Construction of the brain's border fence is supervised by Wnt/b-catenin signaling, report Liebner et al. in The Journal of Cell Biology.
Brain
The global financial crisis could seriously delay the discovery and production of many new life-saving medicines, warns a major international conference today (Monday).
Investment into research for new drugs - which globally runs into the billions – is now seriously at threat as former investors in the drug companies shy away as a result of the economic meltdown.
DENVER―Researchers at the University of Denver (DU) Morgridge College of Education are conducting a groundbreaking study that will compare two early literacy intervention approaches to educating young children with Down syndrome. The Rocky Mountain Down Syndrome Educational Fund is funding the study, which hopes to improve teaching methods for children with the condition.
LOS ANGELES (Oct. 24, 2008) – Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute who first isolated cancer stem cells in adult brain tumors in 2004 have now identified a molecular mechanism that is involved in the development of these cells from which malignant brain tumors may originate. This could offer a target for scientists seeking treatments that would kill malignant brain tumors at their source and prevent them from recurring.
When reaching for an object, the brain prepares neural commands sent to the target muscles to minimize energy expenditure, according to a study published in PLoS Computational Biology by neuroscientists and mathematicians from the INSERM and ENSTA.
Cambridge, MA – October 23, 2008 – Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) today announced the publication of Phase IIb data showing that a 240 mg three-times-daily dose of the company's novel oral compound, BG-12 (BG00012, dimethyl fumarate), reduced the number of new gadolinium enhancing (Gd+) lesions by 69 percent in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) when compared to treatment with placebo (p<0.0001).
NEW YORK, Oct. 23, 2008 -- Hypnosis can induce "synesthetic" experiences – where one sense triggers the involuntary use of another – within an average brain, according to a new study in the journal Psychological Science, the premiere publication of the Association for Psychological Society.
The findings suggests that people with synesthesia, contrary to popular belief, do not necessarily have extra connections in their brain; rather, their brains may simply do more 'cross talking' which can be induced by changing inhibitory processes in the average brain.
New Haven, Conn. - Our judgment of a person's character can be influenced by something as simple as the warmth of the drink we hold in our hand.
In the current issue of the journal Science, Yale University psychologists show that people judged others to be more generous and caring if they had just held a warm cup of coffee and less so if they had held an iced coffee. In a second study, they showed people are more likely to give something to others if they had just held something warm and more likely take something for themselves if they held something cold.
Anyone with a nose knows the rotten-egg odor of hydrogen sulfide, a gas generated by bacteria living in the human colon. Now an international team of scientists has discovered that cells inside the blood vessels of mice — as well as in people, no doubt — naturally make the gassy stuff, and that it controls blood pressure.
Do people trust others more when they experience physical warmth? That's the theory of CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Lawrence E. Williams, who says simply handling a hot cup of coffee can change one's attitude toward a stranger.
In a paper published in the Oct. 24 issue of Science, Williams details a study he conducted with Yale University's John A. Bargh that shows a link between the way unsuspecting subjects rated a hypothetical person's personality and whether or not they had held a warm or cold beverage just prior to the test.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – A powerful antioxidant in green tea may prevent or delay the onset of type 1 diabetes, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.
Researchers were testing EGCG, green tea's predominant antioxidant, in a laboratory mouse with type 1 diabetes and primary Sjogren's syndrome, which damages moisture-producing glands, causing dry mouth and eyes.
Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (GIND) have identified a new strategy to destroy amyloid-beta (AB) proteins, which are widely believed to cause Alzheimer's disease (AD). Li Gan, PhD, and her coworkers discovered that the activity of a potent AB-degrading enzyme can be unleashed in mouse models of the disease by reducing its natural inhibitor cystatin C (CysC).
Clubfoot, one of the most common birth defects, has long been thought to have a genetic component. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have found the first gene linked to clubfoot in humans.
Their research will be published in the Nov. 7 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.
It's only spit, but what's inside your saliva may help solve a dosing dilemma facing doctors and patients. By using DNA to customize prescriptions, researchers at Temple University's School of Pharmacy are working to prevent adverse drug reactions before you even take the first dose. Each year, adverse drug reactions kill or injure more than 770,000 people in this country, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. At the top of the list of problem drugs is Warfarin, (Coumadin®), the most widely prescribed anticoagulant.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Without eyes or ears, plants must rely on the interaction of molecules to determine appropriate mating partners and avoid inbreeding. In a new study, University of Missouri researchers have identified pollen proteins that may contribute to the signaling processes that determine if a plant accepts or rejects individual pollen grains for reproduction.