June 2012
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Eating Disorder Behaviors and Weight Concerns Are...
ScienceDaily (June 21, 2012) — Eating disorders are commonly seen as an issue faced by teenagers and young women, but a new study reveals that age is no barrier to disordered eating. In women aged 50 and over, 3.5% report binge eating, nearly 8% report purging, and more than 70% are trying to lose weight. The study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders revealed that 62% of...
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Functional Links Between Autism and Genes...
ScienceDaily (June 21, 2012) — A pioneering report of genome-wide gene expression in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) finds genetic changes that help explain why one person has an ASD and another does not. The study, published by Cell Press on June 21 in The American Journal of Human Genetics, pinpoints ASD risk factors by comparing changes in gene expression with DNA mutation data in the same...
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Where is the Love?
June 21, 2012 By Janice Wood
Thanks to science, we know that love lives in the brain, not the heart.
Now a new international study has mapped out where love and sexual desire are in the brain.
“No one has ever put these two together to see the patterns of activation,” says Dr. Jim Pfaus, professor of psychology at Concordia University.
“We didn’t know what to expect –the two could have...
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Mind games: Mental exercises are key to better...
June 20, 2012 By Robin Erb
Go ahead - do it: Grab a pencil. Right now. Write your name backward. And upside down. Awkward, right?
But if researchers and neurologists are correct, doing exercises like these just might buy you a bit more time with a healthy brain.
Some research suggests that certain types of mental exercises - whether they are memory games on your mobile device or jotting down...
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Confusion Can Be Beneficial for Learning
ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — Most of us assume that confidence and certainty are preferred over uncertainty and bewilderment when it comes to learning complex information. But a new study led by Sidney D’Mello of the University of Notre Dame shows that confusion when learning can be beneficial if it is properly induced, effectively regulated and ultimately resolved.
Most of us assume...
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Understanding of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Improved...
ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — Cedars-Sinai’s Regenerative Medicine Institute has pioneered research on how motor-neuron cell-death occurs in patients with spinal muscular atrophy, offering an important clue in identifying potential medicines to treat this leading genetic cause of death in infants and toddlers.
The study, published in the June 19 online issue of PLoS ONE, extends the...
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What's Your Name Again? Lack of Interest, Not...
ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — Most of us have experienced it. You are introduced to someone, only to forget his or her name within seconds. You rack your brain trying to remember, but can’t seem to even come up with the first letter. Then you get frustrated and think, “Why is it so hard for me to remember names?”
You may think it’s just how you were born, but that’s...
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'Brain pacemaker' effective for years against...
June 20, 2012
A “brain pacemaker” called deep brain stimulation (DBS) remains an effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease for at least three years, according to a study in the June 2012 online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
But while improvements in motor function remained stable, there were gradual declines in health-related...
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Proposed drug may reverse Huntington's disease...
June 20, 2012
With a single drug treatment, researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine can silence the mutated gene responsible for Huntington’s disease, slowing and partially reversing progression of the fatal neurodegenerative disorder in animal models.
This image shows stained mouse neurons. Credit: Image...
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Study shows role of cellular protein in regulation...
June 20, 2012
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have demonstrated in experimental models that blocking the Sigma-1 receptor, a cellular protein, reduced binge eating and caused binge eaters to eat more slowly. The research, which is published online in Neuropsychopharmacology, was led by Pietro Cottone, PhD, and Valentina Sabino, PhD, both assistant professors in the...
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Scientists Identify Protein Required to Regrow...
ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — A protein required to regrow injured peripheral nerves has been identified by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
These are images of axon regeneration in mice two weeks after injury to the hind leg’s sciatic nerve. On the left, axons (green) of a normal mouse have regrown to their targets (red) in the muscle. On the right, a...
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How Humans Predict Other's Decisions
ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI) in Japan have uncovered two brain signals in the human prefrontal cortex involved in how humans predict the decisions of other people. Their results suggest that the two signals, each located in distinct prefrontal circuits, strike a balance between expected and observed rewards and choices, enabling humans to...
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All Things Big and Small: The Brain's Discerning...
ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — The human brain can recognize thousands of different objects, but neuroscientists have long grappled with how the brain organizes object representation; in other words, how the brain perceives and identifies different objects. Now researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) and the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences...
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Simple mathematical pattern describes shape of...
June 20, 2012
Neurons come in an astounding assortment of shapes and sizes, forming a thick inter-connected jungle of cells. Now, UCL neuroscientists have found that there is a simple pattern that describes the tree-like shape of all neurons.
Neurons look remarkably like trees, and connect to other cells with many branches that effectively act like wires in an electrical circuit, carrying...
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Fishing for Answers to Autism Puzzle
ScienceDaily (June 19, 2012) — Fish cannot display symptoms of autism, schizophrenia, or other human brain disorders. However, a team of Whitehead Institute and MIT scientists has shown that zebrafish can be a useful tool for studying the genes that contribute to such disorders.
Zebrafish with certain genes turned off during embryonic development (center and right images) showed abnormalities...
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Study Finds High Brain Integration in Top...
June 19, 2012 By Janice Wood
Why do some people excel in sports, music and managing companies? New research points to uniquely high mind-brain development in those who excel.
“What we have found is an astonishing integration of brain functioning in high performers compared to average-performing controls,” said Fred Travis, Ph.D., director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and...
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Infants Can't Distinguish Between Large and Small...
ScienceDaily (June 19, 2012) — Human brains process large and small numbers of objects using two different mechanisms, but infants have not yet developed the ability to make those two processes work together, according to new research from the University of Missouri.
“This research was the first to show the inability of infants in a single age group to discriminate large and small sets in a...
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Detector of DNA Damage: Structure of a Repair...
ScienceDaily (June 19, 2012) — Double-stranded breaks in cellular DNA can trigger tumorigenesis. LMU researchers have now determined the structure of a protein involved in the repair and signaling of DNA double-strand breaks. The work throws new light on the origins of neurodegenerative diseases and certain tumor types.
Agents such as radiation or environmental toxins can cause double-stranded...
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Hulk smash? Maybe not anymore: scientists block...
June 19, 2012
Pathological rage can be blocked in mice, researchers have found, suggesting potential new treatments for severe aggression, a widespread trait characterized by sudden violence, explosive outbursts and hostile overreactions to stress.
In a study appearing today in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from the University of Southern California and Italy identify a critical...
