A Novel Mechanism Regulating Stress is Identified Neuroscience researchers from Tufts identify potential target for drug therapy for wide range of disorders associated with stress Neuroscience researchers from Tufts have demonstrated, for the first time, that the physiological response to stress depends on neurosteroids acting on specific receptors in the brain, and they have been able to block that response in mice. This breakthrough suggests that these critical receptors may be drug therapy targets for control of the stress-response pathway. This finding may pave the way for new approaches to manage a wide range of neurological disorders involving stress. The stress-control pathway, more technically known as the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, determines the levels of cortisol and other stress hormones in the human body. “We have identified a novel mechanism regulating the body’s response to stress by determining that neurosteroids are required to mount the physiological response to stress.
fpsyg.2014 1Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA2Centre for Research on Ageing Health and Wellbeing, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia While overall life expectancy has been increasing, the human brain still begins deteriorating after the first two decades of life and continues degrading further with increasing age. Thus, techniques that diminish the negative impact of aging on the brain are desirable. MindMaster® EEG MindLights® is a "mind machine" — a device for audio-visual stimulation (AVS), also called audio-visual entrainment. This instrument implements high-end technology to not only induce relaxation and trance-like states, but also to stimulate the mind and alleviate certain physical and mental problems. What does it do?
Spatial memory deficits in a mouse model of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease are caused by zinc supplementation and correlate with amyloid-beta levels Introduction Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the primary cause of dementia in the elderly and currently affects more than five million Americans (Alzheimer’s Association, 2013). The present research focuses on how the biometals, such as zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and iron (Fe), interact with amyloid beta (Aβ)—the key constituent of the plaques that are characteristic of the disease, which mediates plaque formation and consequent oxidative damage. Zn, Cu, and Fe are found in high concentrations in and around amyloid plaques (Lovell et al., 1998; Maynard et al., 2005), consistent with the notion that Aβ is a metalloprotein that possesses binding sites for both Zn and Cu (Bush et al., 1993; Hesse et al., 1994). Zn has been shown to be particularly effective in promoting Aβ aggregation (Bush et al., 1993), and the sequestration of Zn by Aβ leads to an intracellular deficiency of this metal (Grabrucker et al., 2011). Materials and Methods
Self Running Demonstration - BrainWare Safari Adult Users Say ... I’m Using the Focusing Techniques I Learned "When I was a freshman in high school, my teacher told my dad, 'Leah doesn't know how to think.' As time went on, I realized I had trouble piecing together how certain events culminated in larger happenings. I often forgot events in my own history. Eating green leafy vegetables keeps mental abilities sharp Something as easy as adding more spinach, kale, collards and mustard greens to your diet could help slow cognitive decline, according to new research. The study also examined the nutrients responsible for the effect, linking vitamin K consumption to slower cognitive decline for the first time. "Losing one's memory or cognitive abilities is one of the biggest fears for people as they get older," said Martha Clare Morris, Sc.D., assistant provost for community research at Rush University Medical Center and leader of the research team. "Since declining cognitive ability is central to Alzheimer's disease and dementias, increasing consumption of green leafy vegetables could offer a very simple, affordable and non-invasive way of potentially protecting your brain from Alzheimer's disease and dementia." "Our study identified some very novel associations," said Morris, who will present the research at the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Annual Meeting during Experimental Biology 2015.
Guest post by SumNeuron: NeuroGaming 2014 interview round-up (Videos) Please welcome this guest post by Sumner Magruder, also known as SumNeuron to his thousands of followers on Twitter and Youtube. Sumner is a neuroscience and biomathematics student at Rhodes College, conducting research in the fields of neuroendocrinology (for social behavior) and the molecular mechanisms of memory. He is also a talented and enthusiastic reporter, who interviewed most of the exhibitors at last week’s NeuroGaming expo. At the end of this post you can read more about him. Now, let’s hand it over to Sumner! A conference unlike any other Daily Marijuana Use Doesn’t Really Change Brains of Adults or Teens, Study Finds Last year, the press and marijuana-legalization opponents gave a lot of attention to a study suggesting that daily marijuana causes abnormalities in the brain. New research, reportedly using better techniques, indicates that claim and other reports of cannabis-caused changes to brain structure simply aren't true. The authors of the new study, "Daily Marijuana Use Is Not Associated with Brain Morphometric Measures in Adolescents or Adults," published in the latest edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that alcohol use was responsible for previous studies finding brain changes.
10 Psychological Experiments That Went Horribly Wrong Psychology as we know it is a relatively young science, but since its inception it has helped us to gain a greater understanding of ourselves and our interactions with the world. Many psychological experiments have been valid and ethical, allowing researchers to make new treatments and therapies available, and giving other insights into our motivations and actions. Sadly, others have ended up backfiring horribly — ruining lives and shaming the profession. Here are ten psychological experiments that spiraled out of control. 10. Stanford Prison Experiment
First Alzheimer’s Treatment to Fully Restore Memory Functionality As anyone who has seen what Alzheimer’s can do to a person will tell you, it’s not pretty, it’s not fun and it’s one of the most difficult diseases to deal with for both parties. It’s difficult to watch those you love grow older, but when they begin forgetting everything and everyone around them it can be just as damaging to those around them. What makes this disease such a problem is that there have been no significant advances in curing it or reversing its effects since the initial discovery in 1906. The scientists and researchers from the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland have been working diligently to discover something that would help, and it appears they may have now found a viable treatment. To the best of our current knowledge about Alzheimer’s is that it’s brought on by the buildup of two different types of neural plaques – neurofibrillary clusters and amyloid plaques, both stemming from different proteins.
Olds & Milner, 1954: “reward centers” in the brain and lessons for modern neuroscience Sometimes the discoveries most exciting to read about are those that were made long ago, due to the sheer advance in knowledge that they represented. Such classic studies also remind us that the most important discoveries can be made with even the most rudimentary techniques, when combined with careful observation and clever interpretation. In 1954, James Olds and Peter Milner of McGill University published a seminal paper in which they report evidence for the existence of a reward center in the brain. In the paper, Olds and Milner describe their finding that rats would continually press a lever in return for receiving nothing more than a brief pulse of electrical stimulation in a particular region of the rat’s brain called the septal area. Here’s how the experiment was performed: rats were placed in a “large-levered Skinner box” (Operant Conditioning Chamber) on 2 consecutive days and were subjected to both an ‘acquisition’ period and an ‘extinction’ period.
Alzheimer's Disease Fact Sheet Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. In most people with Alzheimer’s, symptoms first appear after age 60. Estimates vary, but experts suggest that as many as 5.1 million Americans may have Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia among older people. Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning—thinking, remembering, and reasoning—and behavioral abilities, to such an extent that it interferes with a person’s daily life and activities.
Tiny magnetic coils may be safer than implanted electrodes for deep-brain stimulation Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic have shown that sub-millimeter magnetic coils can generate magnetic fields (red lines) strong enough to modulate activity of nearby neurons. Their findings may serve as the basis for a new generation of safer, more effective neural prosthetics. (Credit: Cleveland Clinic Center for Medical Art and Photography) Magnetic fields generated by microscopic devices implanted into the brain may be able to modulate brain-cell activity and reduce symptoms of several neurological disorders .