In the cerebral cortex, the brain’s powerful central processing unit responsible for higher functions, specialized subdivisions known as areas are laid out like a map, but little is known about the genetic forces that shape the geography of our brains.

A new study finds that, compared to healthy women, breast cancer survivors reported more days of fatigue and more severe fatigue symptoms. The study, published in the October 15, 2007 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, found women who received both chemotherapy and radiotherapy reported the most severe and prolonged fatigue.

Dr. Yong Park and study participant Haley Butler. A small device implanted in the skull that detects oncoming seizures, then delivers a brief electrical stimulus to the brain to stop them is under study at the Medical College of Georgia.

Accentia Biopharmaceuticals announces evidence that most, if not all cases of chronic sinusitis (CS), are due to a fungal-induced inflammation as originally proposed by investigators at the Mayo Clinic. The data were collected as part of the Company’s ongoing pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for its lead pharmaceutical product, SinuNase™, an intranasal formulation of the antifungal amphotericin B 0.01% suspension. In order to be enrolled in the clinical trial, patients must have had well-documented CS based on a history of the requisite symptoms, nasal endoscopy findings, and CT scan demonstrating characteristic mucosal changes in the sinuses. At the time of enrollment, all patients have had nasal mucin collected. Subsequently, these specimens are being tested for eosinophilic major basic protein (eMBP). In the first fifty specimens now analyzed, all have been positive for eMBP, a toxic protein released by inflammatory cells in response to fungi. The Company believes that these findings strongly support a fungal-induced inflammation as the cause of CS.

The eastern hemlock, a tall, long-lived coniferous tree that shelters river and streamside ecosystems throughout the eastern United States and Canada, is in serious danger of extinction because a tiny, non-native insect is literally sucking the life out of it.

Embryos spend much of their time in the womb bobbing along with a mother’s movement, and, surprisingly enough, new research from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University suggests that embryonic stem cells may develop much better under similarly shaky conditions.

An important finding has been made by McMaster researchers about Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), a sex-linked genetic disorder that affects approximately one in 4,000 males and one in 6,000 females.

Researchers at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute are the first to discover a mechanism that plays a critical role in the multiple myeloma cell cycle and survival. Their research may result in identification of a new therapeutic target for treating multiple myeloma.