Scientists have for the first time explained mechanisms behind the brain`s ability to protect itself from damage due to stroke.

The Oxford University researchers hope that harnessing this inbuilt biological mechanism, identified in rats, could help in treating stroke and preventing other neurodegenerative diseases in the future.

"We have shown for the first time that the brain has mechanisms that it can use to protect itself and keep brain cells alive," said lead researcher Professor Alastair Buchan in a statement.

Stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. When this happens, brain cells are deprived of the oxygen and nutrients they need to function properly, and they begin to die.

This explains why treatment for stroke is so dependent on speed. The faster someone can reach hospital, be scanned and have drugs administered to dissolve any blood clot and get the blood flow re-started, the less damage to brain cells there will be.

The Oxford University research group have now identified the first example of the brain having its own built-in form of neuroprotection, so-called `endogenous neuroprotection`.

They did this by going back to an observation first made over 85 years ago. It has been known since 1926 that neurons in one area of the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls memory, are able to survive being starved of oxygen, while others in a different area of the hippocampus die.

However, what protected that one set of cells from damage had remained a puzzle until now.

"Previous studies have focused on understanding how cells die after being depleted of oxygen and glucose. We considered a more direct approach by investigating the endogenous mechanisms that have evolved to make these cells in the hippocampus resistant," explained first author Dr Michalis Papadakis.

Working in rats, the researchers found that production of a specific protein called hamartin allowed the cells to survive being starved of oxygen and glucose, as would happen after a stroke.

They showed that the neurons die in the other part of the hippocampus because of a lack of the hamartin response. The team was then able to show that stimulating production of hamartin offered greater protection for the neurons.

The researchers were also able to identify the biological pathway through which hamartin acts to enable the nerve cells to cope with damage when starved of energy and oxygen.

The group pointed out that knowing the natural biological mechanism that leads to neuroprotection opens up the possibility of developing drugs that mimic hamartin`s effect.

The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine.

A combination of fish oil and aspirin could be the key to beating a host of devastating chronic diseases including arthritis, a new breakthrough study has found.

Researchers found that the two work together to combat the inflammation responsible for a host of illnesses, including heart disease, cancer and arthritis.
Experts have always touted the health benefits of low-dose aspirin and omega-3 fatty acids found in foods like flax seeds and salmon, but the detailed mechanisms involved in their effects were not fully known.

Now a new study published in the Cell Press journal Chemistry and Biology shows that aspirin helps trigger the production of molecules called resolvins that are naturally made by the body from omega-3 fatty acids.

These resolvins shut off, or "resolve," the inflammation that underlies destructive conditions such as inflammatory lung disease, heart disease, and arthritis.

"In this report, we found that one resolvin, termed resolvin D3 from the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, persists longer at sites of inflammation than either resolvin D1 or resolvin D2 in the natural resolution of inflammation in mice," said senior study author Dr Charles Serhan of Brigham and Women`s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

"This finding suggests that this late resolution phase resolvin D3 might display unique properties in fighting uncontrolled inflammation," Serhan said in a statement.

The researchers also confirmed that aspirin treatment triggered the production of a longer acting form of resolvin D3 through a different pathway.

"Aspirin is able to modify an inflammatory enzyme to stop forming molecules that propagate inflammation and instead produce molecules from omega-3 fatty acids, like resolvin D3, that help inflammation to end," said co-author Dr Nicos Petasis of the University of Southern California.

"We were able to produce by chemical synthesis both resolvin D3 and aspirin-triggered resolvin D3 in pure form, which allowed us to establish their complete structures and biological activities," said Petasis.

When administered to human cells, both of these resolvins demonstrated potent anti-inflammatory actions. When given to mice, the compounds also stimulated the resolution of inflammation in the body.

"We also identified the human receptor that is activated by resolvin D3, which is critical in understanding how resolvin D3 works in the body to resolve inflammation," said Serhan.

A lifelong diet that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids - found in fish oils - can decrease growth of breast cancer tumours by 30 percent, a new research has revealed.

Study authors David Ma, a professor in Guelph`s Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, said that their study shows that lifelong exposure to omega-3s had a beneficial role in disease prevention - in this case, breast cancer prevention.

Ma said that health advocates have long believed that diet may significantly help in preventing cancer but epidemiological and experimental studies to back up such claims have been lacking, and human studies have been inconsistent.

For their research, they created a novel transgenic mouse that produced both omega-3 fatty acids and develops aggressive mammary tumours. The team compared those animals to mice genetically engineered only to develop the same tumours.

Mice producing omega-3s developed only two-thirds as many tumours - and tumours were also 30-per-cent smaller - as compared to the control mice.

"The difference can be solely attributed to the presence of omega-3s in the transgenic mice - that`s significant," Ma said.

"The fact that a food nutrient can have a significant effect on tumour development and growth is remarkable and has considerable implications in breast cancer prevention," he added.

The study has been published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

Scientists have found a mechanism using devices to "fix" the problem of dyslexia, a constellation of impairments unrelated to intelligence, hearing or vision that make reading a struggle.

While most children read smoothly, as many as one in 10 is estimated to suffer from dyslexia. Now, researchers from Northwestern University report they have found a biological mechanism that appears to play an important role in the reading process, the Science Daily reported.

"We discovered a systematic relationship between reading ability and the consistency with which the brain encodes sounds," Nina Kraus, Hugh Knowles Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Communication was quoted as saying.

Recording the automatic brain wave responses of 100 school-aged children to speech sounds, researchers found that the very best readers encoded the sound most consistently while the poorest readers encoded it with inconsistency, which could be "fixed" through training.

Presumably, the brain`s response to sound stabilises when children learn to successfully connect sounds with their meanings.

For the study, children with reading impairments were fitted for a year with assistive listening devices that transmitted their teacher`s voice directly into their ears.

After a year, the children showed improvement not only in reading but also in the consistency with which their brains encoded speech sounds, particularly consonants.

"Use of the devices focused youngsters` brains on the "meaningful" sounds coming from their teacher, diminishing other, extraneous distractions," said Kraus. "After a year of use, the students had honed their auditory systems and no longer required the assistive devices to keep their reading and encoding advantage."

The results suggest that good readers profit from a stable neural representation of sound, and that children with inconsistent neural responses are likely at a disadvantage when learning to read, Kraus added.

"The good news is that response consistency can be improved with auditory training."

Foods high in resistant starch, like peas, beans and other legumes, can protect against colorectal cancer, say researchers.

Resistant starch cannot be digested so it ends up in the bowel in pretty much the same form it entered your mouth. Once in the bowel this resistant starch does some important things, including decreasing bowel pH and transit time, and increasing the production of short-chain fatty acids. These effects promote the growth of good bugs while keeping bad bugs at bay.

Now, a University of Colorado Cancer Center review has shown that resistant starch also helps the body resist colorectal cancer through mechanisms including killing pre-cancerous cells and reducing inflammation that can otherwise promote cancer.

"Resistant starch is found in peas, beans and other legumes, green bananas, and also in cooked and cooled starchy products like sushi rice and pasta salad," said Janine Higgins, PhD, CU Cancer Center investigator and associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

"You have to consume it at room temperate or below - as soon as you heat it, the resistant starch is gone. But consumed correctly, it appears to kill pre-cancerous cells in the bowel," Higgins suggested.

Higgins found that rats fed resistant starch showed decreased numbers and sizes of lesions due to colorectal cancer, and an increased number of cells that express the protein IL-10, which acts to regulate the body`s inflammatory response.

"Resistant starch may also have implications for the prevention of breast cancer," Higgins noted.

"There are a lot of things that feed into the same model of resistant starch as a cancer-protective agent. Much of this information currently comes from rodent models and small clinical trials but the evidence is encouraging," Higgins said.

The research was published in this month`s issue of the journal Current Opinion in Gastroenterology.