http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Studying the networks of connections in the brains of people affected by schizophrenia, bipolar disease or depression has allowed Dr. Peter Williamson, from Western University, to gain a better understanding of the biological basis of these important diseases. Dr. Williamson and colleagues have shown that different networks, found specifically in humans, are disrupted in different psychiatric diseases. These results were presented at the 2013 Canadian Neuroscience Meeting, the annual meeting of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience - Association Canadienne des Neurosciences (CAN-ACN). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-networks-neurons-brain-disrupted-psychiatric.html Neuroscience Thu, 23 May 2013 09:45:39 EST news288521134 With their whiskers rats can detect the texture of objects in the same way as humans do using their fingertips. A study, in which some scientists of SISSA have taken part, shows that it is possible to understand what specific object has been touched by a rat by observing the activation of brain neurons. A further step towards understanding how the brain, also in humans, represents the outside world. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-decoding.html Neuroscience Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:02:40 EST news285922953 A new study of patterns of brain communication in toddlers with autism shows evidence of aberrant neural communication even at this relatively early stage of brain development. The results are presented in an article in Brain Connectivity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-disruptions-brain-role-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:09:43 EST news283082974 The enteric nervous system (ENS), the "little brain" that resides within the gut wall, governs motility, secretion, and blood flow in the human gastrointestinal tract. Failure of the ENS to develop normally leads to congenital megacolon (Hirschsprung Disease) while loss of normal gut innervation is thought to contribute to debilitating motility disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome. In order to prevent and treat these conditions, it is necessary to understand the molecular mechanisms that control the formation and function of the ENS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-full-wired-planar-cell-polarity.html Medical research Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:00:01 EST news281963355 Adding movement to mental rehearsal can improve performance finds a study in BioMed Central's open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions. For high jumpers the study shows that dynamic imagery improves the number of successful attempts and the technical performance of jumps. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-adding-movement-mental-imagery.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:10:01 EST news280515445 During a five-hour surgery last October at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Kathy Sanford became the first Alzheimer's patient in the United States to have a pacemaker implanted in her brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-ohio-state-implants-brain-pacemaker.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:56:43 EST news278175392 It has the makings of a science fiction movie: Zap someone's brain with mild jolts of electricity to try to stave off the creeping memory loss of Alzheimer's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-brain-pacemakers-zap-alzheimer.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Sun, 20 Jan 2013 08:30:57 EST news277893043 Exactly how memories are stored and accessed in the brain is unclear. Neuroscientists, however, do know that a primitive structure buried in the center of the brain, called the hippocampus, is a pivotal region of memory formation. Here, changes in the strengths of connections between neurons, which are called synapses, are the basis for memory formation. Networks of neurons linking up in the hippocampus are likely to encode specific memories. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-brain-memories-artificial-cognitive.html Neuroscience Wed, 07 Nov 2012 08:58:32 EST news271501104 Researchers have discovered a way to generate new human neurons from another type of adult cell found in our brains. The discovery, reported in the October 5th issue of Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press publication, is one step toward cell-based therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-human-neurons-adult-cells-brain.html Neuroscience Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:05:46 EST news268571127 A lot is being written about the effects of social media on the brain, how it may be changing the neural circuitry, shortening attention spans and reducing deep thinking and creativity. A group of researchers at Rutgers University in Newark, however, point out that as of date there is little hard science to prove how social media may be changing the brain's neural networks. What is known is that social media is now firmly part of our society and we have the choice to control it or not. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-social-media-mind-neuroscience-hype.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:25:26 EST news265447517 Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have for the first time transformed skin cells—with a single genetic factor—into cells that develop on their own into an interconnected, functional network of brain cells. The research offers new hope in the fight against many neurological conditions because scientists expect that such a transformation—or reprogramming—of cells may lead to better models for testing drugs for devastating neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-skin-cells-brain-lab.html Medical research Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:04:16 EST news258280588 McGill physiology research team sheds light on how the brain processes what we sense. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-revealing.html Neuroscience Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:07:06 EST news254563598 Quite early in its development, the mammalian brain has all the raw materials on hand to forge complex neural networks. But forming the connections that make these intricate networks so exquisitely functional is a process that occurs one synapse at a time. An important question for neuroscience has been: how exactly do stable synapses form? How do nerve cells of particular types know which of their cortical neighbors to "synapse" with, and which to leave out of their emerging networks? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-gaba-prunes-copious-provisional-synapses.html Neuroscience Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:51:01 EST news244835451 All of us, at times, ruminate or brood on a problem in order to make the best possible decision in a complex situation. But sometimes, rumination becomes unproductive or even detrimental to making good life choices. Such is the case in depression, where non-productive ruminations are a common and distressing symptom of the disorder. In fact, individuals suffering from depression often ruminate about being depressed. This ruminative thinking can be either passive and maladaptive (i.e., worrying) or active and solution-focused (i.e., coping). New research by Stanford University researchers, published in Elsevier's Biological Psychiatry, provides insights into how these types of rumination are represented in the brains of depressed persons. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-good-ruminations-bad-depressed-brain.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:52:53 EST news233225564 University of Pittsburgh researchers have reproduced the brain's complex electrical impulses onto models made of living brain cells that provide an unprecedented view of the neuron activity behind memory formation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-brain-cell-networks-recreated-view.html Medical research Wed, 25 May 2011 14:14:18 EST news225551633 A team of scientists at the University of Louisville, UCLA and the California Institute of Technology has achieved a significant breakthrough in its initial work with a paralyzed male volunteer at Louisville's Frazier Rehab Institute. It is the result of 30 years of research to find potential clinical therapies for paralysis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-implant-breakthrough-paraplegic-legs-voluntarily.html Neuroscience Fri, 20 May 2011 02:44:16 EST news225078216 Computer networks that can't forget fast enough can show symptoms of a kind of virtual schizophrenia, giving researchers further clues to the inner workings of schizophrenic brains, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Yale University have found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-scientists-afflict-schizophrenia-human-brain.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 05 May 2011 13:05:22 EST news223819488