http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Having too much body fat makes arteries become stiff after middle age, a new study has revealed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-body-fat-hardens-arteries-middle.html Cardiology Wed, 15 May 2013 11:28:14 EST news287836082 For the first time, scientists at Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging (CCBI) have used a new combination of neural imaging methods to discover exactly how the human brain adapts to injury. The research, published in Cerebral Cortex, shows that when one brain area loses functionality, a "back-up" team of secondary brain areas immediately activates, replacing not only the unavailable area but also its confederates. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-reveals-human-brain-injury.html Neuroscience Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:53:06 EST news277552374 A doctor-patient relationship built on trust and empathy doesn't just put patients at ease – it actually changes the brain's response to stress and increases pain tolerance, according to new findings from a Michigan State University research team. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-doc-empathy-patients-pain-tolerance.html Health Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:03:38 EST news273773004 For the first time, Bochum clinicians have been able to show on the basis of a large sample, that it is possible to examine children's heads in the MRI scanner without general anaesthesia or other medical sedation. In many cases it was sufficient to prepare the young patients for the examination in an age-appropriate manner in order to take away their fear of the tube. And the results speak for themselves: of the 2461 image sequences recorded with 326 patients, the participating radiologists classified 97 percent as "diagnostically relevant". http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-magnetic-resonance-scanner-cuddly-toy.html Other Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:39:07 EST news272281135 World-leading experts in Magnetic Resonance Imaging from The University of Nottingham's Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre have made a key discovery which could give the medical world a new tool for the improved diagnosis and monitoring of brain diseases like multiple sclerosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-mri-nerve-fibers-brain.html Medical research Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:47:34 EST news271072007 TU/e and the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam have together developed a technique that allows detailed 3D imaging of complex muscle structures of patients. It also allows muscle damage to be detected very precisely. This new technique opens the way to much better and more patient-friendly diagnosis of muscular diseases. It also allows accurate, non-invasive muscle examinations among top athletes. Martijn Froeling will receive a PhD for this research at TU/e today, Monday 29 October. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-mri-technique-imaging-complex-muscle.html Medical research Tue, 30 Oct 2012 09:50:05 EST news270807335 World-leading experts in Magnetic Resonance Imaging from The University of Nottingham's Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre  have made a key discovery which could give the medical world a new tool for the improved diagnosis and monitoring of neuro-degenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-mri-nerve-fibres-brain.html Neuroscience Wed, 24 Oct 2012 08:40:01 EST news270285658 Standard head movements made while exposed to one of the three electromagnetic fields produced by a heavy duty MRI scanner seem to temporarily lower concentration and visuospatial awareness, shows an experimental study published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-mri-scanners-affect-visuospatial-awareness.html Medical research Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:30:03 EST news265479313 Researchers at the Mayo Clinic say a common condition called leukoaraiosis, made up of tiny areas in the brain that have been deprived of oxygen and appear as bright white dots on MRI scans, is not a harmless part of the aging process, but rather a disease that alters brain function in the elderly. Results of their study are published online in the journal Radiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-harmless-condition-shown-brain-function.html Neuroscience Mon, 13 Aug 2012 03:36:09 EST news264047756 A joint study carried out by The University of Nottingham and the multinational food company Unilever has found for the first time that fat in food can reduce activity in several areas of the brain which are responsible for processing taste, aroma and reward. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-fat-flavor-perception.html Health Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:22:58 EST news261912171 Life shrouds most choices in mystery. Some people inch toward a comfortable enough spot and stick close to that rewarding status quo. Out to dinner, they order the usual. Others consider their options systematically or randomly. But many choose to grapple with the uncertainty head on. "Explorers" order the special because they aren't sure they'll like it. It's a strategy of maximizing rewards by discovering whether as yet unexplored options might yield better returns. In a new study, Brown University researchers show that such explorers use a specific part of their brain to calculate the relative uncertainty of their choices, while non-explorers do not. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-explorers-embrace-uncertainty-choices-specific.html Neuroscience Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:00:05 EST news247918484 Researchers have long known that specific parts of the brain activate when people view particular images. For example, a region called the fusiform face area turns on when the eyes glance at faces, and another region called the parahippocampal place area does the same when a person looks at scenes or buildings. However, it's been unknown whether such specialization also exists for visual working memory, a category of memory that allows the brain to temporarily store and manipulate visual information for immediate tasks. Now, scientists have found evidence that visual working memory follows a more general pattern of brain activity than what researchers have shown with initial visual activity, instead activating a more diffuse area in the front of the brain for all categories of visual stimuli. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-visual-memory-specialized-brain-encoding.html Neuroscience Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:17:21 EST news247767426 Children at risk for dyslexia show differences in brain activity on MRI scans even before they begin learning to read, finds a study at Children's Hospital Boston. Since developmental dyslexia responds to early intervention, diagnosing children at risk before or during kindergarten could head off difficulties and frustration in school, the researchers say. Findings appear this week in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-brain-mris-early-diagnostic-marker.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:00:08 EST news246550076 In a new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), people with schizophrenia showed greater brain activity during tests that induce a brief, mild form of delusional thinking. This effect wasn't seen in a comparison group without schizophrenia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-links-brain-delusion-like.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:42:41 EST news245414544 Radiology researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have found evidence that multiple sclerosis affects an area of the brain that controls cognitive, sensory and motor functioning apart from the disabling damage caused by the disease's visible lesions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-link-multiple-sclerosis-area-brain.html Neuroscience Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:40:22 EST news243794414 Images of prisoners' brains show important differences between those who are diagnosed as psychopaths and those who aren't, according to a new study led by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-psychopaths-brains-differences-function.html Neuroscience Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:23:14 EST news241204985 On the quest for safe, reliable and accessible tools to accurately diagnose Alzheimer's disease, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found a new way of diagnosing and tracking Alzheimer's disease, using an innovative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique called Arterial spin labeling (ASL) to measure changes in brain function. The team determined that the ASL-MRI test is a promising alternative to the current standard, a specific PET scan that requires exposure to small amounts of a radioactive glucose analog and costs approximately four-times more than an ASL-MRI. Two studies now appear in Alzheimer's and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association and Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-function-mri-technique-alzheimer-disease.html Neuroscience Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:40:18 EST news240687604 Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an established technique which over the years has made it possible for researchers and healthcare professionals to study biological phenomena in the body without using ionising radiation, for example X-rays. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-instrument-diseases-minute.html Medical research Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:27:22 EST news238408029 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry describes how the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imagery, or fMRI, is able to detect and diagnose pedophilia with greater accuracy than current options. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-brain-scans-pedophiles.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:42:37 EST news237202866 A new method is set to help doctors diagnose osteoarthritis at such an early stage that it will be possible to delay the progression of the disease by many years, or maybe even stop it entirely. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-method-osteoarthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:13:38 EST news235044644 Each time you see a person that you know, your brain rapidly and seemingly effortlessly recognizes that person by his or her face. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-uncover-brain.html Neuroscience Tue, 31 May 2011 11:46:36 EST news226061173