Month: September 2012
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A Memorable Protein
Researchers demonstrate the key role played by a protein in learning and memory Learning and remembering are based on molecular mechanisms that are still poorly understood. According to some experts, information is stored in the brain and reactivated as required by strengthening synapses that link neurons together. The strength of these links depends on the…
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Eye test helps diagnose neurological disorders
A new test that measures eye movement while watching television helps detect neurological disorders earlier including Parkinson’s disease, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The low-cost test, developed at Queen’s University and the University of Southern California, provides new insight into how specific disorders affect attention.
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Astrocytes: The superheroes of brain cells
Eight years ago, Brian MacVicar discovered that astrocytes—cells that surround nerve cells and all blood vessels in the brain—have a primary role in regulating blood flow within the brain, which provided a new target for potential therapies for stroke, migraine, and vascular dementia. Now he and Hyun Beom Choi, a research associate in his lab,…
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“Using your Brain” video receives honorable mention from SfN
The Brain Awareness Video Contest is organized by SfN to provide videos to the public on various topics related to the brain and nervous system. This year, the honorable mention place winner is Kenneth Dyson who made his video with help from his two sons (6 and 12 year-old Taj and Deszmo). Kenneth is a…
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LDI researcher develops promising model for schizophrenia
Dr. Hyman Schipper, a neurologist and researcher at the Lady Davis Institute at the Jewish General Hospital and Professor of Neurology and Medicine at McGill University, has discovered a new pathway that holds promise for unlocking some of the mysteries of schizophrenia, a serious mental illness afflicting about one in every hundred persons and characterized…
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Caffeine may ease Parkinson’s symptoms
Caffeine, which is widely consumed around the world in coffee, tea and soft drinks, may help control movement in people suffering from Parkinson’s. This is the finding of a study conducted at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) that was recently published in Neurology®, the official journal of the American…