http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Auditory working memory and attention, for example the ability to hear and then remember instructions while completing a task, are a necessary part of musical ability. But musical ability is also related to verbal memory and literacy in childhood. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions shows how auditory working memory and musical aptitude are intrinsically related to reading ability, and provides a biological basis for this link. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-musical-aptitude-ability.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 17 Oct 2011 05:00:01 EST news238044344 Giving a high-five. Rubbing his girlfriend's hand. Such ordinary acts - but a milestone for a paralyzed man. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-paralyzed-mind-powered-robot-arm.html Medical research Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:04:36 EST news237452651 (Medical Xpress) -- In a first ever demonstration of a two-way interaction between a primate brain and a virtual body, two monkeys trained at the Duke University Center for Neuroengineering learned to employ brain activity alone to move an avatar hand and identify the texture of virtual objects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-monkeys-virtual-brains.html Neuroscience Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:00:06 EST news237037882 (PhysOrg.com) -- If you find yourself more of a follower than a social leader, it may something to do with the wiring in your brain. According to a new study in Science, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Science have discovered a location in the brain that is active in alpha mice but not in their subordinate cage mates. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-social-hierarchy-prewired-brain.html Neuroscience Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:02:23 EST news236599317 Nicolas G. Bazan, MD, Ph.D, Boyd Professor and Director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, and David Stark, an MD/Ph.D student working in his lab, have discovered how a key chemical neurotransmitter that interacts with two receptors in the brain promotes either normal function or a disease process -- determining whether brain cells live or die. The work is published and highlighted in the September 28, 2011 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-key-survival-brain-cells.html Neuroscience Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:37:30 EST news236446640 Scientists have identified a surprising new role for a new type of T cell in the immune system: some of them can be activated by nerves to make a neurotransmitter (acetylcholine) that blocks inflammation. The discovery of these T cells is novel and suggests that it may be possible to treat inflammation and autoimmune diseases by targeting the nerves and the T cells. The study was published this week in Science. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-cells-brain-chemicals-treatments-inflammation.html Medical research Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:00:30 EST news235389535 Loyola University Medical Center is testing a high-tech catheter device that's intended to improve outcomes of patients treated for atrial fibrillation, the most common irregular heartbeat. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-loyola-device-atrial-fibrillation.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:24:05 EST news235315427 The heartbeat is the result of rhythmic contractions of the heart muscle, which are in turn regulated by electrical signals called action potentials. Action potentials result from the controlled flow of ions into heart muscle cells (depolarization) through channels in their membranes, and are followed by a compensating reverse ion current (repolarization), which restores the original state. If the duration of the repolarization phase is not just right, the risk of ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death increases significantly. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-rhythm-ion-channels-heart.html Cardiology Fri, 09 Sep 2011 09:45:51 EST news234780336 The challenge of Dr. Mark Ellisman's life is understanding how the brain works. He wants to know how the interplay of structural, chemical, and electrical signals in and between cells of nervous tissue gives rise to behavior. To meet this challenge, he and his colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, develop methods to understand the entire brain, studying it from the whole atoms up to the whole structure. An innovative tool they've built is the Whole Brain Catalog, which is similar to Google Earth, allowing scientists to see the details and the bigger view. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-brain.html Other Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:23:32 EST news233317399 A synthesised compound which is also found in bear bile could help prevent disturbances in the heart's normal rhythm, according to research published today in the journal Hepatology by a team from Imperial College London. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-bile-chemical-hearts-rhythm.html Medical research Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:40:01 EST news231474450 The human genome encodes 243 voltage-gated ion channels. Mutations in calcium channels can cause severe inherited diseases such as migraine, night blindness, autism spectrum disorders and Timothy syndrome, which leads to severe cardiovascular disorders. Katrin Depil and Anna Stary-Weinzinger together with colleagues from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Vienna analyzed changes in molecular organization of calcium channels caused by Timothy syndrome mutations. Recently, they published their current research results in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-timothy-syndrome-mutations-insights-l-calcium.html Medical research Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:20:03 EST news229860333 (Medical Xpress) -- Cornell scientists, in collaboration with physicists and physician-scientists in Germany, France and Rochester, N.Y., have developed a new -- and much less painful and potentially damaging -- method to end life-threatening heart fibrillations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-method-defibrillates-heart-electricity-pain.html Medical research Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:58:55 EST news229791520 Doctors at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are performing a new procedure to treat atrial fibrillation, a common irregular heartbeat. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-procedure-atrial-fibrillation.html Cardiology Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:57:14 EST news228480946 Have a tough time remembering where you put your keys, learning a new language or recalling names at a cocktail party? New research from the Lisman Laboratory at Brandeis University points to a molecule that is central to the process by which memories are stored in the brain. A paper published in the June 22 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience describes the new findings. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-memory-molecule-key-protein-complex.html Neuroscience Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:56:45 EST news228048989