cerebral

Researchers discover molecule that causes secondary stroke

...ause of a deadly type of secondary stroke known as cerebral vasospasm. A constriction of the blood vessels in the brain, cerebral vasospasm usually occurs three to 10 days following a massive brain bleed known as hemorrhagic strok...

Rats infected as newborns grew up vulnerable to memory problems during an immune challenge

...n has been implicated in schizophrenia, autism and cerebral palsy; bacterial infection is a risk factor for Parkinson's disease. Up to 20 percent of pregnancies have complications involving infections of the uterus and its contents, a number that will rise as more children are born premature. In the study, a...

Deep sleep short-circuits brain's grid of connectivity

...eep seems to occur as the different regions of the cerebral cortex that mediate perception, thought and action...veling along networks of nerve fibers to different cerebral destinations. But when the subject was in deep sleep, the same response was quickly extinguished and...

Frog peptides block HIV in lab study

...eep seems to occur as the different regions of the cerebral cortex that mediate perception, thought and action...veling along networks of nerve fibers to different cerebral destinations. But when the subject was in deep sleep, the same response was quickly extinguished and...

Tetanus toxin found to have therapeutic properties

...abnormal muscular contractions such as strabismus, cerebral palsy, anal contractions and torticollis. Recently these toxins have been used even in cosmetics against wrinkles. For these therapeutic and cosmetic applications, the scientists are working with sublethal doses of toxins. Led by José Aguilera, scie...

Investigating 'brain shrinkage' in alcoholics

...earch. "The outer layer of brain, also called the cerebral cortex or gray matter, controls most complex mental activities," explained Clive Harper, symposium organizer and professor of neuropathology at the University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. "The cortex is filled with nerve cells, also ca...

Methamphetamine Abuse, HIV Infection Cause Changes in Brain Structure

... is associated with prominent volume losses in the cerebral cortex (involved in higher thought, reasoning, and memory), basal ganglia, and hippocampus (involved in memory and learning). The scientists stress that among the recent methamphetamine abusers in the study, the degree of volume increase in the pari...

Number Of Babies Born Prematurely Nears Historic Half Million Mark In U.S.

...ften left with devastating consequences -- such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, learning problems and blindness." The March of Dimes began its multi-year campaign to address the growing rate of premature birth in 2003. The campaign educates women on the signs and symptoms of premature birth, and suppo...

OHSU researchers discover potential mechanism to repair brain damage linked to Multiple Sclerosis

...ted with premature birth and can lead to a form of cerebral palsy (CP). Our early findings have shown that sca...ge seen in premature infants, some of whom develop cerebral palsy," said Michael Katz, M.D., senior vice president for research and global programs at the March...

Molecular Partners Required For Appropriate Neuronal Gene Repression

...ted with premature birth and can lead to a form of cerebral palsy (CP). Our early findings have shown that sca...ge seen in premature infants, some of whom develop cerebral palsy," said Michael Katz, M.D., senior vice president for research and global programs at the March...

Research Permits First-Ever Visualization of Psychological Stress in the Human Brain

... by the stress task. The results showed increased cerebral blood-flow during the "stress test" in the right a... and depression. More interestingly, the increased cerebral blood-flow persisted even when the testing was complete. These results suggest a strong link between...

Researchers identify molecular anchor that allows bacterial invasion of central nervous system

...en may die or suffer permanent cognitive deficits, cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness or seizures. Therefore, an early acting treatment would help reduce the high rates of disability and death. "Previous studies have found that Streptococcus bacteria from infants with serious disease have significantly high...

Bigger brain size matters for intellectual ability

...the contribution of nature and nurture are to this cerebral size relationship with intelligence, Witelson said. She added that the results point to the need for responsibility in considering the likely future use of magnetic imaging (or MRIs) of brain structure as a measure of ability in student and workforce...

Blocking the nerve receptor EP1 in mouse models reduces brain damage caused by stroke

...k by others had shown that certain events, such as cerebral ischemia (stroke) and seizures, that interrupt oxygen flow to the brain also cause excessive activation of so-called NMDA receptors by the nerve chemical glutamate. Other work had suggested that activation of NMDA receptors by glutamate causes an inc...

Neurons generated in the adult brain learn to respond to novel stimuli

... form some of the much more complex neurons in the cerebral cortex, the brain's highest-level structure. The current study was designed to investigate whether newly generated olfactory neurons simply replace older neurons or play a distinct role in learning and memory. The investigators used two groups of m...

Meditation associated with structural changes in brain

...H) researchers showed that particular areas of the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain, were thicker in participants who were experienced practitioners of a type of meditation commonly practiced in the U.S. and other Western countries. The article appears in the Nov. 15 issue of NeuroReport, and th...

MIT researcher presents new view of how the cortex forms

...rtex" theories of brain development are dead. The cerebral cortex is a sheet of around 10 billion neurons divided into distinctly separate areas that process particular aspects of sensation, movement and cognition. To what extent are these areas predetermined by genes or shaped by the environment? The protom...

What can change in the brain? Electrical synapses, research shows

...esponsible for relaying sensory information to the cerebral cortex, where it is transformed into memories and emotions, speech and movement. The thalamic reticular nucleus' role as a sort of switch, starting or stopping the flow of sensory stimuli to the cortex, may implicate it as a major player in the regu...

Neurons find their place in the developing nervous system with the help of a sticky molecule

... for development of part of the brain known as the cerebral cortex. The cortex sits like a skullcap over the rest of the brain and is responsible for sensory perception, higher-level reasoning, and, in humans, language. In mammals, the largest and evolutionarily newest part of the cortex, the neocortex, is re...

Why nerve cells work faster than the theory allows

...e analyzed, by which rules, the nerve cells in the cerebral cortex decide to send out impulses. They surprisi...reshold of action potentials in nerve cells of the cerebral cortex of the mammal brain. They were able to show that action potentials are initiated extremely ra...

Scientists develop a way to make the deadliest toxin known even more toxic

...yond its cosmetic use--multiple sclerosis, stroke, cerebral palsy, migraine, and backache are just a few of the conditions for which BoNT has proven surprisingly effective. The discovery of small molecule activators may ultimately provide a valuable method for minimizing dosage, reducing resistance, and incre...

Stem cell transplants improve recovery in animal models for stroke, cerebral palsy

...perienced by adults with a stroke or newborns with cerebral palsy can significantly enhance recovery from thes...lls within the penumbra." Animals in the model of cerebral palsy, a condition caused by an ischemic injury similar to stroke but occurring before or during bir...

Dying of excitement

... central nervous system (CNS) -- in the plasma and cerebral spinal fluid. One possible explanation for this glutamate build-up, reported online on March 6th in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, is a mutation in the gene encoding the glutamate transporter protein EAAT2. This mutation --- a single nucleot...

Possible brain hormone may unlock mystery of hibernation

...n blood, the putative hormone rose dramatically in cerebral spinal fluid, they reported. Likewise, HPc levels decreased abruptly in spinal fluid when hibernation terminated. The researchers also found that blocking the activity of one of the HP complex proteins in the brain with antibody greatly decreased th...

Ritalin packs punch by elevating norepinephrine, suppressing nerve signal transmissions

...hat convey this sensation from the whiskers to the cerebral cortex. They compared the rat's sensory pathway response to the whisker stimulation when receiving two different doses of methylphenidate. They found that both the low and moderate doses of methylphenidate: Elevated norepinephrine in the area of th...

NASA technology helping injured US troops

...thritis, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's Disease, cerebral palsy, and Parkinson's Disease an opportunity to safely extend their mobility. Former Army sergeant Herbert Geddis of Springfield, Va., used the SAM walker at Walter Reed as an integral part of his recovery from Neurosarcoid, a rare disease that af...

Internal body clock dictates timing of different types of stroke

... been collected on a stroke register, showing that cerebral infarction, where blood flow to brain arteries is ...ng during sleep. But closer analysis showed that cerebral infarction had a higher peak in the morning and a lower peak in the afternoon than the other two. ...

New stem-cell findings can help the body to cure itself

...Professor Frisén is best known for his research on cerebral stem cells; the present study, however, has been carried out on stem cells in the intestine, one of the organs in the body with the highest rates of cell renewal. "We also know that blood, brain and skin stem cells express the genes that we now know...

New compound reduces stroke damage

...adult disability. An ischemic stroke occurs when a cerebral vessel occludes, obstructing blood flow to a portion of the brain. Currently, there is only one approved stroke therapy, tissue plasminogen activator, which targets the thrombus within the blood vessel. Because of the lack of available stroke treatm...

Mice learn tasks that may help treat human psychiatric disorders

...d disabilities, including Down's syndrome, cancer, cerebral palsy, hearing loss and vision impairment. Although the number of children diagnosed with autism has increased dramatically over the past 12 years, the upward spiral may be due to better, more widespread understanding and diagnosis of the mental im...

Medium is the message for stem cells in search of identities

...to a population of early neurons in the developing cerebral cortex, a structure that helps coordinate sensory, motor and cognitive function. "This is significant because this molecule is frequently used to secure cells onto culture dishes in stem cell labs all over the world," said Bjorn Scheffler, M.D., a...

Birds going extinct faster due to human activities

...to a population of early neurons in the developing cerebral cortex, a structure that helps coordinate sensory, motor and cognitive function. "This is significant because this molecule is frequently used to secure cells onto culture dishes in stem cell labs all over the world," said Bjorn Scheffler, M.D., a...

Research offers new hope for preterm babies

...erable to a range of neurological problems such as cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness, low IQ levels and hyperactivity." "In healthy, full-term babies, a drop in blood pressure would generally not have such serious consequences, as these babies appear to 'auto-regulate' blood and oxygen flow in the brain. W...

Mutant mice show key autism traits

...e only in mature, or "postmitotic," neurons of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus in the brain. These regions are associated with higher brain function such as learning and memory. The mutant mice showed major abnormalities in a variety of social interactions normally undertaken in mice, found the researche...

Where we change our mind

...ature of such sophisticated decision making in the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for high-level proces...d them to tease apart how different regions of the cerebral cortex process uncertain information and integrate it into decision making. In particular, their ai...

High dopamine transporter levels not correlated with ADHD

...ease or other medical conditions that could affect cerebral function. They also asked subjects to respond to a questionnaire to gauge levels of inattention. The scientists ran the same tests in 25 healthy control subjects with the same exclusion criteria. To measure dopamine transporter levels, each subject...

Circadian gene helps the brain predict mealtime

...port provides a tool for investigating the brain's cerebral clockwork responsible for predicting mealtime--with this tool in hand, it will be possible to anatomically localize areas of the brain that are involved in food anticipation. Looking forward, the researchers expect that this will allow the study of h...

Humpback whales have brain cells also found in humans

...and dolphin species. They found that the humpback cerebral cortex, the part of the brain where thought proces...rganization of certain cells into "islands" in the cerebral cortex that is also seen in the fin whale and other types of mammals. The authors speculate that th...

Brain regions do not communicate efficiently in adults with autism

...ncephalography (EEG) to examine connections in the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that deals with higher cognitive processes. Compared to normally developing individuals, the scientists found patterns of abnormal connectivity between brain regions in people with autism. These abnormalities showe...

Slow brain waves play key role in coordinating complex activity

...frontal cortex, separated by several inches in the cerebral cortex, can coordinate activity. "If you are reading something, language areas oscillate in theta frequency allowing high-gamma-related neural activity in individual neurons to transmit information," said Knight. "When you stop reading and begin to ...

Unraveling where chimp and human brains diverge

... the gene networks differed the most widely in the cerebral cortex -- the brain's most highly evolved region, ...that many of the genes that play a central role in cerebral cortex networks in humans, but not in the chimpanzee, also show significant changes at the DNA level...

Newly identified biomarker detects and regulates spread of brain tumors

...entral nervous system (CNS) and is undetectable in cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), unless malignant astrocytomas--the most common form of intracranial tumors--are present in the CNS. The CSF is a liquid that bathes the brain and acts as a reservoir, which can be sampled for analysis of proteins secreted by CNS t...

Molecules in blood foretell development of preeclampsia

... and for such lifelong complications as blindness, cerebral palsy, and learning disabilities. In such instances, physicians are forced to weigh the mother's risk of severe disease or eclampsia against the consequences of preterm birth for the baby. In the current study, the researchers present strong evide...

Learning during sleep?

...e hippocampus, the short term memory area, and the cerebral cortex during sleep. According to their findings and contrary to previous assumptions, the cerebral cortex actively controls this transfer. The researchers developed a new technique for their investig...

Two nerve cells in direct contact

...ry of the nerve cells in the relevant areas in the cerebral cortex has not yet been sufficiently explained to ...single cell from the many billions of cells in the cerebral cortex would have an effect. Clearly, however, this does not mean that the findings made by the fl...

Growth factor stimulates rapid extension of key motor neurons in brain

...tor neurons ?critical brain cells that connect the cerebral cortex with the spinal cord and that die in motor ...ed among hundreds of other types of neurons in the cerebral cortex, it has been difficult to study CSMN, and little has been known about cellular and molecular ...

New study: Preterm birth causes one-third of all infant deaths

...ho do survive face risks of lifelong challenges of cerebral palsy, mental retardation, chronic lung disease, and vision and hearing loss, as well as other developmental problems. ...

Smokers quit after damage to brain region

...roposed the insula, a small island enclosed by the cerebral cortex, as a "platform for feelings and emotion." The Science study shows that the pleasure of smoking appears to rest on this platform. "It's really intriguing to think that disrupting this region breaks the pleasure feelings associated with smoki...

Blocking immune cell action increases Alzheimer's-associated protein deposits

...small blood vessels ?similar to a condition called cerebral amyloid angiopathy, which is associated with an increased risk of cerebral hemorrhage. In addition, CCR2-deficient mice had significantly shortened life spans. By 130 days o...

Thinking with the spinal cord?

...e similar irregular firing patterns as seen in the cerebral cortex. New approach "Our findings contradi...eflects the organisation of the nerve cells of the cerebral cortex. ...

Boosting brain power -- with chocolate

...ol-rich cocoa. The effect is linked to dilation of cerebral blood vessels, allowing more blood ?and therefore ...an effect of consuming this particular beverage on cerebral blood flow raises the possibility that certain food ingredients may be beneficial in increasing brai...

Experimental vaccine given during pregnancy reduces stillbirths from common virus

...a long-term disability such as mental retardation, cerebral palsy, and hearing loss. The infection could potentially cause other developmental disabilities such as autism or attention deficit disorder. The virus can also damage the placenta, leading to pregnancy loss. CMV is present in bodily secretions ...

Bioluminescence at the service of a novel cerebral imaging technique

...several hours. It is thus possible to monitor the cerebral activity of a Drosophila fruit fly for 24 or even ...will therefore be possible to study all neurons or cerebral structures using this approach. This novel technique opens numerous perspectives. This tracer c...

Insomnia drug can improve brain function

...tabolism, and PET scans also showed improvement in cerebral areas involved in motivational processing. Although previous studies have shown the positive effect of zolpidem on catatonic conditions, the authors state, "To our knowledge, this is the first study assessing the impact of zolpidem of post-anoxic ...

When your brain talks, your muscles don't always listen

...adults, as well as patients with disorders such as cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis, or who are recovering from strokes. Every move you make is made possible through a miraculous communications network involving the brain at the command center, the spinal cord, billions upon billions of nerve cells, an...

MIT model helps researchers 'see' brain development

...hers “see?how those folds develop and decay in the cerebral cortex. By applying computer graphics techniques to brain images collected using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, they have created a set of tools for tracking and measuring these folds over time. Their resulting model of cortical development may ...

Gene tests and brain imaging reveal early dementia

... important in, amongst other things, the repair of cerebral neurons. Roughly one person in five carries a genetically determined variant of APOE that is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's. In her study, Johanna Lind was able to show that some of the people in this risk group had reduced parie...

Glucose triggers brain cell death in rats after hypoglycemic coma

...g in destruction of neurons in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, which are essential to memory and cognition. "This study tells us for the first time that, in rats, the brain damage occurs not during the coma, but after it, when we give them glucose and their blood glucose levels return to normal," says...

Rare cell prevents rampant brain activity

... explain how the most common type of neuron in the cerebral cortex ?the pyramid cell ?is prevented from becoming over-activated. Their results show that a rarer cell type that links collections of pyramid cells ?called a Martinotti cell ?acts as a kind of safety device. When a Martinotti cell receives signals...

Role of noise in neurons

...y of transmission is compromised. Neurons in the cerebral cortex of the brain can have a wiring density of up to 4km per mm3 by using incredibly thin axons as wires, with an average diameter of 0.3 micrometers (1ìm is one millionth of a meter). Although, as in computer chips, this miniaturization economizes...