Brain | Page 469 | Science Codex

Blood test may help determine who is at risk for psychosis

A study led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers represents an important step forward in the accurate diagnosis of people who are experiencing the earliest stages of psychosis.

Psychosis includes hallucinations or delusions that define the development of severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia. Schizophrenia emerges in late adolescence and early adulthood and affects about 1 in every 100 people. In severe cases, the impact on a young person can be a life compromised, and the burden on family members can be almost as severe.

Evidence supports deep brain stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder

September 22, 2014 – Available research evidence supports the use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who don't respond to other treatments, concludes a review in the October issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS).

Classroom intervention helps shy kids learn

A program that helps teachers modify their interactions with students based on an individual's temperament helps shy children to become more engaged in their class work, and in turn, improves their math and critical thinking skills.

Led by NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the study offers an evidence-based intervention to help shy children, who are often at risk for poor academic achievement. The findings appear in the Journal of School Psychology.

Neurosurgery tackles past, current and future concepts of sports concussion

September 22, 2014 - An estimated 1.68 to 3.8 million sports-related concussions occur in the United States each year, and there are likely a significant number that go unreported. Current Concepts in Sports Concussion is a comprehensive, 16-article supplement of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

Communication without detours

Certain nerve cells take a shortcut for the transmission of information: signals are not conducted via the cell`s center, but around it like on a bypass road. The previously unknown nerve cell shape is now presented in the journal "Neuron" by a research team from Heidelberg, Mannheim and Bonn.

Brief intervention may prevent increased risk of depression in teens

A low-cost, one-time intervention that educates teens about the changeable nature of personality traits may prevent an increase in depressive symptoms often seen during the transition to high school, according to new research published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Domestic violence likely more frequent for same-sex couples

CHICAGO --- Domestic violence occurs at least as frequently, and likely even more so, between same-sex couples compared to opposite-sex couples, according to a review of literature by Northwestern Medicine scientists.

A two generation lens: Current state policies fail to support families with young children

September 19, 2014 -- Recent two-generation approaches to reducing poverty that help children and their parents are receiving increasing attention from researchers, advocates, and foundations. By combining education and training for parents to enable them to move to jobs that offer a path out of poverty with high-quality early care and education for children, these programs aim to improve the life opportunities of both.

Mayo researchers reveal pathway that contributes to Alzheimer's disease

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Researchers at Jacksonville's campus of Mayo Clinic have discovered a defect in a key cell-signaling pathway they say contributes to both overproduction of toxic protein in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients as well as loss of communication between neurons — both significant contributors to this type of dementia.

Simple test can help detect Alzheimer's before dementia signs show: York U study

TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2014 — York University researchers say a simple test that combines thinking and movement can help to detect heightened risk for developing Alzheimer's disease in a person, even before there are any telltale behavioural signs of dementia.

Neurons express 'gloss' using three perceptual parameters

Japanese researchers showed monkeys a number of images representing various glosses and then they measured the responses of 39 neurons by using microelectrodes. They found that a specific population of neurons changed the intensities of the responses linearly according to either the contrast-of-highlight, sharpness-of-highlight, or brightness of the object. This shows that these 3 perceptual parameters are used as parameters when the brain recognizes a variety of glosses. They also found that different parameters are represented by different populations of neurons.

Mouse model sheds light on role of mitochondria in neurodegenerative diseases

(SALT LAKE CITY)—A new study by researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine sheds light on a longstanding question about the role of mitochondria in debilitating and fatal motor neuron diseases and resulted in a new mouse model to study such illnesses.

Evolution of responses to (un)fairness

The sense of fairness did not evolve for the sake of fairness per se but in order to reap the benefits of continued cooperation, so say Frans de Waal, PhD, and Sarah Brosnan, PhD, co-authors of a review article about inequity aversion (IA), which is defined as a negative reaction to unequal outcomes. The review is published in Science.

Cooling of dialysis fluids protects against brain damage

Washington, DC (September 18, 2014) — While dialysis can cause blood pressure changes that damage the brain, cooling dialysis fluids can protect against such effects. The findings come from a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The cooling intervention can be delivered without additional cost and is simple to perform.

Video games could dramatically streamline educational research

PULLMAN, Wash. – "Seeking educational curriculum researchers. Humans need not apply."

A Washington State University professor has figured out a dramatically easier and more cost-effective way to do research on science curriculum in the classroom – and it could include playing video games.