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Let's learn more about our brain

Childhood Schizophrenia Linked to Slow Brain Growth, Study
Says  Bloomberg; October 13, 2008] Kids with schizophrenia had growth of
1.3 percent a year in their brain's white matter compared with 2.6 percent
growth in normal children.

Previous studies had shown that gray matter, which is the part of nerve cells
responsible for processing signals, also grows more slowly in schizophrenic
patients.


Brain slows at 40, starts body decline

[AP Mon Nov 3, 2008] Healthy myelin — good thick insulation wound tightly
around those nerve fibers — allows prompt conduction of the electrical
signals the brain uses to send commands. Higher-frequency electrical
discharges, known as "actional potentials," speed movement — any
movement, from a basketball rebound to a finger tap.

Consider someone like Michael Jordan. Dr. George Bartzokis, a neurologist at
UCLA said, "The circuitry that made him a great basketball player was
probably myelinated better than most other mortals." Bartzokis has some
evidence that myelin starts to fray a decade or so later in brain regions
responsible for cognitive functions — higher-level thinking — than in motor-
control areas.

New study shows bullies like to watch suffering  

[New York Daily News, November 7th 2008] Professors at the University of
Chicago analyzed the reactions of a group of teenagers with, and without, a
history of violent behavior while they watched video clips of strangers
enduring pain. They found that while both groups showed a surge in activity in
the brain's pain centers, the aggressive youths also showed an uptick in
activity in the pleasure centers - suggesting they might actually be enjoying
what they were seeing.

Scientists coax brain cells in mice to regenerate

[Reuters, Nov 6, 2008] Zhigang He of Children's Hospital Boston focused on a
gene network called the mTOR pathway, which is very active when young
nerve cells are first growing but becomes less active once nerve cells
mature. Nerve injury appears to shut down this network completely. And two
proteins -- PTEN and TSC1 -- appear to be responsible for silencing this
pathway. If they get rid of (those proteins), axons can regenerate very
dramatically.
MEDICAL NOTES
"Victoria crater" Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell  SPACE