Musical Training May Improve Brain’s Language Skills
Neuroscientists at Northwestern University have made a surprising link between music, rhythmic abilities and language skills. People who have a better sense of rhythm and can move to a beat show more consistent brain responses to speech than those with less rhythm, according to a study published in the September 18, 2013 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.read more (Source: Psychology Today Parenting Center)
Source: Psychology Today Parenting Center - September 18, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Christopher Bergland Tags: Neuroscience Parenting auditory neuroscience laboratory auditory processing better sense biological evidence brain regions brain responses cerebellum cognitive processes high school students metronome neural response neuroscienti Source Type: news
Experimental compound reverses Down syndrome-like learning deficits in mice
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and the National Institutes of Health have identified a compound that dramatically bolsters learning and memory when given to mice with a Down syndrome-like condition on the day of birth. As they report in the Sept. 4 issue of Science Translational Medicine, the single-dose treatment appears to enable the cerebellum of the rodents' brains to grow to a normal size... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - September 9, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology / Neuroscience Source Type: news
Misleading claims of 'cure for Down's syndrome'
Conclusion
This is interesting research investigating the effects on brain structure, learning and memory of using a chemical to treat mice with a condition similar to Down’s syndrome.
The research found some positive results including normalisation of the structure of the cerebellum and improvements in learning and memory in the water maze test. However, it is far too early to say whether a similar treatment could be developed for use in humans, and what its effects might be.
The chemical used mimics the effect of the Sonic hedgehog protein, which is naturally found in our bodies. This protein is essential for a wide ra...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 6, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Genetics/stem cells Source Type: news
A Method for 3D Immunostaining and Optical Imaging of the Mouse Brain
In this study our Chicken Nestin Antibody is used to stain these progenitors in dissected mouse brains: Gleave JA, Lerch JP, Henkelman RM, Nieman BJ (2013) A Method for 3D Immunostaining and Optical Imaging of the Mouse Brain Demonstrated in Neural Progenitor Cells. PLoS ONE 8(8): e72039. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0072039. 3D antibody staining of adult mouse brains: 1% PFA perfused adult mouse brains were removed from the skull and then divided by removing the cerebellum and separating the hemispheres if desired. The samples were immediately dehydrated in a gradient of methanol solutions to 100% methanol over the...
Source: Neuromics - August 12, 2013 Category: Neuroscience Tags: Immunostaining 3-D Assays. 3-D imaging mouse brain Immunofluorescence nestin antibody Neural Progenitor Cells Source Type: news
Functional role in the cerebellum suggested by analysis of 26 networked autism genes
A team of scientists has obtained intriguing insights into two groups of autism candidate genes in the mammalian brain that new evidence suggests are functionally and spatially related. The newly published analysis identifies two networked groupings from 26 genes associated with autism that are overexpressed in the cerebellar cortex, in areas dominated by neurons called granule cells... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - July 29, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Autism Source Type: news
Analysis of 26 networked autism genes suggests functional role in the cerebellum
(Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) A team of scientists has obtained intriguing insights into two groups of autism candidate genes in the mammalian brain that new evidence suggests are functionally and spatially related. The newly published analysis identifies two networked groupings from 26 genes associated with autism that are overexpressed in the cerebellar cortex, in areas dominated by neurons called granule cells. (Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science)
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - July 25, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news
Culturing Mouse Cerebellar Granule Neurons
The cerebellum plays an important role in motor control, motor skill acquisition, memory and learning among other brain functions. In rodents, cerebellar development continues after birth, characterized by the maturation of granule neurons. Cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) are the most abundant neuronal type in the central nervous system, and they provide an excellent model for investigating molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms underlying neuronal development as well as neural circuitry linked to behavior. Here we describe a procedure to isolate and culture CGNs from postnatal day 6 mice. These cultures ...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Neuroscience - May 27, 2013 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: news
Human Intelligence Cannot Be Explained By The Size Of The Brain's Frontal Lobes
Research into the comparative size of the frontal lobes in humans and other species has determined that they are not - as previously thought - disproportionately enlarged relative to other areas of the brain, according to the most accurate and conclusive study of this area of the brain. It concludes that the size of our frontal lobes cannot solely account for humans' superior cognitive abilities. The study by Durham and Reading universities suggests that supposedly more 'primitive' areas, such as the cerebellum, were equally important in the expansion of the human brain... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 15, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology / Neuroscience Source Type: news
UCLA stem cell researchers move toward treatment for rare genetic nerve disease
Led by Dr. Peiyee Lee and Dr. Richard Gatti, researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have used induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to advance disease-in-a-dish modeling of a rare genetic disorder, ataxia telangiectasia (A-T).
Their discovery shows the positive effects of drugs that may lead to effective new treatments for the neurodegenerative disease. iPS cells are made from patients' skin cells, rather than from embryos, and they can become any type of cells, including brain cells, in the laboratory. The study appears online ahead of print in the jour...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 10, 2013 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
The Neuroscience of Calming a Baby
Neuroscientists have discovered the brain system that calms babies down when they are being carried. Interestingly, it is the same brain system that gives people athletic prowess and grace under pressure. read more (Source: Psychology Today Parenting Center)
Source: Psychology Today Parenting Center - April 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Christopher Bergland Tags: Animal Behavior Neuroscience Parenting Stress body movements brain science institute caregiver cerebellum current biology evolutionary biology hand experience human babies kuroda mother infant new parents parasympathetic nerv Source Type: news
Handbook of the Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders
(Source: Springer Biomedical Sciences titles)
Source: Springer Biomedical Sciences titles - April 9, 2013 Category: Biomedical Science Tags: Neurosciences Source Type: news
Motor Disorders And Epilepsy Can Be Caused By Dysfunction In Cerebellar Calcium Channel
A dysfunction of a certain Calcium channel, the so called P/Q-type channel, in neurons of the cerebellum is sufficient to cause different motor diseases as well as a special type of epilepsy. This is reported by the research team of Dr. Melanie Mark and Prof. Dr. Stefan Herlitze from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. They investigated mice that lacked the ion channel of the P/Q-type in the modulatory input neurons of the cerebellum... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - March 25, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Epilepsy Source Type: news
Dysfunction in cerebellar Calcium channel causes motor disorders and epilepsy
(Ruhr-University Bochum) A dysfunction of a certain Calcium channel, the so called P/Q-type channel, in neurons of the cerebellum is sufficient to cause different motor diseases as well as a special type of epilepsy. A research team of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum investigated mice that lacked that ion channel in the modulatory input neurons of the cerebellum. "We expect that our results will contribute to the development of treatments for in particular children and young adults suffering from absence epilepsy", Melanie Mark says. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - March 21, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news
Language Skills At 1 Year Predicted By Brain Structure In Infancy
Using a brain-imaging technique that examines the entire infant brain, researchers have found that the anatomy of certain brain areas - the hippocampus and cerebellum - can predict children's language abilities at 1 year of age. The University of Washington study is the first to associate these brain structures with future language skills. The results are published in the January issue of the journal Brain and Language... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - January 24, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Psychology / Psychiatry Source Type: news
Brain structure of infants predicts language skills at one year
Using a brain-imaging technique that examines the entire infant brain, researchers have found that the anatomy of certain brain areas – the hippocampus and cerebellum – can predict children’s language abilities at one year of age. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - January 22, 2013 Category: Science Source Type: news
