We can thank neurons in the brain’s cerebral cortex for the rich representation of the world we “see.” In response to sensory stimuli—sights, sounds, tastes, smells, touch—neurons fire electrical spikes that collectively make up our brain’s model of the world. Get more HMS news here To help construct that world, individual neurons are so specialized that they fire in response to specific external inputs.
While measuring brain activity with magnetic resonance imaging during blood pressure trials, UCLA researchers found that men and women had opposite responses in the right front of the insular cortex, a part of the brain integral to the experience of emotions, blood pressure control, and self-awareness.
A gene associated with Alzheimer’s disease and recovery after brain injury may show its effects on the brain and thinking skills as early as childhood, according to a study published in the July 13, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Neuroscientists at the University of Chicago studying a unique gene that expresses two proteins, one that is necessary for life and another, that when mutated causes a neurodegenerative disease called spinocerbellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6), have developed a technique to selectively block the disease-causing protein without affecting the other.
A researcher at Arizona State University has discovered how to control multiple robotic drones using the human brain.
The majority of cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are unknown. In a paper published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues across the nation and world, have created a “mini-brain” model, derived from persons with a particular form of idiopathic ASD characterized by over-sized brains, revealing a defective molecular pathway during brain development that results in early neuronal overgrowth and dysfunctional cortical networks.
Johns Hopkins University researchers are the first to glimpse the human brain making a purely voluntary decision to act.
Noa Ofen, Ph.D., a Wayne State University researcher in lifespan cognitive neuroscience, received a five-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health to study the development of memory networks in children. Researchers will investigate brain activity predictive of memory formation in children who undergo surgery as part of clinical management of medically uncontrolled epilepsy.
Researchers from the University of Sydney's Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders have developed a portable and easy-to-use method to help people estimate portion size using only their hands.
A connection between the bacteria living in the gut and immunological disorders such as multiple sclerosis have long been suspected, but for the first time, researchers have detected clear evidence of changes that tie the two together. Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have found that people with multiple sclerosis have different patterns of gut microorganisms than those of their healthy counterparts. In addition, patients receiving treatment for MS have different patterns than untreated patients. The new research supports recent studies linking immunological disorders to the gut microbiome and may have implications for pursuing new therapies for MS.
No single assessment tool is able to consistently determine driving ability in people with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment, a St. Michael's Hospital research review has found.
Chad Carr's memory lives on at Mott through research funded by a stream of donations to the ChadTough Fund at the University of Michigan and a recent research grant in Chad’s name from The V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Researchers examined the case files of all patients younger than 5 years of age who had been admitted to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital between 2009 and 2014 for abusive head injury. The authors’ goal was to identify patient demographics and determine the incidence and extent of the injuries, seasonal trends associated with this abuse, required neurosurgical procedures, and costs of hospitalization. The number of cases is on the rise,
The authors recount how Dr. Robert Hubbard, a biomechanical crash engineer, and his brother-in-law, Jim Downing, a racecar driver, joined forces to create the HANS® device, which was designed to prevent the occurrence of shear injuries between the head and neck during high-impact crashes.
A small phase I study provides molecular evidence that an FDA-approved drug for leukemia significantly increased brain dopamine and reduced toxic proteins linked to disease progression in patients with Parkinson’s disease or dementia with Lewy bodies.
Two Northwestern University neuroscientists have identified the neurochemical signal likely missing in Parkinson’s disease by being the first to discover two distinctly different kinds of neurons that deliver dopamine to an important brain region responsible for both movement and learning/reward behavior. The findings provide a new framework for understanding the role of the dopamine system in movement control and learning/reward and how dysfunction of the dopamine system can result in a range of neurological disorders.
Understanding the networks of connections between brain regions and how they are changed by a stroke is crucial to understanding how stroke patients heal, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Whether at school, in car accidents, on the sports field or the battlefield, mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a common part of our lives. It is especially frequent among children, athletes, and the elderly. Now, scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have shown that a single dose of a new molecule they developed can effectively protect the brain from inflammation, cell death, and cognitive impairments that often follow a mild traumatic brain injury.
Neurodegenerative disease researchers in the U.K. fear the Brexit will curtail their access to EU funds and complicate international collaborations. Analysts agree that a U.K. exit is likely to harm big science across the continent.
A metallic molecule being studied at Rice University begins to glow when bound to amyloid protein fibrils of the sort implicated in Alzheimer's disease. When triggered with ultraviolet light, the molecule glows much brighter, which enables real-time monitoring of amyloid fibrils as they aggregate in lab experiments.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) with a loss of consciousness (LOC) may be associated with later development of Parkinson’s disease but not Alzheimer’s disease or incident dementia.
A study in mice funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows for the first time that high-contrast visual stimulation can help damaged retinal neurons regrow optic nerve fibers, otherwise known as retinal ganglion cell axons. In combination with chemically induced neural stimulation, axons grew further than in strategies tried previously. Treated mice partially regained visual function. The study also demonstrates that adult regenerated central nervous system (CNS) axons are capable of navigating to correct targets in the brain. The research was funded through the National Eye Institute (NEI), a part of NIH.
Social strains and lack of social competence are common in children recovering from malignant brain tumors. A Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey behavioral scientist and colleagues from across the U.S. and Canada, examined a peer-mediated intervention at the survivor’s school and found it was feasible to carry out in the public school setting and was acceptable to the survivor’s family.
A deadly bacteria that can be picked up by a simple sniff can travel to the brain and spinal cord in just 24 hours, a new Griffith University and Bond University study has found.
We have all bumped our heads at some point, and such incidents are usually harmless. This is thanks to fluid-filled chambers in our brain that offset minor knocks and jolts and provide padding for sensitive components of our nervous system. Cerebral fluid, however, has more than just a protective function: It removes cellular waste, supplies our nervous tissue with nutrients, and transports important messenger substances. How these messenger substances are actually being delivered to their destination in the brain, however, was unclear until now. Göttingen-based Max Planck researchers have now discovered that tiny cilia on the surface of specialized cells could lead the way. Through synchronized beating movements, they create a complex network of dynamic flows that act like conveyor belts transporting molecular "freight". The results obtained by the scientists suggest that these flows send messenger substances directly to where they are needed.
Sustaining a concussion during adolescence may be more common than previous estimates, according to researchers presenting their study at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs, CO today.
University of Warwick research indicates that eating more fruit and vegetables can substantially increase people’s later happiness levels.
Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shown for the first time that ensembles of genes within the striatum could be deeply involved in bipolar disorder.
Noninvasive electrical brain stimulation offers hope as a potential new tool to ease the symptoms of certain diseases and mental illnesses. But neuroscientists from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) are warning against self-administered brain stimulation by so-called “do-it-yourself” (DIY) users. Their “Open Letter” appears in the July 7 issue of Annals of Neurology.
Using a wearable neuromuscular device can reduce the risk of ACL injury in female soccer athletes, according to new research presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s (AOSSM) Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs, CO. The study showed functional improvements in athletes who used the devices in combination with a regular training program.
The American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the American Brain Foundation (ABF) and the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) have announced a new Clinical Research Training Fellowship in muscular dystrophy for 2017.
New research finds white matter changes in the brains of athletes six months after a concussion. The study will be presented at the Sports Concussion Conference in Chicago, July 8-10, hosted by the American Academy of Neurology, the world’s leading authority on the diagnosis and management of sports-related concussion. The conference brings together leading experts in the field to present and discuss the latest scientific advances in diagnosing and treating sports-related concussion.
The growing trend of "do-it-yourself" transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) poses hidden risks to healthy members of the public who seek to use the technique for cognitive enhancement. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital, along with several members of the (cognitive) neuroscience research community warn about such risks involved in home use of tDCS, the application of electrical current to the brain. Their Open Letter will appear in the July 7th issue of Annals of Neurology.
Philadelphia, PA, July 7, 2016 - Patients with multiple sclerosis have higher rates of depression than the general population, including people with other life-long disabling diseases. Symptoms of multiple sclerosis arise from an abnormal response of the body's immune system. Immune response has also been linked to depression, leading researchers to think it could be a shared pathological mechanism that leads to the increased rates of depressive symptoms in patients with multiple sclerosis.
A special form of RNA called extra-coding RNA controls the careful targeting to add or remove methyl groups to chromosomal DNA of the adult neuron. The ecRNAs are fundamental regulators of DNA methylation patterns in the adult brain through interaction with DNA methyltransferase enzymes and are involved in creation of memories.
MINNEAPOLIS – New research shows that a genetic risk score may detect those at higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease long before symptoms appear—even possibly in healthy young adults, according to a study published in the July 6, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
People with intermittent explosive disorder (IED), or impulsive aggression, have a weakened connection between regions of the brain associated with sensory input, language processing and social interaction.
A Louisville patient is the first to be enrolled in a national clinical trial to test a new treatment for patients who have suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. The trial, based at the University of Louisville under principal investigator Robert F. James, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at UofL, will include eight other medical centers in the United States. The ASTROH study is a phase II, randomized clinical trial to determine whether a continuous 14-day, low-dose intravenous infusion of heparin is safe and effective in patients with ruptured brain aneurysms.
Eph receptors and their partner proteins, the ephrins, are vital for intercellular communication. In the developing brain, they guide young neurons to the right partner cells by repulsion. They also play important roles in cell migration, regeneration, neurodegenerative diseases and the development of cancer. Until recently, scientists assumed that ephrin/Eph signal transmission could only occur through direct cell-cell contact. However, Rüdiger Klein and his team at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology have now shown that cells can also pack and release active ephrins and Eph receptors through extracellular vesicles. Not only does this discovery improve our understanding of this communication system, it may also pave the way for new therapeutic strategies.
Most people would get a little ‘rush’ out of the idea that they’re about to win some money. In fact, if you could look into their brain at that very moment, you’d see activity in the part of the brain that responds to rewards. But for marijuana users, that rush just isn’t as big – and gets smaller over time, a new study finds. And that may open them up to more risk of addiction.
Can an increased risk of chronic pain be transmitted from parents to children? Several factors may contribute, including genetics, effects on early development, social learning, and more according to a report in the journal PAIN®, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.
Neurons in the brain that control hunger are regulated by AMPK, a protein activated during fasting, report researchers from Tufts University. The study sheds light on the biological mechanisms that regulate feeding behavior, and serves as a potential model for the broad study of synapse formation.
A study published today in the Journal of Neuroscience led by Yongjie Yang of Tufts University School of Medicine identifies an astroglial trigger mechanism as contributing to symptoms of fragile X syndrome in mice.
Mayo Clinic Monthly News Tips for July of 2016
Low levels of the stress hormone cortisol are linked to obesity, high levels of fat in the blood and metabolic syndrome among patients with recurrent depressions or bipolar disorder. This according to a study at Umeå University in Sweden published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
New research from King's College London has studied the controversial Freudian theory that Hysteria, a disorder resulting in severe neurological symptoms such as paralysis or seizures, arises in response to psychological stress or trauma. The study, published today in Psychological Medicine, found supportive evidence that stressors around the time of onset of symptoms might be relevant for some patients.
UAB researchers have found that stored samples of urine and cerebral-spinal fluid from patients with Parkinson’s disease hold a brand-new type of biomarker — a phosphorylated protein that correlates with the presence and severity of Parkinson’s disease.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine say tiny micro-vesicle structures used by neurons and other cells to transport materials internally or dispose of them externally carry tell-tale proteins that may help to predict the likelihood of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) developing into full-blown Alzheimer’s disease.
In a study appearing in the July 5 issue of JAMA, Blayne Welk, M.D., M.Sc., of Western University, London, Canada, and colleagues conducted a study to assess the association between gadolinium exposure and parkinsonism, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system characterized by tremor and impaired muscular coordination.
Reston, VA, Julio 5, 2016 – La Food and Drug Administration (FDA) de los Estados Unidos recientemente aprobó un dispositivo para el tratamiento de la obesidad, el AspireAssist. Este dispositivo, que consiste en un tubo que es colocado dentro del estómago y conectado a una bomba, está diseñado para alentar al paciente a drenar una porción del contenido del estómago después de cada comida para ayudarlo a perder peso – esencialmente permitiendo la purgación. Algunos han llamado a esto una forma mecanizada del trastorno de la conducta alimentaria, bulimia nervosa.
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