Brain | Page 1187 | Science Codex

Malignant brain tumors: Benefit of PET and PET/CT in the detection of recurrences is not assessable

Malignant gliomas are fast-growing brain tumours with poor prospects of recovery depending on disease stage. Experts hope that the examination of patients by means of positron emission tomography (PET) is more helpful in the choice of the right treatment than other procedures. In a final report the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has now investigated the benefit of PET in the detection of recurrences. According to this report, no robust conclusions are possible on the advantages or disadvantages of PET.

Migraines and headaches present no risk to cognitive function

Recent work, in particular the CAMERA study, has used MRI to study the brains of migraine sufferers and has shown that a higher proportion of these patients exhibit lesions of the brain microvessels than the rest of the population.

Lesions of the brain microvessels

Lesions of the brain microvessels, visible on cerebral MRI images, can be of various kinds: white-matter hyperintensities and, more rarely, silent infarcts leading to loss of white-matter tissue.

Wayne State University study predicts risk of memory loss in healthy, older adults

DETROIT— The combined results of a genetic blood test and a five-minute functional MRI successfully classified more than three-quarters of healthy older adults, many of whom were destined to develop cognitive decline within 18 months of testing.

John Woodard, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Institute of Gerontology at Wayne State University, is lead author of "Predicting Cognitive Decline in Healthy Older Adults Using fMRI" published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (vol. 21, no. 3).

A second language gives toddlers an edge

Montreal, January 19, 2011 – Toddlers who learn a second language from infancy have an edge over their unilingual peers, according to a new study from Concordia University and York University in Canada and the Université de Provence in France. As reported in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, the research team tested the understanding of English and French words among 24-month-olds to see if bilingual toddlers had acquired comparable vocabulary in each language.

Challenging the limits of learning

Tel Aviv -- Although we're convinced that baby is brilliant when she mutters her first words, cognitive scientists have been conducting a decades-long debate about whether or not human beings actually "learn" language.

Unfolding pathogenesis in Parkinson's

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, reveals that damaged alpha-synuclein proteins (which are implicated in Parkinson's disease) can spread in a 'prion-like' manner, an infection model previously described for diseases such as BSE (mad cow disease).

Stress, anxiety both boon and bane to brain

MADISON — A cold dose of fear lends an edge to the here-and-now — say, when things go bump in the night.

"That edge sounds good. It sounds adaptive. It sounds like perception is enhanced and that it can keep you safe in the face of danger," says Alexander Shackman, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

But it sounds like there's also a catch, one that Shackman and his coauthors — including Richard Davidson, UW-Madison psychology and psychiatry professor — described in the Jan. 19 Journal of Neuroscience.

Case Western Reserve and Athersys show regenerative benefit of MultiStem after spinal cord injury

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX) announced a joint scientific study on spinal cord injury will be published today in the January issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. The study, by leading researchers from the Department of Neurosciences at the School of Medicine and scientists at Athersys, presents data supporting the potential therapeutic benefit of Athersys' MultiStem® program for spinal cord injury.

Unlocking the secret(ase) of building neural circuits

Unlocking the secret(ase) of building neural circuits

Parental divorce linked to suicidal thoughts

TORONTO, ON –Adult children of divorce are more likely to have seriously considered suicide than their peers from intact families, suggests new research from the University of Toronto

New CPR technique for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest increases survival by 53 percent

New CPR technique for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest increases survival by 53 percent

A study led by Dr. Tom P. Aufderheide, professor of emergency medicine at The Medical College of Wisconsin, shows an alternative method of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation increases long-term survival of patients.

Watching others smoke makes smokers plan to light up

Watching others smoke makes smokers plan to light up

Seeing actors smoke in a movie activated the brain areas of smokers that are known to interpret and plan hand movements, as though they too were about to light a cigarette, according to a new study in the Jan. 19 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

Unlocking the secret(ase) of building neural circuits

Unlocking the secret(ase) of building neural circuits

Treatment with kudzu extract does not cause an increase in alcohol's intoxicating effects

Extract from the kudzu root has long been thought to be a remedy for alcoholism
However, since the precise mechanism of action is unknown, a new study set out to unravel its mystery
The results show that the participants treated with kudzu experienced no adverse consequences that could decrease alcohol intake

Imaging procedure can identify biomarker associated with Alzheimer's disease

Preliminary research suggests that use of a type of molecular imaging procedure may have the ability to detect the presence of beta-amyloid in the brains of individuals during life, a biomarker that is identified during autopsy to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease, according to a study in the January 19 issue of JAMA.