Pretty much everything happening in the brain would fail without astrocytes. These star-shaped glial cells are known to have a critical role in synapse creation, nervous tissue repair, and the formation of the blood-brain barrier. But while we have decades of data in mice about these nervous system support cells, how relevant those experiments are to human biology (and the success of potential therapies) has been an open question.
Brain
CAMBRIDGE, MA - Although it is known that psychiatric disorders have a strong genetic component, untangling the web of genes contributing to each disease is a daunting task. Scientists have found hundreds of genes that are mutated in patients with disorders such as autism, but each patient usually has only a handful of these variations.
To further complicate matters, some of these genes contribute to more than one disorder. One such gene, known as Shank3, has been linked to both autism and schizophrenia.
Toronto, Canada - Why is it that some people have richly detailed recollection of past experiences (episodic memory), while others tend to remember just the facts without details (semantic memory)?
A research team from the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences has shown for the first time that these different ways of experiencing the past are associated with distinct brain connectivity patterns that may be inherent to the individual and suggest a life-long 'memory trait'.
The study was recently published online in the journal Cortex.
December 10, 2015 - An increasing proportion of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are undergoing recommended evaluation in the preschool years--but population rates of ASD remain higher in eight-year-olds compared to four-year-olds, reports a study in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
It is estimated that roughly seven million Americans each year -- or 25 percent of those eligible -- fail to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the primary channel through which the government supports the working poor. Economists and policymakers have long been puzzled over why millions of low to moderate income individuals voluntarily forego credits worth, on average, a month of income.
While many rabid fans may have scratched their heads when a 2011 study showed that spoilers could improve story enjoyment, a recent experiment, conducted by researchers Benjamin Johnson (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and Judith Rosenbaum (Albany State University), shows that narrative spoilers can ruin a story. Their findings show that spoilers reduce people's entertainment experiences.
In an international collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD, USA), neuroscientists at the Ruhr-University Bochum have determined a link between brain levels of the neurotransmitter GABA, the main source of inhibition in the brain, and tactile learning. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, they were able to show that success in learning can be predicted by baseline GABA levels. The results of this research were recently published in the scientific journal "Cerebral Cortex".
Neurotransmitter GABA plays vital role in neural processing
Adjusting a specific deep-brain circuit's firing frequency immediately and dramatically alters rats' forebrain activity and alertness levels, Stanford University School of Medicine investigators have shown.
AURORA, Colo. (Dec. 10, 2015) - Despite popular perceptions, cheerleading is one of the safest high school sports, yet the relatively few injuries sustained are often some of the most severe, according to a new study from the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
ANN ARBOR--By studying videos from high-stakes court cases, University of Michigan researchers are building unique lie-detecting software based on real-world data.
Their prototype considers both the speaker's words and gestures, and unlike a polygraph, it doesn't need to touch the subject in order to work. In experiments, it was up to 75 percent accurate in identifying who was being deceptive (as defined by trial outcomes), compared with humans' scores of just above 50 percent.
To give good directions, it is not enough to say the right things: saying them in the right order is also important, shows a study in Frontiers in Psychology. Sentences that start with a prominent landmark and end with the object of interest work better than sentences where this order is reversed. These results could have direct applications in the fields of artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction.
MINNEAPOLIS - A pesticide used prior to the early 1980s and found in milk at that time may be associated with signs of Parkinson's disease in the brain, according to a study published in the December 9, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
"The link between dairy products and Parkinson's disease has been found in other studies," said study author R. D. Abbott, PhD, with the Shiga University of Medical Science in Otsu, Japan. "Our study looked specifically at milk and the signs of Parkinson's in the brain."
The John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values at the University of Notre Dame has released its fourth annual list of emerging ethical dilemmas and policy issues in science and technology for 2016. This list is designed to get people thinking about potential ethical dilemmas before controversial science or technology goes mainstream.
Results of an ongoing phase 1b clinical trial presented today at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium show promise of the experimental anti-cancer agent ONT-380 against metastatic HER2+ breast cancer, especially against brain metastases commonly associated with progression of the disease. Of 33 evaluable patients with metastatic HER2+ breast cancer (with and without brain metastases), 19 (58 percent) showed clinical benefit, with 16 achieving at least "stable disease" (i.e. no tumor progression while on trial), of which 11 patients experienced "partial response" (i.e.
(Philadelphia, PA) - Patients with mild heart failure stand to benefit from a new drug that can halt the progression of their disease and reduce their risk of cardiovascular-related death. But the drug -- a tablet that combines the agents valsartan and sacubitril, sold under the trade name Entresto by drugmaker Novartis -- may be too good to be true, according to Arthur M. Feldman, MD, PhD, Executive Dean of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM), Chief Academic Officer of the Temple University Health System, and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Medicine at LKSOM.