Studies have shown, for example, that the brain learns best when stress hormones are mildly elevated.

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"Stress hormones act on the brain to remodel it and change it, " McEwen said.

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Fisher gathered scientific and empirical evidence about the reaction of the brain to a wash of love and attachment hormones.

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We would also probably have to alter hormonal regulation, since a larger, differently structured brain will probably also need different levels of various hormones.

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Damage seems to stem from dioxin's interference with crucial biochemical messengers such as the thyroid hormones, which regulate metabolism and help the brain to develop.

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The researchers say evidence points to exposure to male hormones, such as testosterone, before birth affecting these brain development patterns.

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Though the placebo effect remains largely shrouded in mystery, researchers attribute some aspects of the placebo response to active mechanisms in the brain that can influence bodily processes such as the immune response and release of hormones.

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So this is a kind of trick for flogging the brain and the pituitary and the thyroid to dump out a lot of their respective hormones.

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The EU scientific committee for vetinerary measures has warned that all sex hormones used in the US could pose a risk of cancer, genetic problems and brain disease, and claims children are most at risk.

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That science blends psychiatry and neuroscience, supposing, for instance, that patients with brain injuries produce false memories because it's their bodies' involuntary, natural way of healing, and that hormones can cause memory suppression.

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