El blog de Rubén Carvajal Santana

A Protein Couple Controls Flow of Information into the Brain’s Memory Center Neuroscience News July 24, 2014 Featured , Genetics , Neuroscience New findings on the link between nerve cells at the interface to the hippocampus. Neuroscientists in Bonn and Heidelberg have succeeded in providing new insights into how the brain works. Researchers at the DZNE and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) analyzed tissue samples from mice to identify how two specific proteins, ‘CKAMP44’ and ‘TARP Gamma-8’, act upon the brain’s memory center. These molecules, which have similar counterparts in humans, affect the connections between nerve cells and influence the transmission of nerve signals into the hippocampus, an area of the brain that plays a significant role in learning processes and the creation of memories. The results of the study have been published in the journal Neuron . Brain function depends on the active communication between nerve cells, known as ...

June 12, 2014 | 5:57 AM | Carey Goldberg Unlocking The Brain: Are We Entering A Golden Age Of Neuroscience? “We still haven’t unlocked the mystery of the three pounds of matter between our ears. That knowledge could be — will be — transformative,” President Obama said in announcing the BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative on April 2, 2013, at the White House. (Charles Dharapak/AP) President John F. Kennedy set the nation’s sights on the moon. Fifty years later, President Obama announced his signature science project: neuroscience, the study of the brain. “As humans,” he said last April, “we can identify galaxies light years away, we can study particles smaller than an atom, but we still haven’t unlocked the mystery of the three pounds of matter between our ears.” The president committed an initial $100 million to BRAIN, an acronym for Brain Research through Advancing Neurotechnolog...

Una investigación de científicos de las universidades de Manchester y Liverpool, en Reino Unido, ha demostrado que l os circuitos del cerebro involucrados en buscar y vivir experiencias gratificantes están más fuertemente activados en personas con trastorno bipolar , guiándolas hacia apuestas más arriesgadas. Este estudio, que se publicó este miércoles en la revista ‘Brain’ , utilizó imágenes cerebrales para identificar las vías neuronales que son responsables de los síntomas de este trastorno. Sus resultados ayudarán a diseñar, evaluar y monitorear los tratamientos para el trastorno bipolar. Los pacientes con trastorno bipolar experimentan episodios de depresión y manía (periodos de intensa emoción e irritabilidad que, a menudo, conducen a un comportamiento muy arriesgado) que se producen de manera imprevisible. Es una de las formas más graves y difíciles de tratar la enfermedad mental, asociada con una menor esperanza de vida, un alto riesgo de suicidio y deterioro a ...

Researchers May Have Discovered The Consciousness On/Off Switch July 3, 2014 | by Justine Alford Researchers from the George Washington University have managed to switch consciousness on and off in an epileptic woman by stimulating a single region of the brain with electrical impulses . While this is a single case study, it provides an exciting insight into the neural mechanisms behind consciousness, a subject of great interest that is poorly understood despite decades of research. The study has been published in Epilepsy & Behavior . Consciousness is a fascinating topic that has both intrigued and puzzled scientists and philosophers for centuries . Despite significant advances in our understanding of the brain, little is known about the neural networks that underpin consciousness. However, research has hinted that consciousness is likely the result of an integration of activity from numerous different areas of the bra...

Research explains why you can’t remember being a baby Fiona MacDonald    Tuesday, 01 July 2014 Scientists have found the first evidence of a physical mechanism that may stop us from remembering our early childhood. Image: StudioSmart Researchers have long puzzled over why we can form memories when we’re babies, but then go on to have no recollection of those years - a phenomenon known as infantile amnesia . Now recent research in rodents may have found the answer. It turns out all the new cells that are constantly being formed in young brains may actually be messing with our memories . Mammals generate new brain cells all the time, but when we’re babies the rate of this process, known as neurogenesis, is at its highest. Because of all the new things we experience as infants, there’s a lot of early-life action in the hippocampus in particular - the region of the brain that is associated with memories and le...