The study included an analysis of 85 adults between the ages of 59 and 80. The participants were involved in a year-long fitness program, which included walking, stretching and toning. Brain connectivity and performance were measured using magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) tests, before, during and after the study period.

After the study, participants of the walking group showed improved connectivity of the brain, particularly in the fronto-executive network, which supports the performance of complex tasks. Their ability to perform cognitive tests was also improved.

Overall brain activity depends on the ability of all brain regions to work together as a whole. The regions become less connected as people age, which is why walking is particularly important for older adults.

Polyphenolics, natural compounds found in fruits, vegetables and some nuts, have an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect, protecting the brain from aging issues such as inflammation and oxidative damage, which lead to degenerative brain diseases, heart disease and cancer.

Poulose’s study consisted of feeding old laboratory rats high amounts of high-antioxidant strawberry, blueberry and blackberry extract for two months. The rats showed a reversal of age-related deficiency in nerve function, and an improvement in learning and remembering.

Poulose’s team of researchers concluded that the polyphenolics in berries helped restore the brain’s natural “housekeeping” function, which removes biomedical debris that would otherwise interfere with normal brain function.

This study provides evidence that eating foods rich in polyphenolics, such as berries, walnuts, and vegetables with deep red, orange and blue colors contain hundreds of healthy chemicals, as do frozen berries, which are available all-year-round.

The women who reported painful cramps showed abnormalities in brain tissue called gray matter. Abnormalities consisted of decreases volumes in brain regions responsible for pain processing, higher-level sensory processing and emotional regulation. The women also experienced increased brain regions involved with regulation of endocrine function and pain modulation.

These abnormalities suggest that menstrual pain may be similar to chronic pain, as over time, the brain will become unusually sensitive to pain, making the feeling more severe.

Menstrual cramps occur when the uterus contracts during menstruation and are the most common gynecological disorder in women of childbearing age.

The study, led by Mary Torregrossa of Yale University, consisted of observing 168 rats that self administered cocaine for weeks, a behavior identical to addiction in humans. The researchers used extinction therapy, a behavioral therapy, to minimize the craving effects of cues.

They also added the D-cycloserine memory-enhancing drug to supplement the therapy, which typically only works where it is performed, such as in a treatment center. They noticed that using the drug to allow the therapy to work more broadly is a huge advancement in addiction treatment, since typically addicts are able to stay clean inside a treatment facility but experience immense difficulty staying clean when they are released.

The results show that D-cycloserine, combined with extinction therapy can help addicts resist relapsing due to environmental cues such as drug-related sights or smells. The study is under further review to determine how the findings may be applied to humans.

The bone marrow of trial patients was harvested and the cells were filtered and injected into the patient’s vein later that same day. The patients followed up for a year. There were no serious effects reported.

The stem cells which were transferred to the blood improved the MS disease in several ways. Another large study is soon to follow, as well as more extensive research to measure the effectiveness of stem cell therapy in treating multiple sclerosis.

Stem cells from bone marrow are capable of replacing cells in tissues and organs. For this reason, they are of great interest in developing new treatment for many different diseases.

The study focused on children 7-11 years old and young adults ages 18-23. The subjects were shown lists of closely related emotional words, with one word missing. For example, “cut, injury, pain, ouch” with the word “hurt” missing. When asked to remember the missing word, the subjects falsely remembered the word as being present in the list.

The study proved that events connected to negative emotions have a tendency of skewing children’s memories, and that recalling characteristics were even worse in adults. This is due to negative emotional experiences triggering low true memory levels and high false memory levels.

According to the scientists involved with this study, when people are involved in a very negative experience, such as a crime, they are not extremely focused, nor do they pay close attention to details. They found that materials which had the highest level of negative emotional content produced the highest levels of false memory.

These findings may be crucial to the legal system, in which many accusations are not based on forensic expertise but on peoples’ memories of what happened. And according to the study, when emotions come into play, it is extremely likely for memories to be distorted.

Researchers say that music tones the brain for “auditory fitness.” Because a musician must be tuned to musical sounds, timing and quality, such training changes the brain’s auditory system. For example, pianists show more brain activity in the auditory cortex, the part of the brain responsible for processing sounds, than non-musicians.

Musicians also have larger brain size in motor and auditory areas. This allows for the better understanding of speech, as speech, like music, involves pitch, timing, memory, and attention.

This study supports the movement to push music programs in schools. Children with music training have more neural activity, as well as enhanced abilities to judge emotion in speech and differentiate a statement from a question. Also, children who are involved in music have better vocabularies, reading abilities, and are far better at learning a foreign language.

Musicians also have an improved ability to understand speech in a noisy environment, which may have arisen from learning to distinguish sounds within melodies. This opens the idea for musical training used to help children with disorders such as dyslexia. Dyslexic children are particularly at risk to the harmful effects of background noise. Musical training will strengthen the brain processes that are deficient in dyslexic children.

Symptoms of ALS include weakness in the legs, hands, face or tongue. As the motor neurons die and stop sending signals to the muscles, the weakness spreads to other parts of the body. The muscles become weaker and smaller, causing the patient to develop twitching and trouble using their hands and fingers.

ALS is diagnosed through a physical exam and analysis of medical history. Other tests may be needed, such as: an electromygram (EMG) to measure the ability of the nerves and muscles, nerve conduction studies to test nerve function, a muscle biopsy, CT and MRI scans, and blood tests.

Treatment for ALS includes physical and occupational therapy; some patients require speech therapy. There are also drugs available to help relieve certain systems. If you experience any of the above symptoms, contact your doctor.

According to researchers at Manchester University, this chemical could be used to help people stop eating purely for pleasure instead of to relieve hunger.
Dr. Garron Dodd, co-author of the findings in the Journal of Neuroscience, discovered that naturally-occurring hemopressin can relieve hunger without the harmful side effects of other dieting drugs, such as depression and suicidal thoughts.

Dr. Dodd ran tests on laboratory mice to measure the effect of hemopressin, and found that the mice that were fed the chemical ate less food. However, it had no other affect on their behavior. An identical group of mice which were given a synthetic form of the chemical also ate less, but experienced side effects such as increased scratching and grooming.

Scientists plan to investigate this research further. They believe their findings offer insights into how the brain controls appetite, which can be used to create and improve dieting drugs and obesity medicines.

Scientists already know that sensory inputs such as smells, sights, sounds, anticipation and neutral cues associated with rewards boost dopamine levels and cause people to act more impulsively. However, this research helps understand why disorders associated with abnormal dopamine levels can lead to impulsive behavior.

Before scientists can prescribe medication lowering dopamine levels, they must be certain that the medication does not impair other important functions. Dopamine is responsible for a wide range of function in the brain, from movement to cognition.