Washington, Apr 30 : Humans have an inherent ability to recognize faces and other objects with just a glimpse, and now researchers have found that this ability to visually process images is much faster than it is believed.

Taking advantage of brain mapping in patients about to undergo surgery for epilepsy, researchers at Children''s Hospital Boston, have for the first time showed that the brain, at a very early processing stage, can recognize objects under a variety of conditions very rapidly.

Washington, April 30 : In a new study, researchers have found that a brief intervention program boosted the number of women correctly performing breast self- exams by tenfold.

The Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research study is one of the first to show intervention programs can be effective in increasing breast self-exams.

Washington, Apr 30 : In a novel study, researchers at Columbia University Medical Centre have identified a trio of molecules that are responsible for killing brain cells in Parkinson’s patients.

They have showed that three molecules – the neurotransmitter dopamine, a calcium channel, and a protein called alpha-synuclein – act together to kill the neurons.

The symptoms of Parkinson''s – including uncontrollable tremors and difficulty in moving arms and legs – are blamed on the loss of neurons from the substantia nigra region of the brain.

Washington, Apr 30 : School-based drug education programmes can significantly curb risky behaviour and drug abuse in teenagers, suggests a new study.

The researchers found that young adults who had been exposed to a popular drug abuse prevention program as adolescents were less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior five to seven years later.

Washington, Apr 30 : How the brain gives meaning to letters on a page has been a mystery for scientists. Now, a new study has tried to solve the puzzle.

Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have found that an area known to be important for reading in the left visual cortex contains neurons that are specialized to process written words as whole word units.

Washington, April 30 : A new study examining the mechanisms underlying transmission of combined avian-human viruses has shed light on how virus outbreaks like that of the current swine flu come about.

The study, conducted by University of Maryland researchers, suggests that the ease with which a dangerous avian influenza virus can cause a human flu pandemic may be greater than previously thought.

In his study, associate Professor Daniel Perez from the University of Maryland has shown that after an avian and human-like virus combine, the virus requires relatively few mutations to spread rapidly between mammals by respiratory droplets.