http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—When brain cells are overwhelmed by an influx of too many calcium molecules, they shut down the channels through which these molecules enter the cells. Until now, the "stop" signal mechanism that cells use to control the molecular traffic was unknown. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-cells-calcium-influx.html Neuroscience Thu, 09 May 2013 07:53:13 EST news287304785 An international team of neuroscientists has described for the first time in exhaustive detail the underlying neurobiology of an amnesiac who suffered from profound memory loss after damage to key portions of his brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-forgotten-scientists-recall-ep-world.html Neuroscience Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:50:09 EST news285868202 Sleep plays an important role in the brain's ability to consolidate learning when two new potentially competing tasks are learned in the same day, research at the University of Chicago demonstrates. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-memories-tasks.html Neuroscience Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:37:59 EST news283005472 (Medical Xpress)—It's not unusual for cancer patients being treated with chemotherapy to complain about not being able to think clearly, connect thoughts or concentrate on daily tasks. The complaint – often referred to as chemo-brain – is common. The scientific cause, however, has been difficult to pinpoint. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-chemo-brain-fog-like-condition-chemotherapy.html Neuroscience Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:17:32 EST news280649829 Our ability to learn and form new memories is fully dependent on the brain's ability to be plastic – that is to change and adapt according to new experiences and environments. A new study from the Montreal Neurological Institute – The Neuro, McGill University, reveals that DCC, the receptor for a crucial protein in the nervous system known as netrin, plays a key role in regulating the plasticity of nerve cell connections in the brain. The absence of DCC leads to the type of memory loss experienced by Dr. Brenda Milner's famous subject HM. Although HM's memory loss resulted from the removal of an entire brain structure, this study shows that just removing DCC causes the same type of memory deficit. The finding published in this week's issue of Cell Reports, extends Dr. Milner's seminal finding to another level, revealing a key part of the molecular basis for learning and memory. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-memory-guidance-proteins-brain-plasticity.html Neuroscience Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:03:48 EST news279216219 The connection between poor sleep, memory loss and brain deterioration as we grow older has been elusive. But for the first time, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have found a link between these hallmark maladies of old age. Their discovery opens the door to boosting the quality of sleep in elderly people to improve memory. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-poor-age-brain-memories.html Neuroscience Sun, 27 Jan 2013 13:00:01 EST news278503695 (Medical Xpress)—People with anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often have impaired pattern separation—the process by which similar experiences are transformed into distinct memories. They often react to events that resemble their original trauma, even when in safe situations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-medical-center-role-neuron-creation.html Medical research Thu, 24 Jan 2013 08:20:01 EST news278236689 As we age, it just may be the ability to filter and eliminate old information – rather than take in the new stuff - that makes it harder to learn, scientists report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-useless-important-memories.html Neuroscience Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:05:28 EST news276959106 (Medical Xpress)—Alcohol misuse in young people causes significant changes in their brain function and structure. This and other findings were recently reviewed by Dr Daniel Hermens from the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Research Institute in the journal Cortex. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-excessive-alcohol-youre-young-impacts.html Health Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:17:09 EST news275041020 (Medical Xpress)—A new US study into brain function has found links between preferences and the regions of the brain involved in connecting new memories to old ones. The associations formed provide shortcuts the subconscious can use for decision making. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-links-hippocampus-unconscious-bias.html Neuroscience Fri, 12 Oct 2012 08:55:47 EST news269250934 Researchers from the Computational Intelligence Group based at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid's Facultad de Informática have used machine learning and data mining techniques to compare gene expresssion levels in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients in two key regions of the hippocampus: the dentate gyrus, where the disease appears to have little or no effect, and the entorhinal cortex, where Alzheimer's disease produces major neuronal damage. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-intelligence-avenues-alzheimer.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:38:08 EST news269026672 Can the simple act of recognizing a face as you walk down the street change the way we think? Or can taking the time to notice something new on our way to work change what we remember about that walk? In a new study published in the journal Science, New York University researchers show that remembering something old or noticing something new can bias how you process subsequent information. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-future.html Neuroscience Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:00:16 EST news262520255 Two research studies, co-led by UC Davis neurologist Charles DeCarli and conducted by an international team that included more than 80 scientists at 71 institutions in eight countries, has advanced understanding of the genetic components of Alzheimer's disease and of brain development. Both studies appear in the April 15 edition of the journal Nature Genetics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-major-memory-adults-impacted-versions.html Genetics Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:00:08 EST news253619104 The generation of new memories in the human immune system doesn't come at the cost of old ones, according to a study published on March 5th in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-cell-memories.html Immunology Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:00:05 EST news250165708 If someone has trouble remembering where the car keys or the cheese grater are, new research shows that a memory training strategy can help. Memory training can even re-engage the hippocampus, part of the brain critical for memory formation, the results suggest. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-memory-brain-mild-cognitive-impairment.html Neuroscience Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:05:34 EST news249843923 Researchers at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics have discovered an answer to the long-standing mystery of how brain cells can both remember new memories while also maintaining older ones. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-memory-formation-triggered-stem-cell.html Neuroscience Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:56:36 EST news249224191 A new study seems to confirm what exhausted parents have long suspected but may have been too tired to articulate: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-toll-memory-formation.html Health Thu, 28 Jul 2011 06:34:15 EST news231053632 An existing anti-seizure drug improves memory and brain function in adults with a form of cognitive impairment that often leads to full-blown Alzheimer's disease, a Johns Hopkins University study has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-drug-brain-function-condition-alzheimer.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 20 Jul 2011 09:57:45 EST news230374607 Scientists have shed light on why it is easier to learn about things related to what we already know than it is to learn about unfamiliar things, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-gene-clues-memory-puzzle.html Medical research Fri, 08 Jul 2011 10:17:22 EST news229339025 (PhysOrg.com) -- Fear burns memories into our brain, and new research by University of California, Berkeley, neuroscientists explains how. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-boosts-young-immature-brain-cells.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:26:11 EST news227273147 Recalling painful memories while under the influence of the drug metyrapone reduces the brain's ability to re-record the negative emotions associated with them, according to University of Montreal researchers at the Centre for Studies on Human Stress of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-drug-overwrite-bad-memories.html Medical research Thu, 26 May 2011 03:42:00 EST news225600100