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. Johns Hopkins researchers report the discovery of a molecular switch that regulates the behavior of a protein that, when altered, is already known to increase human susceptibility to schizophrenia and mood disorders. http://phys.org/news221313784.html Medicine & Health Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:03:20 EST news221313784 Using MRI, researchers may be able to predict which adults with mild cognitive impairment are more likely to progress to Alzheimer's disease, according to the results of a study published online and in the June issue of Radiology. http://phys.org/news221280176.html Medicine & Health Wed, 06 Apr 2011 03:43:15 EST news221280176 Primates, particularly humans, are set apart from other vertebrates by more than a huge expansion of the cerebral cortex, the region of the brain used for thinking. The connection and coordination of the cerebral cortex with other, older parts of the brain also play a significant role, according to findings published recently in Science by a research team from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI) in Wako, Japan. http://phys.org/news221156780.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:26:40 EST news221156780 Understanding functional properties of the brain’s structural units is one of the main aims of brain research. Until now only fragmentary borders of brain areas could be identified in vivo since the resolution in MR images was not high enough. By using a high-field MRI scanner (field strength of 7 Tesla), a team of researchers led by Stefan Geyer and Robert Turner from the Department of Neurophysics at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig made borders between some areas of the Brodmann map more clearly visible in a living human brain than ever before. More than a century ago, neuroanatomist Korbinian Brodmann subdivided the human cerebral cortex microscopically into structurally different areas. These “Brodmann maps” are used to this day as a classic structural guide to functional units in the cortex in neuroscientific research. This indirect correlation can be somewhat imprecise, however, as no human brain is like another. The technological breakthrough achieved by the research team from Leipzig moves the concept of an individual brain atlas into the realm of possibility. http://phys.org/news220783201.html Medicine & Health Thu, 31 Mar 2011 09:40:27 EST news220783201 In the cerebral cortex, the balance between excitation (pyramidal neurons) and inhibition (interneurons) is thought to be mediated by the primary mode of neuronal communication: "all-or-none" action potentials, or spikes. However, Dr. Yousheng Shu's research group at the Institute of Neuroscience of Chinese Academy of Sciences has discovered a new strategy by which the cortex can maintain this balance, by showing that the amount of inhibition depends on the membrane potentials (Vm) in pyramidal cells, which represents an "analog" strategy. Their results will be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news220039958.html Medicine & Health Tue, 22 Mar 2011 19:13:32 EST news220039958 In a recent study, scientists from the Max Planck Florida Institute have provided one of the most comprehensive analyses to date of the detailed architecture of individual functionally characterized neurons in the cerebral cortex, the largest and most complex area of the brain, whose functions include sensory perception, motor control, and cognition. http://phys.org/news219583083.html Medicine & Health Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:18:24 EST news219583083 The brain is a black box. A complex circuitry of neurons fires information through channels, much like the inner workings of a computer chip. But while computer processors are regimented with the deft economy of an assembly line, neural circuits are impenetrable masses. Think tumbleweed. http://phys.org/news218899629.html Medicine & Health Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:27:36 EST news218899629 Movement disorders such as Parkinson's diseases and dystonia are caused by abnormal neural activity of the basal ganglia located deep in the brain. The basal ganglia are connected to the cerebral cortex in the brain surface through complex neural circuits. Their basic structure and connections, as well as the dysfunctions in movement disorders, have been examined extensively by using experimental animals. On the other hand, little is known about the human brain that is much more complex in either normal or diseased states. http://phys.org/news218891461.html Medicine & Health Wed, 09 Mar 2011 11:30:01 EST news218891461 A study led by Academy Research Fellow Eleanor Coffey identifies new players that put the brakes on. They show in mice that lack the star player "JNK1", that newborn neurons spend less time in the multipolar stage, which is when the cells prepare for subsequent expedition, possibly choosing the route to be taken. Having hurried through this stage, they move off at high speed to reach their final destinations in the cortex days earlier and less precisely than in a normal mouse. The results of their study are published in the latest issue of Nature Neuroscience. http://phys.org/news217850204.html Medicine & Health Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:57:04 EST news217850204 Nerve bundles in the visual cortex of the brain in blind people may process the sense of touch. http://phys.org/news217604626.html Medicine & Health Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:43:59 EST news217604626 (PhysOrg.com) -- The dynamics behind signal transmission in the brain are extremely chaotic. This conclusion has been reached by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization at the University of Gottingen. In addition, the researchers calculated, for the first time, how quickly information stored in the activity patterns of the cerebral cortex neurons is discarded. At one bit per active neuron per second, the speed at which this information is forgotten is surprisingly high. http://phys.org/news215086863.html Physics Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:10:01 EST news215086863 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study on social cognition has clarified a key role for the medial frontal region of the cerebral cortex in differentiating between the actions of oneself and the actions of others. http://phys.org/news215080960.html Medicine & Health Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:30:01 EST news215080960 (PhysOrg.com) -- Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's grey matter. http://phys.org/news214839934.html Medicine & Health Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:48:03 EST news214839934 Carnegie Mellon University researchers have found that within the brain's neocortex lies a subnetwork of highly active neurons that behave much like people in social networks. Like Facebook, these neuronal networks have a small population of highly active members who give and receive more information than the majority of other members, says Alison Barth, associate professor of biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon and a member of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC). By identifying these neurons, scientists will now be able to study them further and increase their understanding of the neocortex, which is thought to be the brain's center of higher learning. http://phys.org/news213880429.html Medicine & Health Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:14:07 EST news213880429 Many brain imaging studies have reported that tobacco smoking is associated with large-scale and wide-spread structural brain abnormalities. http://phys.org/news210506611.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Dec 2010 10:03:48 EST news210506611 New results from a study by neuroscientists at Rush University Medical Center suggest that people at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease exhibit a specific structural change in the brain that can be visualized by brain imaging. The findings may help identify those who would most benefit from early intervention. http://phys.org/news209152662.html Medicine & Health Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:20:01 EST news209152662 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have uncovered a self-organizing biological principle in the brains of three very different, genetically diverse mammals -- but in all three they found the same mathematically precise "pinwheel" organization and orientation of neurons. http://phys.org/news208110964.html Biology Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:36:24 EST news208110964 Dracula, Frankenstein, witches, ghosts and goblins are all around us at this time of year -- and Hollywood keeps them at our beck and call for the rest of the year as well. Scary movies allow us to experience the tonic of a good fright whenever we want one, but why do people seek out that experience? http://phys.org/news207565396.html Medicine & Health Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:03:26 EST news207565396 Is there a relation between the structure of specific regions of the brain and nicotine dependence? This is the question researchers of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) Berlin, Germany, have been investigating lately. The results of these investigations extend and specify those of preceding studies: A specific region of the cerebral cortex of smokers is thinner than that of people who have never smoked in their lives. This region is decisive for reward, impulse control, and the making of decisions. The questions of whether smoking leads to this cerebral region becoming thinner - or whether people who have a thinner cortex region by nature are more frequently inclined to become smokers - can only be clarified by further investigations. http://phys.org/news207478175.html Medicine & Health Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:49:48 EST news207478175 Using monkey electrophysiology, Dr. Koida and Dr. Komatsu (Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan) found that task demand altered the response of the inferior temporal neurons. http://phys.org/news207318608.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 Oct 2010 13:40:02 EST news207318608 University of Utah (U of U) medical researchers have made an important step in diagnosing autism through using MRI, an advance that eventually could help health care providers indentify the problem much earlier in children and lead to improved treatment and outcomes for those with the disorder. http://phys.org/news206161346.html Medicine & Health Wed, 13 Oct 2010 04:02:39 EST news206161346 Electrical stimulation has been used as a sort of defibrillator of consciousness, rousing a victim of traumatic brain injury to at least partial awareness, after years in a coma. The procedure, termed deep brain stimulation, has also been used to treat Parkinson’s disease and has shown some promise for use in epilepsy, cluster headaches and treatment-resistant depression. But new research shows that the even, equally spaced electrical pulses typically used in the procedure now are not necessarily the most effective. Complicating the temporal pattern, Rockefeller University researchers say, may improve outcomes by more closely mimicking the dynamic signals that comprise the natural traffic of neurons. http://phys.org/news205059100.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Sep 2010 09:51:55 EST news205059100 Up to now, Broca's region in the brain has been thought to comprise two areas, since it was discovered in 1861, it has been regarded as one of the two regions in the cerebral cortex responsible for language. The conception of the neuroanatomical basis of our speech must be revised in its entirety according to researchers from Juelich, Aachen, Duesseldorf and Leipzig in the current edition of the journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news204310428.html Medicine & Health Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:20:05 EST news204310428 Computational neuroscientists at the Queensland Brain Institute have done the sums - and found that a mathematical model could help improve the understanding of developmental disorders. http://phys.org/news203853110.html Other Sciences Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:20:01 EST news203853110 (PhysOrg.com) -- Our cerebral cortex, or pallium, is a big part of what makes us human: art, literature and science would not exist had this most fascinating part of our brain not emerged in some less intelligent ancestor in prehistoric times. But when did this occur and what were these ancestors? http://phys.org/news202651805.html Biology Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:20:01 EST news202651805 About 40 million people in the U.S. today suffer from tinnitus, an irritating and sometimes debilitating auditory disorder in which a person "hears" sounds, such as ringing, that don't actually exist. There isn't a cure for what has long been a mysterious ailment, but new research suggests there may, someday, be a way to alleviate the sensation of this sound, says a neuroscientist from Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). http://phys.org/news196519395.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:00:01 EST news196519395 UCSF scientists have discovered a new stem cell in the developing human brain. The cell produces nerve cells that help form the neocortex - the site of higher cognitive function -- and likely accounts for the dramatic expansion of the region in the lineages that lead to man, the researchers say. http://phys.org/news194001050.html Medicine & Health Tue, 25 May 2010 10:40:09 EST news194001050 Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have found new evidence that the basal ganglia and the cerebellum, two important areas in the central nervous system, are linked together to form an integrated functional network. The findings are available online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://phys.org/news190898837.html Medicine & Health Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:00:12 EST news190898837 A research project of the Neuroscience Center of the University of Helsinki sheds light on the neuronal mechanisms sustaining memory traces of visual stimuli in the human brain. The results show that the maintenance of working memory is associated with synchronisation of neurons, which facilitates communication between different parts of the brain. On the basis of interaction between the brain areas, it was even possible to predict the subject's individual working memory capacity. The results were published last week in the online version of the renowned journal PNAS. http://phys.org/news190373523.html Medicine & Health Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:50:01 EST news190373523 A study in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal SLEEP found gray matter concentration deficits in multiple brain areas of people with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The study suggests that the memory impairment, cardiovascular disturbances, executive dysfunctions, and dysregulation of autonomic and respiratory control frequently observed in OSA patients may be related to morphological changes in brain structure. http://phys.org/news184169963.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:02 EST news184169963