News tagged with nervous system

Model for brain signaling flawed, new study finds

A new study out today in the journal Science turns two decades of understanding about how brain cells communicate on its head. The study demonstrates that the tripartite synapse – a model long accepted by the ...

Neuroscience created Jan 10, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (14) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Chronic fatigue syndrome—a system under stress

Australian researchers have discovered for the first time that reduced heart rate variability – or changes in heart beat timing – best predicts cognitive disturbances, such as concentration difficulties commonly reported ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Nov 15, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Using precisely-targeted lasers, researchers manipulate neurons in worms' brains, take control of their behavior

In the quest to understand how the brain turns sensory input into behavior, Harvard scientists have crossed a major threshold. Using precisely-targeted lasers, researchers have been able to take over an animal's ...

Neuroscience created Sep 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers at the doorstep of stem cell therapies for MS, other myelin disorders

When the era of regenerative medicine dawned more than three decades ago, the potential to replenish populations of cells destroyed by disease was seen by many as the next medical revolution. However, what followed turned ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created Oct 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers show possible trigger for MS nerve damage

High-resolution real-time images show in mice how nerves may be damaged during the earliest stages of multiple sclerosis. The results suggest that the critical step happens when fibrinogen, a blood-clotting ...

Medical research created Nov 27, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Neural stem cells regenerate axons in severe spinal cord injury

In a study at the University of California, San Diego and VA San Diego Healthcare, researchers were able to regenerate "an astonishing degree" of axonal growth at the site of severe spinal cord injury in rats. Their research ...

Medical research created Sep 13, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Spring cleaning in your brain: New stem cell research shows how important it is

Deep inside your brain, a legion of stem cells lies ready to turn into new brain and nerve cells whenever and wherever you need them most. While they wait, they keep themselves in a state of perpetual readiness ...

Neuroscience created Apr 10, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers create 'endless supply' of myelin-forming cells

(Medical Xpress)—In a new study appearing this month in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers have unlocked the complex cellular mechanics that instruct specific brain cells to continue to divide. This d ...

Neuroscience created Nov 01, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Research opens up possibility of therapies to restore blood-brain barrier

(Medical Xpress)—Research led by Queen Mary, University of London, has opened up the possibility that drug therapies may one day be able to restore the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, potentially ...

Medical research created Jan 02, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

BPA may affect the developing brain by disrupting gene regulation

Environmental exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a widespread chemical found in plastics and resins, may suppress a gene vital to nerve cell function and to the development of the central nervous system, according ...

Medical research created Feb 25, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Intestinal bacteria produce neurotransmitter, could play role in inflammation

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital have identified commensal bacteria in the human intestine that produce a neurotransmitter that may play a role in preventing or treating inflammatory ...

Inflammatory disorders created Jun 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Mamba venom holds promise for pain relief

Scientists have used the venom of Africa's lethal black mamba to produce a surprising outcome in mice which they hope to replicate in humans—effective pain relief without toxic side effects.

Medical research created Oct 03, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

One cell does it all: Sensory input to motor output in one worm neuron

Caenorhabditis elegans, with just 302 neurons, has long been considered an ideal model system for the study of the nervous system. New research, however, is suggesting that the worms' "simple" nervous system may be much m ...

Neuroscience created Nov 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hunger-spiking neurons could help control autoimmune diseases

Neurons that control hunger in the central nervous system also regulate immune cell functions, implicating eating behavior as a defense against infections and autoimmune disease development, Yale School of Medicine researchers ...

Immunology created Mar 25, 2013 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hybrid tunnel may help guide severed nerves back to health

Building a tunnel made up of both hard and soft materials to guide the reconnection of severed nerve endings may be the first step toward helping patients who have suffered extensive nerve trauma regain feeling ...

Medical research created Dec 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Nervous system

The nervous system is a network of specialized cells that communicate information about an organism's surroundings and itself. It processes this information and causes reactions in other parts of the body. It is composed of neurons and other specialized cells called glial cells,(plural form glia), that aid in the function of the neurons. The nervous system is divided broadly into two categories: the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system. Neurons generate and conduct impulses between and within the two systems. The peripheral nervous system is composed of sensory neurons and the neurons that connect them to the nerve cord, spinal cord and brain, which make up the central nervous system. In response to stimuli, sensory neurons generate and propagate signals to the central nervous system which then processes and conducts signals back to the muscles and glands. The neurons of the nervous systems of animals are interconnected in complex arrangements and use electrochemical signals and neurotransmitters to transmit impulses from one neuron to the next. The interaction of the different neurons form neural circuits regulate an organism's perception of the world and what is going on with its body, thus regulating its behavior. Nervous systems are found in many multicellular animals but differ greatly in complexity between species.

For more information about Nervous system, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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