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Prematurity, infections most likely causes of brain damage among infants

The most likely causes of brain damage among low birthweight infants are prematurity and infections, not oxygen starvation, a Johns Hopkins study has found. Studying 213 babies born weighing less than 3 pounds, 5 ounces, the researchers noted that the smaller the infants were at birth and the less time they spent in the womb, the more likely they were to have some form of brain damage. Babies born with infections were more likely than those without infections to have brain complications. The report is published in the June issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Mucky waters could spell doom for fish populations

A lack of oxygen in waters around the world could be doing more than just suffocating fish: It may be acting as an endocrine disruptor and impeding their ability to reproduce, posing a serious threat to the survival of many populations. A new study of carp suggests that hypoxia, or oxygen deficiency, is an endocrine disruptor. The findings add a surprising member to the growing list of potential hormone-disturbing agents ? a list that includes pesticides such as atrazine and DDT, various types of steroids and metals, and even ultraviolet light. And because it occurs across vast stretches of water around the world, hypoxia could be a greater concern than any of these.

New findings could lead to higher resolution functional MRIs

New findings by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, could significantly improve the resolution of scans from functional magnetic resonance imaging, one of neuroscience’s most powerful research tools to date. Functional MRI (fMRI) is a non-invasive procedure that detects increased levels of blood flow into certain areas of the brain to infer neural activity. But in a study published Feb. 14 in the journal Science, researchers from UC Berkeley’s Group in Vision Science show that an initial decrease in oxygen levels is an earlier and more spatially precise signal of nerve cell activity.