In animals, the brain (enkephale) (Greek for “in the skull”), is the control center of the central nervous system, responsible for behavior. The brain is located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary sensory apparatus of vision, hearing, equilibrioception (balance), sense of taste, and olfaction (smell).
US action to reduce BPA exposures may offer an effective intervention for improving health and reducing the burden of some of the most consequential human health problems. – Researchers found a significant relationship between urine concentrations of the environmental estrogen bisphenol A (BPA) and cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities.
10-15% of lung cancer cases are caused by factors other than tobacco smoking, revealed by researchers. The study analyzed data on lung cancer occurrence among lifelong nonsmokers in North America, Europe, and Asia. – A new American Cancer Society study sheds light on the ten to fifteen percent of lung cancers that are caused by factors other than tobacco smoking. The study analyzed data on lung cancer occurrence among lifelong nonsmokers in North America, Europe, and Asia and found that lung cancer death rates among never-smokers are highest among men, African Americans, and Asians residing in Asia.
Genetic variation can be used to predict an individual’s pair-bonding behavior; Gene associated with pair-bonding in animals has similar effects in human males. – Variation in the gene for one of the receptors for the hormone vasopressin appears to be associated with how human males bond with their partners, according to an international team of researchers.
Xenazine (tetrabenazine) for the treatment of chorea i.e. jerky, involuntary movements in people with Huntington?s disease. – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Xenazine (tetrabenazine) for the treatment of chorea in people with Huntington’s disease. Chorea is the jerky, involuntary movement that occurs in people with this disease.
Erasing drug-associated memories to treat drug addiction is a new approach that has great potential. – Erasing drug-associated memories may prevent recovering drug abusers from relapsing, researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered.
Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning useful in a non-invasive assessment of the formation of Alzheimer’s disease?related plaques in the brain. – A type of positron emission tomography (PET) scanning may be useful in a non-invasive assessment of the formation of Alzheimer’s disease?related plaques in the brain, according to small study posted online today that will appear in the October 2008 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Older adults who regularly eat fish may have a lower risk of subtle brain damage that contributes to stroke and dementia. – Eating tuna and other types of fish may help lower the risk of cognitive decline and stroke in healthy older adults, according to a study published in the August 5, 2008, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
New research from The University of Western Ontario provides a better understanding of why some people seem to become hooked with their first smoke. – Researchers from the University of Western Ontario provide a better understanding of why some people seem to become hooked with their first smoke and nicotine.
High-dose injections of vitamin C may reduce tumor weight and growth rate by about 50 percent of brain, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers, – High-dose injections of vitamin C, also known as ascorbate or ascorbic acid, reduced tumor weight and growth rate by about 50 percent in mouse models of brain, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers, researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) report in the August 5, 2008, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Schizophrenia may be partly caused by the effects of unusual structural changes in genes. – People with schizophrenia (mental illness variously affecting behavior, thinking, and emotion) have an increased number of unusual chromosomal changes, particularly structural changes that have the potential to alter the function of the genes.
Those who don?t engage in complex mental activity over their lifetime have twice the shrinkage in a key part of the brain in old age, according to researchers from UNSW. – People who have been more mentally active over their lives have a larger hippocampus ? which relates to memory ? and critically that it shrinks at half the rate of those who have lower mental activity.
Babies who are breastfeeding trigger a surge of a “trust” hormone oxytocin in their mothers’ brains, researchers have said. – When a baby suckles at a mother’s breast, it starts a chain of events that leads to surges of the “trust” hormone oxytocin being released in their mothers brains.
