Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine have taken a first step toward developing a diagnostic tool that could eliminate a major hurdle in pain medicine - the dependency on self-reporting to measure the presence or absence of pain. The new tool would use patterns of brain activity to give an objective physiologic assessment of whether someone is in pain.

The scientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging scans of the brain combined with advanced computer algorithms to accurately predict thermal pain 81 percent of the time in healthy subjects, according to a study published Sept. 13 in the online journal PLoS ONE.

Blood flow abnormalities found in the brains of veterans with Gulf War illness have persisted 20 years after the war, and in some cases have gotten worse, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.

"We confirmed that abnormal blood flow continued or worsened over the 11-year span since first being diagnosed, which indicates that the damage is ongoing and lasts long term," said principal investigator Robert W. Haley, M.D., chief of epidemiology in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Clinical Sciences at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "We also identified a special MRI procedure that better diagnoses and distinguishes between the three main types of Gulf War illness."

Curcumin, the main component in the spice turmeric, suppresses a cell signaling pathway that drives the growth of head and neck cancer, according to a pilot study using human saliva by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The inhibition of the cell signaling pathway also correlated with reduced expression of a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines, or signaling molecules, in the saliva that promote cancer growth, said Dr. Marilene Wang, a professor of head and neck surgery, senior author of the study and a Jonsson Cancer Center researcher.

"A woman's pregnancy outcome can be an indicator of future health conditions," stated George R. Saade, M.D., president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Saade gave a compelling presentation to SMFM members on the links between pregnancy outcomes and women's long-term health. He emphasized the importance of greater physician collaboration in reviewing patients' health records, particularly in noting pregnancy outcomes as these can be important indicators of future health problems.

Researchers at Teagasc have been investigating lipids from a variety of Irish and Canadian seaweed species for their heart-health properties.

In both Ireland and Canada (provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador), seaweeds have a long tradition of use. In Ireland, for example, approximately 36,000 tonnes of seaweed are harvested annually. Seaweed species of commercial interest in Ireland include Laminaria digitata and Fucus species (Fucus vesiculosus, Fucus serratus and Fucus spiralis), which are harvested primarily for their valuable carbohydrates, Laminarin and Fucoidan, respectively. The value-added sector of the seaweed industry in Ireland has emerged to produce attractive, high-quality products for use as functional body care products and cosmetics.

Cornell University researchers may have solved a 100-year puzzle: How to safely open and close the blood-brain barrier so that therapies to treat Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and cancers of the central nervous system might effectively be delivered. (Journal of Neuroscience, Sept. 14, 2011.)

The researchers found that adenosine, a molecule produced by the body, can modulate the entry of large molecules into the brain. For the first time, the researchers discovered that when adenosine receptors are activated on cells that comprise the blood-brain barrier, a gateway into the blood-brain barrier can be established.

Injury kills more 11-year-olds in the United States than all other causes combined, and a new study from University of Alabama at Birmingham reveals ADHD almost doubles the risk of serious injury among this age group.

"We found that children with more ADHD symptoms, those in the 90th percentile, are nearly twice as likely to get hurt as those with symptoms in the 10th percentile," says David Schwebel, Ph.D., director of the UAB Youth Safety Laboratory and lead author. Boys, he said, are nearly twice as likely to be injured as girls.

A simplified mathematical model of the brain's neural circuitry shows that repetitious, overlapped firing of neurons can lead to the waves of overly synchronized brain activity that may cause the halting movements that are a hallmark of Parkinson's disease.

The model provides a tool in the quest to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms behind this incurable degenerative disorder.

Men take note: If you want women to remember, speak to them in a low pitch voice. Then, depending on what they remember about you, they may or may not rate you as a potential mate. That's according to a new study by David Smith and colleagues from the University of Aberdeen in the UK. Their work shows for the first time that a low masculine voice is important for both mate choice and the accuracy of women's memory. The research is published online in Springer's journal, Memory & Cognition.

You've just finished an amazing dinner at your favorite restaurant and you are ready to put on your comfy pajamas and slip into sweet slumber. You arrive at your doorstep and find the front door ajar. Your heart beats wildly in your chest and you peer in, only to discover that your house has been ransacked.