Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have found that reducing the core body temperature of mice extends their median lifespan by up to 20 percent. This is the first time that changes in body temperature have been shown to affect lifespan in warm-blooded animals.
Georgia Tech/Emory researchers have integrated dopamine, a type of neurotransmitter, into a polymer to stimulate nerve tissues to send out new connections. The discovery, published in PNAS, is the first step toward the eventual goal of implanting the polymer into patients suffering from neurological disorders to help repair damaged nerves.
Fundamental theories regarding consciousness, emotion and quality of life in sufferers of paralysis from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as “Lou Gerhig’s disease”) are being challenged based on new research on brain-computer interaction. ALS is a progressive disease that destroys neurons affecting movement. The study appears in the latest issue of Psychophysiology. The article reviews the usefulness of currently available brain-computer-interfaces (BCI), which use brain activity to communicate through external devices, such as computers.
Just a small fraction of patients who have a stroke receive the only drug — TPA — available to treat the condition. Now doctors and scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have developed a potential new treatment that will reach a milestone in the next few months, when the experimental treatment is tested for the first time in people who have suffered a stroke or “brain attack.”
A breakthrough finding on the mechanism of myelin formation by Jonah Chan, assistant professor of cell and neurobiology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, could have a major impact on the treatment of diseases such as multiple sclerosis and demyelination as a result of spinal cord injuries.
Ulrike Schmidt, Professor in Eating Disorders, will be speaking at the DANA Centre in South Kensington on 14 November 2006 at Beyond Slim, a public event organised jointly by the Institute of Psychiatry and the European Dana Alliance for the Brain. The evening will be chaired by Professor Iain Campbell and will also feature contributions from the Eating Disorders Association and a personal account from someone living with an eating disorder.
Today marks a bittersweet anniversary for one Cambridge-based national charity, as the Alzheimer?s Research Trust marks 100 years since the discovery of the disease by the German neurologist Dr Alois Alzheimer.
Infants who die of sudden infant death syndrome have abnormalities in the brainstem, a part of the brain that helps control heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, temperature and arousal, report researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The finding is the strongest evidence to date suggesting that innate differences in a specific part of the brain may place some infants at increased risk for SIDS.
Researchers in New Zealand are sceptical of US findings that cot death, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), may be caused by an abnormality in the brain.
A screening tool for dementia developed by Saint Louis University geriatricians appears to work better in identifying mild cognitive problems in the elderly than the commonly used Mini Mental Status Examination, according to a new study.