WHAT: A new study by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) scientist Theodore E. Nash, M.D., and colleagues provides strong evidence associating seizures with areas of brain tissue swelling in people infected by a parasitic tapeworm. The swellings, called perilesional edemas, form around dead, calcified cysts that result when larvae of Taenia solium tapeworms lodge in the brain. The illness caused by T.
Brain
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Two pacemakers in the brain work together in harmony to ensure that breathing occurs in a regular rhythm, according to new research from MIT scientists.
That cooperation provides critical backup during respiratory stress, from the early trauma of birth to intense exercise and oxygen shortages, said Chi-Sang Poon, principal research scientist at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST).
METABOLISM: Keeping food consumption under control, a new role for the protein PrP
Tatsushi Onaka and colleagues, at Jichi Medical University, Japan, have provided new insight into the network of signals that emanate from the gut and the brainstem of rodents to regulate food intake.
COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. (Mon., Nov. 3, 2008) – Understanding the function of organs like the brain, kidney, and reproductive tissues requires experimental systems that allow for the study and manipulation of developing cells and tissues in the laboratory. This month's issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols (www.cshprotocols.org/TOCs/toc11_08.dtl) features two articles with detailed instructions for setting up these experimental culture systems.
ST. PAUL, Minn. – People with Alzheimer's disease who also have diabetes or high blood pressure may die sooner than people without such disorders, according to a study published in the November 4, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study involved 323 people who had no memory problems when first tested but later developed dementia. Memory tests and physical exams were then given every 18 months.
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) appears to affect movement in boys more than it does in girls, according to a study published in the November 4, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. ADHD is one of the most common mental disorders found in children. Symptoms include impulsiveness, hyperactivity, such as not being able to sit still, and inattention or constant daydreaming. Few studies have been done that compare ADHD and movement in both boys and girls.
Individuals who receive implantable cardiac defibrillators after a sudden heart event appear more likely to die within five years if they experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, regardless of the severity of their disease, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
The brains of individuals with major depressive disorder appear to react more strongly when anticipating pain and also display altered functioning of the neural network that modifies pain sensitivity, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Both first- and second-generation immigrants to the United Kingdom appear to have a higher risk of psychoses than white British individuals, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
With the days shortening toward winter, many people will begin to experience the winter blahs. For some, the effect can be devastating.
About 6 percent of the U.S. population suffers from seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, a sometimes-debilitating depression that begins in the fall and continues through winter. Sufferers may even find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning.
PROVIDENCE, RI – Emergency medicine physicians and simulation experts from Rhode Island Hospital discuss the benefits of advanced medical simulation in five manuscripts appearing in the November 2008 issue of Academic Emergency Medicine (now available online). The articles describe how simulation centers, along with new portable simulation technology, offer unique training opportunities for dynamic, complex and unanticipated medical situations in acute care fields.
Many people who have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes develop retinopathy, a serious disorder that damages the eye's retina, the area of the back of the eye where images are focused and relayed to the brain's visual cortex.
Ophthalmologists (Eye M.D.s) monitor their diabetic patients for signs of retinopathy and use lifestyle recommendations, medications, and surgical approaches as appropriate to reduce the risk that diabetic retinopathy (DR) will progress to the proliferative stage (PDR), in which abnormal blood vessel growth leads to visual impairment.
Reston, Va.—Using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), researchers in France were able to detect functional abnormalities in certain regions in the brains of patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia, reinforcing the idea that symptoms of the disorder are related to a dysfunction in those parts of the brain where pain is processed.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A new study by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Vanderbilt University suggests that protecting infants from a common, highly contagious and even deadly disease may be as easy as administering a routine vaccine two weeks earlier than it is typically given.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Scientists have long known that it's possible for one gene to produce slightly different forms of the same protein by skipping or including certain sequences from the messenger RNA. Now, an MIT team has shown that this phenomenon, known as alternative splicing, is both far more prevalent and varies more between tissues than was previously believed.