Nervous System

Weight loss surgery works, but is so invasive and has such unpleasant long-term side effects that it's recommended for only a fraction of the obese population, and even many in that group are reluctant to undergo the surgery. In hunting for a simpler and safer alternative, researchers have zeroed in on a nerve that carries much of the communication between brain and gut.

A Nobel laureate and her co-authors on a 2001 paper on the sense of smell have retracted the study, saying they had discovered problems in the data and were unable to duplicate their findings. Linda Buck shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering odor-sensing proteins in the nose and tracing how the nervous system delivers odor information to the brain. It was not immediately clear how important the retracted research was to the body of work that led to her Nobel. The retracted paper reported details of how the nervous system of the mouse carries odor signals from the nose to a particular region of the brain.

People in life-threatening predicaments can sometimes perform feats that seem impossible, exhibiting superhuman strength or surviving for days in the wilderness to save themselves or others. It's hard to believe a 4-year-old girl could keep her stricken grandfather afloat for several hours. But it happened this summer in Herring Bay, a part of the Chesapeake, when the 60-year-old man began sinking while swimming and the girl supported his body until rescuers arrived.

A cardiologist was recently named chairman of the Department of Medicine at UC Irvine's College of Medicine. Dr. John C. Longhurst, who previously served as chief of cardiovascular medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine for 11 years, will join UCI on Nov. 16. He will supervise clinical and academic programs. Longhurst's research focuses on how the nervous system regulates the cardiovascular system and the nervous system's role in hypertension, irregular heartbeat, angina and acupuncture.

Space shuttle Columbia and its crew returned to Earth on Sunday, ending two weeks of lab work that advanced brain research despite unexpected animal casualties. And the experiments were far from over. Within an hour, the crew was hustled off to medical tests that were expected to go on for days. Six of the seven astronauts left on stretchers; doctors wanted them reclining to preserve elements of their weightless state.

A UC Irvine professor has been presented an honorary degree from the University of Salamanca in Spain for his research on the brain. Edward G. Jones received the award last month for his studies on the primate central nervous system and its development. "Receiving such a degree was an honor in its own right," said Jones, a professor of anatomy and neurobiology.

There was a time when Lauren and Marshall Johnson waited for their only child to die. Jacob was just over a year old then, a towhead with bottomless blue eyes. His head flopped over his neck. His legs took him nowhere. He could not sit. Even Jacob's smiles, and tears, stayed trapped inside his soul. He was silent as a rag doll. Leigh's disease, a rare disorder of the central nervous system, had stolen nearly all of Jacob's muscle control.

A new technique for taking pictures of nerves inside the human body may revolutionize the diagnosis of nerve damage, particularly injuries that have previously been difficult or impossible to locate, according to researchers at UCLA and the University of Washington. Using the pictures minimized surgical damage and speeded healing in patients by guiding surgeons directly to the site of nerve injuries, the researchers said.

The federal government will require food manufacturers to fortify most grain products such as bread, pasta, flour and rice with the nutrient folic acid, a B vitamin, to reduce the risk of birth defects of the nervous system, the Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday. The action, taken after several years of study, represents a departure for the FDA, which traditionally has been reluctant to recommend the widespread use of vitamins except during pregnancy.

In a finding that may be useful for repairing damaged nerve tissue, researchers have demonstrated the flexibility of select brain cells that, unlike most nerve tissue, continue to grow well into adulthood. A team led by neuroscientist Fred Gage at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla reported in the Oct.