A major puzzle for neurobiologists is how the brain can modify one microscopic connection, or synapse, at a time in a brain cell and not affect the thousands of other connections nearby. Plasticity, the ability of the brain to precisely rearrange the connections between its nerve cells, is the framework for learning and forming memories.

Duke University Medical Center researchers have identified a missing-link molecule that helps to explain the process of plasticity and could lead to targeted therapies.

The discovery of a molecule that moves new receptors to the synapse so that the neuron (nerve cell) can respond more strongly helps to explain several observations about plasticity, said Michael Ehlers, MD, PhD, a Duke professor of neurobiology and senior author of the study published in the Oct. 31 issue of Cell. “This may be a general delivery system in the brain and in other types of cells, and could have significance for all cell signaling.”

Ehlers said this could be a general way for all cells to locally modify their membranes with receptors, a process critical for many activities — cell signaling, tumor formation and tissue development.

“Part of plasticity involves getting receptors to the synaptic connections of nerve cells,” Ehlers said. “The movement of neurotransmitter (chemical) receptors occurs through little packages that deliver molecules to the synapse when new memories form. What we have discovered is the molecular motor that moves these packages when synapses are active.”

When neurons fire at the same time, their connections strengthen and a person can associate certain features. “Once you have heard someone’s name, seen his face, where he was standing, all these features can be bound into a unified packet of information — a percept — and at a very cellular level this occurs by strengthening synaptic connections between co-active neurons,” said Ehlers, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator.

To learn and make new associations, the brain alters the strengths of the synapses’ electrical inputs onto cells that compute these features. Scientists studied the hippocampus, where memories form, but this machinery could operate in other brain areas.

“One of earliest changes in Alzheimer’s disease is synapse dysfunction, so this molecule might be a new target for that disease,” he said. “Abnormal movement of receptors may be implicated in brain development, in autism.” He said the molecule potentially is involved “in the abnormal electrical activity of epilepsy and the overactive brain pathways of addiction.”

In a series of biochemistry and microscopic imaging experiments, Ehlers and colleagues found that the myosin Vb (five-b) molecule in hippocampal neurons responded to a flow of calcium ions from the synaptic space by popping up and into action. One end of the myosin is attached to meshlike actin filaments so it can “walk” to the end of the nerve cells where receptors are. On its other end, it tows an endosome, a packet that contains new receptors.

“These endosomes are like little memories waiting to happen,” Ehlers said. “They are reservoirs of neurotransmitter receptors that brain cells deploy to add more receptors to a particular synapse. More receptors equals stronger synapses.”

Electrical impulses cause one nerve cell to dump its neurotransmitter, in this case, glutamate, into the small space between neurons (the synapse), which activates neurotransmitter receptors on the receiving side. These are ion channels that open in response to neurotransmitter and generate the electrical impulse.

When the scientists blocked myosin in single cells, this stopped the addition of new receptors and prevented electrical impulses from getting stronger, showing that myosin is essential to enhancing nerve cell connections.

“This is a very basic cellular mechanism of brain plasticity. It is likely fundamental to brain development and disease,” Ehlers said. “The myosin Vb molecule gives us a new way to think about designing therapies for treating memory loss, psychiatric disease and brain development.”

Source: eMaxHealth.com, NC
http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/85/26047/scientists-identify-machinery-helps-make-memories.html

Many new mothers battling with tiredness and struggling to carry out the simplest of tasks would beg to differ.

But according to scientists, giving birth supercharges brain power to equip women for the challenge of rearing their child.

Having a baby produces a sudden surge of memory and learning ability that makes them more vigilant and alert, a study concluded.

And the changes in the size and shape of many areas of the brain last for decades, protecting against degenerative diseases later in life.

Researchers found there was often a decline in mental powers during pregnancy as the minds of mothers-to-be are remodelled.

But hormonal fluctuations during birth and breastfeeding increase the size of cells in some areas of the brain leading to dramatic improvements in mental capacity.

Studies on animals including rats and primates found mothers become much braver, are up to five times faster at finding food and have better spatial awareness than those without offspring.

Craig Kinsley, professor of neuroscience at the University of Richmond, Virginia, said he believed the same results applied to humans. ‘Pregnant women do undergo a phase of so-called baby brain, when they experience an apparent loss of function,’ he said.

‘However, this is because their brains are being remodelled for motherhood to cope with the many new demands they will experience.

‘Many benefits seem to emerge from motherhood, as the maternal brain rises to the reproductive challenge. When the going gets tough, the brain gets going.

‘The changes could last for the rest of their lives, bolstering cognitive abilities and protecting them against degenerative diseases.‘

A 2002 study by Angela Oatridge, from Hammersmith Hospital in London, reported that brain scans of pregnant women showed a 4 per cent decline in size.

Last year, two Australian researchers found that pregnant women consistently performed worse on tests for memory and verbal skills.

But Dr Kinsley believes this is because they are growing new sets of brain cells that he calls ‘maternal circuits’.

Nerve cells in areas known to be linked to parenting also expand and develop more connections with neighbouring cells during pregnancy to give mothers supercharged ‘computing’ power, he said.

He added: ‘Although most studies have so far focused on animals, it is likely women also gain long-lasting benefits from motherhood. Most mammals share similar maternal behaviours controlled by the same brain regions.’

Another study by the University of Toronto has found rats that had given birth were protected against degenerative diseases, with lower levels of a protein linked with Alzheimer’s disease in humans.

And a report by Thomas Perls, associate professor at Boston University medical school, found that women who become pregnant after the age of 40 are four times more likely to live to 100.

Dr Kinsley will report his findings to the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting next month.

Source: Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1076848/How-mother-boost-brainpower.html

Next time you head off to bed to get a good night’s sleep, your brain’s memory bank is likely to thank you for it.

American research presented at the Australasian Sleep Conference in Adelaide yesterday showed that far from resting while people sleep, the brain uses this time to store and remember important information and discard useless details.

Associate Professor Robert Stickgold, from Harvard Medical School, said sleep played a more important role in memory processing than previously had been thought.

Professor Stickgold’s research showed that sleep not only strengthened recently formed memories, it could also blend them into networks of older memories.

He said the brain also used sleep to sift through memories such as scenes people saw that day, to remember the important “emotional” memories and dismiss unimportant ones.

And when people were given a task to finger-tap out a difficult-to-remember code and then sent home to “sleep on it”, the next morning they were 15-20 per cent faster at performing the task and had 30-40 per cent fewer errors.

“So while you’re sleeping, your brain is actually improving on the memory that you formed while you were awake, and if people don’t get enough sleep, say more than six hours, then you won’t see that improvement,” Professor Stickgold said.

Source: The West Australian
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=2&ContentID=100927

Times Tables, the Key to Your Child’s Success?

When did you lose interest in math? Never had any? Maybe, but Eugenia Francis knows exactly when it started to happen to her son. The moment? The dread rite of passage all children face: the multiplication tables.

As her son struggled with endless drills, Francis realized there had to be a better way. Why not learn the tables in context of one another and emphasize the commutative property (i.e. 4 x 6 is the same as 6 x 4) of the multiplication tables? Francis drew a grid for tables 1-10 and discovered patterns for her son to decode. The mysteries of the times tables unfolded as a daily exploration of “magic” never discussed in his third-grade class. Their fridge eventually was papered with patterns that made the times tables intriguing. “Patterns made my son smile,” Francis says. “He could see the structure and knew he got it right.”

Ever the creative educator, Francis taught college English. “Patterns whether in literature or math,” she says, “reveal the underlying structure. There is an inherent simplicity in them, an inherent beauty. Math should engage your child’s imagination.”

At the kitchen table, Francis applied her skills to math. Why not learn the tables in order of difficulty? Tables 2, 4, 6 and 8 are easy to learn as they end in some combination of 2-4-6-8-0. Tables for odd numbers also have distinct patterns. Why not a more creative approach? Thus was born Teach Your Child the Multiplication Tables, Fun, Fast and Easy with Dazzling Patterns, Grids and Tricks! (available on Amazon and www.TeaCHildMath.com ) and mom the entrepreneur.

Patterns appeal to children. Learning to recognize patterns teaches analytical skills. A review in California Homeschool News stated: “My daughter thinks it’s lots of fun. She’s already had quite a few ‘ah-ha moments as she recognizes and predicts the various patterns.” Patterns enhance recall. “Children with ADHD, dyslexia and autism do well with my method,” Francis says.

Parents and teachers must ensure children learn the multiplication tables. “Without them a child is doomed,” Francis states. A child who has not mastered the times tables has difficulty succeeding in mathematics beyond the third grade.

A recent editorial in the Los Angeles Times noted that failure to pass Algebra I was the “single biggest obstacle to high school graduation” and that failure to master the multiplication tables was one of the main reasons. A survey of California Algebra I teachers report that 30% of their students do not know the multiplication tables. It is hardly surprising then that fifteen-year olds in the U.S. rank near the bottom of industrialized nations in math skills.

“We have one of the highest high school dropout rates in the industrialized world,” Bill Gates stated. “If we keep the system as it is, millions of children will never get a chance to fulfill their promise because of their Zip Code, their skin color or their parents’ income. That is offensive to our values.”

Teachers must innovate and bring the magic of math into the classroom. Parents must do their part. “Parents have a huge influence over a third or fourth grader,” Francis states. “By high school it may be too late. Why not take the opportunity that teaching the multiplication tables provides to give your child a head start in math and develop analytical skills necessary for algebra? Mastery of the multiplication tables is essential to your child’s future.”

Francis published her innovative workbook to help other families. “If more of us would do for other people’s children what we do for our own, the world would be a better place.”

About Eugenia Francis
Eugenia Francis taught English at the University of California at Irvine. Faced with the challenge of teaching her son the multiplication tables, she developed her own innovative method, discovering patterns to the multiplication tables. She has also published a Spanish edition of the workbook. Teach Your Child the Multiplication Tables sells on Amazon in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany and Japan.

Source: NewsBlaze, CA
http://newsblaze.com/story/20080913052623zzzz.nb/topstory.html

As a child safety measure in the car, its importance could never be underplayed.

Researchers, however, yesterday warned that the convenience of the portable car baby seat is having some far less desirable effects.

They claim many parents are using the chairs to also restrain infants in the home, which in turn is damaging their development.

Such ‘cotton wool’ treatment later leads to poor concentration in the classroom because children’s reflexes have not been sufficiently developed, they say.

The researchers from Liverpool John Moores University examined 120 children aged ten and 11 at a school in West Yorkshire.

The youngsters were given tests in reading, non-verbal reasoning and shortterm memory and split into four groups.

One group took part in a specially designed movement programme, the second did sound therapy, the third did both programmes and the fourth did neither.

The movement programme involved 40 minutes of simple exercises, twice a week, for eight months within normal PE lessons.

Activities included crawling on a mat, hand-to-eye exercises and playground games such as skipping. Eight months later, all 120 children were re-tested.

The children who took part in the movement programme performed ’significantly better’ overall in comparison to the children who did not. Their reading, memory and general reasoning had all improved.

‘People are trying to be too safe but they are causing further problems.’

Meanwhile, the separate music programme involved children listening to classical music through headphones for 30 minutes a day over eight weeks.

The music was filtered to create higher frequencies to help boost the auditory processes, which is the speed at which one can process what’s being heard.

At the end of the experiment, the children performed better in reading than those who had not taken part in the music programme.

‘The Government should consider using movement programmes in schools to iron out difficulties children might have.’

Source: Daily Mail, UK
http://tinyurl.com/69anux

Q: Can you offer activities for my baby? He’s only 2 months old, and most of the time he’s eating or sleeping, but when he’s awake and content, I’d like to interact with him in a meaningful way.

A: Here are five things that will hold your baby’s interest:

Your face: Babies are fascinated by a face and all it can do. Your mouth moves and makes sounds, your eyes blink, your cheeks puff out, your head nods and shakes and your tongue moves in and out.

The very words you speak, your inflection and intonation all hold a baby’s interest. Your head and face are readily available to engage your child in a context of love and social interaction. From birth, your baby is interested in copying your facial expressions.

A mobile: Most parents purchase a mobile to hang over their baby’s crib. But babies, like all of us, get bored. So if they look at the very same mobile day after day, they’ll soon lose interest.

Therefore, change the appearance of the mobile from time to time (not necessarily daily). So if your baby’s mobile has five horses that dance around in a circle, one day tie ribbons around their necks. Another day add a bell.

Balls: Anything that moves, babies notice. Nothing moves more easily than a ball that ricochets off furniture, bumps into walls and rolls under tables and through tubes. Need a tube? Go to the post office and purchase a large postal tube. When your baby tires of balls rolling around the floor, drop a ball through the tube.

Blocks: Once your baby can sit well without tumbling over, purchase blocks. They need to be small enough for your baby to hold but big enough so that he can’t swallow them. With the blocks, play “stack and tumble.” Your part of this game is to stack the blocks; your baby’s part is to knock them over. See how many blocks you can stack before your baby moves his hand quickly to knock them over. It’s all about cause and effect. It’s as if the child is saying over and over, “When I hit the blocks, they tumble over.”

Vary the play by putting the blocks in a container; your child will love dumping them out. Once your baby can pull herself up to a standing position, stack the blocks on the coffee table. He’ll love to knock the blocks to the floor, learning about gravity as she watches them drop.

Disappearance: A major part of your child’s early learning agenda the first year of life revolves around disappearance, realizing that objects and people continue to exist even when out of sight. Purchase a jack-in-the-box; play peek-a-boo; and later, when your child becomes mobile, play hide and seek. There are so many variations of these games, and there’s no end to your child’s interest in them. You’ll likely tire of them far sooner than your child.

For more of my ideas on infant cognitive development and accompanying activities, go to BabyZone.com and search for “Your Brilliant Baby, Week by Week.”

Source: Seattle Times, United States
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/parenting/2008132733_faull23.html

Researchers from UNCG and the FPG Child Development Institute at UNC Chapel Hill are starting a novel study of the effects of musical instrument instruction on young children’s development.

The study will examine whether violin instruction using the Suzuki Method improves children’s early thinking skills through changes in brain activity. The lead investigators are Dr. Susan Calkins, professor of human development and family studies at UNCG, and Dr. Michael Willoughby, research scientist at the FPG Child Development Institute.

Running until the end of this academic year, the study will be the first of its kind to test the idea that experiences such as musical instrument instruction contribute specifically to brain development in preschool-aged children. “Previous research has focused on the effects of music exposure,” Calkins said. “We believe it may be musical instruction that enhances cognitive development through brain changes.”

The process of learning a musical instrument can be thought of as a complicated, multi-step problem that requires children to focus their attention on multiple tasks at once, store steps in working memory and inhibit the urge to play familiar patterns as they learn new ones. Calkins and Willoughby theorize that this kind of cognitive experience contributes to the learning of new behavioral skills and supports new neural pathways that support such skills.

Calkins and Willoughby will enroll 100 4-year-olds in the study, referred to as iMod (Impact of Music on Development). Fifty of the participating children will be randomly assigned to receive free music instruction through the Music Academy of North Carolina, which is located in Greensboro, while another 50 will be assigned to a parent-led activity group.

Both groups of children will be asked to come to UNCG for electroencephalography (EEG) evaluations at the start and end of the study, and will be reimbursed $50 at each visit for their participation. Greensboro-area families interested in enrolling children in the study can contact the researchers at iMod@uncg.edu or (336) 256-8546.

The research is funded by a $125,000 grant from the National Association of Music Merchants and conducted with the support of the Music Academy of North Carolina in Greensboro and Artley Violins in Gibsonville.

Source: UNCG University News, NC
http://www.uncg.edu/ure/news/stories/2008/aug/calkins082108.html

Although a good night’s sleep and a healthy breakfast can prepare your child for a day of learning, experts are finding other smart ways to beef up the brain.

“Neuro-science is growing so much because of new technologies,” says chartered psychologist Deb Skaret.

“We’re finding that there are lots of things that parents can do to help facilitate the health and overall intellectual development and curiosity of their children.”

Skaret, who holds a PhD in educational psychology from the University of Alberta, has long been a student of the brain and cites the latest research into how exercise benefits the muscle between your ears.

“We’re learning how exercise is critical for brain development. It’s like a spark,” she says, adding that lack of physical activity can be connected to children with attention problems. She says American physician John J. Ratey tested junior high school students by running them on a treadmill before morning classes and found they were more alert in school.

Scientific research shows that exercise increases the fitness level and development of brain cells, and benefits the hippocampus (a seahorse-shaped brain structure) which is vital for memory and learning.

“I’m concerned about a child playing a lot of computer games and not having a balanced, recreational lifestyle. It’s just a hypothesis, but I think we’ll see greater challenges with kids holding down a conversation in the classroom. They’re used to flashy stuff, and maybe it will be hard to sit down and enjoy a book,” says Skaret, who jokes that the thumbs of future generations will be longer because of increased video games use.

Parents should encourage a balance of recreational activities and limit time on computer games, encouraging interaction and conversation with others.

Skaret also recommends parents monitor stressors in their children’s lives.

“A little bit of stress is good. Hey, you got an assignment due, nothing like stress to help you get it done. But chronic stress, such as family fighting, and you get a child with constant anxiety,” she says.

“Chronic stress creates cortisol which inhibits memory. If a child is sitting in school worrying, they can’t concentrate or they learn something and it just falls through.”

Cutting edge research still touts the benefits of sleep and adequate nutrition.

“Basically, when your brain doesn’t have the nourishment it needs, you’re foggy and fatigued. It’s hard to stay focused,” says nutrition specialist Theresa Riege of the Calgary Health Region.

Riege stresses the importance of a breakfast that is a combination of several food groups, particularly protein and whole grains, which will take longer to digest and help students keep their energy level up throughout the morning.

“Avoid that sweet sugar rush in the morning. It will get them going faster, but they’ll lack energy by mid-morning and will inhibit their function from a thinking, and even play, perspective.”

The Calgary Health Region, Nutrition and Active Living, has published a school nutrition guide book for schools, teachers and parents which is available on their website at http://www.calgaryhealthregion.ca/programs/nutrition/services/school nutrition.htm.

“It will give parents some food options and outlines some strategies for packing lunches and snacks,” says Riege.

Source: Calgary Herald, Canada
http://tinyurl.com/5vsjd6

When parents read aloud to their children, everyone wins, according to LSU AgCenter family development professor Rebecca White.

“Reading is fun for the adult and great for the children,” White said. “It’s easy for you and good for them.”

Parents don’t even have to ration it because, unlike TV or ice cream, there’s no such thing as too much.

“There’s no such thing as too early, either,” White said, noting that if you wait until preschool age to start reading to your children, you’ll have missed out on years of opportunities to help your child with pre-literacy skills.

Reading to young babies is a way of talking to them. Talking not only speeds brain development but also cements relationships.

Reading to older babies is a way of expanding their experiences. You can’t always find a real cat or truck or fried egg to tell them about, but you can always find pictures of those things in books. And linking the sight of things with the sounds of names boosts language learning.

“Reading to toddlers is educational and loving and fun,” White said, adding that it’s about language itself and discovering the joys of jokes and rhymes and funny, long words. It’s about learning to “read” pictures to find the meanings of words or the answers to questions hiding behind those thrilling pull-tabs: “Where’s the kitten gone? There he is!”

“Reading to young children is about the sheer, entrancing magic of stories unfolding between the pictures and the voice, playing to an emerging imagination and learning to put oneself in someone else’s place,” White said.

For related youth development topics, visit the family and home link at the LSU AgCenter Web site at www.lsuagcenter.com . For local information and educational programs, contact an extension agent in your parish LSU AgCenter office.

Source: The Times-Picayune - NOLA.com, LA
http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base//library-152/1217742068244430.xml&coll=1

The secret to the academic success of many Asian students starts in the home, with a study of schoolchildren suggesting a regular homework routine carries benefits into the classroom.

The research examined the study habits of three groups of Year 3 students and found that Chinese children spent more time on their homework, completed more work and did it on a more regular basis than Anglo or Pacific Island students.

The study by University of Western Sydney researchers and the NSW Education Department challenges the myth that Chinese students perform better at school because of a cultural disposition to study.

“There has been inadequate attention given to the ways educational attainment is founded on embodied capacities, such as productive stillness and quiet, which are crucial to sustained attention and application in intellectual endeavour,” the report says.

Cathy Garde, a Year 3 teacher at Berala Public School in Sydney’s west, agreed that less attention was paid in recent years to the practicalities of learning, and training young bodies to sit still.

“I often have to start the year teaching the kids work habits, the capability to sit down and focus,” she said. “Some children struggle to control themselves. They don’t have any self-discipline. You get children who come into the classroom and start walking around the room in the middle of a task.”

The report, Cultural Practices and Learning, involved interviews with parents, teachers and 36 students in six Sydney schools, as well as classroom observation.

The study found that 56per cent of the Chinese students spent more than one hour a night on their homework, compared with 24per cent of Anglo children and 35per cent of Pacific Islander students.

But the study says the time spent on homework was not as important as the study routine.

A greater proportion of Chinese students, 40per cent, did homework in their bedroom or study at a desk compared with 13per cent of Anglo students and 25per cent of Islander children, who tended to do their homework sitting on their bed.

Source: The Australian, Australia
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24115399-2702,00.html