ATLANTA--As the difficulty of making a decision based on sensory evidence increases, activity in the brain's insular cortex also increases, according to researchers at Georgia State University.
Brain
When it comes to measuring brain activity, scientists have tools that can take a precise look at a small slice of the brain (less than one cubic millimeter), or a blurred look at a larger area. Now, researchers at Rockefeller University have described a new technique that combines the best of both worlds--it captures a detailed snapshot of global activity in the mouse brain.
A new special section of the journal Child Development features studies that explore the ways children learn about their cultures, examining the strategies through which children begin to understand and adopt the practices, beliefs, and values of their societies. This research investigates how, in an increasingly diverse global community, specific skills and behaviors are transmitted across generations.
Not all habits are bad. Some are even necessary. It's a good thing, for example, that we can find our way home on "autopilot" or wash our hands without having to ponder every step. But inability to switch from acting habitually to acting in a deliberate way can underlie addiction and obsessive compulsive disorders.
Working with a mouse model, an international team of researchers demonstrates what happens in the brain for habits to control behavior.
MINNEAPOLIS - Researchers have identified a group of immune system genes that may play a role in how long people can live after developing a common type of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme, a tumor of the glial cells in the brain. The research is published in the May 25, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
People with these fast-growing tumors live an average of less than two years, even after treatment with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
(Vancouver, Canada - May 25, 2016) A study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine is one of the first to show the life-changing benefits of genome-wide sequencing for children with certain kinds of intellectual disability. The work was led by researchers at BC Children's Hospital, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority, and the University of British Columbia.
Amyloid-ß is a sticky peptide notorious for forming destructive plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients, but a new study suggests that it may also serve a protective function as an antimicrobial peptide. Researchers show that fibrous nets of amyloid-ß can ensnare invading microbes, halting infection in mouse and worm models of Alzheimer's disease. The findings raise intriguing questions about whether an overactive immune response by amyloid-ß, either to a real or perceived microbial threat, can trigger disease.
In an article published online ahead of print on May 25, 2016 in Nature, investigators at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) report that, during sensory stimulation, increases in blood flow are not precisely "tuned" to local neural activity, challenging the long-held view that vascular and local neural responses are tightly coupled.
Many brain-imaging techniques that rely on changes in the flow and oxygenation of blood--including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)--assume that vascular changes reflect a proportional change in local neural activity.
A new study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators provides additional evidence that amyloid-beta protein - which is deposited in the form of beta-amyloid plaques in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease - is a normal part of the innate immune system, the body's first-line defense against infection. Their study published in Science Translational Medicine finds that expression of human amyloid-beta (A-beta) was protective against potentially lethal infections in mice, in roundworms and in cultured human brain cells.
During and after chemotherapy, many cancer patients describe feeling a mental fog, a condition that has been dubbed "chemo brain." Why this happens is unclear, but researchers have found a new clue to understanding this syndrome. A study in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience reports that chemotherapy in rats affects their chemical messengers dopamine and serotonin, which are associated with cognition.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (May 25, 2016) - Approximately half of patients hospitalized with traumatic brain injuries are anemic, according to recent studies, but anemia's effects on the recovery of these patients is not clear. Now, researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine have found evidence that anemia can negatively influence the outcomes of patients with traumatic brain injuries.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- A new study from MIT neuroscientists reveals that a gene mutation associated with autism plays a critical role in the formation and maturation of synapses -- the connections that allow neurons to communicate with each other.
Many genetic variants have been linked to autism, but only a handful are potent enough to induce the disorder on their own. Among these variants, mutations in a gene called Shank3 are among the most common, occurring in about 0.5 percent of people with autism.
PITTSBURGH--Machine-learning algorithms increasingly make decisions about credit, medical diagnoses, personalized recommendations, advertising and job opportunities, among other things, but exactly how usually remains a mystery. Now, new measurement methods developed by Carnegie Mellon University researchers could provide important insights to this process.
(Edmonton, AB) Most people have heard the old adage "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." It's an old truth that encompasses more than just apples--eating fruit in general is well known to reduce risk for a wide variety of health conditions such as heart disease and stroke. But now a new study is showing the benefits of fruit can begin as early as in the womb.
Progranulin is a central protein in both neuronal survival and neurodegenerative diseases. It is thus not surprising that altered progranulin levels represent a universal theme shared across several common neurodegenerative diseases. In Alzheimer's Disease, for instance, reduced brain levels of progranulin contribute to the specific amyloid disease pathology, while increased levels appear to protect against this pathology. In genetic forms of another type of dementia, namely frontotemporal dementia (FTD), progranulin levels can be reduced.