Six University of California, San Diego professors have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. They are among 347 members selected this year by colleagues in their disciplines to be honored for “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.”
The readings were collected during brain surgery as the conscious patients played an investment game, demonstrating rapid dopamine release encodes crucial information. The findings have implications for Parkinson’s disease and disorders such as depression and addiction.
Scientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have demonstrated in lab animals that a family of therapeutic stem cells lessen consequences of a damaging immune response and preserve function that would otherwise be lost. Their findings appear in the Nov. 19 Scientific Reports.
As we age or develop neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, our brain cells may not produce sufficient energy to remain fully functional. Researchers discovered that an enzyme called SIRT3 that is located in mitochondria — the cell's powerhouse — may protect mice brains against the kinds of stresses believed to contribute to energy loss. Furthermore, mice that ran on a wheel increased their levels of this protective enzyme.
In a new study that could have implications for future drug discovery efforts for a number of neurodegenerative diseases, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found that the interaction between a pair of brain proteins has a substantial and previously unrecognized effect on memory formation.
A new study by Dr. Naama Mayseless and Prof. Simone Shamay-Tsoory from the Department of Psychology at the University of Haifa attempted to crack the connection between brain activity and creativity. The results shed a new, perhaps unexpected light, on our ability to think outside the box
University of Georgia researchers have developed a simple technique to measure an individual’s visual processing speed—the speed at which an individual can comprehend visual information—in order to identify whether or not they may have cognitive issues.
Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, a disease often confused for multiple sclerosis, may increase a woman’s risk for miscarriage and preeclampsia during pregnancy, according to a study published in the November 18, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
University of Louisville researcher Bart Borghuis, Ph.D., has increased our understanding of how people and animals deal with sensorimotor delay in day-to-day interactions by analyzing the hunting skills of salamanders. His article, “The Role of Motion Extrapolation in Amphibian Prey Capture,” is published in today’s issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.
Most people probably think that we perceive the five basic tastes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (savory)—with our tongue, which then sends signals to our brain “telling” us what we’ve tasted. However, scientists have turned this idea on its head, demonstrating in mice the ability to change the way something tastes by manipulating groups of cells in the brain.
Neuroscientists, food scientists and internationally-renowned chefs convened at the University of Kentucky recently to explore ways to help patients with neurologically-related taste impairments enjoy food again.
Men are twice as likely as women to develop Parkinson’s disease. New research suggests that testosterone enhances the susceptibility of brain cells that control movement to damage from chemical imbalances, explaining the sex differences in the occurrence of Parkinson’s.
A new study done by University of Texas at Dallas researchers indicates that watching 3-D images of tongue movements can help individuals learn speech sounds. Researchers say the findings could be especially helpful for stroke patients seeking to improve their speech articulation.
In a novel animal study design that mimicked human clinical trials, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that long-term treatment using a small molecule drug that reduces activity of the brain’s stress circuitry significantly reduces Alzheimer’s disease (AD) neuropathology and prevents onset of cognitive impairment in a mouse model of the neurodegenerative condition. The findings are described in the current online issue of the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) is continuing the expansion of its neurodegenerative disease research program, which aims to answer fundamental questions about diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, with the addition of two outstanding scientists.
Scientists have identified two chemical scents in the urine of female mice that arouse sexual behavior in males, a discovery that shines a spotlight on how mouse pheromones control behavior. The research, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is available online in the journal Cell.
RPB-supported researchers have made a significant discovery that might lead to the delay or prevention of the most common cause of blindness in the elderly: age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Patients who take the drug L-DOPA (for Parkinson Disease, Restless Legs or other movement disorders) are significantly less likely to develop AMD and, if they do, it is at a significantly later age.
Researchers have developed a brain imaging technique for patients whose epilepsy does not respond to drug treatment and are not candidates for seizure-relieving surgeries. The imaging technique, known as glutamate chemical exchange saturation transfer (GluCEST), images changes in glutamate levels in brain structures that identify the location of seizures not detected with conventional MRI.
Researchers from the University of Houston have analyzed brain activity data collected from more than 400 people who viewed an exhibit at the Menil Collection, offering evidence that useable brain data can be collected outside of a controlled laboratory setting. They also reported the first real-world demonstration of what happens in the brain as people observe artwork.
Brain scans of people in a coma may help predict who will regain consciousness, according to a study published in the November 11, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study looked at connections between areas of the brain that play a role in regulating consciousness.
A new study by Berkeley Lab scientists has identified genetic factors that influence motor performance and body weight in a genetically diverse group of mice. The researchers also found the genes identified in the mice overlap significantly with genes related to neurological disorders and obesity in people.
Making a computer that learns and remembers like a human brain is a daunting challenge. The complex organ has 86 billion neurons and trillions of connections — or synapses — that can grow stronger or weaker over time. But now scientists report in ACS' journal Nano Letters the development of a first-of-its-kind synthetic synapse that mimics the plasticity of the real thing, bringing us one step closer to human-like artificial intelligence.
Organized extracurricular sport activities for children help them develop and improve cognitive skills, such as greater concentration capacity, that can in term greatly help them in the classroom, says Université de Montréal professor Linda Pagani.
Scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have found new evidence that mindfulness meditation reduces pain more effectively than placebo.
More than five million Americans and 15 million caregivers are impacted by Alzheimer's disease. A leading neuroscientist at Florida Atlantic University has developed eight myths and truths about this prevalent form of dementia.
“Blink and you’ll miss it” isn’t only for eyelids. The human brain also blinks, dropping a few frames of visual information here and there. Those lapses of attention come fast — maybe just once every tenth of a second. But some people may be missing more than others, according to psychologists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Principal Investigator Takes Questions and Demonstrates Procedure with Video and Animation via Virtual Press Conference Tuesday, November 10th at 1:00 p.m. ET
Some nerve cells in the inner ear can signal tissue damage in a way similar to pain-sensing nerve cells in the body, according to new research from Johns Hopkins. If the finding, discovered in rats, is confirmed in humans, it may lead to new insights into hyperacusis, an increased sensitivity to loud noises that can lead to severe and long-lasting ear pain.
Scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine (UNC) and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have created a general tool to probe the activity of these orphan receptors, illuminating their roles in behavior and making them accessible for drug discovery
A UA researcher has provided the strongest evidence yet that it's possible for brains to fossilize and, in fact, a set of 520-million-year-old arthropod brains have done just that.
The thickness of the cortex in a region of the brain that specializes in facial recognition can predict an individual's ability to recognize faces and other objects.
Scientists at the University of North Carolina and UC-San Francisco created a general tool to probe the activity of orphan receptors, illuminating their roles in behavior and making them accessible for drug discovery for the first time.
The blood-brain barrier has been non-invasively opened in a patient for the first time. A team at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto used focused ultrasound to enable temporary and targeted opening of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), allowing the more effective delivery of chemotherapy into a patient’s malignant brain tumor.
When it comes to preventing stroke, millions of Americans with irregular heartbeats face a choice: Take one of the powerful but pricey new pills they see advertised on TV, or a much cheaper 60-year-old drug can be a hassle to take, and doesn’t prevent stroke as well. It doesn’t seem like much of a contest -- until you do the math.
When peripheral nerves are damaged and their vital synaptic paths are disrupted, they have the ability to regenerate and reestablish lost connections. Using zebrafish, which are transparent at larval stages, the researchers identified key components that allows the nervous system to heal itself and literally obtain a whole new window into how axons regenerate.
The complexity of the neural activity we use to process visual images reflects the intricacy of those images, a team of NYU scientists has found. Their study offers new insights into how our brain extracts information about our natural surroundings from the light captured by our eyes.
Studies have demonstrated how just a few sessions of binge drinking during adolescence can knock out neurons (shown in blue arch) in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory core.
Researchers from the University of Southampton have discovered a possible solution for side effects seen in immunotherapy treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
The late Robin Williams had this form of dementia, which also can cause visual hallucinations and make depression worse. Until now, there has been no way to assess or operationalize many of the cognitive and behavioral symptoms of Lewy Body dementia in clinical practice.
An estrogen-like drug, raloxifene, has no demonstrated benefit on memory and thinking skills for women with dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the November 4, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Findings published in national journal
The hippocampus, a brain structure known to play a role in memory and spatial navigation, is essential to one’s ability to recognize previously encountered events, objects, or people – a phenomenon known as recognition memory – according to new research from the departments of Neurosurgery and Psychology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Their work is published in PNAS.
After a debate that has lasted more than 130 years, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found that loss of speech from a stroke in the left hemisphere of the brain can be recovered on the back, right side of the brain. This contradicts recent notions that the right hemisphere interferes with recovery.
Multiple sclerosis, a debilitating neurological disease, is triggered by self-reactive T cells that successfully infiltrate the brain and spinal cord where they launch an aggressive autoimmune attack against myelin, the fatty substance that surrounds and insulates nerve fibers. In their latest study, published in the Nov. 2, 2015, advance online issue of Nature Immunology, researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology report that these disease-causing autoimmune T cells are lured into the nervous system by monocytes and macrophages, a subset of immune cells better known as the immune system’s cleanup crew.
The collection of vast stores of data that may unlock new information about the development of the brain as it transitions to adolescence from childhood will soon begin for neuroscientists in Nebraska with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Researchers have made another important step in the progress towards being able to block the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases.
New research suggests that older women who complain of memory problems may be at higher risk for experiencing diagnosed memory and thinking impairment decades later. The study is published in the October 28, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Chemical changes in brain cells caused by disturbances in the body’s day-night cycle may be a key underlying cause of the learning and memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a University of California, Irvine study.
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