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·September 17, 2012·3 min read

Toxic Protein Build-up in Blood Shines Light on Fatal Brain Disease

A new light-based technique for measuring levels of the toxic protein that causes Huntington's disease (HD) has been used to demonstrate that the protein builds up gradually in blood cells.

Autism Featured Neurology

·September 14, 2012·2 min read

Disorder of Neural Circuits in Autism Mouse Model is Reversible

Scientists have now identified a specific dysfunction in neuronal circuits that is caused by autism. The scientists also report about their success in reversing these neuronal changes in mouse models.

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience

·September 14, 2012·3 min read

Scientists Use Prosthetic Device to Restore and Improve Impaired Decision Making Ability in Animals

Scientists used an electronic prosthetic system to tap into existing circuitry in the brain at the cellular level and record the firing patterns of multiple neurons in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain involved in decision-making. They then “played” that recording back to the same brain area to electrically stimulate decision-based neural activity. Not only did it restore function, in some cases, it also improved it.

Featured Psychology

·September 13, 2012·3 min read

How Early Social Deprivation Impairs Long-Term Cognitive Function

A study shows social isolation during early life prevents the cells that make up the brain's white matter from maturing and producing the right amount of myelin, the fatty "insulation" on nerve fibers that helps them transmit long-distance messages within the brain.

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience

·September 13, 2012·3 min read

Stress Breaks Loops that Hold Short-Term Memory Together

By watching individual neurons at work, a group of psychologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has revealed just how stress can addle the mind, as well as how neurons in the brain's prefrontal cortex help remember information in the first place.

Featured Genetics Neurology

·September 13, 2012·3 min read

Neural Stem Cells Regenerate Axons in Severe Spinal Cord Injury

Researchers were able to regenerate an astonishing degree of axonal growth at the site of severe spinal cord injury in rats. Results were then replicated using two human stem cell lines, one already in human trials for ALS. “We obtained the exact results using human cells as we had in the rat cells,” said Tuszynski.

Featured Genetics

·September 12, 2012·3 min read

An Important Breakthrough in the Fight Against Muscular Dystrophies

Recent findings by an international collaboration including IRCM researchers hold new implications for the pathogenesis of myotonic dystrophy.

Featured Genetics

·September 11, 2012·2 min read

How Genetics Shape Our Addictions: Genes Predict the Brain’s Reaction to Smoking

Have you ever wondered why some people find it so much easier to stop smoking than others? New research shows that vulnerability to smoking addiction is shaped by our genes.

Featured Neurology

·September 11, 2012·3 min read

Research Finds Ginkgo Biloba Doesn’t Improve Cognitive Function in MS

A new research study conducted has found that the herbal supplement Ginkgo biloba does not improve cognitive function in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS.)

Featured Neurology

·September 11, 2012·3 min read

Improved Nanoparticles Deliver Drugs into Brain

A Johns Hopkins team says its bioengineers have designed nanoparticles that can safely and predictably infiltrate deep into the brain when tested in rodent and human tissue.

Featured Neurology

·September 10, 2012·3 min read

Her Vision is 20/20, But She Can’t Make Sense of What She Sees

A rare and baffling neurological disorder called Bálint syndrome, which badly impairs a patient's ability to make sense of what he or she sees is discussed. The article describes, in novelistic detail, the difficult adjustments two patients have had to make in their lives.

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience

·September 10, 2012·3 min read

Researchers Create Short-Term Memories In-Vitro

Researchers have discovered how to store diverse forms of artificial short-term memories in isolated brain tissue. Using isolated pieces of rodent brain tissue, the researchers demonstrated that they could form a memory of which one of four input pathways was activated.