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Use of Cellular Phones associated with Increased risk of Brain Tumors

A recent article published by a team in Sweden suggests that there is an increased risk of brain cancer in the areas of highest exposure in patients using digital telephones (Case Control Study on Radiology work, Medical X-Ray Investigations, and Cellular Telephones as Risk Factors for Brain Tumors, Hardell, et al, May 4, 2000, www.medscape.com). Their analysis focused on the effect of d...

Brain death – How to cope with it

It is always traumatic to see a loved one die. More tragic is when the decision on his or her life and death hangs on a thin thread. Most patients of road traffic accidents, severe stokes, head injuries or cerebral hemorrhage are all confined to a situation where they live technically only on life support systems. The most difficult decision for the relatives of these victims is to give c...

Multi billion-dollar suit filed against cell phone firm for causing brain tumours

In the United States of America, a lawyer- Peter Angelos, who won millions of dollars as compensation from the tobacco industry in Maryland, has announced that he is dragging Vodafone to court in a billion dollar suit. He is claiming compensation to cell phone users who are said to have developed brain tumours after using the instruments made by Verizon wireless. This case has raised eyeb...

“Brain fingerprinting”- The new lie detectr

In an exciting development, in the field of criminology, a new lie detector has been developed in the United States of America. This is called “brain fingerprinting”. This invention is supposed to be the best lie detector available as on date and is said to detect even smooth criminals who pass the polygraph test (the conventional lie detector test) with ease. The new method employs brain...

Nasal Spray Could Take Drugs Direct to Brain.

Based on early studies in rats, researchers from the Stroke Lab and Alzheimer's Research Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, reported that “a direct path from the nose to the brain” could breach the blood-brain barrier, which p...

Two doctors suspended for wrong brain surgery

The unfortunate patient, Kevin Walsh...

The brain loves a surprise

Scientists in Atlanta, Georgia, have opined after an exhaustive study that the brain loves a surprise. The study was conducted on 25 men and women and studied their responses to different stimuli. Dr. Gregory S Berns of Emory University led the study. The fact that some people rely on an orderly routine, while others thrive on never knowing what the day will bring, may have something to d...

Virus Combats Brain Tumour

Malignant glioma is an aggressive kind of brain tumour that does respond to treatment. Reseachers have now come out with a partial solution and answer for such a catastrophe. It was found that Reo virus, a common inhabitant of gastrointestinal tract and respiratory tract, not known to cause any harmholds promise as a treatment for this deadly form of brain cancer. Dr.Peter A Forsyth, of...

Increase in sugar...decrease in brain function!!!

Long term effects of increase in blood sugar namely blindness, malfunction of the kidneys are known. But what about their immediate effects??. The researchers of Virginia have now come out with astonishing details that a raise in the blood sugar decreases the brain function. More than 100 adults with type 1 diabetes hwo had four symptoms which included, being sleepy; having dry eyes, nos...

Alcohol shrinks brain

"Heavy alcohol consumption might exaggerate brain shrinkage in social drinkers. Chronic heavy alcohol consumption should be avoided," according to Dr. Motoo Kubota and colleagues from Chiba University in Japan report in the July issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. Alcohol, among the various forms insults both physically and mentally, now turns out to potentially...

Roller coaster takes brain for a big ride!!

Riding roller coasters may increase the risk of developing potentially harmful blood clots on the brain's surface. The Neurological center reported a case of 25 year old healthy male who developed blood clots on the brains surface, known as subdural haematomas, after riding several roller coasters. The symptoms of blood clot includes difficulty in walking, vomiting, changes in m...

The big brain in suicides

A study from England has found that people who commit sucide have heavier brains than most people. The human brain normally weighs about 1400g in men and 1300g in women, but can drop in weight with some diseases like Alzheimers, Schizophrenia, Parkinson’s and alcoholism.// Emad Salid from Liverpool University and George Tadros from the Northern Birmingham Mental Health Trust we...

Stuttering and brain anatomy

Stuttering has been long thought to be caused by emotional factors, but researchers who studied adults with persistent stuttering found that these individuals had anatomical irregularities in the areas of the brain that control language and speech. The study results, reported in Neurology provides the first evidence that anatomic abnormalities within the areas of the brain that...

Ecstasy shrinks brain!!-researchers unveil the secrets of MDMA.

Drug abuse,has been at its best of raise over the past decade or two and with the increased incidence of consumption of drugs in teens.Researchers at a conference sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse said that the drug known as ecstasy has a negative impact on blood flow to parts of the brain and that the effect can persist for weeks. ECSTASY is the name in vogue for the c...

Alcohol linked to brain activity

A largest study on how alcohol affects the brain in elderly people was carried out by researchers in the USA. Nearly two thousand senior citizens were investigated to discover the link between drinking and the health of their brains. The results show that alcohol is really a double-edged sword.// It has been found that any level of drinking caused brain shrinkage, which ultimately has...

Drug abuse leads to long standing changes in the brain

Methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant drug, whose abuse has reached epidemic proportions in many parts of the world, causes long-term changes in the human brain that are associated with impaired memory and motor coordination, according to a study published in theAmerican Journal of Psychiatry. Researchers found that these effects are seen even in methamphetamine addicts who have b...

Brain aneurysms can now be treated with a less invasive procedure

Brain aneurysm is a weakness in one of the blood vessels in the brain, causing the vessel to bulge, ultimately resulting in a brain hemorrhage. Around thirty thousand Americans, on an average, suffer a brain hemorrhage in a year and they are treated surgically or non-surgically depending on the size of the neck of the bulge. A bulge with a narrow neck is treated non-surgically by filling...

Weizmann Institute of Science says Immune Cells Could Help Maintain Brain Function

New research from the Weizmann Institute of Science throws light on cells that could prevent deterioration of cognition in old age. These findings appear in the February issue of Nature Neuroscience. Professor Michal Schwartz of the Neurobiology Department at Weizmann led the study, //which might have important implication in delaying the onset of cognitive deterioration in the elderly....

Brain Filters Sensory Information

Dr. Randy Flanagan, a Queen's psychologist has revealed that the impact of tickling is reduced when one practices it on himself. Dr. Flanagan is engaged in exploring the sensory attenuation which involves canceling the unnecessary information we are subject to. //The Public Library of Science (PloS) – Biology journal has published this report. It is not possible for a person to tickle him...

Detecting brain aneurysms

An aneurysm is an abnormal dilation of a blood vessel. This involves all layers of the vessel wall. Aneurysms pose a risk to health due to their potential to rupture, thrombose or embolize. The most common blood vessels involved are the abdominal and thoracic aorta, and brain. Potential blood vessel problems in the brain can be detected by non-invasive techniques, but only if they are abo...

Creating brain cells from bone marrow

Researchers have recently found a way of creating brain cells out of bone marrow cells which opens up the possibility of grafts for Parkinson's disease. At the Peterson Medical College scientists grew stem cells from adult bone marrow in a finely-tuned cocktail of growth factors and other chemicals and found they could get them to convert into neurons. Normally such stem cells form mu...

Women more susceptible to brain damage from ecstasy

Women are more likely than men to suffer brain cell damage from long-term use of the party drug ecstasy but the harm can sometimes be reversed if they stop taking the drug. Studies have shown that the popular all-night dance drug, known chemically as MDMA, can damage nerve endings that release serotonin, a brain chemical that regulates mood, memory, sleep and sex. The drug also appears to...

Nasal Spray Could Take Drugs Directly to Brain

Delivering drugs via nasal spray might overcome a major obstacle to treating brain ailments such as strokes according to researchers.Based on early studies in rats, researchers from the Stroke Lab and Alzheimer's Research Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, reported that “a direct path from the nose to the brain” could breach the blood-brain barrier, which protects the brain from foreign subst...

Low-radiation treatment for brain tumours

A new method of treating childhood brain tumours, aimed at reducing the risk of damage to normal tissue, is to be trialled at hospitals around the US. Researchers will enrol 50 children suffering from medulloblastoma – the most common malignant childhood brain tumour – who will be treated with lower radiation and increased chemotherapy doses than those currently used. // In the US, ab...

The brain wave

Researchers now say that a region in the brain responsible for imitation may be behind the unique quality to sympathise for others and help the needy. Neuroscientists searching for roots of empathy have now found brain regions involved in learning by imitation.// They have also identified a network of brain regions that are involved in human imitation and specific brain areas that ena...

Cleft lip and palate are due to abnormality in brain structure

Clefts of the lip and palate are associated with permutation in brain structure that appear to cause cognitive dysfunction, according to a study recently conducted by researchers at the University of Iowa.// Studying 54 adult men with nonsyndromic facial clefts and 54 male control subjects, the researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to study brain volume and tissue composition. T...

How brain works

For proper functioning of the brain in humans and animals, the nerve cells must communicate with the neurons by releasing chemicals called neurotransmitters. In a new study, biologists from Utah showed how a single protein plays an importnat role in preparing the nerve cells to send these chemical signals. The experimented animals were paralyzed- unable to move, eat or// eli...

Right side of the brain helps in awareness

The right side of the brain helps people recognise themselves in a picture, say US researchers. A team from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston report their findings in the current issue of Nature.// The study joins a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the right hemisphere plays an important role in self-awareness. Studies of self-awareness may provide unique ins...

Tamoxifen does not adversely affect the brain

The breast cancer drug tamoxifen does not damage the brains of elderly women, alleviating fears of a neurotoxic effect of such treatment, recent study has revealed. According to researchers, tamoxifen has a similar effect on the brain to oestrogen, which has been linked with potentially neuroprotective action //against cognitive decline. The researchers used proton magnetic resonance s...

Chewing gum found to increase brainpower

According to a new research, conducted by the University of Texas, and the Cognitive Research Unit, chewing gum has a positive effect on thinking, memory and other important tasks. "The results were extremely clear and specifically we found that chewing gum// targeted memory," Andrew Scholey of the university's Human Cognitive Neuroscience Unit said. "People recalled more words and p...

Control of anger disorder connected to Brain Dysfunction

According to a study, the scientists have bound dysfunction in a particular brain region to a psychiatric disorder marked by uncontrolled aggression. They say their findings extend the link that has been found between the brain area--called the orbital/medial prefrontal cortex circuit,// or OMPCC and impulsive aggression. In this case, the researchers studied 30 patients diagnosed with...

High Levels of Protein Linked to Brain Shrinkage

Researchers say that high levels of the amino acid homocysteine may increase the risk of brain atrophy and blood vessel disease, researchers report. It is still too soon to be certain that lowering homocysteine levels will reduce the risk of Alzheimer's// and other types of dementia, but the approach is worth investigating. Prior research has shown that elevated levels of homocysteine...

Psychiatric issues common in brain disease

According to researchers at the University of Texas, people with degenerative brain disease are most likely to have treatable psychiatric disorders. Huntington's disease is a fatal, //degenerative brain disease which affects the cerebellum, the brain area which controls movement. Traditionally there's been a separation between neurological disease - like Huntington's - and psychiatric...

Brain damage affects artistic skill

Researchers in the US felt that artistic skill is often preserved after brain damage. It's not really known how the brain influences artistic creativity. But you might assume that brain damage from a stroke, dementia, or trauma// - would destroy your ability to create. Researchers at University of Dallas, set out to look at how professional and amateur artists, as well as those with no in...

Stem cells aid to cure brain cancer

According to researchersthey studied on miceand found that the neural stem cells can track rogue brain cancer cells and eliminate them. Glioma is the most aggressive form of brain cancer. The tumour is often ill-defined, with malignant// cells making their way into healthy tissue, making the growth extremely difficult to removeResearchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunit...

Identifying brain lesions with impaired consciousness

According to a new study it is indicative that systolic blood pressure is a good indicator for diagnosing brain lesions in patients with impaired consciousness. This means doctors may now have a better way// to estimate patients, as opposed to using expensive and time-consuming imaging technology. Researchers studied the vital signs of 450 patients who were admitted to an emergency roo...

Brain cells protected by new compounds

Pharmacists have made compounds that can terminate the natural death of brain cells and could treat an extent of neurodegenerative diseases. The protein p53 plays// an important role in getting damaged cells to kill themselves. Its known to be important in cancer - where defective p53 genes allow cancer cells to grow, instead of dying off. Now researchers at the National Institutes of Hea...

Usage of coil better in brain haemorrhage

According to researchers in UK inserting a coil into a weakened blood vessel offers a survival benefit over surgery in brain haemorrhage. The death rate from subarachnoid haemorrhage// - caused by a bursting of a weakened blood vessel in the brain - is up to 40 per cent in the first 24 hours after the event. The standard treatment is an operation to insert a clip to prevent further ruptur...

Drug for pediatric brain cancer

Scientists from Canada are reporting promising results from a study of a new drug for children with acute brain tumors. The drug fotemustine, when delivered intravenously every three weeks, was found to be partially effective in shrinking the tumors. The drug is one of a group of drugs called chloroethylnitrosoureas. They were first discovered in 1959 and have since been shown to hel...

Drug for pediatric brain cancer

Scientists from Canada are reporting promising results from a study of a new drug for children with acute brain tumors. The drug fotemustine, when delivered intravenously every three weeks, was found to be partially effective in shrinking the tumors. The drug is one of a group of drugs called chloroethylnitrosoureas. They were first discovered in 1959 and have since been shown to hel...