http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Rats that are socially isolated during a critical period of adolescence are more vulnerable to addiction to amphetamine and alcohol, found researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. Amphetamine addiction is also harder to extinguish in the socially isolated rats. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-socially-isolated-rats-vulnerable-addiction.html Neuroscience Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:52:31 EST news278175137 Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered that the lack of a critical enzyme in the folic acid metabolic pathway leads to neural tube birth defects in developing embryos. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-lack-key-enzyme-metabolism-folic.html Medical research Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:23:45 EST news277651417 The visual information from eyes is sent into the brain unconsciously even if you are not aware. One of examples of unconscious seeing is a phenomenon of "blindsight" [Subjects have no awareness, but their brains can see ] in subjects with visual impairment, caused by the damage of a part of the brain called the visual cortex. Although it is already reported that the patients with damage in the visual cortex, who were not aware of seeing, can walk and avoid obstacles, it was not proved whether this was really blindsight. In this new study, the international collaborative research team including Assistant Professor Masatoshi Yoshiday and Professor Tadashi Isa from The National Institute for Physiological Sciences, The National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Japan and Professor Laurent Itti from the University of Southern California demonstrated that blindsight in monkeys is available not only under the specific conditions of the laboratory, but also in everyday environments. This research result will appear in Current Biology as an electronic version on June 28, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-scientists-blindsight-everyday-life-scenes.html Neuroscience Thu, 28 Jun 2012 14:40:01 EST news260112179 A large change in the volume of a cell, from its basal level, is detrimental to its health. Therefore, our cells are equipped with mechanisms to maintain their constant volume. When a cell detects an environmental change that will alter its volume, due to changes in the osmotic pressure, it will adjust its internal water content to counter these influences. This is done through the movement of ions into, and out of, the cell through specialised ion channels. However, the identity of the molecules responsible for this phenomenon remain largely unknown. Professor Yasunobu OKADA, the Director-General of The National Institute for Physiological Sciences and the Vice-President of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences, and his research team, have identified the key molecule preventing the shrinking and eventual death (apoptosis) of cells when they are subjected to a condition of hyperosmolarity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-trp-cells-hyper.html Medical research Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:35:27 EST news250424779 In a scientific first that potentially could shed new light on how signals travel in the brain, how learning alters neural pathways, and might lead to speedier drug development, scientists at Harvard have created genetically-altered neurons that light up as they fire. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-neurons_1.html Neuroscience Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:50:04 EST news241796608 Technology developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin could significantly reduce the time and cost to finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease and help answer one of the greatest biological questions: why do we age? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-reversing-aging.html Medical research Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:51:55 EST news238078304