Neuroscientists leading the largest longitudinal adolescent brain imaging study to date have learned that a number of factors – genetics, brain function and about 40 different variables – can help scientists predict which teens will become binge drinkers.
In patients with a traumatic brain injury (TBI), neither the administration of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) or maintaining a higher hemoglobin concentration through blood transfusion resulted in improved neurological outcome at 6 months, according to a study in the July 2 issue of JAMA. Transfusing at higher hemoglobin concentrations was associated with a higher risk of adverse events.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a new biomarker that predicts whether glioblastoma – the most common form of primary brain cancer – will respond to chemotherapy. The findings are published in the July print issue of Oncotarget.
The Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine announces the publication of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves’ updated guidelines for the performance of fusion procedures for degenerative disease of the lumbar spine.
When evaluating another person’s emotions – happy, sad, angry, afraid – humans take cues from facial expressions. Neurons in a part of the brain called the amygdala “fire” in response to the visual stimulation as information is processed by the retina, the amygdala and a network of interconnected brain structures. Some of these regions respond just to the actual features of the face, whereas others respond to how things appear to the viewer, but it is unknown where in the brain this difference arises.
Emotional and behavioral problems show up even with low exposure to lead, and as blood lead levels increase in children, so do the problems, according to research funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. The results were published online June 30 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
On the Fourth of July 75 years ago, legendary first baseman Lou Gehrig – afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS – stepped to the microphone at Yankee Stadium and said goodbye to baseball. Read our Q & A with a Rutgers ALS expert that describes both the progress and frustration in treating this fatal nerve disorder.
For children, stress can go a long way. A little bit provides a platform for learning, adapting and coping. But a lot of it — chronic, toxic stress like poverty, neglect and physical abuse — can have lasting negative impacts. A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers recently showed these kinds of stressors, experienced in early life, might be changing the parts of developing children’s brains responsible for learning, memory and the processing of stress and emotion.
Developmental psychologist Daphne Maurer has spent more than four decades studying the complexities of the human mind. As the director of the Visual Development Lab at McMaster University and president of the International Society on Infant Studies, Maurer will present her life’s work at the Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies in Berlin July 4th.
The mystery of why dystonia occurs, and what can prevent or treat it, has long puzzled doctors, who have struggled to help their suffering dystonia patients. Now, with support from The Bachmann-Strauss Foundation’s 2013 Impact Grant, new research from a University of Michigan Medical School team may finally open the door to answering those questions and developing new options for patients.
A drug that blocks the action of the enzyme Cdk5 could substantially reduce brain damage if administered shortly after a stroke, UT Southwestern Medical Center research suggests.
Guidelines released today by Canadian pediatric emergency medicine researchers are in line with the work that has been taking place over the past several years at CHOP to help improve pediatric concussion diagnosis and treatment and standardize youth concussion care.
Older veterans who have experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) are 60 percent more likely to later develop dementia than veterans without TBI, according to a study published in the June 25, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Mohamad Koubeissi, M.D., director of the Epilepsy Center and associate professor of neurology at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, is leading a clinical trial employing low-frequency deep brain stimulation to potentially help reduce epileptic seizures in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.
Researchers using a complex set of data from records and imaging scans of patients who have undergone successful DBS implantation, have created 3-D, computerized models that map the brain region involved in dystonia. The models identify an anatomical target for further study and provide information for neurologists and neurosurgeons to consider when planning surgery and making device programming decisions.
In the complex environment of a spinal cord injury, researchers have found that immune cells in the central nervous system of elderly mice fail to activate an important signaling pathway, dramatically lowering chances for repair after injury.
It has generally been assumed that people with episodic amnesia experience time much differently than those with more typical memory function. However, recent research by Washington University in St. Louis philosopher Carl F. Craver, PhD, disputes this type of claim. “There are sets of claims that sound empirical, like ‘These people are stuck in time.’ But if you ask, ‘Have you actually tested what they know about time?’ the answer is no.”
Researchers believe they have learned how mutations in the gene that causes Huntington’s disease kill brain cells, a finding that could open new opportunities for treating the fatal disorder.
Insights into mechanisms behind cocoa’s benefit may lead to new treatments or dietary regimens
NYU Langone Medical Center is now using a novel technology that serves as a "flight simulator" for neurosurgeons, allowing them to rehearse complicated brain surgeries before making an actual incision on a patient.
A chemical found in many “BPA free” consumer products, known as bisphenol S (BPS), is just as potent as bisphenol A (BPA) in altering brain development and causing hyperactive behavior, an animal study finds. The results will be presented Sunday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago.
Do you jump to help the less fortunate or cry during sad movie scenes? If yes, you may be among the 20 percent of our population that is genetically pre-disposed to empathy, according to a study by Stony Brook University psychologists.
The California budget signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on June 20 creates a statewide research grants program called Cal-BRAIN, an initiative led by UC San Diego. With an initial allocation of $2 million, Cal-BRAIN is a state complement to the federal BRAIN Initiative announced by President Barack Obama in April of 2013.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a fundamental mechanism by which the brain maintains its internal balance. The mechanism, described in the June 22 advanced online publication of the journal Nature, involves the brain's most basic inner wiring and the processes that control whether a neuron relays information to other neurons or suppresses the transmission of information.
Biologists have long considered cells to function like self-cleaning ovens, chewing up and recycling their own worn out parts as needed. But a new study challenges that basic principle, showing that some nerve cells found in the eye pass off their old energy-producing factories to neighboring support cells to be “eaten.” The find, which may bear on the roots of glaucoma, also has implications for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other diseases that involve a buildup of “garbage” in brain cells.
Covert changes of mind can be discovered by tracking neural activity when subjects make decisions, researchers from New York University and Stanford University have found. Their results, offer new insights into how we make decisions and point to innovative ways to study this process in the future.
In national recognition of the Neuromuscular and ALS Center of New Jersey’s outstanding care and services, the ALS Association has recertified it as a Certified Treatment Center of Excellence for ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
A new study suggests that people with muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophies may benefit more from group doctor visits than individual appointments. The study is published in the June 18, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
One of the great mysteries of anesthesia is how patients can be temporarily rendered completely unresponsive during surgery and then wake up again, with their memories and skills intact.
Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shed light on how a specific kind of genetic mutation can cause damage during early brain development that results in lifelong learning and behavioral disabilities.
Brain cells, called astrocytes because of their star-shaped appearance, can monitor and respond to nearby neural activity, but only after being activated by the fight-or-flight chemical norepinephrine. Because astrocytes can alter the activity of neurons, the findings suggest that astrocytes may help control the brain’s ability to focus.
Young adult men who watched more violence on television showed indications of less mature brain development and poorer executive functioning, according to the results of an Indiana University School of Medicine study published online in the journal Brain and Cognition.
New research in mice may finally open the door to solving long-standing mysteries about dystonia -- uncontrollable twisting and stiffening of neck and limb muscles -- and developing new options for patients who experience it alone or as a complication of conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.
A new study at the University of Iowa reports a potential link between stress hormones and short-term memory loss in older adults. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, reveals that having high levels of cortisol—a natural hormone in our body whose levels surge when we are stressed—can lead to memory lapses as we age.
Researchers at Duke Medicine have identified a new strategy for treating neuroblastoma using a modified version of heparin, a century-old injectable drug that thins the blood to prevent clots from forming. The study, conducted in mice and published June 17, 2014, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, found that when heparin is altered to remove its blood-thinning properties, it can suppress and shrink neuroblastoma tumors without causing severe bleeding.
While scientists debate whether computer games benefit cognition, some are finding new uses for gaming data—in clinical trial research. In a two-part series, Alzforum reports on the data behind the games.
There is new hope for people suffering from depression. Researchers have identified a compound, hydroxynorketamine (HNK), that may treat symptoms of depression just as effectively and rapidly as ketamine, without the unwanted side effects associated with the psychoactive drug, according to a study in the July issue of Anesthesiology, the official medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists® (ASA®). Interestingly, use of HNK may also serve as a future therapeutic approach for treating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, the authors note.
Explosions are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries in veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. A new study shows that military personnel with mild brain trauma related to such blasts had outcomes similar to those with mild brain injury from other causes, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
It’s broadly assumed that cells degrade and recycle their own old or damaged organelles, but researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Kennedy Krieger Institute have discovered that some neurons transfer unwanted mitochondria – the tiny power plants inside cells – to supporting glial cells called astrocytes for disposal.
Confirming what neurocomputational theorists have long suspected, researchers at the Dignity Health Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Ariz. and University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that the human brain locks down episodic memories in the hippocampus, committing each recollection to a distinct, distributed fraction of individual cells.
A portable imaging tool could change the way the medical community analyzes and understands the long-term effects of sports-related concussions. Research conducted by Humboldt State Kinesiology professor Rock Braithwaite has played a significant role in demonstrating the usefulness of computerized neurocognitive testing in determining the extent of the effects of concussion on cognition and performance among student athletes and military personnel.
Seventy-five years ago, on July 4th 1939, baseball legend Lou Gehrig delivered the famous speech bidding farewell to the ballpark and his fans. Two weeks before Gehrig had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota Accompanied by his wife, Eleanor, Lou left Mayo Clinic with the devastating diagnosis on June 20th 1939, a day after his 36th birthday. He died in June two years later, not quite 38 years old, of the rare neurological disease that would come to bear his name.
In this month’s release, find studies about the risk of head injuries associated with bike share programs; the United States’ slow decline in traffic fatalities; and a new model to estimate the extent to which smoking can be attributed to lung cancer cases.
UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have generated fresh insights that could aid in the development of rapid-acting antidepressants for treatment-resistant depression.
Columbia Engineering professor Elizabeth M. C. Hillman has identified a new component of the biological mechanism that controls blood flow in the brain, demonstrating that the vascular endothelium plays a critical role in the regulation of blood flow in response to stimulation in the living brain. Understanding how and why the brain regulates its blood flow could provide important clues to understanding early brain development, disease, and aging.
Using powerful, newly developed cell culture and mouse models of sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD) researchers have demonstrated that immunotherapy with specifically targeted antibodies may block the development and spread of PD pathology in the brain.
People with diets higher in protein, especially from fish, may be less likely to have a stroke than those with diets lower in protein, according to a meta-analysis published in the June 11, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Researchers in West Virginia University’s Center for Neuroscience have identified a mechanism in brain development that, when disrupted, may play a role in cerebral cortex circuit disorders, including autism, schizophrenia, and childhood epilepsy.
A recently published clinical study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has answered an urgent question that long puzzled ER pediatricians: Is the drug lorazepam really safer and more effective than diazepam – the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medication as first line therapy most often used by emergency room doctors to control major epileptic seizures in children?
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