http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—Why is it so hard for some people to resist the least little temptation, while others seem to possess incredible patience, passing up immediate gratification for a greater long-term good? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-impulsive-future-benefits-pleasurable-focus.html Neuroscience Thu, 04 Apr 2013 07:32:26 EST news284279539 Our understanding of brain activity has traditionally been linked to brain areas – when we speak, the speech area of the brain is active. New research by an international team of psychologists led by David Alexander and Cees van Leeuwen (KU Leuven – University of Leuven) shows that this view may be overly rigid. The entire cortex, not just the area responsible for a certain function, is activated when a given task is initiated. Furthermore, activity occurs in a pattern: waves of activity roll from one side of the brain to the other. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-brain-area-specific-view.html Neuroscience Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:28:30 EST news282997699 The drug perampanel (trade name Fycompa) has been approved since July 2012 as adjunctive ("add-on") therapy for adults and children aged 12 years and older with epileptic fits (seizures). In an early benefit assessment according to the German Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether perampanel offers an added benefit over the previous standard therapy. However, no such added benefit can be derived from the dossier, because the manufacturer failed to present any relevant data in it for the comparison with the drugs lamotrigine or topiramate. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-perampanel-epilepsy-proof-added-benefit.html Medications Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:38:36 EST news278761110 (Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers in France has found what they call a "signal" that tells a person when to rest while engaging in work, and then when to resume once rested. The team, as they describe in their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used fMRI scans on a group of volunteers to study a part of the brain normally associated with pain perception and found what amounts to a signal calling for the conscious mind to take a break. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-clues-brain-rest.html Neuroscience Tue, 22 Jan 2013 08:20:01 EST news278063754 (Medical Xpress)—Preterm infants who grow more slowly as they approached what would have been their due dates also have slower development in an area of the brain called the cerebral cortex, report Canadian researchers in a new study published today in Science Translational Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-slower-growth-preterm-infants-linked.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:52:06 EST news277577510 Down syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is the leading cause of genetically defined intellectual disability. In the brain, Down syndrome results in alterations in the connections between neurons and a reduction in the development of new neurons (neurogenesis) that usually occurs during learning. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-lithium-cognitive-function-syndrome-mice.html Neuroscience Mon, 03 Dec 2012 12:00:17 EST news273754265 Bus stops in the northern Swedish town of Umeaa have been fitted with light therapy panels to help commuters fight off the winter blues, the energy company behind the move said Tuesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-therapy-bus-north-sweden-commuters.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:10:10 EST news273232763 Children who undergo brain radiation therapy run a significant risk of suffering from permanent neurocognitive adverse effects. These adverse effects are due to the fact that the radiation often encounters healthy tissue. This reduces the formation of new cells, particularly in the hippocampus – the part of the brain involved in memory and learning. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-merciful-treatment-method-children-brain.html Cancer Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:46:15 EST news269520361 How does electrical stimulation affect the brain? A project by Aalto University and the University of Helsinki, launched in early 2012, studies the impact mechanism of deep brain stimulation and develops electrochemical sensors for more effective measuring of neurotransmitters in the brain. The long-term goals of the research are more specific treatment for Parkinson's disease and many other diseases of the nervous system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-chronic-pain-pacemaker-brain.html Neuroscience Fri, 21 Sep 2012 07:01:55 EST news267429707 Researchers have new evidence in rats to explain how it is that chocolate candies can be so completely irresistible. The urge to overeat such deliciously sweet and fatty treats traces to an unexpected part of the brain and its production of a natural, opium-like chemical, according to a report published online on September 20th in Current Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-brain-reveals-roots-chocolate-temptations.html Medical research Thu, 20 Sep 2012 12:19:28 EST news267362354 New Australian research shows that the brains of people with schizophrenia may be under attack by the immune system, providing the strongest evidence to date of a link between immune function and schizophrenia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-brains-people-schizophrenia-red.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 08 Aug 2012 09:54:30 EST news263638422 A simple eye test may someday offer an effective way to identify patients who are at high risk for stroke, say researchers at the University of Zurich. They showed that a test called ocular pulse amplitude (OPA) can reliably detect carotid artery stenosis (CAS), a condition that clogs or blocks the arteries that feed the front part of the brain. It's a known risk factor for stroke. The OPA test could be performed by ophthalmologists – physicians who treat eye diseases – during routine exams. The study, which is published in the June issue of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, confirmed that patients who had the lowest OPA scores also had the most seriously blocked arteries. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-safe-simple-eye.html Ophthalmology Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:52:27 EST news258303137 How do neurons in the brain communicate with each other? One common theory suggests that individual cells do not exchange signals among each other, but rather that exchange takes place between groups of cells. Researchers from Japan, the United States and Germany have now developed a mathematical model that can be used to test this assumption. Their results have been published in the current issue of the journal PLoS Computational Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-mathematical-collaboration-individual-neurons.html Neuroscience Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:00:01 EST news250444639 A French team coordinated by Mathias Pessiglione, Inserm researcher have identified the part of the brain driving motivation during actions that combine physical and mental effort: the ventral striatum. The results of their study were published in PLoS Biology on 21 February 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-center-depths-brain.html Neuroscience Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:55:24 EST news249134115 A father in Louisiana bludgeoned and beheaded his disabled 7-year-old son last August because he no longer wanted to care for the boy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-brain-failure-human-atrocities.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:14:13 EST news243101642 (Medical Xpress) -- Researchers have known since 1997 that mutations in the KCQN4 channel (a pathway that leads from the external environment to neurons) lead to progressive deafness and that the KCQN4 channel is only found in the hair cells in the inner ear, a part of the brain involved in hearing and oddly enough in skin cells. Now new research on the KCQN4 channel by a diverse group of scientists finds that the same gene mutation that causes people to go slowly blind also causes them to have increased sensitivity in their skin. They have published the results of their findings in Nature Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-gene-mutation-responsible-deafness-heightened.html Neuroscience Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:54:28 EST news241084448 A team of researchers at The University of Western Ontario has demonstrated that elimination of one of the neurotransmitters in the part of the brain associated with Parkinson's disease may improve brain function without major adverse effects. The research has been published in the November edition of the prestigious journal PLoS Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-brain-region-affected-parkinson.html Neuroscience Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:00:07 EST news239997391 (Medical Xpress) -- Taking another step towards creating devices that could be meshed with brain function to help those with brain damage, or perhaps one day, to improve on abilities, researchers at Tel Aviv University, led by Professor of Psychobiology Matti Mintz, have developed an adjunct to a part of a rat brain. The team, who will be presenting their results this month at a biotechnology meeting in the UK, has created a computer chip that is able to emulate one of the functions of the rat cerebellum. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-israeli-artificial-rat-cerebellum.html Medical research Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:50:01 EST news236423549 Most people have witnessed otherwise intelligent people doing embarrassing or stupid things when they are intoxicated, but what specifically happens in the brain to cause such drunken actions? A new study testing alcohol's effects on brain activity from the University of Missouri says that alcohol dulls the brain "signal" that warns people when they are making a mistake, ultimately reducing self control. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-alcohol-dulls-brain-alarm.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:26:57 EST news234098379 Depression is increasingly recognized as an illness that strikes repeatedly over the lifespan, creating cycles of relapse and recovery. This sobering knowledge has prompted researchers to search for markers of relapse risk in people who have recovered from depression. A new paper published in Elsevier's Biological Psychiatry suggests that when formerly depressed people experience mild states of sadness, the nature of their brains' response can predict whether or not they will become depressed again. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-depression-relapsers-front-brain.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:25:19 EST news233223892 Our memories work better when our brains are prepared to absorb new information, according to a new study by MIT researchers. A team led by Professor John Gabrieli has shown that activity in a specific part of the brain, known as the parahippocampal cortex (PHC), predicts how well people will remember a visual scene. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-ready-brain-scans.html Neuroscience Fri, 19 Aug 2011 07:20:11 EST news232957194 One decade after receiving implants that stimulate areas of their brains, patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) appear to sustain improvement in motor function, although part of the initial benefit wore off mainly because of progressive loss of benefit in other functions, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-deep-brain-effects-years-patients.html Neuroscience Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:20:01 EST news232031065 Animal's brains are only roughly aware of how high-up they are in space, meaning that in terms of altitude the brain's 'map' of space is surprisingly flat, according to new research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-brain-space-falls-flat-altitude.html Medical research Sun, 07 Aug 2011 13:00:02 EST news231920566