http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Scientists from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and the University of Melbourne have used innovative new technologies to identify the gene responsible for a rare but fatal hereditary brain disorder. The discovery will make it possible to diagnose the disease through a blood test rather than a brain biopsy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-technology-gene-responsible-kufs-disease.html Genetics Thu, 05 May 2011 12:58:23 EST news223819066 In a breakthrough that may aid treatment of learning impairments, strokes, tinnitus and chronic pain, UT Dallas researchers have found that brain nerve stimulation accelerates learning in laboratory tests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-temporary-brain.html Neuroscience Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:38:08 EST news221931439 The Allen Institute for Brain Science has released the world's first anatomically and genomically comprehensive human brain map, a previously unthinkable feat made possible through leading-edge technology and more than four years of rigorous studies and documentation. The unprecedented mappings are the foundation for the Allen Human Brain Atlas, an online public resource developed to advance the Institute's goal to accelerate understanding of how the human brain works and fuel new discovery among the global research community. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-allen-brain-science-comprehensive-gene.html Neuroscience Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:43:44 EST news221827315 (PhysOrg.com) -- The healthy brain has balance of excitatory and inhibitory signals that stimulate activity but also keep it under control. Some brain diseases, like autism and Down's syndrome, have too much inhibition, which impairs cognitive functions. Reducing inhibition appears to improve cognition, and it can restore juvenile plasticity in the adult brain, making it more adaptable. Scientists want to recapture this plasticity to enhance recovery from stroke or brain injury and to treat people suffering from developmental or degenerative brain disorders. Now, a new MIT study using a common antidepressant that coincidentally reduces neural inhibition shows how this "disinhibition" works in ways that might be used therapeutically. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-disinhibition-brain-plasticity.html Neuroscience Tue, 12 Apr 2011 07:14:10 EST news221811191 An international team of scientists lead by researchers from Duke University and Johns Hopkins University have discovered a key "switch" in the brain that allows neurons to stop dividing so that these cells can migrate toward their final destinations in the brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-brain-affect-schizophrenia-conditions.html Genetics Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:03:58 EST news221313824