Exercise Increases Neurotransmitters Glutamate And GABA

People who exercise have better mental fitness, and a new imaging study from UC Davis Health System shows why. Intense exercise increases levels of two common neurotransmitters, glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, that are responsible for chemical messaging within the brain. The finding offers new insights into brain metabolism and why exercise could become…

Published

Poor Short-term Memory Linked To Inability To Ignore Distraction

Differences in people’s working memory capacity correlate with their brain’s ability to actively ignore distraction, Simon Fraser University researchers have discovered. Psychology professor John McDonald and doctoral student John Gaspar led the research team. They used electroencephalogram (EEG) technology, which detects electrical activity in the brain, to study memory and distraction. They found that individuals…

Published

Attention Bias Modification Treatment For Depressed Teens

A new study reports that adolescents with major depression who performed a computer-based task designed to shift attention from sad to neutral to positive word associations showed reductions in negative attention biases and clinician-rated depressive symptoms. 11% of American adolescents suffer from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Facing a broad range of psychosocial and health problems,…

Published

Low-dose Chemotherapy Keeps Cancer Under Control

Rather than try to wipe out cancer with powerful doses of chemotherapy, researchers say an experimental approach using lower amounts of medication may work better to keep tumors under control. The study was done on mice with breast cancer, according to the report in Science Translational Medicine, and is part of a growing movement in…

Published

How Much Junk Is In Our DNA?

Only a small fraction of our DNA contains genes that encode the proteins that go on to build who we are. So why do we have the rest of our genome? Over many decades, the moniker “junk” has been broadly used to refer to non-coding sequences in our DNA that appear to lack any function.…

Published

Longer Intense Rehabilitation Boosts Brain Injury Recovery

Cognitive and functional recovery after a stroke or traumatic injury requires intense rehabilitative therapy to help the brain repair and restructure itself. New findings by researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that not only is rehabilitation vital – in an animal model, rats with cortical injury that did not receive…

Published

Seeking Similarity In Relationships Is Hard-wired

Credit: Lee Nachtigal CC-BY

A groundbreaking new study on how we seek similarity in relationships refutes the idea that “opposites attract,” instead suggesting we’re drawn to people who are like-minded. The study could lead to a fundamental change in understanding relationship formation, and sounds a warning for the idea that couples can change each other over time. Assistant Professor…

Published

Tracking Prejudices With Electrical Neuroimaging

We do not always say what we think: we like to hide certain prejudices, sometimes even from ourselves. But unconscious prejudices become visible with tests, because we need a longer time if we must associate unpleasant things with positive terms. Researchers in Bern now show that additional processes in the brain are not responsible for…

Published

MicroRNA MiR-148a Potential Target For Autoimmune Disease Treatment

A molecule that appears to be a cause of autoimmune diseases such as lupus has been identified by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). Elevated levels of the molecule allow self-reactive immune cells to escape into the blood stream and attack the body’s own tissues. Said TSRI Associate Professor Changchun Xiao, who was co-senior…

Published