Feature Channels: Neuro

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New study shows what happens in the brain to make music rewarding.

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Using a miniature electronic device implanted in the brain, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have tapped into the internal reward system of mice, prodding neurons to release dopamine, a chemical associated with pleasure. This implantable LED device is smaller than the eye of a needle and activates brain cells with light. The scientists report their findings in the journal Science.

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The irony of getting away to a remote place is you usually have to fight traffic to get there. After hours of dodging dangerous drivers, you finally arrive at that quiet mountain retreat, stare at the gentle waters of a pristine lake, and congratulate your tired self on having "turned off your brain."

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Walter Kaye, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Eating Disorder Treatment and Research Program at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. and colleagues are beginning to be use advanced brain imaging technologies to study and improve eating disorder treatments.

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Building on their history of innovative brain-imaging techniques, scientists at Brookhaven have developed a new way to use light and chemistry to map brain activity in fully-awake, moving animals, opening a new window to the study of brain diseases.

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For scientists working to uncover the mysteries of the brain, fat is a problem. The fats inside cells bend and scatter light, obscuring researchers’ views when they try to peer deep into tissue. A new technique developed by HHMI scientists solves that problem by removing the fat from the brain and supporting the remaining brain structures in a hydrogel—literally giving scientists a clear view of an intact brain. The technique, called CLARITY, transforms biological tissue into an optically transparent sample that retains its original structure and molecular information.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have shed light on one of the major toxic mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease. The discoveries could lead to a much better understanding of the Alzheimer’s process and how to prevent it.

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Deep inside your brain, a legion of stem cells lies ready to turn into new brain and nerve cells when you need them. New research shows the vital role of a type of internal “spring cleaning” that both clears out garbage inside the cells, and keeps them in their perpetual stem-cell state.

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African-Americans with a variant of the ABCA7 gene have almost double the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease compared with African-Americans who lack the variant. The largest genome-wide search for Alzheimer’s genes in African-Americans, the study was led by Columbia University Medical Center. It will be published in JAMA (4/10/13 issue).

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Researchers are testing two applications in new ways in an attempt to improve mobility in stroke survivors. One combines electrical muscle stimulation with active biking motion. The other uses wireless sensors to track and measure mobility.

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We’re all fatheads. That is, our brain cells are packed with fat molecules, more of them than almost any other cell type. Still, if the brain cells’ fat content gets too high, they’ll be in trouble. In a recent study in mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins pinpointed an enzyme that keeps neurons’ fat levels under control, and may be implicated in human neurological diseases.

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The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has released an evidence-based guideline on treating neurocysticercosis, a tapeworm infection causing seizures that is common in developing countries and is now on the rise in developed countries, including the United States. The guideline is published in the April 9, 2013, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A study from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine offers new insights into how the nervous system processes hot and cold temperatures. The research led by neuroscientist Mark J. Zylka, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and physiology, found an interaction between the neural circuits that detect hot and cold stimuli: cold perception is enhanced when nerve circuitry for heat is inactivated.

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Research presented at the Genetics Society of America’s annual Drosophila Research Conference in Washington, D.C., holds clues to potential treatment for motor neuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

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The recent discovery of circulating "nano-sized extracellular vesicles" (EVs) carrying proteins and nucleic acids derived from brain tumors may lead to exciting new avenues for brain cancer diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment, according to a special article in the April issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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A new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique may provide neurosurgeons with a non-invasive tool to help in mapping critical areas of the brain before surgery, reports a study in the April issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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A new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center found that it is nearly impossible for patients to determine the true cause of their migraine episodes without undergoing formal experiments.

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Preventive Measures, Genetic Risks, New Diagnostic Tools Needed to Identify Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury in Athletes, Soldiers

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A paper published this month in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet Neurology suggests that a broad spectrum of developmental and psychiatric disorders, ranging from autism and intellectual disability to schizophrenia, should be conceptualized as different manifestations of a common underlying denominator, ‘developmental brain dysfunction,’ rather than completely independent conditions with distinct causes.

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A technology being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory promises to provide clear images of the brains of children, the elderly and people with Parkinson’s and other diseases without the use of uncomfortable or intrusive restraints.

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Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have for the first time identified a pair of drugs already approved for human use that show anti-prion activity and, for one of them, great promise in treating rare and universally fatal disorders, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, caused by misfolded proteins called prions.

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Joint study by U-M Health System and RAND estimates total dementia care costs at $159- $200 billion a year, expected to nearly double with aging population

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Why is it so hard for some people to resist the least little temptation, while others seem to possess incredible patience, passing up immediate gratification for a greater long-term good? The answer, suggests a new study from Washington University in St. Louis, is that patient people focus on future rewards in a way that makes the waiting process seem much more pleasurable.

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UCLA researchers have used a brain-imaging tool and stroke risk assessment to identify signs of cognitive decline early on in individuals who don't yet show symptoms of dementia.

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A study in mice with genetic mutations seen in human Alzheimer's disease found that the feeling of hunger itself may protect against the disease.

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The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) supports the Obama administration’s new brain research initiative, set to launch in 2014 with $100 million in federal funding. The AAN statement is posted at http://www.aan.com/news/?event=read&article_id=11189.

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The major announcement by President Obama is attended by the scientists who propelled the Brain Activity Map Project -- neuroscientists and nanoscientists who joined to become a major catalyst for the new BRAIN Initiative.

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Experts at the George Washington University are available to comment on President Obama's announcement about a new initiative to better understand the human brain.

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Risk prediction tools that estimate future risk of heart disease and stroke may be more useful predictors of future decline in cognitive abilities, or memory and thinking, than a dementia risk scores, according to a new study published in the April 2, 2013, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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In the latest issue of Neurosurgical Focus, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania review research showing that this ability to visualize relevant white matter tracts during glioma resection surgeries can improve accuracy.

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Johns Hopkins scientists say they have evidence from animal studies that a type of central nervous system cell other than motor neurons plays a fundamental role in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal degenerative disease. The discovery holds promise, they say, for identifying new targets for interrupting the disease’s progress.

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Researchers from Tel Aviv University describe experiments that could lead to a new approach for treating Parkinson’s disease using a common sweetener, mannitol. This research is presented April 6 at the Genetics Society of America’s 54th Annual Drosophila Research Conference in Washington D.C., April 3-7, 2013.

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While the public today is better educated and aware of the risks of brain injuries, March – also known as National Brain Injury Awareness Month - is a good time to educate ourselves and others that suspected head injuries, especially concussions, shouldn’t be ignored, say Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) experts.

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Considerable opportunity exists to improve interventions and outcomes of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in older adults, according to three studies published in the recent online issue of NeuroRehabilitation by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

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Researchers at UAB found that only 1 in 5 veterans reported receiving brain injury education while serving in the military. The researchers, whose findings were published this week in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, believe a lack of accurate knowledge could lead to misdiagnosis or misinterpretation due to the many symptoms that can overlap among brain injury and other conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and chronic pain.

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An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, says a key protein in Schwann cells performs a critical, perhaps overarching, role in regulating the recovery of peripheral nerves after injury. The discovery has implications for improving the treatment of neuropathic pain, a complex and largely mysterious form of chronic pain that afflicts over 100 million Americans.

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Certified Primary Stroke Centers are three times more likely to administer clot-busting treatment for strokes than non-certified centers, reports a new study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

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The virus that causes cold sores, along with other viral or bacterial infections, may be associated with cognitive problems, according to a new study published in the March 26, 2013, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Mild cognitive impairment at the time of Parkinson disease (PD) diagnosis appears to be associated with an increased risk for early dementia in a Norwegian study, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Neurology, a JAMA Network publication.

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The strongest predictor of whether a man is developing dementia with Lewy bodies — the second most common form of dementia in the elderly — is whether he acts out his dreams while sleeping, Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered.

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A team including scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has determined and analyzed the high-resolution atomic structures of two kinds of human serotonin receptor.

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Ever find yourself racking your brain on a Monday morning to remember where you put your car keys? When you do find those keys, you can thank the hippocampus, a brain region responsible for storing and retrieving memories of different environments-such as that room where your keys were hiding in an unusual spot.

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NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) and Mayo Clinic researchers have partnered on a study that shows genetic and clinical evidence that therapies targeting the expression of alpha-synuclein -- a gene whose function is involved in the development and progression of Parkinson’s disease -- may accelerate disease progression and increase the risk of physical incapacitation and dementia. If replicated, the findings will have profound implications for therapies under development for Parkinson’s disease.

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Scientists at UC San Francisco have discovered how memory recall is linked to decision-making in rats, showing that measurable activity in one part of the brain occurs when rats in a maze are playing out memories that help them decide which way to turn. The more they play out these memories, the more likely they are to find their way correctly to the end of the maze.

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New research from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine for the first time explains exactly how two brain regions interact to promote emotionally motivated behaviors associated with anxiety and reward. The findings could lead to new mental health therapies for disorders such as addiction, anxiety, and depression.

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New research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is giving radiation oncologists who treat brain tumors a better understanding of how to preserve the brain’s functions while still killing cancer

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Children who are later diagnosed with autism have subtle but measurable differences in attention as early as 7 months of age, finds a study published today in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Results indicate a precursor to “sticky attention” problems seen in children with autism

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A new study finds that Infants at 7 months of age who go on to develop autism are slower to reorient their gaze and attention from one object to another when compared to 7-month-olds who do not develop autism, and this behavioral pattern is in part explained by atypical brain circuits.

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Mayo Clinic neurology experts will present research findings on Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, sleep disorders, concussions, multiple sclerosis and more at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in San Diego, March 16–23. They also are available to offer expert comment on other research findings.