Category Health/Medical

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and other brain imaging technologies allow for the study of differences in brain activity in people diagnosed with schizophrenia. The image shows two levels of the brain, with areas that were more active in healthy controls than in schizophrenia patients shown in orange, during an fMRI study of working memory. Credit: Kim J, Matthews NL, Park S./PLoS One.

A key mechanism that explains how compounds researchers are developing can suppress schizophrenia-like symptoms in mice without side effects has been found. About 3 million Americans have schizophrenia, which is associated with excessive amounts of the neurotransmitter dopamine in a part of the forebrain called the striatum...

Methylmercury bioaccumulation

Cognitive function improves with aerobic exercise, but not for people exposed to high levels of mercury before birth, according to research funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. Adults with high prenatal exposure to methylmercury, which mainly comes from maternal consumption of fish with high mercury levels, did not experience the faster cognitive processing and better short term memory benefits of exercise that were seen in those with low prenatal methylmercury exposures.

This is one of the first studies to examine how methylmercury exposure in the womb may affect cognitive function in adults...

Treatment of otitis media by transtympanic delivery of antibiotics.

A single-application bioengineered gel, squirted in the ear canal, could deliver a full course of antibiotic therapy for middle ear infections, making treatment of this common childhood illness much easier and potentially safer, finds a preclinical study led by Boston Children’s Hospital in collaboration with investigators at Boston Medical Center and Massachusetts Eye and Ear.

Middle-ear infection, or otitis media, affects 95% of children, prompting 12 to 16 million clinical visits per year in the U.S. alone. It’s the number one reason for pediatric antibiotic prescriptions, but as parents know, getting oral antibiotics into young children several times a day for 7 to 10 days is a daunting task...

Andreas Bäumler and his team discovered how pathogens manipulate the intestinal environment to favor their own growth.

Why do some foodborne bacteria make us sick? A paper published Sept. 16 in the journal Science has found that pathogens in the intestinal tract cause harm because they benefit from immune system responses designed to repair the very damage to the intestinal lining caused by the bacteria in the first place. “The finding is important because it explains how some enteric pathogens can manipulate mammalian cells to get the oxygen they need to breathe,” said Prof. Andreas Bäumler, UC Davis School of Medicine...