Sounds can penetrate deep sleep and enhance associated memories upon waking

...The building is named for Richard B. Silverman, the John Evans Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, and his wife, Barbara. Silverman donated to the University a portion of the royalties that he receives from sales of the drug Lyrica to help fund construction of the building. In 1989 Silverman and his Northwestern research group first synthesized an organic molecule, which ultimately was marketed as Lyrica. The drug, sold by Pfizer, Inc., is used to combat epilepsy, neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia....

Good readers learn from repeating auditory signals but poor readers do not

Non-Western communal cultures keep biology from having its way with depression...The study coming out of the growing field of cultural neuroscience takes a global look at mental health across social groups and nations...

EVANSTON, Ill. --- A child’s brain has to work overtime in a noisy classroom...“The ‘b,’ ‘d’ and ‘g’ consonants have rapidly changing acoustic information that the nervous system has to resolve to eventually match up sounds with letters on the page,” said Nina Kraus, Hugh Knowles Professor of Communication Sciences and Neurobiology and director of Northwestern's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, where the work was performed. ...The research offers an unparalleled look at how noise affects the nervous system’s transcription of three little sounds that mean so much to literacy. The online version of the study was published July 13 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) (http://www.pnas.org/papbyrecent.shtml).

Research finds cause of depression oversimplified, drugs aim at wrong target...A study from the laboratory of long-time depression researcher Eva Redei, presented at the Neuroscience 2009 conference in Chicago this week, appears to topple two strongly held beliefs about depression. One is that stressful life events are a major cause of depression. The other is that an imbalance in neurotransmitters in the brain triggers depressive symptoms....

EVANSTON, Ill. --- A new study has found that oleocanthal, a naturally occurring compound found in extra-virgin olive oil, beneficially alters the structure of neurotoxic proteins believed to contribute to the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease. The structural change impedes the ability of highly toxic proteins known as ADDLs to damage brain nerve cells. This effect of oleocanthal could be used to advantage in new therapeutics and diagnostics. Researchers from Northwestern University and the Monell Chemical Senses Center led the study, which will be published in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. "Binding of ADDLs to nerve cell synapses is thought to be a crucial first step in the initiation of Alzheimer's disease," said study co-leader William L. Klein, professor of neurobiology and physiology in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center. "Oleocanthal alters ADDL structure in a way that deters the protein from binding to synapses. Translational studies now are needed to link these laboratory findings to clinical interventions."

...A new Northwestern University study provides evidence that supports the “two-layer integration model,” one of several competing models attempting to explain how neurons integrate synaptic inputs. The findings are published in the journal Neuron. In this model, each dendritic branch of a neuron receives and integrates thousands of electrical inputs, deciding on just one signal to send to the axon. The axon then receives signals from all the dendrites, much like electoral votes coming in from state elections, and a final decision is made. The result could be an output in the form of an impulse, or action potential, or no action at all. “There are more than 100 billion neurons in the human brain, so detailed knowledge of individual neurons will lead to a better understanding of how the brain works, including the processes of learning and memory,” said Nelson Spruston, who led the research team. He is professor of neurobiology and physiology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern....“Each of these neurons is a complicated network in and of itself,” said William Kath, an author of the study. He is professor of engineering and applied science in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and is co-director of the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems....

...Details of the obesity study, which was led by Turek, was published online by the journal Obesity. "One of our research interests is shift workers, who tend to be overweight," said lead author Deanna M. Arble, a (NUIN) doctoral student in Turek's lab. "Their schedules force them to eat at times that conflict with their natural body rhythms. This was one piece of evidence that got us thinking -- eating at the wrong time of day might be contributing to weight gain. So we started our investigation with this experiment." Simply modifying the time of feeding alone can greatly affect body weight, the researchers found. ...

Researchers reveal how schizophrenia works in the brain and provide a fresh opportunity for treatment.