Newborns have ear preferences, too
...e brain. Generally speaking, the left side of the brain processes speech and performs sophisticated langua...ds. And, generally speaking, the right side of the brain is the primary processor of tonal sounds. It excels at hearing pitch, or sound frequency, and interp...Disruption of protein-folding causes neurodegeneration, mental retardation
Excess accumulation in brain cells of a fat molecule called GM1-ganglioside (GM...M1 gangliosidosis, disrupts the normal function of brain cells and causes them to self-destruct. The St. Jude discovery offers strong evidence for the cause ...Serotonin metabolites in mollusks suggest pathways for human therapies
...-specific diseases related to 5-HT, such as in the brain or enteric nervous system," he said. "Because enzymes exist in mammals that can convert serotonin into metabolites, future treatments of nervous system disorders could exploit these pathways so that only a specific pathway in a specific tissue is af...Origin and Development of the Vertebrate Traits
...(Day 1), the neural crest, sensory systems and the brain (Day 2), and the genetic and cellular bases for the chordate body plan (Day 3). It is hoped that the broad scope of the presentations and disciplines covered will stimulate fruitful discussion and yield fresh new insights into the evolution of verteb...Wrapping a memory with an experience, capacity for recollection detected in non-human species
... recollection-like memory retrieval depends on the brain structure known as the hippocampus, the same structure believed to be involved in recollection in humans. Their findings are published in the September 9 issue of the journal Nature. Although neuroimaging studies of hippocampal activity in normal in...Final Alert: 16th EORTC NCI AACR Symposium
...e cancer drug used in patients Trial shows which brain cancer patients benefit from temozolomide genetic predictive test clears way to targeted treatment New study indicates arsenic could be suitable first-line treatment for a type of leukaemia Prize-winning study shows Glivec effective in yet another...... most resilient and aggressive cancers a virulent brain cancer known as glioblastoma. The new approach to tricking the cell-death machinery could be applied to a wide range of cancers where this pathway, known as apoptosis, has been inactivated. The researchers -- led by Xiaodong Wang, a Howard Hughes Me...Imitative parrots just might tell you it's all in the tongue
...ned by listening. Veryspecific areas of the bird's brain aid song and imitation. Humans havelanguage centers. Before, we used to think all the complexity of parrotcommunication was because of the syrinx. Now we think it's likely thetongue is involved, just like with human speech." Beckers, the study's lead...Long-term effects of carbon monoxide poisoning are an autoimmune reaction
...ers found that by-products of CO metabolism in the brain alter the charge and structure of MBP. "These chan...ays Thom. To link acute CO poisoning to long-term brain injury, the team conducted tests on normal versus CO-poisoned rats, comparing their abilities to nav...A genetic disorder yields insight into genes and cognition
... complex machinery by which genes give rise to the brain often find invaluable clues in genetic disorders that affect brain structure and function. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg and his colleagues have gained just such clues by s...Rare deficit maps thinking circuitry
Using brain imaging, neuroscientists at the NIH's National Ins...h (NIMH) have pinpointed the site of a defect in a brain circuit associated with a specific thinking deficit. Their study demonstrates how a rare genetic dis...Essential smell gene may provide key to new insect repellents
...eceptors, and set off a series of signals that the brain perceives as smell. A different gene codes for each kind of receptor, and the Or83b receptor is unusual in two ways. First, nearly all the olfactory neurons in the fly have the Or83b receptor, whereas other kinds of receptors are divided up among sma...Flame retardants found on supermarket shelves
...ted with cancer, endocrine disruption and impaired brain development in animal studies, according to the researchers. The European Union has banned two types of PBDEs the penta and octa formulations and is currently considering a ban on a third type, the deca formulation. Officials in the United States...DHA-rich diet protects brain from Alzheimer's damage, UCLA study shows
...gh in the omega-3 fatty acid DHA helps protect the brain against the memory loss and cell damage caused by ...s is the first proof that our diets affect how our brain cells communicate with each other under the duress of Alzheimer's disease," explained Greg Cole, Ph....Convulsions in worms mimic epileptic seizures
... Genetics, published online August 31. "The human brain has 100 billion neurons, whereas the worm has only...ans to understand and simplify the complexities of brain disease." The team identified a mutation in the LIS1 gene that causes the encoded protein to be onl...Protein involved in childhood disorder linked to cancer
...esults in an abnormally small head due to improper brain formation and growth. Children with this condition may be short, have seizures and have normal or mildly retarded intelligence. "Microcephalin is the protein encoded by the MCPH1 gene, which, when mutated, is a major cause of microcephaly. We have...Analysis of biological clock may lead to greater understanding of human disease
...ises it affects the light-sensitive neurons of the brain of the fruit fly, setting off reactions of proteins at a certain rate depending on the amount of light. The reactions set the clock. There are key proteins and two key feedback loops involved, making the system a hierarchical control scheme, a design...Mouse study shows NPAS3 and NPAS1 genes may be linked to psychosis
...ode proteins that switch other genes on and off in brain cells. "These mice display certain deficits that ...chers have shown in postmortem examinations of the brain tissue of schizophrenics that these patients have a reduction in reelin, said Dr. McKnight. Schizoph...Trojan Horses, xenon imaging and remote controlled genes
...y biomarkers associated with cancers of the lungs, brain and pancreas," Dmochowski said. "Over time, we'll be able to use MRI to detect aberrant proteins that cause cancer in humans before the actual formation of a tumor." "Trojan Horse" Proteins Dmochowski and his colleagues are also exploring th......rths, have a small, displaced cerebellum and other brain abnormalities that can reduce coordination, impair mental function and cause hydrocephalus. In the September, 2004, issue of Nature Genetics -- to be published online August 22 -- the researchers show that in humans, loss of one copy of each of two ...