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What singing fruit flies can tell us about quick decisions

By Guest PostMarch 29, 2014Naturealexandra maria klein, behavior, biodegradability, biodegradable displays, brain, dierk schaefer, folge, harvard university, honigbiene, jelte wicherts, lars penke, light emitting polymer, locomotion, maria krautzberger, motion, paul becker, peptide nanotubes, princeton university, quick decisions, rita schwarzeluehr sutter, soma khanra, suchismita guha

You wouldn’t hear the mating song of the male fruit fly as you reached for the infested bananas in your kitchen. Yet, the neural activity behind the insect’s amorous call could help scientists understand how you made the quick decision to pull your hand back from the tiny swarm.

Male fruit flies base the pitch and tempo of their mating song on the movement and behavior of their desired female, Princeton University researchers have discovered. In the animal kingdom, lusty warblers such as birds typically have a mating song with a stereotyped pattern. A fruit fly’s song, however, is an unordered series of loud purrs and soft drones made by wing vibrations, the researchers reported in the journal Nature. A male adjusts his song in reaction to his specific environment, which in this case is the distance and speed of a female — the faster and farther away she’s moving, the louder he “sings.” (more…)

Understanding the basic biology of bipolar disorder

By Guest PostFebruary 17, 2014Health3d image, basic biology, biological pathway, bipolar disorder, brain, carrie bearden, clinical symptoms, cognitive function, genetic causes, genetic component, human behavior, illness, nelson freimer, ucla

Scientists from UCLA, UC San Francisco, Costa Rica and Colombia take steps to identify genetic component to mental illness

Scientists know there is a strong genetic component to bipolar disorder, but they have had an extremely difficult time identifying the genes that cause it. So, in an effort to better understand the illness’s genetic causes, researchers at UCLA tried a new approach. (more…)

Researchers find brain’s ‘sweet spot’ for love in neurological patient

By Guest PostFebruary 14, 2014Health, Scienceanterior insula, Argentina, argentinian heterosexual men, biological drive, blas couto, brain, fmri, heterosexual male, john cacioppo, love, lucas sedeno, motor control, neurological patient, sexual desire, stephanie cacioppo, sweet spot, university of chicago

A region deep inside the brain controls how quickly people make decisions about love, according to new research at the University of Chicago.

The finding, made in an examination of a 48-year-old man who suffered a stroke, provides the first causal clinical evidence that an area of the brain called the anterior insula “plays an instrumental role in love,” said UChicago neuroscientist Stephanie Cacioppo, lead author of the study. (more…)

Mystery Solved: How Nerve Impulse Generators Get Where They Need to Go

By Guest PostJanuary 20, 2014Health, Scienceankyrin g, axons, body, brain, cell, central nervous system, chen gu, disease, electrical signaling, joshua barry, key protein, kinesin 1, molecular motor, motor protein, multiple sclerosis, mystery solved, nerve cell bodies, nerve impulse, nerve impulse generators, neurological disorders, neuron, nodes of ranvier, ohio state university, parkinson's, peter jukkola, potassium ion channel, protein, sodium ion channel, spinal cord, symptom, yuanzheng g

Study identifies essential molecule for transport of protein from neuron cell body to axon

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists have solved a longstanding mystery of the central nervous system, showing how a key protein gets to the right spot to launch electrical impulses that enable communication of nerve signals to and from the brain.

Nerve impulses are critical because they are required for neurons to send information about senses, movement, thinking and feeling to other cell types in the neural circuitry. And an impulse is not fired up just once; it is initiated and then must be repeatedly transmitted along axons – long, slender extensions of nerve cell bodies – to keep the nervous system’s messages stable during their rapid travel. (more…)

Protein interplay in muscle tied to life span

By Guest PostDecember 1, 2013Health, Scienceactivin equivalent, alzheimer's disease, ana maria hernandez, atg8a, autophagy, brain, brown university biologists, central culprit, chain, dawdle, dfoxo, female reproductive system, fly version, fruit flies, gene, hua bai, human aging biology, insulin producing cells, ipcs, life span, mammalian protein, marc tatar, menstrual cycle, misfolded proteins, molecular event, muscle, muscle fibers, muscle tissue, natural mechanism, ping kang, protein degradation, protein interplay, rolf bodmer

Brown University biologists have uncovered a complicated chain of molecular events that leads from insulin to protein degradation in muscles and significantly diminished life span in fruit flies. The new study in PLoS Genetics, which may have broad implications across species, identifies the fly version of the mammalian protein activin as the central culprit in the process.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Fruit flies are notoriously short-lived but scientists interested in the biology of aging in all animals have begun to understand why some fruit flies live longer than others. They have documented a direct association between insulin and life span, for example, and have observed a tradeoff between prolific reproduction and longevity. A new study, which may have broad implications across species, ties those findings more closely together by tracing an insulin signaling cascade through to protein quality control in muscle tissue and shortened life span. (more…)

Natural Compound Mitigates Effects of Methamphetamine Abuse, University of Missouri Researchers Find

By Guest PostNovember 26, 2013Healthalzheimer's disease, behavioral impairments, bond life, brain, colored vegetables, dennis miller, disease research, dopamine level, drug addiction, effects, grace y sun, hyperactivity, methamphetamine abuse, mizzou advantage, model, natural compound, neurodegenerative disorders, neurological, neurotransmitter dopamine, parkinsons disease, resveratrol containing products, sciences center, stroke, sustainable energy, university of missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Studies have shown that resveratrol, a natural compound found in colored vegetables, fruits and especially grapes, may minimize the impact of Parkinson’s disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease in those who maintain healthy diets or who regularly take resveratrol supplements. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that resveratrol may also block the effects of the highly addictive drug, methamphetamine.

Dennis Miller, associate professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences in the College of Arts & Science and an investigator with the Bond Life Sciences Center, and researchers in the Center for Translational Neuroscience at MU, study therapies for drug addiction and neurodegenerative disorders. Their research targets treatments for methamphetamine abuse and has focused on the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine in drug addiction. Dopamine levels in the brain surge after methamphetamine use; this increase is associated with the motivation to continue using the drug, despite its adverse consequences. However, with repeated methamphetamine use, dopamine neurons may degenerate causing neurological and behavioral impairments, similar to those observed in people with Parkinson’s disease. (more…)

Brain may play key role in blood sugar metabolism and diabetes development

By Guest PostNovember 13, 2013Healthblood sugar level, blood sugar metabolism, brain, cell, diabetes development, diabetes research lab, glucose effectiveness, glucose regulation, hyperglycemia, hypothesis, insulin dependent mechanisms, journal nature, key role, matthias tscho, michael w schwartz, pancreas, randy seeley, sensitivity to insulin, sugar level, two system model, type 2 diabetes, united states, vicious cycle

A growing body of evidence suggests that the brain plays a key role in glucose regulation and the development of type 2 diabetes, researchers write in the Nov. 7 ssue of the journal Nature. If the hypothesis is correct, it may open the door to entirely new ways to prevent and treat this disease, which is projected to affect one in three adults in the United States by 2050.

In the paper, lead author Dr. Michael W. Schwartz, UW professor of medicine and director of the Diabetes and Obesity Center of Excellence, and his colleagues from the universities of Cincinnati, Michigan, and Munich, note that the brain was originally thought to play an important role in maintaining normal glucose metabolism With the discovery of insulin in the 1920s, the focus of research and diabetes care shifted to almost exclusively to insulin. Today, almost all treatments for diabetes seek to either increase insulin levels or increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin. (more…)

Tingling sensation caused by Asian spice could help patients with chronic pain

By Guest PostSeptember 17, 2013Healthasian cooking, asian spice, brain, chilli, chronic pain, chronic pain patients, fibres, light touch fibres, measurable frequency, menthol, mustard oil, nobuhiro hagura, pain fibres, patient, sanshool, skin, szechuan pepper, thermal, tingling sensation, ucl

The science behind the tingling sensation caused by eating a popular Asian spice has been explained by researchers at UCL.

The study, which is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, helps shed light on the complex interactions between the senses of taste and touch, and could lead to a greater understanding of the causes of the tingling sensations experienced by many chronic pain patients.

Widely used in Asian cooking, the Szechuan pepper was found to mimic the sense of touch in the brain. It chemically activates light-touch fibres on the lips and tongue and sends the equivalent of 50 light taps to the brain per second. (more…)

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