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Teen boys who attempted suicide more like to abuse partners as adults

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Young men who attempt suicide before age 18 are much more likely as adults to be aggressive toward their girlfriends or wives, including hitting and injuring their partners, according to a new study.

This groundbreaking new research provides further evidence of the need for intervention with suicidal teens. It is based on data from 153 males from higher-crime neighborhoods who were assessed yearly from ages 10 to 32, and their romantic partners who participated when the men were ages 18 to 25.

Brain MRI in children: 'Incidental' findings yield disclosure dilemmas for doctors, patients

Pediatricians whose patients undergo "routine" brain MRIs need a plan to deal with findings that commonly reveal unexpected-but-benign anomalies that are unlikely to cause any problem, reports a research team led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center investigators.

"Doctors need to figure out what, if anything, they want to share with patients about such findings because they seldom require urgent follow-up," says senior investigator John Strouse, M.D., Ph.D., a hematologist at Hopkins Children's.

Study confirms favorable long-term prognosis of epilepsy

A study conducted by researchers in The Netherlands confirmed that children with idiopathic new-onset epilepsy have a significantly higher rate of remission than those with remote symptomatic epilepsy. Results of this study are now available online in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy.

Sense of smell holds the key to diagnosis and treatment in early stage Parkinson's disease

Gothenburg, Sweden: A fast, simple and non invasive test of the ability to smell may be an important tool to screen people who are likely to develop Parkinson's disease (PD), in which motor symptoms only become evident at a later stage of the disease, a German scientist will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today (Saturday). Dr. Silke Nuber, from the Department of Medical Genetics, University of Tübingen, Germany, will say that her team's research could help in the development of treatments for the early stages of the disease.

Contrary to popular evolutionary psychology models, sugar is not burned to manage self control

PHILADELPHIA –- Contradicting a popular model of self-control, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist says the data from a 2007 study argues against the idea that glucose is the resource used to manage self control and that humans rely on this energy source for will power.

The analysis, conducted by Robert Kurzban and published in the current issue of the journal Evolutionary Psychology, shows that evidence previously presented in favor of the claim that the brain consumes extra glucose when people exert self-control shows no such thing.

Tiny insect brains capable of huge feats

Tiny insect brains capable of huge feats

Insects may have tiny brains the size of a pinhead, but the latest research from the University of Adelaide shows just how clever they really are.

For the first time, researchers from the University's Discipline of Physiology have worked out how insects judge the speed of moving objects.

New online map shows network of protection for North America's marine ecosystems

and Spanish.

Montreal, 10 June 2010—North America's nearly 2,000 marine protected areas represent an unprecedented effort to protect the continent's fragile marine environments and are found throughout the marine ecoregions that encircle our continent.

MSU researcher identifies links between hypertension, bipolar disorders

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Nearly half of patients hospitalized with bipolar disorder may suffer from hypertension, and the younger a person is diagnosed with the psychiatric condition the more likely they are to develop high blood pressure, according to a recent Michigan State University study.

The study, led by MSU psychiatrist Dale D'Mello, analyzed 99 patients hospitalized for bipolar disorder, a condition sometimes called manic-depressive disorder and characterized by mood swings ranging from depression to mental hyperactivity known as mania.

Study: Seasoned profs prepare students for advanced learning

Highly credentialed and experienced professors are better at preparing students for long-term academic success than their less-experienced counterparts, but that ability isn't necessarily reflected in their students' teaching evaluations. That's according to research by a pair of economists published in this month's Journal of Political Economy.

The study's authors, Scott Carrell of U.C. Davis and James West of the U.S. Air Force Academy, say their results raise questions about the value of student evaluations as measures of instructor quality.

Helping the brain's messengers get from A to B

NEW YORK (June 10, 2010) -- In what has been hailed as a breakthrough, scientists from Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical College have outlined the molecular mechanism of membrane transport. The research shows how a protein transforms its shape to transport substances across the cell membrane in order to regulate transmission of the brain's messages across the synaptic gap from one neuron to another.

Youth clubs strengthen kids' self image to keep them out of trouble

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- When children belong to a youth club, they gain a stronger sense of who they are as a person, an Ohio State University study has revealed.

The study suggests that even small improvements in self concept go a long way toward keeping children out of trouble.

"The more kids participate in these clubs, the better self concept they have," said Dawn Anderson-Butcher, an associate professor of social work at Ohio State. "And then that self concept makes children less vulnerable to engaging in problem behaviors."

Researchers discover how mutations in presenilin gene cause early onset Alzheimer's disease

Researchers have discovered how mutations in the presenilin 1 gene cause early-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). The finding, reported online in the journal Cell, opens the door to developing novel treatments for this form of the mind-robbing disease and for the more common, late-onset form that develops later in life and affects millions of people worldwide.

Biologists isolate genes that regulate the sleep-feeding conflict

A team of biologists has isolated genes that regulate the sleep-feeding conflict. The study, which appears in the latest issue of the journal Current Biology, offers new insights into how the brain chooses between behaviors that are critical for survival.

The work was conducted by researchers in New York University's Department of Biology, the Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine at NYU School of Medicine, and the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Biologists identify genes regulating sleeping and feeding

WORCESTER, Mass.— In the quest to better understand how the brain chooses between competing behaviors necessary for survival, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and New York University have isolated two genes in the fruit fly Drosophila that work together to mediate the need to sleep and the need to eat. The study, which appears in the online version of Current Biology, offers insights that may be used to understand sleep-and metabolism-related disorders in humans.

New system developed for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

Researchers of the University of Granada have developed a new computer program that allows early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease through processed images. This new system has enhanced successful early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease up to 90%, which is an important progress within this area of study.