology at IUPUC...

New Procedure Repairs Severed Nerves In Minutes, Restoring Limb Use In Days Or Weeks

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

American scientists believe a new procedure to repair severed nerves could result in patients recovering in days or weeks, rather than months or years. The team used a cellular mechanism similar to that used by many invertebrates to repair damage to nerve axons. Their results are published in the Journal of Neuroscience Research...

Mild Alzheimer's Might In Fact Be Mild Cognitive Impairment

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

New revised criteria could mean that a considerable number of patients currently diagnosed with mild or very mild Alzheimer's, might in fact be reclassified as having MCI (mild cognitive impairment), John C. Morris, M.D., of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, wrote in Archives of Neurology...

Somatosensory Neurons Remain Overactive After Exposure To Loud Noises

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:00 PST

It is common knowledge that it takes a while for the hearing to become 'normal' again after listening to music that is too loud. The American Tinnitus Association estimates that there are almost 50 million people in the U.S. and millions more worldwide who suffer from tinnitus, which can range from being intermittent and mildly annoying to chronic, severe and debilitating...

Football Findings Suggest Concussions Caused By Series Of Hits

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PST

A two-year study of high school football players suggests that concussions are likely caused by many hits over time and not from a single blow to the head, as commonly believed. Purdue University researchers have studied football players for two seasons at Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Ind...

Brain Tumor Eradication And Prolonged Survival

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PST

Tocagen Inc. has announced the publication of data showing the company's investigational treatment for high grade glioma eradicates brain tumors and provides a dramatic survival benefit in mouse models of glioblastoma...

Gender Specific Behavior Traced To Hormone-Controlled Genes In The Brain

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Men and women may be equals, but they often behave differently when it comes to sex and parenting. Now a study of the differences between the brains of male and female mice in the Cell Press journal Cell provides insight into how our own brains might be programmed for these stereotypically different behaviors...

New Hope For Patients With Deadly Brain Tumor

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Jim Black is fighting the meanest, most aggressive, most common kind of brain tumor in the United States: recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). In the United States, each year, approximately 10,000 patients are affected by GBM. Now, a novel investigational device - available only at clinical trial sites - is offering new hope to these patients...

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