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. (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Alberta are looking to the tiny zebrafish for a way to regenerate damaged nerve cells in people. http://www.physorg.com/news159194818.html Medicine & Health Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:48:06 EST news159194818 (PhysOrg.com) -- For the past decade, researchers have tried to tweak cells at the gene and nucleus level to reprogram their identity. Now, working on the idea that the signature of a cell is defined by molecules called messenger RNAs, which contain the chemical blueprint for how to make a protein, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, School of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering have found another way to change one cell type into another. http://www.physorg.com/news159111087.html Biology Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:32:10 EST news159111087 The common research worm, C. elegans, is able to use heat-sensing nerve cells to not only regulate its response to hotter environments, but also to control the pace of its aging as a result of that heat, according to new research at the University of California, San Francisco. http://www.physorg.com/news159109624.html Biology Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:07:44 EST news159109624 Extensive death of nerve cells leads to severe dementia in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Until now, it has only been possible to investigate the neuronal devastation in post mortem animal models, and by using complicated methods. Researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) Muenchen, headed by Professor Christian Haass, have now successfully observed this demise of nerve cells by life imaging. The scientists inserted a gene into zebrafish that leads to a severe form of Alzheimer's in humans. The translucent larvae thereupon developed characteristic symptoms such as the death of neurons - the first directly observable instance in a living organism. http://www.physorg.com/news158929643.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:13:06 EST news158929643 If you hate prune juice and chalky fiber supplements, just sit down and relax. Help is on the way. In a research report published online in The FASEB Journal, a team of researchers has discovered a new way to make it a lot easier to go to the bathroom, especially when all other methods fail. Specifically, they have found a group of nerve ending receptors which, when stimulated, causes the bowels to pass waste, and the specific receptor needed to activate bowel clearance. Furthermore, they tested chemicals that work with those receptors, providing a blueprint for the development of new laxatives. http://www.physorg.com/news158420857.html Medicine & Health Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:48:11 EST news158420857 (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 As we look at the world around us, images flicker into our brains like so many disparate pixels on a computer screen that change every time our eyes move, which is several times a second. Yet we don't perceive the world as a constantly flashing computer display. Why not? http://www.physorg.com/news157906808.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:01:41 EST news157906808 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 A study at the University of Leeds has shown, for the first time, that C. elegans worms crawl and swim using the same gait, overturning the widely accepted belief that these two behaviours are completely different. http://www.physorg.com/news157721592.html Biology Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:33:34 EST news157721592 Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital are looking at how developing nerve cells may hold a key to predicting and preventing diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. http://www.physorg.com/news157642626.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:43:12 EST news157642626 A collaborative study led by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), McGill University has demonstrated a positive link between cognitive ability and cortical thickness in the brains of healthy 6 to 18 year olds. The correlation is evident in regions that integrate information from different parts of the brain. The imaging study published this week in a special issue of scientific journal Intelligence is the largest and most comprehensive of its kind with a representative sample of healthy children and adolescents. http://www.physorg.com/news157210821.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:40:45 EST news157210821 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://www.physorg.com/news157126310.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:12:52 EST news157126310 Imagine you are talking to a coworker when your vision blurs, and spots of light appear on the periphery. Feeling nauseated, you try to continue the conversation, but you`re having trouble remembering the words for things. Twenty minutes later you retreat home to bed, your head filled with a painful throbbing that magnifies every sound and makes light unbearable. http://www.physorg.com/news156712003.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:07:53 EST news156712003 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have discovered what could be causing Alzheimer`s disease sufferers to go on to develop epilepsy. http://www.physorg.com/news156698574.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:23:38 EST news156698574 Scientists have identified the first gene that pulls the plug on ailing nerve cell branches from within the nerve cell, possibly helping to trigger the painful condition known as neuropathy. http://www.physorg.com/news156346708.html Medicine & Health Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:39:41 EST news156346708 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen have succeeded in demonstrating for the first time that the activities of large parts of the brain can be altered in the long term. http://www.physorg.com/news155835170.html Medicine & Health Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:33:25 EST news155835170 The agglutination and accumulation of proteins in nerve cells are major hallmarks of age-related neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease. Cellular survival thus depends on a controlled removal of excessive protein. Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany) have now discovered exactly how specific control proteins regulate protein breakdown during the ageing process. http://www.physorg.com/news155141336.html Biology Sun, 01 Mar 2009 14:49:58 EST news155141336 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Aberdeen have unlocked the details of a communication process that helps to generate the brainwaves that allow us to think and learn. http://www.physorg.com/news154621190.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:20:22 EST news154621190 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have found a way of activating the neuronal reserves in the brains of mice by switching off the signal that inhibits the formation of new nerve cells. The study is presented in the online edition of the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience. http://www.physorg.com/news154620279.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:05:05 EST news154620279 (PhysOrg.com) -- Understanding the mechanisms by which the brain functions is one of the most complex challenges in science. One important aspect is the electrical conduction of stimuli in nerve cells. In order to study neuronal circuits, a sharp metal electrode is usually inserted into the brain to introduce a current. However, the response does not reflect the highly complex activation patterns of natural nerve stimuli. http://www.physorg.com/news154343296.html Chemistry Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:09:06 EST news154343296 (PhysOrg.com) -- A study from the Buck Institute for Age Research offers a revolutionary new model for Alzheimer`s disease (AD), a devastating neurodegenerative disorder which afflicts 24 million people worldwide. In an effort to unravel the normal function of a protein implicated in AD, scientists in California and France have discovered a naturally occurring protein that provides a new therapeutic target for the disease. http://www.physorg.com/news154285265.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:01:53 EST news154285265 (PhysOrg.com) -- Which modules of the tau protein, in neurons of Alzheimer disease patients, may act in a destructive manner were investigated by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (Göttingen) and the Max Planck Unit for Structural Molecular Biology (Hamburg) with the help of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. http://www.physorg.com/news154107548.html Biology Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:39:42 EST news154107548 (PhysOrg.com) -- In comparison to many other living creatures, flies tend to be small and their brains, despite their complexity, are quite manageable. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried have now ascertained that these insects can make up for their low number of nerve cells by means of sophisticated network interactions. http://www.physorg.com/news154100854.html Biology Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:48:05 EST news154100854 (PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of scientists led by the University of Leeds has shed new light on the little-understood motor protein called dynein, thought to be involved in progressive neurological disorders such as motor neurone disease. http://www.physorg.com/news153059833.html Biology Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:37:49 EST news153059833 (PhysOrg.com) -- A common treatment for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, prescribed millions of times a year, may change the brain in the same ways that cocaine does, a new study in mice suggests. Research from Rockefeller University shows that methylphenidate, commonly known as Ritalin, causes physical changes in neurons in reward regions of mouse brains. In some cases, the effects overlapped with those of cocaine. http://www.physorg.com/news152979707.html Medicine & Health Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:22:33 EST news152979707 (PhysOrg.com) -- A delay in traffic may cause a headache, but a delay in the nervous system can cause much more. University of Missouri researchers have uncovered clues identifying which proteins are involved in the development of the nervous system and found that the proteins previously thought to play a significant role, in fact, do not. Understanding how the nervous system develops will give researchers a better understanding of neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorders. http://www.physorg.com/news152897556.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:33:11 EST news152897556 Anyone with a sweet tooth knows that too much of a good thing can lead to negative consequences. The same can be said about the signals that help maintain nerve cells, as demonstrated in a new study of myelin, a protein key to efficient neuronal transmission. http://www.physorg.com/news152773248.html Biology Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:01:21 EST news152773248 High levels of certain proteins in the spinal fluid could signal the onset of Lou Gehrig's disease, according to researchers. The discovery of these biomarkers may lead to diagnostic kits for early diagnosis, accurately measuring the progression of the disease and monitoring the effects of treatment. http://www.physorg.com/news152370759.html Medicine & Health Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:13:00 EST news152370759 Scientists have already hooked brains directly to computers by means of metal electrodes, in the hope of both measuring what goes on inside the brain and eventually healing conditions such as blindness or epilepsy. In the future, the interface between brain and artificial system might be based on nerve cells grown for that purpose. In research that was recently featured on the cover of Nature Physics, Prof. Elisha Moses of the Physics of Complex Systems Department and his former research students Drs. Ofer Feinerman and Assaf Rotem have taken the first step in this direction by creating circuits and logic gates made of live nerves grown in the lab. http://www.physorg.com/news152364147.html Physics Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:22:49 EST news152364147 Individual nerve cells in the front part of the brain can hold traces of memories on their own for as long as a minute and possibly longer, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. http://www.physorg.com/news152114323.html Medicine & Health Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:00:24 EST news152114323