A non-pathogenic bacterium is capable to trigger an autoimmune disease similar to the multiple sclerosis in the mouse, the model animal which helps to explain how human diseases work. This is what a group of researchers from the Catholic University of Rome, led by Francesco Ria (Institute of General Pathology) and Giovanni Delogu (Institute of Microbiology), have explained for the first time in a recently published article on the Journal of Immunology.
Brain
Working with mice, Johns Hopkins scientists who tested drugs intended to halt growth of brain cancer stem cells – a small population of cells within tumors that perpetuate cancer growth – conclude that blocking these cells may be somewhat effective, but more than one targeted drug attack may be needed to get the job done.
In reports of two new studies, researchers led by Johns Hopkins say they have identified the mechanisms rooted in two anatomical brain abnormalities that may explain the onset of schizophrenia and the reason symptoms don't develop until young adulthood. Both types of anatomical glitches are influenced by a gene known as DISC1, whose mutant form was first identified in a Scottish family with a strong history of schizophrenia and related mental disorders. The findings could lead to new ways to treat, prevent or modify the disorder or its symptoms.
People talk to their plants, pray to humanlike gods, name their cars, and even dress their pets up in clothing. We have a strong tendency to give nonhuman entities human characteristics (known as anthropomorphism), but why? In a new report in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychological scientists Adam Waytz from Harvard University and Nicholas Epley and John T. Cacioppo from University of Chicago, examine the psychology of anthropomorphism.
Research at the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine suggests a novel route to improving the symptoms of subsyndromal depression (SSD) in seniors through the regular use of "exergames" – entertaining video games that combine game play with exercise. In a pilot study, the researchers found that use of exergames significantly improved mood and mental health-related quality of life in older adults with SSD.
A mother's nurture may provide powerful protection against risks her baby faces in the womb, according to a new article published online today in the journal Biological Psychiatry. The research shows that fetuses exposed to high levels of stress hormone – shown to be a harbinger for babies' poor cognitive development – can escape this fate if their mothers provide them sensitive care during infancy and toddler-hood.
New research using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows that childhood stress such as abuse or emotional neglect, in particular when combined with genetic factors, can result in structural brain changes, rendering these people more vulnerable to developing depression. The study led by scientists at Trinity College Dublin has just been published in the international scientific journal,Neuropsychopharmacology.
A recent multi-center study has confirmed earlier study results that 400 mg/day of lacosamide provides a good balance of efficacy and tolerability for patients with uncontrolled partial-onset seizures (POS), and doses of 600mg/day may provide additional benefit for some patients. Researchers from the Barrow Neurological Institute, St.
Troy, N.Y. – Why can't I fall asleep? Will this new medication keep me up all night? Can I sleep off this cold? Despite decades of research, answers to these basic questions about one of our most essential bodily functions remain exceptionally difficult to answer. In fact, researchers still don't fully understand why we even sleep at all. In an effort to better understand the sleep-wake cycle and how it can go awry, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are taking a different approach than the traditional brain scans and sleep studies. They are using mathematics.
Techniques that keep brain arteries open (intracranial stenting) or inject clot-busting drugs directly to the brain (intra-arterial tPA) may be more effective than other urgent ischemic stroke treatments, researchers said at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2010.
Two Spanish psychologists and a German neurologist have recently shown that the brain that activates when a person learns a new noun is different from the part used when a verb is learnt. The scientists observed this using brain images taken using functional magnetic resonance, according to an article they have published this month in the journal Neuroimage.
Philadelphia, PA, 25 February 2010 - The 1994 genocide in Rwanda resulted in the mass killing of up to one million people over the course of about 100 days. Although the exact death toll is unknown, experts estimate that as much as 20% of the country's entire population was murdered. There can be no doubt or surprise then that some of the survivors developed posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, an anxiety disorder that can develop after witnessing or experiencing a traumatizing event, such as abuse, war, or natural disaster.
An early study suggests that vitamin B3 or niacin, a common water-soluble vitamin, may help improve neurological function after stroke, according to Henry Ford Hospital researchers.
When rats with ischemic stroke were given niacin, their brains showed growth of new blood vessels, and sprouting of nerve cells which greatly improved neurological outcome.
Now research is underway at Henry Ford to investigate the effects of an extended-release form of niacin on stroke patients. Henry Ford is the only site nationally conducting such a study.
Children can have strokes, and the strokes can recur, usually within a month, according to pediatric researchers. Unfortunately, the strokes often go unrecognized the first time, and the child does not receive treatment before the recurrence.
Pediatric neurologist Rebecca Ichord, M.D., director of the Pediatric Stroke Program at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, reported today on a study of arterial ischemic stroke in children at the International Stroke Conference 2010 in San Antonio, Texas. The conference was sponsored by the American Stroke Association.
mple blood-pressure cuff limit damage from strokes caused by decreased blood supply to the brain?
An emerging field of study is working to see whether using this blood-pressure cuff or other methods of "training the brain" could help reduce damage from a stroke as it is occurring while a patient is being transported to the hospital.
An up-to-date review of the research – called stroke ischemic preconditioning – will be presented by Brian Silver, M.D., a Henry Ford Hospital neurologist and stroke specialist, at the International Stroke Conference held in San Antonio.