Messenger RNAs, or transcripts, are intermediate products that carry the message from DNA, the genetic blueprint, to create proteins, and ultimately, the many different cell types throughout the brain. Each gene can make several transcripts, which are expressed in patterns unique to each of us. To better understand how these patterns of gene expression influence the developing brain, NIMH supported the first map of how RNA expression changes across the life span through two parallel studies of postmortem brains, ranging in age from two weeks after conception to 80 years old (3, 4). The researchers found that nearly 90% of genes are expressed differently during prenatal development, infancy, and childhood. While each of these stages has a distinct transcriptional identity, the fetal brain looks like a different organ compared to the postnatal brain, with 60% of genes expressed differently and 83% of transcripts processed to make unique proteins. Many of the genetic variations associated with mental illness appear to have a specific effect on the form of the gene expressed uniquely during fetal life.
Sunday, 1 January 2012
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE AND BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE AND BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR
Monday, 26 December 2011
Physical Function Following Hip Replacement Surgery Improved By Walking Skills Program
Researchers in Norway report that patients who receive walking skills training following total hip arthroplasty for osteoarthritis show improved physical function. The physical therapy program displayed a positive effect on walking distance and stair climbing which continued 12 months following hip replacement surgery. Results of the study appear in Arthritis Care & Research, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a joint disease where loss of cartilage in affected joints such as the knees, hips, fingers or spine causes pain and stiffness that can be disabling. In some cases, the only treatment option for OA is total replacement of the joint, known as arthroplasty. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 10% of men and 18% of women 60 years of age and older suffer from OA. In the U.S., the National Hospital Discharge Survey reported that 230,000 Americans had hip replacement surgery in 2007.
Source:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/239268.php
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a joint disease where loss of cartilage in affected joints such as the knees, hips, fingers or spine causes pain and stiffness that can be disabling. In some cases, the only treatment option for OA is total replacement of the joint, known as arthroplasty. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 10% of men and 18% of women 60 years of age and older suffer from OA. In the U.S., the National Hospital Discharge Survey reported that 230,000 Americans had hip replacement surgery in 2007.
Source:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/239268.php
Thursday, 22 December 2011
New stroke therapy shows promise on kids
Using non-invasive electronic stimulation, coupled with occupational therapy, researchers say they are hoping kids can increase hand function.
s it possible to experience elation putting in your own ponytail or firmly shaking hands with a stranger?
Just look at Maddy Evans' beaming face for the answer. Maddy, 16, completed a study at the University of Minnesota and Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, using a combination of brain stimulation and occupational therapy to help children who have had a stroke increase their hand function. Maddy now buttons her coat with both hands, can put in her own ponytail and, yes, reaches for a stranger's hand with her right one. She never used to use her right hand.
"It helped. If anything, it helped with my confidence," the 16-year-old from Lakeville said in an interview last week. "I'm using it a lot more than I used to."
The new stimulation therapy uses a noninvasive magnetic field on the healthy side of the brain. Gillette, with 2010 revenue of $164 million, has a long history of innovation in pediatric medicine.
But what the folks who ran the study cannot say yet is whether the therapy is boosting gains children achieve from occupational therapy. They need 30 children between the ages of 8 and 16 to complete the study. Seventeen children have completed it; 13 more are needed by August 2012, when funding runs out.
Read full article:http://www.startribune.com/business/135765123.html
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Moderate exercise such as walking 'boosts memory power'
Walking for 40 minutes a few times a week is enough to preserve memory and keep ageing brains on top form, research shows.
Moderate exercise increased the size of the hippocampus, an area of the brain that makes memories, in 120 volunteers.
The year-long trial, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed performance on memory tests also improved.
Exercise may buffer against dementia as well as age-related memory loss.
The latest work looked at healthy people in their 60s rather than people with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.
But the findings have important implications for ageing societies faced with a dementia time bomb.
In the UK, 820,000 people have dementia, and this figure is set to double by 2030.
Until a cure is discovered, finding cheap and simple ways to reverse this trend is imperative, say experts.
Little and oftenProfessor Kirk Erickson and colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh in the US set out to investigate the impact that even moderate exercise might have on preserving memory.
They split their 120 volunteers into two groups. One group was asked to begin an exercise regimen of walking around a track for 40 minutes a day, three days a week, while the others were limited to doing simple stretching and toning exercises.
Brain scans and memory tests were performed at the start of the study, halfway through the study and again at the end.
Scans revealed hippocampus volume increased by around 2% in people who did regular aerobic exercise. The same region of the brain decreased in volume by 1.4% in those who did stretching exercises, consistent with the decrease seen in normal ageing.
Both groups showed some improvement over time on memory tests. In the walking group, the improvement appeared to be linked with increased size of the hippocampus.
Professor Erickson said: "We think of the atrophy of the hippocampus in later life as almost inevitable. But we've shown that even moderate exercise for one year can increase the size of that structure.
"The brain at that stage remains modifiable."
Dr Simon Ridley of the Alzheimer's Research Trust said that although the study does not look at memory loss in Alzheimer's or dementia, it suggests "it's never too late to start exercising to help keep our brains healthy".
"Even modest exercise may improve memory and help protect the brain from normal decline caused by ageing.
"Increasing evidence suggests regular exercise and a healthy diet may help reduce our risk of developing dementia as well as reaping numerous other benefits from living a healthy lifestyle."
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Brain changes seen in cabbies who take 'The Knowledge'
The structure of a London taxi driver's brain changes during the gruelling process of learning the quickest way around the capital, scans reveal.
Dozens of trainee drivers had MRI scans before and after they acquired "The Knowledge", memorising hundreds of journeys and street names.
The University College London team, writing in Current Biology, found brain parts linked to memory grew bigger.
They said it proved the brain could adapt to new tasks, even in adulthood.
'Plastic' brainsEarlier studies of the brain of the cabbie had already noted the increase in "grey matter" in the hippocampus, an area found at the base of the brain.
However this research tried to work out if the change had happened during the intensive learning period prior to starting work, or on the job itself.
They scanned a total of 79 trainees, just before they started to learn the "All-London" Knowledge, which can take between two and four years to complete.
Would-be taxi drivers have to learn 320 routes within a six mile radius of Charing Cross, which covers a mind-boggling 25,000 streets and 20,000 landmarks and places of interest.
Throughout the process, any changes to their brains were mapped by regular MRI scans.
Compared with similar scans from non-taxi drivers, those who had attempted the Knowledge had increased the size of the posterior hippocampus - the rear section of the hippocampus which lies at the front of the brain.
As would be expected, they were better at memory tasks involving London landmarks than the non-cabbies, but this advantage appeared to come at a price, as the non-cabbies outperformed them in other memory tasks, such as recalling complex visual information.
Prof Eleanor Maguire, who led the study, said: "The human brain remains 'plastic', even in adult life, allowing it to adapt when we learn new tasks.
"By following the trainee taxi drivers over time as they acquired - or failed to acquire - the Knowledge, a uniquely challenging spatial memory task, we have seen directly and within individuals how the structure of the hippocampus can change with external stimulation.
"This offers encouragement for adults who want to learn new skills later in life."
The reasons why the brain was able to adapt remain unclear, although the hippocampus is one of the few areas of the brain in which new cells can grow.
Dr John Williams, head of neuroscience and mental health at the Wellcome Trust, which helped fund the research, said: "Only a few studies have shown direct evidence for plasticity in the adult human brain related to vital functions such as memory, so this new work makes an important contribution."
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Chronic fatigue syndrome 'affects one in 100 pupils'
By James Gallagher Health reporter, BBC News
One in 100 secondary school pupils could be missing classes because of chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), say researchers.
A study following 2,855 pupils at three schools, published in the online journal BMJ Open, found 28 missed school with chronic fatigue syndrome.
The researchers said the effect was "potentially devastating".
A charity said the true figure was likely to be even higher.
The cause of chronic fatigue syndrome is unknown and there is no known cure. It is a medical condition rather than just schoolchildren staying up too late. It results in extreme tiredness as well as problems with memory and concentration.
The researchers looked at every pupil between the age of 11 and 16 at three secondary schools in Bath. The 461 pupils who were absent for at least a day a week in a six-week term were investigated further.
Five had already been diagnosed with chronic fatigue and a further 23 cases were identified.
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