Latest Limbic system Stories

Testosterone, the primary male sex hormone, appears to have antidepressant properties, but the exact mechanisms underlying its effects have remained unclear. Nicole Carrier and Mohamed Kabbaj, scientists at Florida State University, are actively working to elucidate these mechanisms. They've discovered that a specific pathway in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory formation and regulation of stress responses, plays a major role in mediating testosterone's effects, according...

Study identifies mechanism to explain how the body responds to potentially threatening negative odors Anxious people have a heightened sense of smell when it comes to sniffing out a threat, according to a new study by Elizabeth Krusemark and Wen Li from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US. Their work¹ is published online in Springer's journal Chemosensory Perception. The study is part of a special issue² of this journal on neuroimaging the chemical senses. In animals, the...

Researchers from the Stowers institute for Medical Research have traced individual odor molecules in the brain to create a new model of how our sense of smell works. While once thought to cluster related smells, researchers have know discovered that the brain reacts to smells in a broader sense. Previous research has shown that the brain handles the senses in a very orderly way. Things that we touch were thought to be mapped together in the somatosensory cortex, things that we heard...

Recent medical studies conducted at the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Hospital and research posted at health and wellness portal BeWellBuzz.com have found new ways of controlling the ‘hunger gene’ which have shown significant ways of controlling weight gain. Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) March 19, 2012 Since its discovery in 1999 by medical researcher Masayasu Kojima, a major indicator of weight gain and obesity has been an active amino acid peptide produced in our bodies known as Ghrelin....

CHICAGO, March 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As part of National Nutrition Month®, Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief charity, invites you to join a Twitter chat to learn about and advocate for programs and policies that aim to alleviate the nutrition challenges faced by the nearly 49 million Americans struggling with hunger. Panelists include celebrity chef and registered dietitian, Ellie Krieger, Lizbeth Silvermann of the U.S. Department of...

Music is a very strong emotional communicator, and different cultures have different emotional associations for different musical "modes". Now, a new cross-cultural study shows that tonal trends used to express feelings in music are consistent in different cultures and are similar to those used in speech. The full report is published March 14, in the open access journal PLoS ONE. In Western music, the major mode is generally associated with excited happy emotions, while the minor mode is...

How are 100 billion cells created, each with specific duties? The human brain is evidence that nature can achieve this. Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have now taken a step closer to solving this mystery. "Knowledge about the mechanisms that diversify neurons and keep them diverse is necessary in order to cultivate and replace nerve cells in the future," says Mattias Alenius, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, who has published his research breakthrough in the current...

How are 100 billion cells created, each with specific duties? The human brain is evidence that nature can achieve this. Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have now taken a step closer to solving this mystery. "Knowledge about the mechanisms that diversify neurons and keep them diverse is necessary in order to cultivate and replace nerve cells in the future," says Mattias Alenius, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, who has published his research breakthrough in the current...

BENTONVILLE, Ark., March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sam's Club, the nation's 8th largest retailer and warehouse club, has joined forces with two Nashville recording stars, General Mills, key food suppliers and the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief charity, Feeding America, in a nationwide program to help Feeding America secure up to one million meals for local food banks to fulfill critical springtime shortages. From March 14 to 28, country stars, including Martina McBride and...

CHICAGO, March 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Anne Goodman, Executive Director of the Cleveland Foodbank, a member of the Feeding America network, testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee today. The hearing, Healthy Food Initiatives, Local Production, and Nutrition, explored Farm Bill nutrition programs. Goodman talked about the growing need for food assistance that food banks have experienced and at the same time that food banks across the nation have seen a...