Alertness

Restless legs syndrome, insomnia and brain chemistry: A tangled mystery solved?

Johns Hopkins researchers believe they may have discovered an explanation for the sleepless nights associated with restless legs syndrome (RLS), a symptom that persists even when the disruptive, overwhelming nocturnal urge ...

Neuroscience created May 07, 2013 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Why some stress is good for you? Acute stress primes the brain to do better on memory tasks two weeks later

(Medical Xpress)—Overworked and stressed out? Look on the bright side. Some stress is good for you.

Neuroscience created Apr 16, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Team discovers how cells distinguish friend from foe

(Medical Xpress)—Researchers at UC Davis have shown how the innate immune system distinguishes between dangerous pathogens and friendly microbes. Like burglars entering a house, hostile bacteria give themselves away by ...

Immunology created Apr 01, 2013 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Is this peptide a key to happiness?

(Medical Xpress)—What makes us happy? Family? Money? Love? How about a peptide? The neurochemical changes underlying human emotions and social behavior are largely unknown. Now though, for the first time in humans, scientists ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Mar 07, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Wolf in sheep's clothing: Uncovering how deadly bacteria trick immune system

An outbreak of tuberculosis in the skid row area of downtown Los Angeles may have exposed up to 4,500 individuals to the bacterium that causes the deadly disease and has left federal officials scrambling ...

Medical research created Feb 28, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New discovery shows genetic causes of rare bone condition

(Medical Xpress)—Researchers at the University of Oxford have discovered two new genetic causes of craniosynostosis, a rare bone condition that can inhibit brain growth in children.

Genetics created Jan 29, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Rats' stroke-induced seizures stopped with pulse of light

(Medical Xpress)—Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have shown that a structure deep within the brain is a crucial component of recurring seizures that can arise as a delayed consequence of a cerebral stroke. ...

Neuroscience created Nov 08, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New study shows that even your fat cells need sleep

In a study that challenges the long-held notion that the primary function of sleep is to give rest to the brain, researchers have found that not getting enough shut-eye has a harmful impact on fat cells, reducing by 30 percent ...

Medical research created Oct 15, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hearing brains are 'deaf' to disappearance of sounds, study reveals

Our brains are better at hearing new and approaching sounds than detecting when a sound disappears, according to a study published today funded by the Wellcome Trust. The findings could explain why parents often fail to notice ...

Neuroscience created Sep 27, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

How attention helps you remember

A new study from MIT neuroscientists sheds light on a neural circuit that makes us likelier to remember what we're seeing when our brains are in a more attentive state.

Neuroscience created Sep 27, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Genetic predictors of postpartum depression uncovered

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered specific chemical alterations in two genes that, when present during pregnancy, reliably predict whether a woman will develop postpartum depression.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 21, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Music therapy reduces anxiety, use of sedatives for patients receiving ventilator support

New research suggests that for some hospitalized ICU patients on mechanical ventilators, using headphones to listen to their favorite types of music could lower anxiety and reduce their need for sedative medications.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Human disease leptospirosis identified in new species, the banded mongoose, in Africa

(Medical Xpress)—The newest public health threat in Africa, scientists have found, is coming from a previously unknown source: the banded mongoose. Leptospirosis, the disease is called. And the banded mongoose ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 14, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

T cells rely on 'rheostat' to help ensure that the immune response matches the threat

A properly functioning immune system is a lesson in balance, providing protection against disease without attacking healthy tissue. Work led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists and published recently in Nature Im ...

Immunology created Apr 30, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

MDs warn teens: Don't take the cinnamon challenge

Don't take the cinnamon challenge. That's the advice from doctors in a new report about a dangerous prank depicted in popular YouTube videos which has led to hospitalizations and a surge in calls to U.S. ...

Pediatrics created Apr 22, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Alertness is the state of paying close and continuous attention, being watchful and prompt to meet danger or emergency, or being quick to perceive and act. It is related to psychology as well as to physiology. A lack of alertness is a symptom of a number of conditions, including narcolepsy, attention deficit disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, Addison's disease, or sleep deprivation. The word is formed from "alert", which comes from the Italian "all'erta" (on the watch, literally, on the height; 1618)

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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Depression raises diabetics' risk of severe low blood sugar episodes

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Motion quotient: IQ predicted by ability to filter motion (w/ video)

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Multiple research teams unable to confirm high-profile Alzheimer's study

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