Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II alpha (CaMKII alpha) is an enzyme that adds phosphates to a variety of protein substrates to modify their functions. CaMKII alpha is enriched in the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain, and is believed to be an essential mediator of activity-dependent synaptic plasticity and memory functions. However, the causative role of the enzymatic activity of CaMKII alpha in such processes has not been demonstrated yet, because this enzyme has multiple protein functions other than the kinase activity.
Brain
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Neural "noise" may cause you to miss important changes in your environment when you are concentrating on something else, new research indicates.
The research by Sam Ling, a postdoctoral researcher in Vanderbilt University's Psychology Department, and Randolph Blake, Centennial Professor of Psychology, is currently in press at Psychological Science.
Queen's University Belfast academics have helped develop an antioxidant supplement which may slow down sight loss in elderly people.
The supplement may help those affected by the leading cause of blindness in the Western World, a five-year research programme has found.
Professor Usha Chakravarthy, from Queen's Centre of Vision and Vascular Science (CVVS), co-ordinated the study, which looked at nutritional supplements for patients with early age-related macular (AMD) degeneration and found they helped sharpen vision.
Forget the old folk tales about snakes hypnotizing their prey. The tentacled snake from South East Asia has developed a more effective technique. The small water snake has found a way to startle its prey so that the fish turn toward the snake's head to flee instead of turning away. In addition, the fish's reaction is so predictable that the snake actually aims its strike at the position where the fish's head will be instead of tracking its actual movement.
New Rochelle, NY, June 18, 2009—Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) has reached critical levels in modern-day warfare. The current issue of Journal of Neurotrauma focuses on the intensive efforts to develop effective treatment strategies and model systems for studying the cause and effects of explosive blast TBI. This special issue of Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., is free online at www.liebertpub.com/neu
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Interactive Web-based science tutorials can be effective tools for helping elementary school teachers construct powerful explanatory models of difficult scientific concepts, and research shows the interactive tutorials are just as effective online as they are in face-to-face settings, says a University of Illinois expert in science education.
David Brown, a professor of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education, said that elementary school teachers need high-quality, research-based resources to help them build a meaningful scientific knowledge base.
It is possible to determine which patients run a high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and the dementia associated with it, even in patients with minimal memory impairment. This has been shown by recent research at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
The results have been published in the most recent issue of the prestigious medical journal Lancet Neurology.
Suffering a stroke can have a profound effect on relationships and lead to significant changes in how couples relate to each other on a physical, psychological, social and emotional level, according a study in the June issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.
Researchers from Northern Ireland have come up with four key recommendations for clinical practice after speaking to 16 married stroke survivors, nine males and seven females, aged between 33 and 78.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Some video games can make children kinder and more likely to help---not hurt---other people.
That's the conclusion of new research published in the current (June 2009) issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, a top-tier, peer-reviewed academic journal.
In the decade since the Implicit Association Test was introduced, its most surprising and controversial finding is its indication that about 70 percent of those who took a version of the test that measures racial attitudes have an unconscious, or implicit, preference for white people compared to blacks. This contrasts with figures generally under 20 percent for self report, or survey, measures of race bias.
New York, June 17, 2009—Despite great strides in treating childhood leukemia, a form of the disease called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) poses special challenges because of the high risk of leukemic cells invading the brain and spinal cord of children who relapse. Now, a new study in the June 18, 2009, issue of the journal Nature by scientists at NYU School of Medicine reveals the molecular agents behind this devastating infiltration of the central nervous system. The finding may lead to new drugs that block these agents and thus lower the risk of relapse.
NEW YORK (June 17, 2009) – Two new studies published by neurologists at Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital demonstrate a need for more vigilant monitoring for seizure activity among intensive care patients who may be experiencing subtle seizures that are typically unrecognized. These subtle seizures may be affecting patients' prognoses and causing long-term brain damage, death and severe disability.
Our ability to withstand stress-related, inflammatory diseases may be associated, not just with our race and sex, but with our personality as well, according to a study published in the July issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity. Especially in aging women, low levels of the personality trait extraversion may signal that blood levels of a key inflammatory molecule have crossed over a threshold linked to a doubling of risk of death within five years.
GAINESVILLE — For most parents, soothing a child's anxiety is just part of the job. But for a parent whose child has obsessive-compulsive disorder, soothing anxiety and helping with behaviors linked to the disease could lead to more severe symptoms, University of Florida researchers say.