Newsline — Friday, November 14, 2014 13:00
Changes in a Single Gene’s Action Can Control Addiction-, Depression-related Behavior
The Brain’s Inner GPS Gets Dismantled
Friday, November 14, 2014 9:00
In a recent study published in the journal Cell Reports, researchers were able to derive clues about why strokes and Alzheimer’s disease can destroy a person’s sense of direction. Grid cells and other specialized nerve cells in the brain, known as “place cells,” comprise the brain’s inner GPS. Building on previous Nobel-prize winning science, researchers from UC San Diego developed a micro-surgical procedure that makes it possible to remove the area of a rat’s brain that contains grid cells in order to show what happens to this hard-wired navigational system when these grid cells are wiped out. As a result, the rats become very poor at tasks requiring internal map-making skills, such as remembering the location of a resting platform in a water-maze test. “Their loss of spatial memory formation was not a surprise,” said the lead author of the study. “It’s what would be expected based on the physiological characteristics of that area of the brain.” This part of the brain is known as the entorhinal cortex and is the first brain region to…
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Low Carb, High-fat Diets May Reduce Seizures in Tough-to-Treat Epilepsy
Thursday, November 13, 2014 13:00
According to a recent study published in the journal Neurology, diets high in fat and low in carbohydrates (such as the ketogenic or modified Atkins diets) may reduce seizures in adults with tough-to-treat epilepsy. The ketogenic diet consists of a ratio of fat to protein/carbohydrates of three or four to one by weight. The modified Atkins diet has a one-to-one fat to carbohydrate/protein ratio by weight. “We need new treatments for the 35 percent of people with epilepsy whose seizures are not stopped by medications,” said the study’s lead author. “The ketogenic diet is often used in children, but little research has been done on how effective it is in adults.” Researchers reviewed five studies on the ketogenic diet with a total of 47 people included in the analysis and five studies on the modified Atkins diet with 85 people included. Results of the study showed that across all studies, 32 percent of people treated with the ketogenic diet and 29 percent of those treated with the modified Atkins diet experienced a 50 percent or…
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the Brain
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 11:11
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), affecting as many as four in 1,000 people, is little understood by researchers. For years, health officials denied its existence, dismissing it as a sign of mental illness. However, recent research suggests mold-producing toxins could likely be a cause — or trigger — of CFS. The symptoms of CFS include impaired memory and concentration, extreme fatigue after exercise, muscle and joint pain and unrefreshing sleep. In a recent study published in the journal Radiology, researchers from Stanford University used fMRI technology along with a technique called diffusion tensor imaging (which helps researchers and doctors examine microscopic properties of brain tissues) to compare the brains of 15 CFS patients and a control group of 14 healthy participants. Results of the study showed that the CFS patients had generally less white matter in their brains compared to the healthy participants. The findings from the study could help physicians diagnose severe cases of CFS and may help researchers better understand the syndrome’s origins. To read more about this study, click here.
Researchers Find Motivation to Learn New Words Lasts Into Adulthood
Monday, November 10, 2014 9:40
In a recent study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers from the University of Barcelona, the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (Germany) found that human adult word learning is exhibited not only in the cortical language regions of the brain, but also in the ventral striatum — a core region of word processing. Results of the study confirm that the motivation to learn is preserved throughout the lifespan, helping adults to acquire a second language. During the study, researchers determined that the reward region that is activated is the same that responds to a wide range of stimuli, including food, sex, drugs or game playing. “The main objective of the study was to know to what extent language learning activates subcortical reward and motivational systems,” said the lead author of the study. The experiment revealed that when participants inferred and memorized the meaning of a new word, brain activity in the ventral striatum was increased. Additionally, the same ventral striatum activity was observed when earning money from…
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Researchers Observe Brain Development in Utero
Friday, November 7, 2014 9:00
A research group at the Computational Imaging Research Lab from MedUni Vienna recently used functional magnetic resonance tomography (fMRT) to offer insights into fetal brain development in order to uncover the different stages. The research group observed that parts of the brain that are later responsible for insight are already active in utero. During the study, the researchers observed 32 fetuses from the 21st to the 38th week of pregnancy because the architecture of the brain is developed particularly during the middle trimester of pregnancy. Using fMRT it was possible to measure activity and gain information about the most important cortical and sub-cortical structures of the developing brain. Results of the study showed that during the 26th through 29th week of pregnancy in particular, short-range neuronal connections developed especially actively. In contrast, long-range nerve connections exhibited more linear growth during pregnancy. “It became apparent that the areas responsible for sensory perception are developed first and only then, around four weeks later, do the areas responsible for more complex, cognitive skills come along,” said the study’s…
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Study: Infants Respond to Social Cues From Sclera
Thursday, November 6, 2014 14:11
The eye plays a significant role in the expressiveness of a face, and how much sclera is shown can indicate the emotions or behavioral attitudes of a person. Adult humans are well-attuned to social cues involving the eye and use them to respond appropriately during social interactions. This sensitivity to eye cues is hard-wired into the brain of adults, but it is unclear whether the ability to unconsciously distinguish between different social cues indicated by the eyes exists early in development and can therefore be considered a key feature of the human social makeup. A new study, recently published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that the ability to respond to eye cues apparently develops during infancy – at seven or so months. Researchers used electroencephalography to measure the brain activity of 7-month-old infants while showing images of eyes wide open, narrowly opened, and with direct or averted gazes. They found that the infants’ brains responded differently, depending on the expression suggested by the eyes they viewed, which were shown…
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Key Brain Region Could Predict Response to Psychodynamic Therapy for Depression
Thursday, November 6, 2014 9:00
In a recent study published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) identified changes in the metabolic activity of a key brain region in patients successfully treated for depression with psychodynamic psychotherapy. They also found evidence that pre-treatment metabolism in a different brain structure might predict which patients are likely to respond to that form of therapy. “Psychodynamic psychotherapy might be considered the original form of ‘personalized medicine,’ since it draws directly from a patient’s unique experiences to shape the course of treatment,” said the lead author of the study. The study enrolled 16 patients diagnosed with major depression for whom previous treatment with medication had not been successful. The PET scans taken before the initiation of therapy revealed that metabolic activity of the right insula — a brain region known to be important for emotional regulation and previously implicated in depression — was higher in participants with more severe depression symptoms. Almost all of those who completed the therapy had more than a 50-percent reduction in depression symptoms, although…
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Blood Vessel Growth in the Brain Relies on a Protein Found in Tumor Blood Vessels
Wednesday, November 5, 2014 8:54
In a recent study published in the journal Development Cell, researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Johns Hopkins University discovered several genes that are more active in tumor-associated blood vessels compared to normal blood vessels. The new research reveals the normal function of one of those genes, suggesting the potential for new anticancer drug therapies. The research originally began in 2000, and researchers compared gene activity in normal blood vessels to those infiltrating colorectal tumors. Among other differences were nine genes that were highly active in the tumor-associated blood vessels, which researchers named tumor endothelial marker (TEM) one through nine. Over the next decade, further experiments revealed clues regarding the function of individual TEMs. By 2010, it was known that mice missing TEM5, also known as GPR124, have defective blood vessel growth in the brain and spinal cord. The mice also showed defective formation of the blood-brain barrier. During this study, researchers noticed that blood vessel defects in mice missing TEM5 looked similar to the defects found in mice that were missing two members…
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Liberal or Conservative? Brain Responses to Disgusting Images Help Reveal Political Leanings
Tuesday, November 4, 2014 10:03
According to a new study, how much your brain responds to disgusting images could predict whether you are liberal or conservative. In a study to be published in an upcoming issue of Current Biology, an international team of scientists reports that the strength of a person’s reaction to repulsive images can forecast their political ideology. In a brain scanner, participants were shown disgusting images, such as dirty toilets or mutilated carcasses, mixed with neutral and pleasant images, such as landscapes and babies. Afterward, the subjects took a standard political ideology inventory, answering questions about how often they discuss politics and whether they agreed or disagreed with hot-button topics, such as school prayer and gay marriage. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, scientists recorded brain activity of the subjects responding to the images. Responses to disgusting images could predict, with 95 percent to 98 percent accuracy, how a person would answer questions on the political survey. To learn more about the study, click here.