http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Testosterone may trigger a brain chemical process linked to schizophrenia but the same sex hormone can also improve cognitive thinking skills in men with the disorder, two new studies show. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-scientists-testosterone-role-schizophrenia.html Neuroscience Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:20:01 EST news286182507 (Medical Xpress)—University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) researchers think ketamine, an anesthesia medication in use since the 1970s, might be a valuable tool in treating severe depression and reducing suicidal urges; they have launched two studies to explore the possibility. One of the studies, ketamine is administered to suicidal patients in the UAB Hospital emergency department (ED), is the only such trial actually being conducted in an ED in the nation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-ketamine-suicide-drug.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:40:02 EST news283595082 A drug widely used to treat Parkinson's Disease can help to reverse age-related impairments in decision making in some older people, a study from researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging has shown. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-parkinsons-drug-older-people-decisions.html Neuroscience Sun, 24 Mar 2013 14:00:13 EST news283334994 (HealthDay)—People suffering from restless legs syndrome may find some relief by taking one of several drugs approved to treat the condition, a new review confirms. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-drugs-relieve-restless-legs-syndrome.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:50:01 EST news281638738 (Medical Xpress)—A new study led by an international team of biologists has identified some of the brain chemicals that allow seals to sleep with half of their brain at a time. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-brain_1_2.html Sleep apnea Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:30:06 EST news280505810 The holidays are over and there's a calendar full of cold, gray days ahead. Some of us experience the "winter blues" and others experience a more serious kind of depression like seasonal affective disorder (SAD). It can bring lethargy, mood swings and curtail normal functioning. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-weathering-winter-blues.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 24 Jan 2013 07:25:19 EST news278234702 (Medical Xpress)—What is the best intervention window for someone struggling with cocaine addiction? When he or she is in the middle of a drug binge, or after a period of abstinence when there is temptation to fall back into old habits? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-treatment-cocaine-addiction-relapse.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 15 Jan 2013 07:18:42 EST news277456708 Humans are adept at setting goals and updating them as new situations arise—for example, a person who is playing a video game may switch to a new goal when their phone rings. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-best-laid-goals-based.html Neuroscience Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:26:34 EST news275059585 Among those who suffer from depression, the dual inabilities to experience enjoyment in things once pleasurable and to physically motivate oneself—to meet challenges, or even to get out of bed in the morning—have been documented for decades, though it has been mysterious why these very different kinds of symptoms show up together, and also disappear together when depression is successfully treated. It has been suspected that the brain chemical dopamine could be a key player in the illness. And yet, in the long history of the study of depression, no one has been able to clearly tie these key concepts together, until now. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-scientists-relieve-depression-symptoms-mice.html Neuroscience Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:00:12 EST news274534134 (Medical Xpress)—To John Salamone, professor of psychology and longtime researcher of the brain chemical dopamine, scientific research can be very slow-moving. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-dopamine-pleasure-anymore.html Neuroscience Mon, 03 Dec 2012 07:09:38 EST news273740962 A novel brain mechanism mediating the inhibition of the critical breathing muscles during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep has been identified for the first time in a new study, offering the possibility of a new treatment target for sleep-related breathing problems. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-mechanism-muscle-paralysis.html Sleep apnea Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:20:01 EST news272219887 Men in committed relationships choose to keep a greater distance between themselves and an unknown woman they find attractive when given the hormone oxytocin, according to new research in the November 14 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest oxytocin may help promote fidelity within monogamous relationships. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-hormone-affects-distance-men-unknown.html Neuroscience Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:00:13 EST news272046441 (Medical Xpress)—An experimental drug can improve sociability in patients with fragile X syndrome and may be helpful as a treatment for autism, according to a study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-fragile-drug.html Autism spectrum disorders Mon, 24 Sep 2012 09:46:30 EST news267698775 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say an investigational drug helped improve memory, language, attention and other mental skills in people with early Alzheimer's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-alzheimer-drug-early-trial.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Wed, 18 Jul 2012 17:07:30 EST news261850028 Two powerful brain chemical systems work together to paralyze skeletal muscles during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, according to new research in the July 11 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The finding may help scientists better understand and treat sleep disorders, including narcolepsy, tooth grinding, and REM sleep behavior disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-muscles-paralyzed.html Neuroscience Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:05:42 EST news261230725 Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, finds that prolonged exposure to a high-fat diet reduces the quality of sleep in rats. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-weight-gain-high-fat-diet-active-period.html Health Tue, 10 Jul 2012 05:20:02 EST news261115500 (Medical Xpress) -- Research teams from the US and Korea have together been studying depression and other mood disorders and have found that chronic stress can block a gene whose job it is to maintain healthy neuron connections in the brain, which in turn can lead to mental ailments. In lab experiments they have found that rats show lowered levels of neuritin gene activity when driven to depression, and that rats with depression tended to do better when given treatment that boosted neuritin activity, suggesting that another means of treating people with mood disorders might be on the horizon. The team has published a paper describing their experiments and results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-link-neuritin-gene-stress-depression.html Neuroscience Wed, 27 Jun 2012 06:40:01 EST news259996077 Out of control competitive aggression could be a result of a lagging neurotransmitter called dopamine, say researchers presenting a study at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's 2012 Annual Meeting. During a computer game against a putative cheating adversary, participants who had a lower capacity to synthesize this neurotransmitter in the brain were more distracted from their basic motivation to earn moneyand were more likely to act out with aggression. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-molecular-imaging-link-dopamine-aggression.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:50:03 EST news258639319 The Huntington Study Group (HSG), under the leadership of Ray Dorsey, M.D. with Johns Hopkins Medical and Diana Rosas, M.D. with Massachusetts General Hospital, is conducting a clinical trial in Huntington's disease (HD) throughout the United States and Australia, "A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, study to assess the safety and tolerability, and efficacy of PBT2 in patients with early to mid-stage Huntington's disease" comparing a 100 mg dose or 250 mg dose versus placebo. The HSG is a not-for-profit group of physicians and other clinical researchers who are experienced in the care of HD patients and dedicated to clinical research of the disease. This trial is sponsored by Prana Biotechnology Limited (Melbourne, Australia) and is being managed by the University of Rochester Medical Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-reach2hd-phase-ii-huntington-disease.html Neuroscience Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:51:36 EST news258303082 Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) used an innovative technique to examine chemical interactions that are implicated in Parkinson's Disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-yields-insights-parkinson-disease.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:21:39 EST news258041957 National Institutes of Health researchers have reversed behaviors in mice resembling two of the three core symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). An experimental compound, called GRN-529, increased social interactions and lessened repetitive self-grooming behavior in a strain of mice that normally display such autism-like behaviors, the researchers say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-agent-autism-like-behaviors-mice.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:50:38 EST news254584076 Why do some persons succumb to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while others who suffered the same ordeal do not? A new UCLA study may shed light on the answer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-genes-therapies.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:33:09 EST news252559973 Early disruptions in serotonin signaling in the brain may contribute to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and other "enduring effects on behavior," Vanderbilt University researchers report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-mouse-autism-yields-clues-year-old.html Autism spectrum disorders Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:38:32 EST news251462298 Mark Twain said, "Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times." Many smokers would agree that it's difficult to stay away from cigarettes. A new study in Biological Psychiatry this month now suggests that low dopamine levels that occur as a result of withdrawal from smoking actually promote the relapse to smoking. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-dopamine-relapse.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:02:39 EST news247921352 Fourteen-year-olds who were frequent video gamers had more gray matter in the rewards center of the brain than peers who didn't play video games as much - suggesting that gaming may be correlated to changes in the brain, much as addictions are. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-frequent-gamers-brain-differences.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:49:03 EST news240598129 (Medical Xpress) -- Scientists have developed a way to evaluate new treatments for some forms of attention deficit disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-brain-scans-reveal-drugs-effects.html Neuroscience Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:48:56 EST news237804521 Medicines which increase levels of the brain chemical dopamine may hold the key to helping those addicted to cocaine and amphetamines kick the habit, researchers from the University of Cambridge have found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-tool-cocaine-users-habit.html Medical research Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:02:06 EST news237196903 Glioma, one of the most deadly and common types of brain tumor, is often associated with seizures, but the origins of these seizures and effective treatments for them have been elusive. Now a team funded by the National Institutes of Health has found that human gliomas implanted in mice release excess levels of the brain chemical glutamate, overstimulating neurons near the tumor and triggering seizures. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-potential-therapy-tumor-associated-epilepsy.html Medical research Sun, 11 Sep 2011 13:01:20 EST news234964528 A scientist at the Gladstone Institutes has identified how the lack of a brain chemical known as dopamine can rewire the interaction between two groups of brain cells and lead to symptoms of Parkinson's disease. This discovery offers new hope for treating those suffering from this devastating neurodegenerative disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-scientists-symptoms-parkinson-disease.html Neuroscience Thu, 08 Sep 2011 05:15:11 EST news234677703 Bulimia nervosa is a severe eating disorder associated with episodic binge eating followed by extreme behaviors to avoid weight gain such as self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives or excessive exercise. It is poorly understood how brain function may be involved in bulimia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-brain-disorders-impact-function.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:40:57 EST news229614015