http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Ghrelin, a hormone produced in the stomach, may be used to boost resistance to, or slow, the development of Parkinson's disease, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in a study published in a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. http://www.physorg.com/news178376748.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:20:02 EST news178376748 Australian scientists have significantly advanced our understanding of dopamine release from nerve cells, findings that should speed the development of more effective drugs for treating Parkinson's Disease. http://www.physorg.com/news177765108.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:30:03 EST news177765108 At the moment a newborn switches from amniotic fluid to breathing air, another profound shift occurs: nerve cells in the brain convert from hyperexcitability to a calm frame against which outside signals can be detected. http://www.physorg.com/news177701546.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:34:29 EST news177701546 Use of cannabinoids (marijuana) could assist in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder patients. This is exposed in a recent study carried out at the Learning and Memory Lab in the University of Haifa's Department of Psychology. The study, carried out by research student Eti Ganon-Elazar under the supervision of Dr. Irit Akirav, was published in the prestigious Journal of Neuroscience. http://www.physorg.com/news176550224.html Medicine & Health Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:00:01 EST news176550224 Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have shown that a highly specific intrabody (an antibody fragment that works against a target inside a cell) is capable of stalling the development of Huntington's disease in a variety of mouse models. http://www.physorg.com/news176126406.html Medicine & Health Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:01:53 EST news176126406 An f1000 evaluation examines how pain relief improves greatly when the sufferer can actually see the area where the pain is occurring. http://www.physorg.com/news176047794.html Medicine & Health Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:40:03 EST news176047794 People often eat food to feel better, but researchers have found that eating chocolate or drinking water can blunt pain, reducing a rat's response to a hot stimulus. This natural form of pain relief may help animals in the wild avoid distraction while eating scarce food, but in modern humans with readily available food, the effect may contribute to overeating and obesity. http://www.physorg.com/news174671978.html Medicine & Health Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:00:08 EST news174671978 A new study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) of McGill University reveals that different patterns of training and learning lead to different types of memory formation. The significance of the study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, is that it identifies the molecular differences between spaced training (distributed over time) and massed training (at very short intervals), shedding light on brain function and guiding learning and training principles. http://www.physorg.com/news173616029.html Medicine & Health Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:00:01 EST news173616029 Chaos brews in the brains of newborns: the nerve cells are still bound only loosely to each other. Under the leadership of Academy Research Fellow Sari Lauri, a team of researchers at the University of Helsinki has been studying for years how a neural network capable of processing information effectively is created out of chaos. The team has now found a new kind of mechanism that adjusts the functional development of nerve cell contacts. The results were published in early September as the leading article of the esteemed Journal of Neuroscience. http://www.physorg.com/news173440358.html Medicine & Health Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:10:01 EST news173440358 Japanese research group led by Professor Junichi Nabekura in National Institute for Physiological Sciences, NIPS, Japan, found that, after cerebral stroke in one side of the mouse brain, another side of the brain rewires its neural circuits to recuperate from damaged neural function. The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) supported this study. http://www.physorg.com/news170066095.html Medicine & Health Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:35:44 EST news170066095 The adult lower digestive tract can be stimulated to add neurons to the intestinal system, according to new mouse research in the August 5 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The study shows that drugs similar to the neurotransmitter serotonin increase the production of new neurons in the gut. This is the first research to confirm that an adult intestine can generate neurons in the enteric nervous system, the network of neurons in the gut's wall that controls the gastrointestinal system. http://www.physorg.com/news168627007.html Medicine & Health Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:50:33 EST news168627007 Inhibiting an enzyme in the brains of newborns suffering from oxygen and blood flow deprivation stops a type of brain damage that is a leading cause of cerebral palsy, mental retardation and death, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. http://www.physorg.com/news168088136.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:20:01 EST news168088136 University of Utah School of Medicine researchers and their colleagues at University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center have found strong evidence that abnormal calcium signaling in neurons may play an important role in the development of spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2), a disorder causing progressive loss of coordination, speech difficulty, and abnormal eye movements. Their findings are published in the July 27, 2009 issue of Journal of Neuroscience. http://www.physorg.com/news167488840.html Medicine & Health Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:41:02 EST news167488840 Barrow Neurological Institute researchers have identified a novel receptor in the brain that is extremely sensitive to beta-amyloid peptide (AB) and may play a key role in early stages of Alzheimer's disease. http://www.physorg.com/news166975011.html Medicine & Health Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:57:12 EST news166975011 (PhysOrg.com) -- The human brain can adapt to changing demands even in adulthood, but MIT neuroscientists have now found evidence of it changing with unsuspected speed. Their findings suggest that the brain has a network of silent connections that underlie its plasticity. http://www.physorg.com/news166811731.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:36:01 EST news166811731 "Push your finger as hard as you can against the surface. Now as hard as you can but move it slowly - follow the ticking clock. Now faster. Now faster." http://www.physorg.com/news166251775.html Medicine & Health Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:03:15 EST news166251775 An observer feels more empathy for someone in pain when that person is in the same social group, according to new research in the July 1 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The study shows that perceiving others in pain activates a part of the brain associated with empathy and emotion more if the observer and the observed are the same race. The findings may show that unconscious prejudices against outside groups exist at a basic level. http://www.physorg.com/news165600656.html Medicine & Health Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:11:13 EST news165600656 A Japanese research group, led by Dr. Yoko Yamagata of the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, has successfully generated a novel kinase-dead mutant mouse of the CaMKIIalpha gene that completely and exclusively lacks its kinase activity. They examined hippocampal synaptic plasticity and behavioral learning of the mouse, and found a severe deficit in both processes. They reported their findings in Journal of Neuroscience on June 10, 2009. http://www.physorg.com/news164625012.html Medicine & Health Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:19:20 EST news164625012 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study has identified a specific class of pharmaceutical drugs that could be effective in treating babies vulnerable to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), because their mothers smoked during pregnancy. http://www.physorg.com/news163258116.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:29:04 EST news163258116 A University of Toronto study provides the first direct evidence that our mood literally changes the way our visual system filters our perceptual experience suggesting that seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses is more biological reality than metaphor. http://www.physorg.com/news163244296.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:38:59 EST news163244296 Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have created a line of fruit flies that may someday help shed light on the mechanisms that cause insomnia in humans. The flies, which only get a small fraction of the sleep of normal flies, resemble insomniac humans in several ways. http://www.physorg.com/news163182399.html Medicine & Health Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:27:21 EST news163182399 Cambridge University researchers have discovered that whether someone is a 'people-person' may depend on the structure of their brain: the greater the concentration of brain tissue in certain parts of the brain, the more likely they are to be a warm, sentimental person. http://www.physorg.com/news162017277.html Medicine & Health Wed, 20 May 2009 06:05:28 EST news162017277 Older adults may have difficulty understanding speech because of age-related changes in brain tissue, according to new research in the May 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The study shows that older adults with the most difficulty understanding spoken words had less brain tissue in a region important for speech recognition. The findings may help explain why hearing aids do not benefit all people with age-related hearing difficulties. http://www.physorg.com/news161367888.html Medicine & Health Tue, 12 May 2009 17:25:14 EST news161367888 New research on a brain chemical involved in development sheds light on why some individuals may be predisposed to anxiety. It also strengthens understanding of cellular processes that may be common to anxiety and depression, and suggests how lifestyle changes may help overcome both. http://www.physorg.com/news161367803.html Medicine & Health Tue, 12 May 2009 17:23:53 EST news161367803 Researchers at the Université de Montreal (UdeM) and the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), McGill University have discovered that cells which normally support nerve cell (neuron) survival also play an active and major role in the death of neurons in the eye. The findings, published this week in The Journal of Neuroscience, may lead to more streamlined therapies for a variety of acute and chronic neurological disorders, including glaucoma and retinal artery occlusion. http://www.physorg.com/news160912042.html Medicine & Health Thu, 07 May 2009 10:54:38 EST news160912042 Although fractions are thought to be a difficult mathematical concept to learn, the adult brain encodes them automatically without conscious thought, according to new research in the April 8 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The study shows that cells in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and the prefrontal cortex - brain regions important for processing whole numbers - are tuned to respond to particular fractions. The findings suggest that adults have an intuitive understanding of fractions and may aid in the development of new teaching techniques. http://www.physorg.com/news158345849.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:57:52 EST news158345849 (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://www.physorg.com/news157910233.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:59:20 EST news157910233 Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have shed light on how the neurotransmitter dopamine helps brain cells process important information. http://www.physorg.com/news157899518.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:59:01 EST news157899518 Can we always see what is in front of us? According to Dr. Tony Ro, a Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at The City College of New York (CCNY), the answer is "no." New research published in "The Journal of Neuroscience" by Professor Ro and colleagues from the University of Illinois demonstrates that the brain cannot detect images when brainwave activity is in a trough. http://www.physorg.com/news157898608.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:44:38 EST news157898608 Microglia, immune cells in the brain, is suggested to be involved in the repair of damaged brain, like a medical doctor. However, it is completely unknown how microglia diagnoses damaged circuits in an in vivo brain. Japanese group led by Professor Junichi Nabekura and Dr Hiroaki Wake of National Institute for Physiological Sciences, NIPS, Japan, successfully took a live image how microglia surveys the synapses in the intact and ischemic brains of mice by using two-photon microscopic technology. They report their finding in Journal of Neuroscience on April 1, 2009. http://www.physorg.com/news157739552.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:32:58 EST news157739552