ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

Psychopathic Violent Offenders’ Brains Can’t Understand Punishment Posted: 27 Jan 2015 06:21 PM PST Psychopathic violent offenders have abnormalities in the parts of the brain related to learning from punishment, according to an MRI study.

How creative are you? Depends where you're from Posted: 27 Jan 2015 09:25 AM PST With the 'creative class' on the rise, many businesses are trying to capitalize on imagination and innovation. But when it comes to creative juices, some societies have a faster flow than others. That's because, as new research suggests, creativity is tied to culture.

That's using your head: Brain regulates fat metabolism, potentially stopping disease Posted: 27 Jan 2015 09:25 AM PST Atherosclerosis -- hardening and narrowing of the arteries -- can be caused by fat build up that causes plaque deposits, and is one of the main causes of cardiovascular disease. Now a researcher has shown a link between how the brain can regulate fat metabolism, potentially stopping the development of this disease risk factor in obesity and diabetes.

Things smell good for a reason Posted: 27 Jan 2015 09:24 AM PST Antioxidants are natural food ingredients that protect cells from harmful influences. Their main task is to neutralize so-called 'free radicals' which are produced in the process of oxidation and which are responsible for cell degeneration. Scientists now show that vinegar flies are able to detect these protective substances by using olfactory cues.

Brain region vulnerable to aging is larger in those with longevity gene variant Posted: 27 Jan 2015 09:11 AM PST People who carry a variant of a gene that is associated with longevity also have larger volumes in a front part of the brain involved in planning and decision-making, according to researchers.

Negative patient-doctor communication could worsen symptoms Posted: 27 Jan 2015 08:14 AM PST A type of 'nocebo' response -- where patients perceive a lack of understanding or acceptance from their doctor -- could create anger and distress, physiological conditions that could worsen illness, a new research shows.

Neuroscience researchers believe in quitting smoking gradually Posted: 27 Jan 2015 08:11 AM PST The immediate reaction in the brain after quitting smoking has been the focus of a recent study. At just 12 hours after kicking the habit, the oxygen uptake and blood flow in the brain decrease significantly compared to never-smokers. This could explain why it is so difficult to say goodbye to nicotine once and for all, the researchers say.

Smoking may increase risks for patients being treated for prostate cancer Posted: 27 Jan 2015 08:10 AM PST Among patients with prostate cancer, those who smoke have increased risks of experiencing side effects from treatment and of developing future cancer recurrences, or even dying from prostate cancer.

Researchers find hormone that increases the sex drive of mice Posted: 27 Jan 2015 08:09 AM PST Mice that receive a supplement of the 'appetite hormone' ghrelin increase their sexual activity, scientists have found. Whether the hormone has the same impact on humans is unknown -- but if it does, the researchers may have found the key to future treatments for sex addiction.

Association between parental time pressure, mental health problems among children Posted: 27 Jan 2015 07:06 AM PST Children whose parents experience time pressure are more likely to have mental health problems, a researcher has found. Children's sense of wellbeing largely reflects the circumstances in which their parents find themselves. But few scientific studies have addressed the subject head-on, the author says.

Researchers find potential anti-cancer use for anti-epilepsy drug Posted: 27 Jan 2015 07:06 AM PST A drug used widely to combat epilepsy has the potential to reduce the growth and spread of breast cancer, scientists have discovered. The team found that "repurposing" antiepileptic drugs, such as phenytoin, that effectively block the sodium channels, could provide a novel therapy for cancer.

Age concern in largest ever study of heroin user deaths Posted: 27 Jan 2015 07:03 AM PST Older users of opioids such as heroin are 27 times more likely to become a victim of homicide than the general population, a study of almost 200,000 users has found. The study is the first to record age trends in opioid users' mortality and the results demonstrate that many health inequalities between users and the general population widen with age.

Decisions on Future Childbearing in Women Diagnosed with a Meningioma Posted: 27 Jan 2015 07:00 AM PST 43% of surveyed female meningioma survivors aged 25–44 yrs stated they were warned that pregnancy was a risk factor for meningioma recurrence. Nevertheless, these women were more likely to want a baby (70% vs 54%) and intend to have a baby (27% vs 12%) than same-age women in the general population.

MRIs link impaired brain activity to inability to regulate emotions in autism Posted: 27 Jan 2015 07:00 AM PST When it comes to the ability to regulate emotions, brain activity in autistic people is significantly different than brain activity in people without autism. Researchers showed that symptoms including tantrums, irritability, and anxiety have a biological, mechanistic basis.

Drug candidates can block pathway associated with cell death in Parkinson's disease Posted: 27 Jan 2015 06:59 AM PST Two drug candidates can target biological pathways involved in the destruction of brain cells in Parkinson's disease, scientists have reported. The studies suggest that it is possible to design highly effective and highly selective (targeted) drug candidates that can protect the function of mitochondria, which provide the cell with energy, ultimately preventing brain cell death.

Study of former NFL players reveals specifics of concussive brain damage Posted: 26 Jan 2015 10:51 AM PST Results of a small study of nine men provide further evidence for potential long-term neurological risk to football players who sustain repeated concussions and support calls for better player protections.

Bad middle managers are just a reflection of their bosses, study says Posted: 26 Jan 2015 10:51 AM PST Keeping middle managers happy with their supervisors is the key to retaining the lower-level workers they manage and avoiding expensive turnover costs, according to a study.

Are medications' adverse cognitive effects reversible? Posted: 26 Jan 2015 09:49 AM PST A new study probes the possibility of reversing the adverse cognitive effects of medications frequently prescribed to older adults for chronic conditions including depression, anxiety and incontinence and sold over the counter as allergy and sleep aids.

Support cells in brain offer new strategy to boost memory Posted: 26 Jan 2015 09:47 AM PST A new memory regulator in the brain involving adenosine receptors has been uncovered by researchers, which may offer a potential treatment to improve memory in Alzheimer's disease. The findings suggest that astrocytes--star-shaped cells that are abundant in the brain and support neuronal function--are important regulators of information storage, and their dysfunction might lead to memory decline in disease.

Brain white matter changes seen in children who experience neglect Posted: 26 Jan 2015 09:46 AM PST Experiencing neglect in childhood was associated with alterations in brain white matter in a study of abandoned children in Romania who experienced social, emotional, linguistic and cognitive impoverishment while living in institutions compared with children who were placed in high-quality foster care or those who had never been in institutional care, according to the results of a clinical trial.

Sounds of silence: Brain activity analysis informs researchers on how vocalization works Posted: 26 Jan 2015 08:23 AM PST Refined techniques in brain activity analysis in zebra finches yields interesting results about how vocalization works. The research showed that by silencing of neurons in the arcopallium, a region in the brain known to be responsible for song generation, that zebra finch songs would become erratic and incomplete. It also demonstrated how precise this neuronal suppression method can be in determining the function of very small groups of neurons.

Learning from scorpions to control impulses Posted: 26 Jan 2015 06:53 AM PST Scorpions can teach us a lot about the benefits of prolonging nerve impulses, and we might now be better students. The results of a new study could pave the way for easier identification of drugs that function similarly to scorpion venom, but with happier results for the recipient.