Category Health/Medical

Scientists found evidence of the metabolism-regulating protein amylin, shown in red, present in multiple regions throughout a brain area called the hypothalamus. Experiments suggest amylin produced by hypothalamic neurons helps reduce food consumption together with leptin. Credit: Laboratory of Molecular Genetics at The Rockefeller University/Cell Metabolism

Feeling hungry or full leads us to change how much we eat, but the molecular wiring of this process is not well understood. Scientists have identified a new player in this circuit called amylin, which contributes to reducing food consumption in mice. Prof. Jeffrey Friedman said; “Amylin caught our attention when we were profiling a set of neurons in the hypothalamus, a part of the brain known to be involved in feeding behavior...

Kim Plevniak, master’s student in biological and agricultural engineering at the Kansas State University Olathe campus, is using 3-D printers to make low cost, point-of-care devices that quickly detect anemia from a drop of blood. Credit: Kansas State University Olathe

Anemia affects 2 billion people worldwide, including >half of preschool children and pregnant women in developing countries and at least 30% of children and women in industrialized nations. Identifying a blood disorder may be as easy as running a blood sample from a finger prick under a smartphone. Point-of-care devices give the user fast, easy-to-understand results from a test performed outside of a lab, such as a blood glucose test or pregnancy test...

Richard Maddock and his team conducted MRI exams of people before and after vigorous exercise to determine the effect of exercise on neurotransmitters. Credit: Image courtesy of University of California – Davis Health System

Intense exercise increases levels of 2 common neurotransmitters – glutamate and GABA The finding offers new insights into brain metabolism and why exercise could become an important part of treating depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders linked with deficiencies in neurotransmitters, which drive communications between the brain cells that regulate physical and emotional health.

“Major depressive disorder is often characterized by depleted glutamate and GABA, which return to normal when mental health is restored,” said Prof. Richard Maddock...

MRI image of brain (stock image). Postdoctoral researcher Patrick Watson studied the relationship between individual brain differences and cognitive abilities. Credit: © highwaystarz / Fotolia

Everyone has a different mixture of personality traits: some are outgoing, some are tough and some are anxious. A new study suggests brains also have different traits that affect both anatomical and cognitive factors, such as intelligence and memory. “A major focus of research in cognitive neuroscience is understanding how intelligence is shaped by individual differences in brain structure and function,” said Prof. Aron K. Barbey.

Barbey and his team measured the size and shape of features all over the brain...