Author: Julie
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Examining links between anxiety and chronic pain
Min Zhuo is a professor in the department of physiology at U of T and the Canada Research Chair in Pain and Cognition. Zhuo and his lab recently published a paper in the journal Neuron that showed how neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to physically re-organize itself in response to experience – can spur the…
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Blame it on your brain: salt and hypertension
Study sheds new light on link between salt intake and blood pressure An international research team led by scientists at McGill University has found that excessive salt intake “reprograms” the brain, interfering with a natural safety mechanism that normally prevents the body’s arterial blood pressure from rising.
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York U researchers discover how midbrain map continuously updates visuospatial memory
On the upcoming Super Bowl Sunday, a lot of us will be playing arm-chair quarterback. After the snap, we might use our eyes to track a wide receiver as he runs toward an opening, all the while remembering the location of the star running back in case he breaks through on a rushing play. This…
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Spring 2015 CAN Connection
All new Spring edition of our newsletter, CAN Connection!
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Research published in Neuron shows activity in neuron complex can predict attention
Humans and other primates have an extraordinary ability to voluntarily and efficiently focus attention on important information while ignoring distraction. For decades it has been hypothesized that this ability relies on the evolutionary expansion of the lateral prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain located in the lateral convexity of the frontal lobe, that reaches…
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Scientists discover tiny gene fragments linked to brain development and autism
“We were amazed by the extent to which microexons are misregulated in people with autism,” says Professor Benjamin Blencowe Very small segments of genes called “microexons” influence how proteins interact with each other in the nervous system, say scientists at the University of Toronto.
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U of Saskatchewan research reveals “major piece of the puzzle” in repairing nerves
A research team led by Valerie Verge at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) has discovered an important molecular worker in the repair shop of the body’s nervous system, a finding that brings them a step closer to new treatments for debilitating nerve injuries. The molecule in question is called Luman, a nerve cell…
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CAMH discovery of novel drug target may lead to better treatment for schizophrenia
Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have identified a novel drug target that could lead to the development of better antipsychotic medications. Dr. Fang Liu, senior scientist in CAMH’s Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute and professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, and her team published their results…
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2015 Canadian Neuroscience Meeting
May 24 – 27 2015 | Westin Bayshore | Vancouver BC Thank you for making this a great meeting!
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Multiplexing through dendritic gap junctions
How neurons communicate with each other is central to our understanding of the nervous system. Since the times of Golgi and Cajal, the roles of electrical vs. chemical forms of transmission have been much debated. While it is now well established that both electrical and chemical forms of transmission co-exist throughout the mammalian nervous system,…
