Siblings of schizophrenia patients display subtle shape abnormalities in brain

... in brain anatomy. "We're interested in the thalamus because it has a lot of connections to the ... are believed to involve the cortex, and since the thalamus projects throughout the cortex, it's conceivable abnormalities in the thalamus may be related to those symptoms." Since ...

Cocaine's effects on brain metabolism may contribute to abuse

... had significantly higher metabolism in the thalamus and cerebellum compared with normal mice. This ... also observed a reduction in metabolism in the thalamus region in the DAT knockout mice. This effect may ... These results also support the idea that the thalamus and the cerebellum play key roles in cocaine's ...

Research at Rice may help explain aspects of synesthesia

... . The ventrolateral nucleus (VL) of the thalamus is connected to the cerebellum and motor cortex ... due to even further weakened pathways between the thalamus and cortex, a finding which was also suggested by ... the results suggest that connections between the thalamus and other brain areas may be important for the ...

Study Offers Insights Into Sensory Perceptions

... from the eyes, ears or skin go through into the thalamus before they project onto higher areas of the ... only the ventrolateral nucleus, a part of the thalamus that is smaller than a pea, Ro said. She's now ... one case, the study "forces rethinking of how the thalamus and brain are organized," Cytowic said. "The ...

Area deep within the brain found to play role in sensory perception

... The ventrolateral nucleus (VL) of the thalamus is connected to the cerebellum and motor cortex ... due to even further weakened pathways between the thalamus and cortex, a finding which was also suggested by ... the results suggest that connections between the thalamus and other brain areas may be important for the ...

How to build a bigger brain

... volumes of the hippocampus and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus all regions known for regulating ... and increased gray matter in the right orbito-frontal cortex, the right thalamus and the left inferior temporal lobe. There were no regions where controls ...

Scripps Florida scientists devise accelerated method to determine infectious prion strains

... mouse line called Tga20 plays an important role, because it succumbs rapidly to prion disease. "The prions primarily target the brainstem and the thalamus of this transgenic mouse, explaining why these animals have a shorter incubation time than their normal counterparts," Lasmzas said. "The prion ...

Wayne State University and Children's Hospital of Michigan Research Team Discover Chemical That Plays a Major Role in Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

... significant associations between glutamate receptor and transporter genes and abnormal brain volumes in brain regions implicated in OCD such as the thalamus ('grand central station' in the brain), caudate nucleus (brain's secretary), anterior cingulate cortex (brain's arousal center) and orbital ...

Gulf War Syndrome May Stem From Chemical Exposure

... areas we previously suspected responded abnormally to the cholinergic challenge," Haley said. "Those areas were in the basal ganglia, hippocampus, thalamus and the amygdala. "Changes in functioning of these brain structures can certainly cause problems with concentration and memory, body pain, ...

Audience Selected as One of Two Finalists for Most Innovative True Mobile Start-Up for the '2008 GSMA Mobile Innovation Global Awards'

... accurate auditory system, the human hearing system. By thoroughly understanding the entire audio pathway -- from the cochlea to the brainstem to the thalamus and cortex -- Audience is the first company to deliver a commercial product based on the science of Auditory Scene Analysis (ASA), or the grouping ...

MIT IDs binocular vision gene

... depth and carry out detailed visual processing. The images projected by each eye are aligned and matched up in brain regions called the visual thalamus and cortex. The MIT researchers discovered that the genes Ten_m3 and Bcl6 have a key role in the early development of brain pathways for vision ...

Diagnosing Schizophrenia

... (NAA). They found that levels of NAA in the thalamus region of the brain are lower in people with ... NAA levels at a number of points within the thalamus of 18 people, half of whom had been diagnosed ... Browne also identified the two areas of the thalamus that were most important in the program?ˉs ...

Researchers discover receptor cells that can cause epilepsy

... School of Medicine have identified glutamate receptor cells in the thalamus area of the brain can slow the release of glutamate when there is brain ... happening in the cerebral cortex that sends wrong neural information to thalamus leading to the symptoms of the seizures. The new study reveals the target ...

Common drugs to treat essential tremor

... thalamotomy. in the thalamotomy a lesion is made in the small part of the thalamus to stop the signals that cause the tremors. In the deep brain stimulation procedure an electric probe is placed inside the thalamus which helps block the impulse that cause the tremors. Reference: ...

Parkinson's Targets Two Distinct Brain Networks, Finds Study

... at different points all through the study. Some were on medicines and some were not. The first networks to be identified were the basal ganglia, thalamus and brain stem that regulate movement. The scans they used measured glucose metabolism - the brain's fuel - and identified areas in this motor ...

Arthritis Pain Processed in Brain’s 'fear Zone,' First PET Scans Revea

... "But, although both activated both the medial and lateral pain systems, arthritic pain prompted increased activity in the cingulate cortex, thalamus and amygdale within the medial system - the areas concerned with processing fear, emotions and aversive conditioning. "This suggests that ...

Imaging study affords renewed thrust on smoking cessation treatments

... became occupied by nicotine from cigarettes," says Dr. Brody. The scientists found that the highest levels of nicotine binding occurred in the thalamus (a portion of the brain that acts as a conduit for all sensory information that reaches the brain's cerebral cortex, and which contains the highest ...

Site of Sleep Regulation Identified in Fruit Flies

... more like the thalamus, the relay station through which most sensory input to the brain is targeted," explains Sehgal. "Previous research links the thalamus to a role in human sleep." (There is no human structure that is anatomically similar to the adult mushroom bodies of fruit flies.) Identifying ...

Drug abuse leads to long standing changes in the brain

... increase in metabolism in the methamphetamine abusers, the investigators showed that metabolism was significantly reduced in two brain regions?the thalamus and striatum. These regions are involved in dopamine signaling, but the parietal cortex is not involved in the dopamine pathway. Thus, Dr. Volkow ...