Our brain activity is more similar to that of speakers we are listening to when we can predict what they are going to say, a team of neuroscientists has found. The study provides fresh evidence on the brain’s role in communication.
Exercise-induced body temperature increases can make symptoms worse for some patients with multiple sclerosis. Researchers at Southern Methodist explore the underlying causes of the temperature regulation problems so MS patients can better reap the benefits of exercise.
Strokes are a leading cause of death and long term disability in the US. With the failure of more than 1,000 experimental neuroprotective drugs –one scientist has stopped trying to discover the next new stroke treatment, and instead is trying to prevent strokes from happening in the first place. He thinks he may have found the answer in a little known member of the vitamin E family, which appears to remodel the brain’s circulatory system and provide protection the instant a stroke strikes.
A review by the American Academy of Neurology of available scientific research on the use of medical marijuana in brain diseases finds certain forms of medical marijuana can help treat some symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), but do not appear to be helpful in treating drug-induced (levodopa) movements in Parkinson’s disease. Not enough evidence was found to show if medical marijuana is helpful in treating motor problems in Huntington’s disease, tics in Tourette syndrome, cervical dystonia and seizures in epilepsy.
The gene mutation that causes Huntington’s disease appears in every cell in the body, yet kills only two types of brain cells. Why? UCLA scientists used a unique approach to switch the gene off in individual brain regions and zero in on those that play a role in causing the disease in mice.
A trio of studies from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrate new approaches to understanding, treating and potentially staving off Parkinson's disease (PD). Studies show that factors such as estrogen exposure and statin use have an impact on the onset of Parkinson's disease.
Stroke researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will unveil a map demonstrating geographic hotspots of increased stroke mortality across the United States, among a series of stroke studies being presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014.
A new study suggests that targeting B cells, which are a type of white blood cell in the immune system, may be associated with reduced disease activity for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The study is released today and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) scientists have used an analysis of channelrhodopsin’s molecular structure to guide a series of genetic mutations to the ion channel that grant the power to silence neurons with an unprecedented level of control.
Researchers describe a circuit in the brain of fruit flies that controls their daily, rhythmic behavior of rest and activity. They also found that the fly version of the human brain protein known as corticotrophin releasing factor is a major coordinating molecule in this circuit.
Johns Hopkins researchers report they have figured out how the aptly named protein Botch blocks the signaling protein called Notch, which helps regulate development. In a report on the discovery, to appear online April 24 in the journal Cell Reports, the scientists say they expect the work to lead to a better understanding of how a single protein, Notch, directs actions needed for the healthy development of organs as diverse as brains and kidneys.
A newly identified genetic disorder associated with degeneration of the central and peripheral nervous systems in humans, along with the genetic cause, is reported in the April 24, 2014 issue of Cell.
A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has deciphered the surprisingly versatile code by which chemical cues help trigger some of the most basic behaviors in mice.
Researchers from McGill have suggested that there may be an overreporting of attention problems in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), simply because parents and teachers are using a misplaced basis for comparison. They are testing and comparing children with FASD with children of the same physical or chronological age, rather than with children of the same mental age, which is often quite a lot younger.
Indiana U. neuroscientists are zeroing in with increasing certainty on the notion that nonhuman animals have a particular type of memory known as "source memory," long seen as exclusively human.
Mayo Clinic research studying the relationship between death and the two types of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) suggests that people who have these conditions die at a higher rate than people without MCI. The research was released today and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014.
People with more years of education may be better able to recover from a traumatic brain injury, according to a study published in the April 23, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
One of the first studies to look at a relationship between death and the two types of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or problems with memory and thinking abilities, suggests that people who have thinking problems but their memory is still intact might have a higher death rate in a period of six years compared to those who have no thinking or memory problems. The research was released today and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014. The same was suggested in the study for those who are experiencing MCI with memory decline; however the first group had the highest death rate.
Better-educated people appear to be significantly more likely to recover from a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), suggesting that a brain’s “cognitive reserve” may play a role in helping people get back to their previous lives, new Johns Hopkins research shows.
Johns Hopkins scientists report that rats exposed to high-energy particles, simulating conditions astronauts would face on a long-term deep space mission, show lapses in attention and slower reaction times, even when the radiation exposure is in extremely low dose ranges.
Two new studies may offer hope for people with migraine. The two studies released today will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014.
An inexpensive glaucoma drug, when added to a weight loss plan, can improve vision for women with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), according to a study funded by NEI. This disorder mostly affects young, overweight women. Vision loss and headaches are common symptoms.
A study demonstrated that hospitals participating in a national quality-improvement program have markedly increased the speed with which they treat stroke patients with the clot-busting drug. This speedier treatment was accompanied by reduced mortality, fewer treatment complications and a greater likelihood that patients would go home after leaving the hospital instead of being referred to a skilled nursing facility.
A recently FDA-approved device has been shown to reduce seizures in patients with medication-resistant epilepsy by as much as 50 percent. When coupled with an innovative electrode placement planning system developed by physicians at Rush, the device facilitated the complete elimination of seizures in nearly half of the implanted Rush patients enrolled in the decade-long clinical trials.
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center are making breakthroughs that could benefit people suffering from depression.
Researchers from NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have engineered a series of molecules with the potential to treat most neurodegenerative diseases that are characterized by misfolded proteins, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.
Researchers at the University of Toronto say a sleep disorder that causes people to act out their dreams is the best current predictor of brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that narrowing of the carotid artery in the neck without any symptoms may be linked to problems in learning, memory, thinking and decision-making, compared to people with similar risk factors but no narrowing in the neck artery, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014.
Eastern and Western views about consciousness will clash at the 20 year anniversary conference ‘Toward a Science of Consciousness” which kicks off April 21 at the Marriott University Park Hotel at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Web-based TV channel ‘Consciousness Central’ will show plenary lectures, interviews with key figures, commentary and analysis, clips from previous conferences, scenes from the consciousness art show, poetry slam, ‘zombie blues’, and parties.
– Researchers may have identified key genes linked to why some people have a higher tolerance for pain than others, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014.
A team of researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), Weill Cornell Medical College, and Brandeis University has devised a wholly new approach to the treatment of Alzheimer's disease involving the so-called retromer protein complex. Retromer plays a vital role in neurons, steering amyloid precursor protein (APP) away from a region of the cell where APP is cleaved, creating the potentially toxic byproduct amyloid-beta, which is thought to contribute to the development of Alzheimer's.
A group of scientists from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging has found interesting new information in a study on depression and neuropsychological function in Parkinson's disease (PD).
The cause of neuronal death in Parkinson’s disease is still unknown, but a new study proposes that neurons may be mistaken for foreign invaders and killed by the person’s own immune system, similar to the way autoimmune diseases like type I diabetes, celiac disease, and multiple sclerosis attack the body’s cells.
New research uncovers a conceptually novel approach to treating depression. Instead of dampening neuron firing found with stress-induced depression, researchers demonstrated for the first time that further activating these neurons opens a new avenue to mimic and promote natural resilience.
Older people who have apathy but not depression may have smaller brain volumes than those without apathy, according to a new study published in the April 16, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Apathy is a lack of interest or emotion.
In a paper published in the April 16 print issue of the journal Neuron, University of Iowa researchers Bernd Fritzsch and Jeremy Duncan and their colleagues at Harvard Medical School, along with investigator and corresponding author Elizabeth Engle, describe how their studies on mutated mice mimic human mutations.
Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is a rare inherited neuromuscular disorder characterized by slowly progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. In a new study published in the April 16, 2014 online issue of Neuron, a team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say novel mouse studies indicate that mutant protein levels in muscle cells are fundamentally involved in SBMA, suggesting an alternative and promising new avenue of treatment.
Scientists at the Salk Institute have created a new model of memory that explains how neurons retain select memories a few hours after an event. This new framework provides a more complete picture of how memory works, which can inform research into disorders liked Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, post-traumatic stress and learning disabilities.
Insel’s quote appeared in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) press release that described a newly published study of monkeys in the journal Science, where researchers for the first time found that in-sync large-scale brain waves affecting various regions of the brain hold memories of objects just viewed. “This study provides more evidence that large-scale electrical oscillations across distant brain regions may carry information for visual memories,” added Insel.
By tracking brain activity when an animal stops to look around its environment, neuroscientists can mark the birth of a memory.
A team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Center for Cancer Systems Biology (CCSB) at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has uncovered a new aspect of autism, revealing that proteins involved in autism interact with many more partners than previously known.
In the April 11, 2014 issue of Science, Associate Investigator C. Ron Yu, Ph.D. and colleagues at the Stowers Institute of Medical Research identify a developmental window during which olfactory neurons of newborn mice can form a proper wiring map. They show that if incorrect neuronal connections are maintained after this period, renewing cells will also be mis-wired.
When startled by predators, tiny fruit flies respond like fighter jets – employing screaming-fast banked turns to evade attacks.
Working with human neurons and fruit flies, researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified and then shut down a biological process that appears to trigger a particular form of Parkinson’s disease present in a large number of patients.
Researchers will present findings at the AANS Annual Scientific Meeting on the study that sheds light on the basis of neuropathic pain that persists after apparently successful surgery.
Older people who are starting to have memory and thinking problems, but do not yet have dementia may have a lower risk of dying from cancer than people who have no memory and thinking problems, according to a study published in the April 9, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Researchers will present findings of a study testing a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of IV acetaminophen in post-craniotomy patients at the AANS Annual Scientific Meeting.
Researchers who reviewed the outcomes of more than 470 aneurysm patients, nearly evenly divided between those whose procedure involved coiling or clipping, will present findings of their study during the AANS Annual Scientific Meeting.
A team of researchers has reviewed a nationwide, prospective, longitudinal outcomes database that measures the safety and effectiveness of everyday neurosurgical spine care and will present the findings at the AANS Annual Scientific Meeting.
A research team will present the findings at the 82nd AANS Annual Scientific Meeting, reporting significant discrepancies between discharge codes and surgeons’ own diagnoses.
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