Neuroscience

Using MRI And PET To Diagnose Mental Illness

Is there a definitive test for mental illness? Not yet, but using advanced neuropsychiatric diagnostic tools including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), mental health professionals at The Menninger Clinic in Houston a ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 11 2007 - 10:46pm

The Circadian Rhythm Of Mouse Vision

According to a new study, visual information is processed on a daily schedule set within the eyes themselves rather than one dictated by the brain. The researchers found in mice that the eyes’ normal rhythmic response to light requires only that a molecula ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 26 2007 - 6:20am

Is Purging Its Own Eating Disorder?

Purging is often associated with bulimics, who eat large quantities of food and then vomit. A University of Iowa professor says that purging is its own disorder, distinct because it involves women who eat small quantities of food and then vomit, unlike bul ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 6 2007 - 10:07pm

Measuring Depression

It's hardly surprising that clinically depressed people act differently than healthy people. Quantifying the difference, however, can be difficult. Now a collaboration of physicists and psychiatrists in Japan has found a way to clearly and objectively ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 5 2007 - 10:40am

When Does Death Really Occur?

The medical diagnosis of brain death is at odds with our traditional view of when death actually occurs, says Professor Allan Kellehear from the Centre for Death & Society at the University of Bath, speaking at an international conference on Death, dyi ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 11 2007 - 11:14pm

Pitocin At Birth Could Have Lifelong Consequences

A new study led by Kristin Kramer of the University of Memphis shows that manipulating oxytocin at birth can make changes in the central nervous system that only show up later in life. There's growing concern that the jolt of pitocin routinely used in ...

Article - Susan Kuchinskas - Sep 14 2007 - 1:44pm

Do Women With Anorexia Just Like Food Less?

Although anorexia nervosa is categorized as an eating disorder, it is not known whether there are alterations of the portions of the brain that regulate appetite. Now, a new study finds that women with anorexia have distinct differences in the insulta – th ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 25 2007 - 1:11pm

Retinal Y Cell Discovery May End 40 Year Old Mystery Of How Humans See Motion

A research team combining high-energy physicists from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and neuroscientists from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif., has discovered a type of retinal cell that may help monkeys, apes, and humans see motion. The c ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 9 2007 - 8:50pm

Optical Coherence Tomography Could Track Brain Shrinkage In MS Patients

A five-minute eye exam might prove to be an inexpensive and effective way to gauge and track the debilitating neurological disease multiple sclerosis, potentially complementing costly magnetic resonance imaging to detect brain shrinkage- a characteristic o ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 15 2007 - 7:01pm

Height Study Suggests Biological Link To Pedophilia

Height may point to a biological basis for pedophilia, according to new research released by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The study found that pedophilic males were shorter on average than males without a sexual attraction to children ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 22 2007 - 11:33am