http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Have you ever experienced a sudden feeling of familiarity while in a completely new place? Or the feeling you've had the exact same conversation with someone before? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-deja-vu.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 11 Jan 2013 07:54:50 EST news277113274 Scientists have long wondered how nerve cell activity in the brain's hippocampus, the epicenter for learning and memory, is controlled—too much synaptic communication between neurons can trigger a seizure, and too little impairs information processing, promoting neurodegeneration. Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center say they now have an answer. In the January 10 issue of Neuron, they report that synapses that link two different groups of nerve cells in the hippocampus serve as a kind of "volume control," keeping neuronal activity throughout that region at a steady, optimal level. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-newly-volume-brain-memory.html Neuroscience Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:00:01 EST news276953640 (Medical Xpress)—Mild cooling of the brain after a head injury prevents the later development of epileptic seizures, according to an animal study reported this month in the  Annals of Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-mild-brain-cooling-injury-epileptic.html Neuroscience Fri, 21 Dec 2012 07:50:02 EST news275298594 (Medical Xpress)—Humans have a tendency to spontaneously synchronize their movements. For example, the footsteps of two friends walking together may synchronize, although neither individual is consciously aware that it is happening. Similarly, the clapping hands of an audience will naturally fall into synch. Although this type of synchronous body movement has been observed widely, its neurological mechanism and its role in social interactions remain obscure. In a new study, led by cognitive neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), researchers found that body-movement synchronization between two participants increases following a short session of cooperative training, suggesting that our ability to synchronize body movements is a measurable indicator of social interaction. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-bonding-movements.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:21:33 EST news274602066 Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in November surgically implanted a pacemaker-like device into the brain of a patient in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, the first such operation in the United States. The device, which provides deep brain stimulation and has been used in thousands of people with Parkinson's disease, is seen as a possible means of boosting memory and reversing cognitive decline. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-johns-hopkins-surgeons-implant-brain.html Neuroscience Wed, 05 Dec 2012 10:49:46 EST news273926978 (Medical Xpress)—The classic theory of the brain is one of connections, in which the brain consists of a network of neurons that interact with each other to allow us to think, see, interpret, and understand the world around us. In this model, called distributed representation, an individual neuron by itself has no inherent meaning, but only contributes to a pattern of neuronal activity that has meaning. For example, a certain pattern of many neurons fires when you think "dog" and another pattern for "cat." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-brain-cells.html Neuroscience Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:30:07 EST news273783154 With the help of data collected from intracranial electrodes implanted on epilepsy patients, researchers in Drexel's School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems are getting a rare look inside the brain in hopes of discovering the exact pattern of activity that produces a memory. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-memories-explore-anatomy-recollection.html Neuroscience Thu, 08 Nov 2012 13:14:40 EST news271602863 Why do our brains make more mistakes when we act quickly? A new study demonstrates how the brain follows Ben Franklin's famous dictum, "Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-insight-haste.html Neuroscience Wed, 07 Nov 2012 12:00:01 EST news271506968 There are a growing number of clues that immune and inflammatory mechanisms are important for the biology of schizophrenia. In a new study in Biological Psychiatry, Dr. Mar Fatjó-Vilas and colleagues explored the impact of the interleukin-1β gene (IL1β) on brain function alterations associated with schizophrenia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-inflammation-cognition-schizophrenia.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:49:59 EST news270985603 (HealthDay)—For children undergoing routine anesthesia for medically indicated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the metabolic signature varies with use of sevoflurane and propofol, according to a study published in the November issue of Anesthesiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-metabolic-patterns-propofol-sevoflurane-differ.html Other Fri, 26 Oct 2012 18:00:01 EST news270487680 Scientists may have discovered why the standard treatment for Parkinson's disease is often effective for only a limited period of time. Their research could lead to a better understanding of many brain disorders, from drug addiction to depression, that share certain signaling molecules involved in modulating brain activity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-parkinson-dogma.html Medical research Wed, 24 Oct 2012 15:16:25 EST news270310551 (Medical Xpress)—What consciousness is, and why and how it exists, are some of the oldest questions in philosophy. They are also central to one of the fastest-growing areas of neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-human-consciousness.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:26:27 EST news267092780 The WTX gene is mutated in approximately 30 percent of Wilms tumors, a pediatric kidney cancer. Like many genes, WTX is part of a family. In this case, WTX has two related siblings, FAM123A and FAM123C. While cancer researchers are learning more of WTX and how its loss contributes to cancer formation, virtually nothing is known of FAM123C or FAM123A, the latter of which is a highly abundant protein within neurons, cells that receive and send messages from the body to the brain and back to the body. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-cancer-gene-family-member-functions.html Cancer Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:00:11 EST news265550482 High baseline levels of neuronal activity in the best connected parts of the brain may play an important role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. This is the main conclusion of a new study appearing in PLoS Computational Biology from a group at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-brain-alzheimer-disease.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 16 Aug 2012 17:00:06 EST news264345834 (HealthDay) -- Neuronal responsiveness of the hypothalamus to glucose, critical in the regulation of feeding, can be restored in patients with type 2 diabetes by short-term caloric restriction, according to a study published online July 30 in Diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-caloric-restriction-glucose-response-diabetes.html Diabetes Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:41:10 EST news263745650 Researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute have developed a new method of statistical analysis that can estimate the extent to which the activity of multiple neurons is group-wise synchronized. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-statistical-method-synchronized-neural-animals.html Neuroscience Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:41:37 EST news263212884 Molecular imbalance lies at the root of many psychiatric disorders. Current EU-funded research has discovered a major RNA molecular player in neurogenesis and has characterised its action and targets in the zebrafish embryo. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-brain-machinery.html Neuroscience Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:17:34 EST news258362246 Researchers have shown in mice how immune cells in the brain target and remove unused connections between brain cells during normal development. This research, supported by the National Institutes of Health, sheds light on how brain activity influences brain development, and highlights the newly found importance of the immune system in how the brain is wired, as well as how the brain forms new connections throughout life in response to change. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-immune-cells-wiring-mouse-brain.html Neuroscience Wed, 23 May 2012 12:27:11 EST news256994776 A study on a handful of people with suspected mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) suggests that a device that sends continuous electrical impulses to specific "memory" regions of the brain appears to increase neuronal activity. Results of the study using deep brain stimulation, a therapy already used in some patients with Parkinson's disease and depression, may offer hope for at least some with AD, an intractable disease with no cure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-deep-brain-mild-alzheimer-disease.html Neuroscience Mon, 07 May 2012 16:00:17 EST news255615020 What happens at the level of individual neurons while we learn? This question intrigued the neuroscientist Daniel Huber, who recently arrived at the Department of Basic Neuroscience at the University of Geneva. During his stay in the United States, he and his team tried to unravel the network mechanisms underlying learning and memory at the level of the cerebral cortex. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-neurons.html Neuroscience Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:29:48 EST news254577648 (Medical Xpress) -- Max Planck researchers have succeeded in showing in experiments on mice that the anxiolytic substance neuropeptide S (NPS) can be absorbed through the nasal mucosa and unfold its effect in the brain. Having bound to its receptors, the neuropeptide S reaches particular neurons in the brain in this way. Just four hours after the administration of the drug, the tested mice showed less anxiety. Altered neuronal activity was also measured directly in the hippocampus, an important brain structure for learning and memory. These findings confirm that neuropeptide S is a promising new drug for the treatment of patients suffering from anxiety disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-nose-panic.html Neuroscience Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:54:28 EST news250159947 (Medical Xpress) -- Optically monitoring the brain’s neuronal activity can be accomplished in several ways, including electrochromic dyes, hydrophobic anions, calcium imaging, or voltage-sensitive ion channels. Fluorescence imaging is an attractive method due to its ability to map the electrical activity and communication of multiple spatially resolved neurons. While this complements traditional electrophysiological measurements, historically fluorescent voltage imaging has been limited by the difficulty of developing sensors that give both large and fast responses to voltage changes. Recently, however, scientists in the Department of Pharmacology and other areas in the University of California at San Diego’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute have designed, synthesized, and implemented fluorescent sensors in the form of photo-induced electron transfer (PeT)-based molecular wire probes for voltage imaging in neurons. Moreover, they have used these so-called VoltageFluor sensors to perform single-trial detection of synaptic and action potentials in cultured hippocampal neurons and intact leech ganglia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-brain-dye-imaging-neuronal-voltage.html Neuroscience Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:20:01 EST news249306619 Functional electrical stimulation (FES) was developed to help return lost function to patients with upper and lower extremity injuries and spinal cord injuries, among other applications. However, the devices, which work by stimulating neuronal activity in nerve-damaged patients, have a potential shortcoming in that the electrical currents needed for the treatment to work can also send errant signals to surrounding nerves, resulting in painful side effects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-method-electrical-nerves.html Medical research Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:10:01 EST news241117407 Parkinson's disease (PD) is a devastating and incurable disease that causes abnormal poverty of movement, involuntary tremor, and lack of coordination. A technique called deep brain stimulation (DBS) is sometimes used to improve motor symptoms in patients with advanced disease. Now, a study published by Cell Press in the October 20 issue of the journal Neuron describes a new and more effective DBS paradigm that makes real-time adjustments in response to disease dynamics and progression and may be better for managing symptoms of advanced PD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-next-generation-brain-treatment-parkinson-disease.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:42:38 EST news238246939 Using new optical equipment, a team of 11 researchers put roundworms into a world of virtual reality, monitored both their behavior and brain activity and gained unexpected information on how the organism's brain operates as it moves. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-worm-tracking-tool-brain.html Neuroscience Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:18:46 EST news236881117 Like far away galaxies, powerful tools are required to bring the minute inner workings of neurons into focus. Borrowing a technique from materials science, a team of neurobiologists, psychiatrists, and advanced imaging specialists from Switzerland's EPLF and CHUV report in The Journal of Neuroscience how Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM) can now be used to observe neuronal activity in real-time and in three dimensions—with up to 50 times greater resolution than ever before. The application has immense potential for testing out new drugs to fight neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-holograms-reveal-brain.html Neuroscience Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:10:03 EST news232736981 Visual and tactile objects in our surroundings are translated into a perception by complex interactions of neurons in the cortex. The principles underlying spatial and temporal organization of neuronal activity during decision-making and object perception are not all understood yet. Jason Kerr from Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, in collaboration with Winfried Denk from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, now investigated how different sensations are represented by measuring activity in neuronal populations deep in the cortex. The scientists developed a method, with which they can study the neuronal activity in some of the deepest layers of the cortex in rodents, something that has not been possible up until now. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-deeper-insight-cortical-cells.html Neuroscience Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:45:27 EST news229697110 While alcohol has a wide range of pharmacological effects on the body, the brain is a primary target. However, the molecular mechanisms by which alcohol alters neuronal activity in the brain are poorly understood. Participants in a symposium at the June 2010 annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in San Antonio, Texas addressed recent findings concerning the interactions of alcohol with prototype brain proteins thought to underlie alcohol actions in the brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-alcohol-effects-brain.html Medical research Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:40:58 EST news227378446 A single interneuron controls activity adaptively in 50,000 neurons, enabling consistently sparse codes for odors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-giant-interneuron-sparse-coding.html Neuroscience Fri, 13 May 2011 10:41:40 EST news224502069