Tag Archives: brain

Insulin, Nutrition Prevent Blood Stem Cell Differentiation in The Fruit Fly

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2012Scienceamino acids, blood stem cells, brain, chemical markers, chronic inflammation, confocal microscope, diabetes, drosophila, fruit fly, human pancreas, insulin, ji won shim, mammalian blood, metabolic dysfunction, metabolic stresses, myeloid cell accumulation, nutrition, stem cell, stemness, utpal banerjee

UCLA stem cell researchers have shown that insulin and nutrition prevent blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells in Drosophila, the common fruit fly, a finding that has implications for studying inflammatory response and blood development in response to dietary changes in humans.

Keeping blood stem cells, or progenitor cells, from differentiating into blood cells is important as blood stem cells are needed to create the blood supply for the adult fruit fly. (more…)

A Bird’s Song May Teach Us About Human Speech Disorders

By Guest PostMarch 7, 2012Nature, Sciencearea x, austin hilliard, autism, basal ganglia, bat species, biostatistics, brain, cortex, disorder, dolphins, elephants, elizabeth fraley, England, flying and perching, foxp2, genes, genetic equivalent, human genetics, human stuttering, julie miller, language, male zebra finches, master gene, neuroscience, sexually mature, small bird, social network, song, songbird, speech, stephanie white, steve horvath, stroke, stuart wolpert, tissue, vocalization, zebra finch

*UCLA scientists identify 2,000 important genes*

Can the song of a small bird provide valuable insights into human stuttering and speech-related disorders and conditions, including autism and stroke? New research by UCLA life scientists and colleagues provides reason for optimism.

The scientists discovered that some 2,000 genes in a region of the male zebra finch’s brain known as “Area X” are significantly linked to singing. More than 1,500 genes in this region, a critical part of the bird’s song circuitry, are being reported for the first time. Previously, a group of scientists including the UCLA team had identified some 400 genes in Area X. All the genes’ levels of expression change when the bird sings. (more…)

Study Shows How The Brain Responds To Deceptive Advertising

By Guest PostMarch 5, 2012Science, Technologyadam craig, advertisement, brain, brain response, conscious attention, deceptive advertising, fmri, fmri images, highly deceptive, jennifer vendemia, north carolina state university, precuneus, stacy wood, sts, superior temporal sulcus, temporoparietal junction, theory of mind, tom, tpj, variable, yuliya loureiro

Several specific regions of our brains are activated in a two-part process when we are exposed to deceptive advertising, according to new research conducted by a North Carolina State University professor. The work opens the door to further research that could help us understand how brain injury and aging may affect our susceptibility to fraud or misleading marketing.

The study utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to capture images of the brain while study participants were shown a series of print advertisements. The fMRI images allowed researchers to determine how consumers’ brains respond to potentially deceptive advertising. “We did not instruct participants to evaluate the ads. We wanted to mimic the passive exposure to advertising that we all experience every day,” says Dr. Stacy Wood, Langdon Distinguished Professor of Marketing at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research. (more…)

UCLA Scientists Boost Memory By Stimulating Key Site in Brain

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2012Sciencealzheimer, americans, barbara knowlton, brain, brain cells, brain site, critical junction, cyber city, disease, entorhinal cortex, eric behnke, hippocampus, itzhak fried, john stern, memory, nanthia suthana, neuro prosthetic devices, neuroscientist, roy mukamel, taxi cab, ucla, united states, video game, virtual passenger, zulfi haneef

*Mechanism holds potential for improving recall in dementia patients*

Have you ever gone to the movies and forgotten where you parked the car? New UCLA research may one day help you improve your memory.

UCLA neuroscientists have demonstrated that they can strengthen memory in human patients by stimulating a critical junction in the brain. Published in the Feb. 9 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, the finding could lead to a new method for boosting memory in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. (more…)

‘Explorers’ Use Uncertainty And Specific Area of Brain

By Guest PostFebruary 11, 2012Scienceambiguity, architecture, bradley doll, brain, brown university, cognitive control, computational power, data, david badre, decision making strategy, explorers, function, functional architecture, mathematical model, michael frank, mri scanner, mystery, nicole long, nonexplorers, rostrolateral prefrontal cortex, status quo, thought process, uncertainty, virtual clock

*As they try to find the best reward among options, some people explore based on how uncertain they are about the outcome of the options. Those who employ that thought process, unlike people who use other strategies, uniquely harness the computational power of the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex, a new study finds.*

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Life shrouds most choices in mystery. Some people inch toward a comfortable enough spot and stick close to that rewarding status quo. Out to dinner, they order the usual. Others consider their options systematically or randomly. But many choose to grapple with the uncertainty head on. “Explorers” order the special because they aren’t sure they’ll like it. It’s a strategy of maximizing rewards by discovering whether as yet unexplored options might yield better returns. In a new study, Brown University researchers show that such explorers use a specific part of their brain to calculate the relative uncertainty of their choices, while non-explorers do not. (more…)

A Whole New Meaning for Thinking on Your Feet

By Guest PostJanuary 9, 2012Natureaxons, biodiversity of spiders, body cavities, brain, brain cells, brain power, brain size and behavior, central nervous systems, costa rica, diameter, energy, genes, genus, hallers rule, human brains, miniaturization, mysmena, nephila clavipes, nerve fibers, nerve signals, nervous system, nucleus, nymphs of spiders, panama, rainforest, rainforest giant, smallest spiders, smithsonian researchers, smithsonian tropical research institute, species of spiders, tiny spiders, tropical ecosystems, tropics, understanding of tropical nature, william wcislo

Smithsonian researchers report that the brains of tiny spiders are so large that they fill their body cavities and overflow into their legs. As part of ongoing research to understand how miniaturization affects brain size and behavior, researchers measured the central nervous systems of nine species of spiders, from rainforest giants to spiders smaller than the head of a pin. As the spiders get smaller, their brains get proportionally bigger, filling up more and more of their body cavities.

“The smaller the animal, the more it has to invest in its brain, which means even very tiny spiders are able to weave a web and perform other fairly complex behaviors,” said William Wcislo, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. “We discovered that the central nervous systems of the smallest spiders fill up almost 80 percent of their total body cavity, including about 25 percent of their legs.” (more…)

Ovarian Cancer Study Proves Drug Delays Disease Progression

By Guest PostJanuary 3, 2012Healthamerican study, amit oza, avastin, bevacizumab, blood vessels, brain, breast, canada, canadian cancer society, caz zyvatkauskas, colorectal, disease, drug, kidney, lung, oncologist, ovarian cancer, starving the cancer, timothy perren, tumours, university of toronto, women

*U of T, U.K. study focused on Avastin*

Treating ovarian cancer with the drug bevacizumab (“Avastin”) delays the disease and may also improve survival, according to an international clinical trial co-led by Drs. Amit Oza of the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) and Timothy Perren of St James’s Institute of Oncology, Leeds, U.K.

The findings, published on Dec. 28 in the New England Journal of Medicine, report that the drug halted the cancer’s return for two months overall. However, for women with the highest risk disease, the delay was five to six months and in this group, the findings also indicate a strong trend to improved overall survival, which is being analysed until 2013. (more…)

Yale Researchers Find Genetic Link Between Heart Disease and Brain Aneurysms

By Guest PostNovember 25, 2011Health, ScienceAli Ozturk, aneurysms, atherosclerosis, blood vessels, brain, bursting blood vessels, cardiovascular disorders, constriction of blood vessels, DNA, elasticity, endothelin receptor, genes, genetic risk factors, heart disease, hypertension, intracranial aneurysms, Katsuhito Yasuno, Kaya Bilguvar, mehmet bakircioglu, murat gunel, Richard Lifton, Shrikant Mane, variant of gene, vasospasm, vessel spasm, vessel tone

Yale School of Medicine researchers have discovered that a variant of a gene linked to heart disease also increases the risk of deadly aneurysms of blood vessels in the brain. The discovery of this link raises hopes for new treatments for intracranial aneurysms, which affect more than a half million people worldwide annually.

“Existing drugs already target this common pathway and, in the future, could help treat or prevent aneurysms in people who are at risk,” said Murat Gunel, professor of neurosurgery, genetics and neurobiology and senior author of the study, published the week of Nov. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)