Feature Channels: Neuro

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Most people have habits that guide them through daily life — for example, their path to work in the morning, or their bedtime routine. The brain patterns that drive this behavior are not well-understood, but a new study from MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research shows that habit formation appears to be an innate ability that is fine-tuned by experience — specifically, the costs and rewards of certain choices.

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Scientists are closer to solving one of the many mysteries of multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating diseases, thanks to a recent study conducted at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The research revealed a previously unknown connection between two ion channels, which, when misaligned, can cause the many bizarre symptoms that characterize the condition.

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Special eye-gaze technology now being used in the Department of Neurology at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) is revealing the hidden, inner world of children who have Rett Syndrome, a rare and severe autism spectrum disorder that primarily affects little girls.

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As anyone who as ever picked up a guitar or a tennis racket knows, precise timing is often an essential part of performing complex tasks. Now, by studying the brain circuits that control bird song, MIT researchers have identified a “chain reaction” of brain activity that appears to control the timing of song.

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In a report published in the Oct. 20 issue of Science Translational Medicine, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center say animal and human data suggest gene therapy to the brain may be able to treat patients with major depression who do not respond to traditional drug treatment.

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A dozen new epilepsy drugs are giving doctors and patients more options, but making treatment decisions more complex, a Loyola epilepsy specialist reports in the journal Neurologic Clinics.

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For the first time, researchers have discovered a disease mechanism that links hereditary amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and the more common "sporadic" form of ALS -- and points to a possible therapeutic target.

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Motherhood may actually cause the brain to grow, not turn it into mush, as some have claimed. Exploratory research found that the brains of new mothers bulked up in areas linked to motivation and behavior.

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Chronic depression is an adaptive, reparative neurobiological process gone wrong, say two UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers, positing in a new theory that the debilitating mental state originates from more ancient mechanisms used by the body to deal with physical injury, such as pain, tissue repair and convalescent behavior.

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Because of impairments in their insulin sensitivity, obese individuals demonstrate different brain responses than their normal-weight peers while completing a challenging cognitive task, according to new research by psychologists at The University of Texas at Austin.

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A new study shows that vitamin B12 may protect against Alzheimer’s disease, adding more evidence to the scientific debate about whether the vitamin is effective in reducing the risk of memory loss. The research will be published in the October 19, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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In the October 17 issue of Nature Methods, researchers at Thomas Jefferson University describe how they can transfer genes into brain neurons intravenously, using a viral gene delivery vehicle (vector) that causes no side effects.

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Loyola Non-invasive therapy requires no anesthesia or sedation; can be done in a half hour in psychiatrist’s offic

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New research suggests that walking at least six miles per week may protect brain size and in turn, preserve memory in old age, according to a study published in the October 13, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A new study in mouse models by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center has found that the brain’s mitochondria -- the powerhouses of the cell -- are one of the earliest casualties of the disease. The study, which appeared in the online Early Edition of PNAS, also found that impaired mitochondria then injure the neurons’ synapses, which are necessary for normal brain function.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, led by Larry R. Squire, PhD, professor of psychiatry, psychology and neurosciences at UC San Diego and a scientist at the VA San Diego Healthcare System, report that working memory of relational information – where an object is located, for example – remains intact even if key brain structures like the hippocampus are damaged.

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Women with epilepsy may be more likely to experience infertility, according to new research published in the October 12, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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For patients with blockages in the carotid artery that supplies blood to the brain, carotid artery stenting (a non-surgical treatment) appears to be associated with an increased risk of both short- and long-term adverse outcomes when compared with surgical treatment (carotid endarterectomy), according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies that was posted online today and will appear in the February 2011 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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Insulin resistance, a condition in which insulin produced by the body becomes less effective in reducing blood glucose levels, appears to be associated with an increased risk of stroke in individuals without diabetes, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have created an experimental vaccine against beta-amyloid, the small protein that forms plaques in the brain and is believed to contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

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By comparing a clearly defined visual input with the electrical output of the retina, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies were able to trace for the first time the neuronal circuitry that connects individual photoreceptors with retinal ganglion cells, the neurons that carry visuals signals from the eye to the brain.

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A set of proteins found in blood serum shows promise as a sensitive and accurate way to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found as part of a statewide study.

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Patients with a severe traumatic brain injury (and not in shock because of blood loss) who received out-of-hospital administration of hypertonic fluids (a solution with increased concentration of certain electrolytes and thought to help reduce intracranial pressure) as initial resuscitation did not experience better 6-month neurologic outcomes or survival compared to patients who received a normal saline solution, according to a study in the October 6 issue of JAMA.

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New research shows how old people are when they first develop Parkinson’s disease is one of many clues in how long they’ll survive with the disease. The research is published in the October 5, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Brain and spinal cord injuries related to all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) appear to be increasing, reports a study in the October 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, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

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Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that the over-activation of a single protein may shut down the brain-protecting effects of a molecule and facilitate the most common form of Parkinson’s disease. The finding of this mechanism could lead to important new targets for drugs already known to inhibit it, thus controlling symptoms of the disorder, which affects about 1 million older Americans.

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For decades, carefully logging data about how mice go through the motions of their daily routines has been a tedious staple of behavioral and neuroscience research. It’s a task most people would happily cede to automation. Now, according to a new study by MIT neuroscientists, that’s finally possible.

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The latest advances in treating neurologic disorders such as stroke, headache, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and sleep disorders are detailed in a special issue of the journal Neurologic Clinics.

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Eleven years after the first edition, a new edition of the Sturge-Weber Syndrome textbook has been published by the Sturge-Weber Foundation in New Jersey. Co-author E. Steve Roach, MD, is chief of Neurology and vice-chair of Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

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New research provides evidence of the vicious cycle created when an obese individual overeats to compensate for reduced pleasure from food.

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New research shows that an intravenous (IV) treatment may cut a person’s risk of dying from bacterial meningitis. The research is published in the September 29, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The treatment is called dexamethasone.

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Tufts biologists have regenerated spinal cord and muscle by using a drug cocktail to trigger an influx of sodium ions into injured cells. This approach requires no gene therapy and can be administered after injury has occurred. The treatment applies most directly to spinal cord repair and limb loss. Proof of principle may apply to many tissues.

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Fizzy beverages light up same pain sensors as mustard and horseradish, a new study shows. So why do we drink them?

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Turns out the silent and stoic response to stress might be a guy thing after all. A new study by USC researchers reveals that stressed men looking at angry faces had diminished activity in the brain regions responsible for understanding others’ feelings.

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The world’s largest study using neuroimaging of stroke patients struggling to regain ability to communicate finds that brain cells outside the damaged area can take on new roles.

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Family members and close friends are more sensitive to early signs of Alzheimer's dementia than traditional screening tests, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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Learning mindfulness meditation may help people who have multiple sclerosis (MS) with the fatigue, depression and other life challenges that commonly accompany the disease, according to a study published in the September 28, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Chronic subdural hematoma is a frequently encountered problem in neurosurgical practice and the perception is that it is a benign disease, with easy-to-treat lesions. Research showed that the mortality rate increased considerably at 6-month and 1-year follow-up, after what was considered successful treatment. The authors liken the continued increased mortality following treatment of CSDH to the similar and widely reported phenomenon in patients who have undergone successful surgery for hip fracture, surmising that CSDH unmasks underlying medical conditions and exacerbates them.

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Sugar molecule used In common food and household products like Febreze® Fabric Refresher called Hydroxypropyl Beta Cyclodextrin (HPßCD) will be delivered into twins’ central nervous system in an attempt to stop neurological progression of Niemann Pick Type C disease.

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A study led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital investigators links the muscle weakness and other symptoms of a rare neurodegenerative disease to a misstep in functioning of a normal protein, rather than its build-up inside cells.

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Understanding how the brain recognizes objects is a central challenge for understanding human vision, and for designing artificial vision systems. (No computer system comes close to human vision.) A new study by MIT neuroscientists suggests that the brain learns to solve the problem of object recognition through its vast experience in the natural world.

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We’ve all heard the saying about people who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, but it turns out that walking and talking is difficult enough, especially for people with Parkinson’s disease who are at increased risk for falls with injury.

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For these patients, immunotherapy can quickly improve symptoms.

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The first oral medication for multiple sclerosis was approved today by the Food & Drug Administration. Physicians praised the decision to approve the drug, called fingolimod, saying it would give multiple sclerosis patients new options for treatment.

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Neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found a new therapeutic target that can potentially lead to a new way to prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The target called neutral sphingomyelinase (N-SMase) is a protein that when activated, can cause a chain of reactions in the cell leading to neuronal death and memory loss.

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A $634,000 grant from the Department of Defense is allowing researchers at the University at Buffalo to investigate a trio of environmental factors and their influence on the progression of multiple sclerosis.

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Electrical stimulation of the brain in a patient with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) led to some unanticipated benefits—"effortless" smoking cessation and weight loss, according to a case report in the September issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

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A new study shows that aspirin, given intravenously (IV), may be a safe and effective option for people hospitalized for severe headache or migraine, undergoing medication withdrawal. The research will be published in the September 21, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Currently, there are no drugs available to treat TBI: a variety of single drugs have failed clinical trials, suggesting a possible role for drug combinations. Testing this hypothesis in an animal model, researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center tested five drugs in various combinations. Their observations, published recently in the journal PLoS One, suggest a potentially valuable role for minocycline plus N-acetylcysteine to treat TBI.

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Elevated levels of a growth protein in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients is linked to impaired neurogenesis, the process by which new neurons are generated, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego in today’s edition of The Journal of Neuroscience.