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A small study appears to show that electrical brain stimulation improves mental arithmetic, and that an improvement can still be seen 6 months later.

However, Nature quotes cognitive neuroscientist Daniel Ansari as saying, The training used here is highly contrived and does not resemble the way in which math skills are typically acquired.

Scientists have identified a single-nucleotide variant in the GNAQ gene responsible for Sturge-Weber syndrome and port-wine stains.

Dr Anne Comi said, Now that we know the underlying genetic mutation responsible for both conditions, we’re hopeful that we can move quickly towards targeted therapies, offering families the promise of new treatments for the first time.

Scientists studying mice were able to reverse signs of ageing in the heart by using growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11), which is found at higher levels in the blood of young mice.

The study was published in Cell, and Nature provides more background and quotes from the authors.

“I think it’s a stunning result that, for the first time, points at a secreted protein that maintains the heart in a young state,” says cardiologist Deepak Srivastava, director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco, California, who was not involved with the research. “That’s pretty remarkable.”

The team now plans to investigate whether GDF11 effects ageing in other tissues in mice and if it could have similar effects in humans.

A long course of antibiotic treatment proved effective in reducing back pain symptoms in patients with chronic low back pain and bone oedema following a disc herniation.

Modic type 1 changes are present in 6% of the general population and 35–40% of the low back pain population. 100 days of antibiotic treatment with bioclavid was significantly more effective for this group of patients than placebo.

Eritoran, a synthetic TLR4 antagonist, has been found to prevent influenza-induced lethality in mice, reducing lung pathology, clinical symptoms, cytokine and oxidized phospholipid expression, and viral titres.

Influenza, and in particular new pandemic strains, can cause acute lung injury by provoking an extreme immune response. Using Eritoran to block TLR signalling represents a novel approach for reducing inflammation and injury associated with influenza, and possibly other infections.

Scientists have found that a mutation in the gene encoding casein kinase Iδ (CKIδ) is associated with both the presence of migraine and advanced sleep phase. The resulting alterations (T44A and H46R) caused reduced enzyme activity.

Results of experiments on mice suggest that decreases in CKIδ activity can contribute to the development of migraine.