Person's Identity can be Used to Predict Location

There are many different types of people throughout the world, and their identity can tell a lot about where they live.

The type of job they work, the kind of car they drive, and the foods they eat can all be used to predict the country, the state, or maybe even the city a person lives in.

Brain Damage With No Signs of Concussions Now Possible in Rats!
A new experimental model of concussion has revealed how rats can suffer from brain damage without demonstrating any outward signs of concussions.

The brain is no different. There are many types of neurons, defined largely by the patterns of genes they use, and they "live" in numerous distinct brain regions. But researchers do not yet have a comprehensive understanding of these neuronal types and how they are distributed in the brain. Today, a team of scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) led by Professor Partha Mitra describes a new mathematical model that combines large data sets to predict where different types of cells are located within the brain, based on their molecular identity.

Scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle are using microscopy to directly observe gene activity, one at a time, in razor-thin slices of mouse brain tissue. This approach yields brain maps that are collectively known as the Allen Mouse Brain Atlas. Each individual map shows where a single gene is expressed in the brain. When multiple maps are overlaid, patterns begin to emerge that show how different regions of the brain activate specific and often discrete complements of genes. These patterns are known as "co-expression" profiles.

Elsewhere, other research groups have taken a complementary approach, harvesting a single type of neuron from the brain and profiling all of the genes that are expressed by that cell. But this data lacks the spatial component of the atlas assembled by the Allen Brain Institute.

Homeless People With Traumatic Brain Injury More Likely to Visit the ER
Homeless people who may have suffered traumatic brain injury are more likely to be admitted to the emergency department, a new study found

Mitra and postdoctoral fellow Pascal Grange, Ph.D., set out to integrate these two kinds of datasets. They devised a mathematical model that does just this. "Our model is simple," says Mitra, "but it has predictive power. If the gene expression profile of a neuronal type is measured, then the model predicts where in the brain that type of neuron can be found."

The significance of the new model, according to Grange, is that "it enables us to now have a biological understanding of the patterns, the co-expression profiles, seen in the Allen Gene Expression Atlas of the Mouse Brain."

Gene Family Linked to Brain Evolution is Linked to Severity of Autism
The same gene family that may have helped the human brain become larger and more complex than in any other animal also is linked to the severity of autism.

As scientists continue to generate larger datasets of gene activation for neurons, this model will allow them to draw an increasingly accurate map of their distribution in the brain. The eventual goal is to gain a better understanding of how signaling between different types of neurons controls memory and cognition.

Source-Eurekalert

Diabetes and High Blood Pressure in Middle Age May Lead to Brain Cell Loss Later in Life
People who develop diabetes and high blood pressure in middle age are more likely to have brain cell loss and other damage to the brain, as well as problems with memory and thinking skills, than people who never have diabetes or high blood pressure or who develop it in old age.