http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—A world-first completed clinical study by an Australian team has found Kava, a medicinal South Pacific plant, significantly reduced the symptoms of people suffering anxiety. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-world-clinical-trial-kava-anxiety.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 13 May 2013 07:38:24 EST news287649498 For chronic pain sufferers, such as people who develop back pain after a car accident, avoiding the harmful effects of stress may be key to managing their condition. This is particularly important for people with a smaller-than-average hippocampus, as these individuals seem to be particularly vulnerable to stress. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-chronic-pain-stress.html Neuroscience Mon, 25 Feb 2013 04:08:10 EST news280987682 Physical inactivity is a major public health problem that has both social and neurobiological causes. According to the results of an Ipsos survey published on Monday 31 Dec., the French have put "taking up a sport" at the top of their list of good resolutions for 2013. However, Francis Chaouloff, research director at Inserm's NeuroCentre Magendie (Inserm Joint Research Unit 862, Université Bordeaux Ségalen), Sarah Dubreucq, a PhD student and François Georges, a CNRS research leader at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience (CNRS/Université Bordeaux Ségalen) have just discovered the key role played by a protein, the CB1 cannabinoid receptor, during physical exercise. In their mouse studies, the researchers demonstrated that the location of this receptor in a part of the brain associated with motivation and reward systems controls the time for which an individual will carry out voluntary physical exercise. These results were published in the journal Biological Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-good-resolutions-physical-hard.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 04 Jan 2013 11:29:16 EST news276521336 We all perhaps know the feeling of mental exhaustion, but what does it mean physiologically to have mental fatigue? A new study carried out using brain scans could help scientists uncover the neurobiological mechanisms underlying mental fatigue. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-neuroscience-mental-fatigue.html Neuroscience Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:30:01 EST news274349756 Achieving mindfulness through meditation has helped people maintain a healthy mind by quelling negative emotions and thoughts, such as desire, anger and anxiety, and encouraging more positive dispositions such as compassion, empathy and forgiveness. Those who have reaped the benefits of mindfulness know that it works. But how exactly does it work? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-good-vibes-science-mindfulness.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:57:29 EST news270824209 A medication commonly used to help people stop smoking may have an unanticipated positive side effect for an entirely different vice: drinking alcohol. A new study by University of Chicago researchers finds that varenicline, sold as Chantix, increases the negative effects of alcohol and therefore could hold promise as a treatment for alcoholism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-cessation-aide-alcoholism-treatment.html Health Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:00:03 EST news248541211 Scientists have known for some time that the hormone leptin acts in the brain to prevent obesity, but the specific underlying neurocircuitry has remained a mystery. Now, new research published by Cell Press in the July 14 issue of the journal Neuron reveals neurobiological mechanisms that may underlie the antiobesity effects of leptin. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-modulation-inhibitory-output-key-function.html Neuroscience Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:28:58 EST news229778922