http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Natalie Ciaccio, a fourth-year graduate student researcher in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Kansas, is investigating what might be an ideal target for anti-cancer drug therapy, and she is focusing her work on brain tumors specifically. http://phys.org/news157964876.html Medicine & Health Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:08:21 EST news157964876 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have revealed the role of one type of brain cell in the development of a process crucial for memory and learning. http://phys.org/news157910233.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:59:20 EST news157910233 (PhysOrg.com) -- If you've ever been sleep-deprived, you know the feeling that your brain is full of wool. http://phys.org/news157901492.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:32:05 EST news157901492 Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have shed light on how the neurotransmitter dopamine helps brain cells process important information. http://phys.org/news157899518.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:59:01 EST news157899518 A new study has identified a potential strategy for removing the abnormal protein that causes Huntington's disease (HD) from brain cells, which could slow the progression of the devastating neurological disorder. In the April 3 issue of Cell, a team of researchers from the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MGH-MIND) describes how an alteration to the mutated form of the huntingtin protein appears to accelerate its breakdown and removal through normal cellular processes. http://phys.org/news157895508.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:52:15 EST news157895508 Mapping the billions of connections in the brain is a grand challenge in neuroscience. The current method for mapping interconnected brain cells involves the use of room-size microscopes known as transmission electron microscopes (TEMs). Until now the process of mapping even small areas of the brain using these massive machines would have required several decades. In this week's open-access journal PLoS Biology, research teams at the University of Utah John A. Moran Eye Center and the University of Colorado at Boulder report technical advances that have reduced the time it takes to process high-speed "color" ultrastructure mapping of brain regions down to a few months. http://phys.org/news157733857.html Biology Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:59:13 EST news157733857 A new study published as the cover article for the April 2009 issue of The FASEB Journal promises to give physicians new ways to reduce deadly responses to viral infections of the brain and spinal cord. In the report, scientists from Columbia University, NY, detail for the first time the chemical processes that star-shaped nerve cells, called astrocytes, use to handle invading viruses and to summon other immune cells to cause life-threatening inflammation. http://phys.org/news157713299.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:15:23 EST news157713299 Molecules assumed to be in the exclusive employ of the immune system have been caught moonlighting in the brain - with a job description apparently quite distinct from their role in immunity. http://phys.org/news157653719.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:42:36 EST news157653719 A growth factor used in clinical experiments to rescue dying brain cells in Parkinson patients may cause unwanted weight loss if delivered to specific areas of the brain, according to University of Florida researchers in the March online edition of Molecular Therapy. http://phys.org/news157126310.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:12:52 EST news157126310 A tiny genetic mutation is the key to understanding why nicotine--which binds to brain receptors with such addictive potency--is virtually powerless in muscle cells that are studded with the same type of receptor. That's according to California Institute of Technology (Caltech) researchers, who report their findings in the March 26 issue of the journal Nature. http://phys.org/news157043211.html Chemistry Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:07:28 EST news157043211 A type of brain cell that was long overlooked by researchers embodies one of very few ways in which the human brain differs fundamentally from that of a mouse or rat, according to researchers who published their findings as the cover story in the March 11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. http://phys.org/news157036357.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:13:09 EST news157036357 (PhysOrg.com) -- Pioneering research published today suggests that a vitamin supplement taken during pregnancy could prevent hydrocephalus - one of the common forms of birth brain defect. http://phys.org/news156526442.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:34:33 EST news156526442 Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that convulsive seizures in a form of severe epilepsy are generated, not on the brain's surface as expected, but from within the memory-forming hippocampus. The scientists hope that their findings - based on a mouse model of severe epilepsy - may someday pave the way for improved treatments of childhood epilepsy, which affects more than two percent of children worldwide. Their study will be published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) the week of March 16. http://phys.org/news156443277.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:28:24 EST news156443277 (PhysOrg.com) -- How does the human brain run itself without any software? Find that out, say European researchers, and a whole new field of neural computing will open up. A prototype 'brain on a chip' is already working. http://phys.org/news156440026.html Technology Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:34:56 EST news156440026 Imbalance of iron homeostasis is a common feature of prion disease-affected human, mouse, and hamster brains, according to a new study by Dr. Neena Singh and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, alongside collaborators from Creighton University. These findings, published March 13 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, provide new insight into the mechanism of neurotoxicity in prion disorders, and novel avenues for the development of therapeutic strategies. http://phys.org/news156173016.html Medicine & Health Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:25:12 EST news156173016 An enzyme researchers have studied for years because of its potential connections to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and stroke, appears to have yet another major role to play: helping create and maintain the brain. http://phys.org/news156058874.html Medicine & Health Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:41:48 EST news156058874 Everyone knows that its important to keep a cool head, but a new study published online in The FASEB Journal shows that for Alzheimer's patients, a cool head may make the disease worse. In the research report, scientists show that a protein associated with Alzheimer's (called "tau") builds up in brain cells at an increased rate when temperatures fall, such as when a patient is anesthetized or experiences hypothermia. This finding should be of immediate concern to surgeons, dentists, and any other health care professionals who anesthetize patients with Alzheimer's or patients at an elevated risk for the disease. http://phys.org/news156006168.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:08:59 EST news156006168 VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, Belgium) researchers connected to the Born-Bunge Institute and the University of Antwerp discovered the amount of growth factor progranulin in blood is a predictor of Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD). Progranulin plays a major role in the survival of brain cells. People producing less progranulin have higher risk of contracting FTD. The researchers developed a test, measuring the amount of progranulin in the blood thus predicting a person's risk. This offers possibilities for early detection. http://phys.org/news155558617.html Medicine & Health Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:44:08 EST news155558617 The impact of the amyloid plaques that appear in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease may extend beyond the deposits' effects on neurons - the cells that transmit electrochemical signals throughout the nervous system. In an article in the Feb. 27 issue of Science, researchers from the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MGH-MIND) report that amyloid plaques may also increase the activity of astrocytes, star-shaped nervous system cells traditionally considered to provide a supporting role in normal brain function. They also show that amyloid-induced astrocyte hyperactivity extends throughout the brain rather than being confined to regions directly adjacent to plaques. http://phys.org/news154881070.html Medicine & Health Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:32:52 EST news154881070 Women who have more years of fertility (the time from first menstruation to menopause) have a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than women with fewer years, according to a large, new study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. http://phys.org/news154803926.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:07:41 EST news154803926 (PhysOrg.com) -- Two compounds developed by Northwestern University chemists have been shown to be effective in pre-clinical trials in protecting against cerebral palsy, a condition caused by neurodegeneration that affects body movement and muscle coordination. http://phys.org/news154784556.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:43:16 EST news154784556 (Physorg.com) -- Sleep experts know that the mental clarity lost because of a few sleepless nights can often be restored with a good night's rest. Now, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have identified a key molecular mechanism that regulates the brain's ability to mentally compensate for sleep deprivation. http://phys.org/news154683529.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:39:30 EST news154683529 Researchers have created an algorithm that meshes existing data to produce a clearer step-by-step flow chart of how cells respond to stimuli. Using this new method, Whitehead Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists have analyzed alpha-synuclein toxicity to identify genes and pathways that can affect cell survival. Misfolded copies of the alpha-synuclein protein in brain cells are a hallmark of Parkinson's disease. http://phys.org/news154540106.html Medicine & Health Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:51:22 EST news154540106 Researchers have known for decades that the brain has a remarkable ability to "reprogram" itself to compensate for problems such as traumatic injury. Now, a research article published in the February 2009 issue of the journal Genetics suggests that the brain may also be able to compensate for problems with key neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine. This finding may open the doors to entirely new lines of research and treatments for a wide range of brain disorders, including addiction, depression, Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia. http://phys.org/news154350455.html Medicine & Health Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:08:14 EST news154350455 (PhysOrg.com) -- To measure anxiety in a mouse and suggest it’s similar to anxiety in a person may seem like a stretch, but the metrics sound uncannily familiar. Paralyzed by fear, afraid to leave the house or socialize with others, scared of new places, preferring the dark to the light of day. http://phys.org/news154281616.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:01:04 EST news154281616 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cannabis has been used recreationally and for medicinal purposes for centuries, yet its 60 plus active components are only partly understood. Now scientists have discovered how a compound in cannabis can help cells to function in our bodies, and aid recovery after a damaging event. http://phys.org/news154280470.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:41:49 EST news154280470 A case report published in this week's issue of the open-access general medical journal, PLoS Medicine, describes a rare side effect of human fetal stem cell therapy. Ninette Amariglio and Gideon Rechavi from the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel, and colleagues report the case of a boy with a rare genetic disease, Ataxia Telangiectasia, who underwent human fetal stem cell therapy at an unrelated clinic in Moscow and who, four years after the therapy began, was shown to have abnormal growths in his brain and spinal cord. http://phys.org/news154161352.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:36:21 EST news154161352 (PhysOrg.com) -- Georgia State researchers in the university’s Neuroscience Institute and the department of biology are investigating how stem cells create new brain cells in adulthood. http://phys.org/news154020997.html Biology Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:37:29 EST news154020997 (PhysOrg.com) -- A brain scan of a person experiencing an epileptic seizure looks like the Great Plains during an early evening in midsummer. Fierce electrical storms pop up seemingly at random, proliferate over large areas and subside almost as quickly as they arose. http://phys.org/news154020751.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:33:06 EST news154020751 Fruit flies and humans share most of their genes, including 70 percent of all known human disease genes. Taking advantage of this remarkable evolutionary conservation, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies transformed the fruit fly into a laboratory model for an innovative study of gliomas, the most common malignant brain tumors. http://phys.org/news153738376.html Biology Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:06:40 EST news153738376