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World-first trial proves exercise helps memory

West Australian health experts are urging older people to get active after proving for the first time that just 20 minutes of activity each day can prevent memory deterioration.

In a world-first, a team from the WA Centre for Health and Ageing (WACHA) based at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) has shown that regular physical activity can lead to a lasting improvement in memory function.

The WA-based trial results will be published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association today.

Australian over-50s walk away memory problems in world-first trial

The study, led by Professor Nicola T. Lautenschlager, the Chair of Old Age Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, is published in the international journal Journal of the American Medical Association on 3 September 2008.

The Fitness for the Ageing Brain Study, conducted over 18 months at the University of Western Australia, is believed to be the first in the world to demonstrate that moderate exercise can positively affect cognitive function.

Professor Lautenschlager said the results were very promising.

How media covered Katrina aftermath affects response by blacks and whites

New research shows that black and white Americans responded differently when exposed to a video presentation that described Hurricane Katrina and then blamed the botched relief efforts on one of two causes: either government incompetence or racism, because the majority of Katrina's victims were black.

Surgical technique halts cell loss, Parkinson's researchers find

CINCINNATI–Deep brain stimulation, a surgical technique often viewed as a last resort for people with Parkinson's disease, halts the progression of dopamine-cell loss in animal models, according to preliminary research by scientists at the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and University Hospital.

Stanford's 'autonomous' helicopters teach themselves to fly

Stanford computer scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system that enables robotic helicopters to teach themselves to fly difficult stunts by watching other helicopters perform the same maneuvers.

The result is an autonomous helicopter than can perform a complete airshow of complex tricks on its own.

The stunts are "by far the most difficult aerobatic maneuvers flown by any computer controlled helicopter," said Andrew Ng, the professor directing the research of graduate students Pieter Abbeel, Adam Coates, Timothy Hunter and Morgan Quigley.

Age-related memory loss tied to slip in filtering information quickly

Scientists have identified a way in which the brain's ability to process information diminishes with age, and shown that this break down contributes to the decreased ability to form memories that is associated with normal aging.

The finding, reported in the current online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, fuels the researchers' efforts, they say, to explore strategies for enhancing brain function in the healthy aging population, through mental training exercises and pharmaceutical treatments.

Innate immune system targets asthma-linked fungus for destruction

Blacksburg, Va. – A new study shows that the innate immune system of humans is capable of killing a fungus linked to airway inflammation, chronic rhinosinusitis and bronchial asthma. Researchers at Mayo Clinic and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) have revealed that eosinophils, a particular type of white blood cell, exert a strong immune response against the environmental fungus Alternaria alternata. The groundbreaking findings, which shed light on some of the early events involved in the recognition of A.

Hopkins researchers piece together gene 'network' linked to schizophrenia

Reporting this week in the Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have uncovered for the first time molecular circuitry associated with schizophrenia that links three previously known, yet unrelated proteins.

New study by Kent State professor links early explanations of 9/11 to long-term adjustment

According to new research led by John Updegraff, a Kent State University professor, individuals who are able to quickly make sense of collective traumas such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks cope better in the long run.

The study, which appears in the September issue of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, suggests that finding meaning in the immediate aftermath of the attacks was an important coping response that helped many Americans adjust by reducing their fears of future terrorism.

How gastric bypass rapidly reverses diabetes symptoms

A report in the September Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press, offers new evidence to explain why those who undergo gastric bypass surgery often show greater control of their diabetes symptoms within days. It also helps to explain why lap-band surgery doesn't offer the same instant gratification. By studying mice that have undergone both procedures, the researchers show that changes in the intestine are the key.

New hope for treating common form of inherited neuromuscular disease

Treatments that ramp up production of the tiny "motors" that power cells may have promise for treating one of the most common forms of inherited neuromuscular disease, according to a report in the September Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication. Neuromuscular disorders caused by defects in those mitochondrial motors affect a large number of children and adults worldwide, but today remain without treatment, the researchers said.

Experts to share how research is tackling cancer

Cancer touches many people, but few have the chance to meet the researchers who have dedicated their lives to tackling the disease.

This month two world renowned cancer researchers will give a free public lecture in Newcastle to explain how their research is contributing to a better understanding of cancer and more effective treatments.

Antihypertensive treatment on cognitive functions in Alzheimer's disease

Treatment of hypertension has proven to reduce cardiovascular risk substantially, but a large proportion of people with hypertension in the general population are not even diagnosed or treated. As a risk factor for stroke, ischemic brain lesions and silent brain infarcts, general atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction and cardiovascular morbidity, hypertension may also be a risk factor for dementia related to cerebrovascular disease. After a stroke event dementia occurs in up to 25% of patients above age 70.

Alcoholism-associated molecular adaptations

New study finds that add-on therapy improves depressive symptoms in bipolar disorder

Philadelphia, PA, September 2, 2008 – Lingering depression is a serious and common problem in bipolar disorder, and does not resolve well with existing treatments. Because individuals with both depression and bipolar disorder experience a glutathione deficiency, an antioxidant that protects cells from toxins, researchers in a new study scheduled for publication in the September 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry sought to evaluate whether N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), an over-the-counter supplement that increases brain glutathione, might help alleviate depressive symptoms.