Using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) researchers have now pinpointed where and how the brain processes 3-D motion. Surprisingly, findings published in Nature Neuroscience online July 7, 2009¹, reveal that 3-D motion processing occurs in an area in the brain, located just behind the left and right ears, long thought to only be responsible for processing two-dimensional motion (up, down, left and right).

The area, known as MT+ (for Middle Temporal area), and its underlying neuron circuitry are so well studied that until now, most scientists had concluded that 3-D motion must be processed elsewhere. This is the first study that clearly links the area to 3D motion perception.

Critical Survival Mechanism

A new study mapping the gene profiles of children with severe Staphylococcus aureus infections¹, shows immune systems respond to this strain of bacteria by activating genes involved in immediate defense mechanisms, while deactivating genes involved in long term immune defense memory. The study seems to raises a few questions of its own. For example, does the immune response uncovered here apply to all bacterial infections, or just Staph infections? Would the pattern reverse toward the end of the infection? And what implications does this have for improving diagnosis and treatment of virulent strains like MRSA?

Migraine headaches in women are associated with a considerable reduction in breast cancer risk, a new study¹ confirms. Published in the July 2009 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, it confirms research published last year by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The more recent study discovered a 26 percent reduced risk of breast cancer among both premenopausal and postmenopausal women clinically diagnosed with migraines.

A new study from the University of Chicago¹ comparing the effects of estrogen and retinoic acid on breast cancer cell genes shows that they have inverse effects- estrogen tips the scales towards cell proliferation and retinoic acid inhibits cellular growth.

The findings, reported in the June 25, 2009, issue of the journal Cell, may lead researchers to a whole new set of drug targets for breast cancer. The most widespread forms of breast cancer are driven by the female estrogen hormone. Estrogen and retinoic acid modify the expression of many of the same genes, and this control of gene expression regulates basic cellular processes, say the report’s authors. When regulation is unbalanced, it can lead to cancer.

Drink a diet soda and get a headache. Sip a cup of tomato soup and suddenly you feel numbness in your arms and back. You wolf down a small bag of chips and later get a stomach ache.

It is believed that since World War II more than 80,000 new man-made chemicals have been created. These chemicals are used in our cars, homes and on our jobs. But many of them appear as additions to our foods. Research has suggested that many of these food additives are making us sick.

Along with aspartame in our diet sodas, research suggests, we’re getting a carcinogen. That piping hot soup comes with a dollop of Monosodium glutamate (MSG) which causes numbness to some. That Olestra in your fat-free potato chip may be causing your severe stomach cramps.