http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Children living in poverty who appear to succeed socially may be failing biologically. Students able to overcome the stress of growing up poor are labeled "resilient" because of their ability to overcome adversity, but University of Georgia researchers found this resiliency has health costs that last well into adulthood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-uncovers-resiliency-kids.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 30 May 2013 11:23:34 EST news289131805 (Medical Xpress)—Distinct patterns of brain activity are linked to greater rates of relapse among alcohol dependent patients in early recovery, a study has found. The research, supported by the National Institutes of Health, may give clues about which people in recovery from alcoholism are most likely to return to drinking. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-brain-patterns-relapse-alcoholism.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 02 May 2013 06:50:02 EST news286695340 New findings clarify where and how the brain's "slow waves" originate. These rhythmic signal pulses, which sweep through the brain during deep sleep at the rate of about one cycle per second, are assumed to play a role in processes such as consolidation of memory. For the first time, researchers have shown conclusively that slow waves start in the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for cognitive functions. They also found that such a wave can be set in motion by a tiny cluster of neurons. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-scientists-probe-source-pulsing-brain.html Neuroscience Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:44:06 EST news285478931 A new study by scientists at King's College London and the University of Arizona (UA) published in Science reveals the deep similarities in how the brain regulates behaviour in arthropods (such as flies and crabs) and vertebrates (such as fish, mice and humans). The findings shed new light on the evolution of the brain and behaviour and may aid understanding of disease mechanisms underlying mental health problems. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-strikingly-similar-brains-aid-mental.html Neuroscience Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:06:14 EST news284907960 A new mechanism for guiding the growth of nerves that involves cell-death machinery has been found by scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno that may bring advances in neurological medicine and research. The team obtained the evidence in studies of fruit flies and reported their discovery in an article published in the prestigious science publication Cell Reports. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-nerve-regeneration-therapy-boost-discovery.html Neuroscience Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:04:56 EST news283428249 (Medical Xpress)—The superior capability of experts to rapidly solve problems depends largely on their intuition, and it has long been known that this is related to experience and training. Although many psychological models relating to the development of intuition have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, none have been validated, and the underlying neural mechanisms remain a mystery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-game-japanese-chess-reveals-experts.html Neuroscience Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:10:01 EST news283166195 Humans have an uncanny ability to zero in on a single voice, even amid the cacophony of voices found in a crowded party or other large gathering of people. Researchers have long sought to identify the precise mechanisms by which our brains enable this remarkable selectivity in sound processing known as the "cocktail party effect." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-uncovering-humans-voice.html Neuroscience Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:50:01 EST news282209142 Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for before-and-after analysis, a team of researchers including a UC Santa Barbara graduate student discovered positive changes in brain activity in children with autism who received a particular type of behavioral therapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-behavioral-therapy-children-autism-impact.html Autism spectrum disorders Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:30:01 EST news280070286 The journal PLOS ONE has recently published a study which provides new data around attention and visual perception. The article "A role of eye vergence in covert attention" was authored by researchers from the Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (IR3C) the University of Barcelona. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-eye-vergence-visual-attention.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:48:02 EST news279456474 A group of Portuguese researchers from IBMC and FMUP at the University of Porto has found the reason why patients with chronic pain often suffer from impaired short –term memory. The study, to be published in the Journal of Neuroscience, shows how persistent pain disrupts the flow of information between two brain regions crucial to retain temporary memories. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-chronic-pain-disrupts-short-term.html Neuroscience Thu, 07 Feb 2013 07:25:48 EST news279444279 Addiction may result from abnormal brain circuitry in the frontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls decision-making. Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Molecular Imaging Science in Japan collaborating with colleagues from the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University in Canada report today that the lateral and orbital regions of the frontal cortex interact during the response to a drug-related cue and that aberrant interaction between the two frontal regions may underlie addiction. Their results are published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-fmri-uncovers-neural-mechanism-underlying.html Neuroscience Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:00:12 EST news278590198 (Medical Xpress)—At a Bloomington, Ind., toy store, kids ages 8 to 12 gather weekly to trade Pokemon cards and share their mutual absorption in the intrigue and adventure of Pokemon. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-pokemon-rare-iu-face-recognition.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:26:49 EST news273929193 The cortical mechanisms governing speech are not well understood because it is extremely challenging to measure the activity of the brain in action, that is, during speech production. Researchers in Japan have found modulation of mu-rhythms in the cortex related to speech production. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-mu-rhythm-brain-neural-mechanism-speech.html Neuroscience Wed, 05 Dec 2012 06:51:20 EST news273912667 Children of low socioeconomic status work harder to filter out irrelevant environmental information than those from a high-income background because of learned differences in what they pay attention to, according to new research published in the open access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-family-economic-situation-brain-function.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:39:47 EST news273321580 Whether you are an apple tree or an antelope, survival depends on using your energy efficiently. In a difficult or dangerous situation, the key question is whether exerting effort—sending out roots in search of nutrients in a drought or running at top speed from a predator—will be worth the energy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-optogenetics-illuminates-pathways-brain.html Neuroscience Sun, 18 Nov 2012 13:00:18 EST news272462332 (Medical Xpress)—In a noisy environment, lip-reading can aid understanding of a conversation. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences who have been investigating this phenomenon are now able to show that the greater the activity in a particular region of the temporal lobe was, the more able participants were to match words with mouth movements. Visual and auditory information are combined in the so-called superior temporal sulcus (STS). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-noisy-environment-lip-reading-person.html Neuroscience Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:50:38 EST news272011789 Little is known about oculomotor function in amblyopia, or "lazy eye," despite the special role of eye movements in vision. A group of scientists has discovered that abnormal visual processing and circuitry in the brain have an impact on fixational saccades (FSs), involuntary eye movements that occur during fixation and are important for the maintenance of vision. The results, which raise the question of whether the alterations in FS are the cause or the effect of amblyopia and have implications for amblyopia treatment, are available online in advance of publication in the November issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-abnormal-involuntary-eye-movements-amblyopia.html Neuroscience Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:07:23 EST news269622436 Ever wonder how the human brain, which is constantly bombarded with millions of pieces of visual information, can filter out what's unimportant and focus on what's most useful? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-clue-brain-visual-insight-neural.html Neuroscience Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:06:09 EST news262253135 Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI) in Japan have uncovered two brain signals in the human prefrontal cortex involved in how humans predict the decisions of other people. Their results suggest that the two signals, each located in distinct prefrontal circuits, strike a balance between expected and observed rewards and choices, enabling humans to predict the actions of people with different values than their own. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-humans-decisions.html Neuroscience Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:00:04 EST news259411496 Fear conditioning using sound and taste aversion, as applied to mice, have revealed interesting information on the basis of memory allocation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-neurological-basis-memory.html Neuroscience Mon, 18 Jun 2012 13:25:16 EST news259244323 (HealthDay) -- Patients with remitted major depressive disorder (MDD) have reduced guilt-selective temporofrontolimbic coupling between the right superior anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and subgenual cingulate cortex and adjacent septal region (SCSR), a region of interest for biases toward guilt versus indignation, according to a study published online June 4 in the Archives of General Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-depression-linked-temporofrontolimbic-coupling.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:40:14 EST news258207803 Fat Bastard's revelation "I eat because I'm depressed and I'm depressed because I eat" in the Austin Powers film series may be explained by sophisticated neuroscience research being undertaken by scientists affiliated with the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CR-CHUM) and the university's Faculty of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-scientists-fat-bastard-vicious.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 23 May 2012 04:25:49 EST news256965917 A team of University of Pittsburgh mathematicians is using computational models to better understand how the structure of neural variability relates to such functions as short-term memory and decision making. In a paper published online April 2 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the Pitt team examines how fluctuations in brain activity can impact the dynamics of cognitive tasks. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-link-neural-variability-short-term-memory.html Neuroscience Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:25:44 EST news252602734 From a purely intuitive point of view, it is easy to believe that our ability to actively pay attention to a target is inextricably connected with our capacity to consciously perceive it. However, this proposition remains the subject of extensive debate in the research community, and surprising new findings from a team of scientists in Japan and Europe promise to fuel the debate. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-conscious-perception-primary-visual-cortex.html Neuroscience Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:59:31 EST news250160357 (Medical Xpress) -- Iron is a popular topic in health news. Doctors prescribe it for medical reasons, and it's available over the counter as a dietary supplement. And while it's known that too little iron can result in cognitive problems, it's also known that too much promotes neurodegenerative diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-diet-iron-intake-teen-years.html Medical research Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:29:53 EST news245568577 Internet addiction disorder may be associated with abnormal white matter structure in the brain, as reported in the Jan. 11 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE. These structural features may be linked to behavioral impairments, and may also provide a method to study and treat the disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-internet-addiction-disorder-characterized-abnormal.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:50:09 EST news245526598 (Medical Xpress) -- A new study has revealed that as humans learn to walk the two basic patterns of stepping present in the newborn remain unchanged and two new patterns are added at the toddler stage. This development process and the patterns are similar to those found in other species such as rats, cats, macaques and guineafowl, which suggests that locomotion in the different species could be based on a common ancestral neural network. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-insights-humans.html Medical research Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:10:01 EST news240809877 Certain brain injuries can cause people to lose the ability to visually recognize objects — for example, confusing a harmonica for a cash register. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-neuroscientists-uncover-neural-mechanisms-recognition.html Neuroscience Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:22:54 EST news229778543 Scientists and educators alike have long known that cramming is not an effective way to remember things. With their latest findings, researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan, studying eye movement response in trained mice, have elucidated the neurological mechanism explaining why this is so. Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, their results suggest that protein synthesis in the cerebellum plays a key role in memory consolidation, shedding light on the fundamental neurological processes governing how we remember. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-a-better-way-to-remember.html Neuroscience Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:31:27 EST news227539869 On a daily basis, our social life places us in situations where we have to decide whether or not to cooperate with others. However, the motivation that encourages us to behave cooperatively is often not clear. Now, new research published by Cell Press in the May 12, 2011, issue of the journal Neuron suggests that anticipation of the feeling of guilt can motivate us to behave unselfishly and reveals a neural mechanism that may underlie this guilt aversion-driven cooperation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-good-dont-bad-neural-mechanisms.html Neuroscience Wed, 11 May 2011 12:39:33 EST news224336335