04.04.2012 Primitive Consciousness Emerges First as You Awaken from Anesthesia
Awakening from anesthesia is often associated with an initial phase of delirious struggle before the full restoration of awareness and orientation to one’s surroundings. Scientists now know why this may occur: primitive consciousness emerges first
30.03.2012 How Genes Organize the Surface of the Brain
The first atlas of the surface of the human brain based upon genetic information has been produced by a national team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the VA San Diego Healthcare System
27.03.2012 Blocking “Oh-Glick-Nack” May Improve Long-Term Memory
Just as the familiar sugar in food can be bad for the teeth and waistline, another sugar has been implicated as a health menace and blocking its action may have benefits that include improving long-term memory in older people and treating cancer
13.01.2012 Walk This Way: Scientists and MBL Physiology Course Students Describe How a Motor Protein “Steps Out”
Just like people, some proteins have characteristic ways of “walking,” which (also like human gaits) are not so easy to describe. But now scientists have discovered the unique “drunken sailor” gait of dynein, a protein that is critical for the function of every cell in the body and whose malfunction has been associated with neurodegenerative disorders such as Lou Gehrig’s disease and Parkinson’s disease
06.09.2011 Brain Waves Control the Impact of Noise On Sleep
During sleep, our perception of the environment decreases. However the extent to which the human brain responds to surrounding noises during sleep remains unclear. In a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers from University of Liège (Belgium) used brain imaging to study responses to sounds during sleep.
18.02.2011 Reelin Nerve Cells Into Neocortex Without Glial Cell Hooks
Scientists found that the protein named reelin is deeply involved in the migration of new nerve cells to the neocortex independently of glial cells.The research provides evidence that one class of molecules involved with reelin’s control of nerve migration is cadherin. The researchers showed that reelin controls the function of cadherins in nerve cells. Cadherins have been shown previously to play a role in brain formation by acting as a glue that allows cells to attach to each other as they move. Understanding the role of reelin in nerve cell migration is critical to improving treatments to brain formation disorders and diseases such as epilepsy, autism, schizophrenia, microcephaly and lissencephaly.
30.01.2011 Bullying, Genetics and Emotions: New Research Shows Links
Genetics research into the emotional responses of bullying shows that many bullied victims that later experience more emotional problems have genetic similarities. The Nature vs Nurture discussions are sure to focus on this new research involving twin studies and the effects of bullying. This genetics research should prove important to readers interested in education, genetics, learning, mental health and safety.
12.01.2011 Adrenaline Receptor Imaged for First Time
New imaging techniques using newly developed stable antibodies and X-ray crystallography allows imaging of the adrenaline receptors for the first time
19.12.2010 Pain in the Potassium Channels
The removal of a certain class of potassium channels from the surface of nociceptors is believed to be a key factor in inflammatory pain signaling.
Using gene interference to reduce the expression of these specific potassium channels on nociceptors, researchers were able to produce hyperexcitability in nociceptors resembling that seen in inflammatory pain signaling.
This pain research could lead to safer and more effective pain treatment. Further details are in the article below.
18.12.2010 The Fearless SM: Woman Missing Amygdala
A woman with bilateral damage relatively restricted to the amygdala is the subject of a case study recently reported.
15.11.2010 Associations between Dopamine D4 Receptor Gene Variation with Both Infidelity and Sexual Promiscuity
Human sexual behavior is highly variable both within and between populations. While sex-related characteristics and sexual behavior are central to evolutionary theory (sexual selection), little is known about the genetic bases of individual variation in sexual behavior. The variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism in exon III of the human dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) has been correlated with an array of behavioral phenotypes and may be predicatively responsible for variation in motivating some sexual behaviors, particularly promiscuity and infidelity.
27.10.2010 Human Thought Can Voluntarily Control Neurons in Brain
Neuroscience research involving epileptic patients with brain electrodes surgically implanted in their medial temporal lobes shows that patients learned to consciously control individual neurons deep in the brain with thoughts. Subjects learned to control mouse cursors, play video games and alter focus of digital images with their thoughts. The patients were each using brain computer interfaces, deep brain electrodes and software designed for the research.
