All articles tagged: Neuroscience

Chronic pain impacts an estimated 20% of the world population and persists as a frustrating symptom for innumerable health issues, from sickle-cell disease to arthritis.

The Emory Goizueta Brain Health Institute (GBHI) has prioritized involving African American volunteers in its research, working to create more inclusive tools for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. Today, about half of the Institute's new volunteers are African American.

The brain and spinal cord are the central pillars of the human central nervous system (CNS), orchestrating everything from movement to sensation. Despite significant advances in neuroscience, our understanding of how these two crucial components of the CNS interact remains limited.

In some places around the globe, the lights never go off. Streetlights, roadway lighting, and illuminated signs can deter crime, make roads safer, and enhance landscaping. Undisrupted light, however, comes with ecological, behavioral, and health consequences.

Dopamine, a neurotransmitter in our brains, not only regulates our emotions but also serves as a biomarker for the screening of certain cancers and other neurological conditions.

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a noninvasive technique that could dramatically improve the way doctors monitor intracranial hypertension, a condition where increased pressure in the brain can lead to severe outcomes like strokes and hemorrhages.

A new study published in Nature Communications examines how the brain initiates spontaneous actions. In addition to demonstrating how spontaneous action emerges without environmental input, this research has implications for the origins of slow ramping of neural activity before movement onset—a commonly-observed but poorly understood phenomenon.

For decades, one of the most fundamental and vexing questions in neuroscience has been: What is the physical basis of consciousness in the brain? Most researchers favor classical models, based on classical physics, while a minority have argued that consciousness must be quantum in nature, and that its brain basis is a collective quantum vibration of "microtubule" proteins inside neurons.

A research group led by Prof. Zhu Yingjie from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed the essential role of lateral septum (LS) neurons in mediating anorectic and weight-lowering effects of the anti-obesity drug, liraglutide, in mice. The study was published in Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Robotic 'coaches' aiding upper limb rehabilitation for stroke and brain injury survivors have been successfully trialed in Vienna, Austria. This international pilot study was led by researchers from Heriot-Watt University's National Robotarium.

While the mental health crisis has touched the lives of young people across a broad age spectrum, new Northwestern University research has found that the presence of difficult social environments and the absence of positive social environments predicted greater increases in depressive symptoms in youth, aged 9–11, over a two-year period.

Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute researchers have uncovered a previously unknown pattern of intestinal contractions in developing mouse embryos. The new findings shed light on the earliest development of the nervous system that controls our digestive tract and could have implications for understanding and treating gastrointestinal (GI) disorders in premature infants.

A new study by the University of Turku and Turku University Hospital in Finland investigated the origin of ataxia in the brain of patients with stroke. A significant number of the stroke lesions in the patients were located outside the cerebellum. The study is published in the journal Neurology.

Adolescent Meniere disease (MD) has a higher pure-tone average threshold, lower speech discrimination score, and lower otoacoustic emission pass rates than recurrent vertigo of childhood (RVC), according to a study published in the August issue of Laryngoscope: Investigative Otolaryngology.

Microglia are the brain's immune cells known to play a vital role in maintaining neural function and responding to potential threats. However, when the brain is subjected to hyperosmotic stress—a condition characterized by elevated extracellular sodium levels, the microglial response can become exaggerated, leading to potentially harmful effects. Understanding the mechanisms behind this heightened

A recent study on the effects of commonly used anesthetic and sedative drugs on cerebrospinal fluid flow and volume has uncovered significant findings regarding their impact on the brain's vital glymphatic system. These findings may affect neuroanesthesia practices.

Severe injuries to the spinal cord damage nerve cells, disrupt communication with the brain and rest of the body, and lead to lasting disabilities for millions of people worldwide. The injury itself accounts for only a fraction of the overall damage inflicted on the spinal cord, tissue that runs from the brain stem to the lower back. Most of the damage is due to subsequent degenerative processes a

In low and middle-income countries (LMICs), severely ill children often present neurological manifestations prior to death, which are linked to a variety of diseases that can be treated. Lumbar punctures, which can help to identify the causes of these neurological symptoms and prevent deaths, are seldom used. These are the main conclusions of a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Healt

Neurostimulators, also known as brain pacemakers, send electrical impulses to specific areas of the brain via special electrodes. It is estimated that some 200,000 people worldwide are now benefiting from this technology, including those who suffer from Parkinson's disease or from pathological muscle spasms.

Like a pacemaker for the heart, nerve stimulation devices are implanted to send pulses of electricity to evoke activity in nerves throughout the body. These electrical stimulation devices have been used to treat and control many disorders, including heart disease, epilepsy, depression, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Sports-related concussions (SRC) may not be associated with long-term cognitive risks for non-professional athletes, a study led by a UNSW medical researcher suggests. In fact, study participants who had experienced an SRC had better cognitive performance in some areas than those who had never suffered a concussion, pointing to potential protective effects of sports participation.

Aging is a complex biological process that also takes place in the brain. Researchers have discovered that the gene activity changes in different cell types in the brain. A certain type of neuron is particularly affected. In the long term, the findings could provide starting points for slowing down the aging process and delaying neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's-type dementia.

Researchers at Kessler Foundation have published a new clinical protocol examining the combination of aerobic exercise and cognitive rehabilitation to improve learning and memory in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) who have mobility disability.

Researchers from Bonn and Japan have clarified how neighboring synapses coordinate their response to plasticity signals: Nerve cells in the brain receive thousands of synaptic signals via their "antenna," the so-called dendritic branch. Permanent changes in synaptic strength correlate with changes in the size of dendritic spines. However, it was previously unclear how the neurons implement these c

Internal states that animals experience while they are thirsty, hungry, sleepy or aggressive have been found to be linked with the combined activity of various neuromodulators and neurotransmitters. These chemical messengers can drastically change the excitability and functional connectivity of neurons, which in turn plays a role in shaping the animals' behavior.

A study by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children's Hospital, reveals that the protein Tau—a key player implicated in several neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer's disease—also plays a positive role in the brain. Tau mitigates neuronal damage caused by excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) o

Over the course of their lives, animals form associations between sensory stimuli and predicted threats or rewards. These associations can, in turn, shape the behaviors of animals, prompting them to engage in avoidant behaviors (e.g., avoiding specific stimuli and situations) or conversely, to engage with their surroundings in various ways.

A recent case report published in Cyborg Bionic Systems details the diagnosis of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) using multimodality diagnostic approaches, highlighting significant advancements in medical diagnostics and patient care. The study conducted by a team of researchers from Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China, presents a comprehensive case study of

A deeper understanding of the communication inside the body when someone is going through opioid withdrawal has led to a new clinical trial at the University of Calgary.

In a study published in Science, researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe the neural processes behind how morphine relieves pain. This is valuable knowledge because the drug has such serious side effects.

An international team of neuroscientists and anthropologists has found that the parts of the brain that grew the most during human evolution are the parts that are now the most susceptible to aging.

When analyzing inflammatory markers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid, researchers at Karolinska Institutet found signs of inflammation in tissue from patients with cluster headache, specifically in the samples from the nervous system. The study was recently published in The Journal of Headache and Pain.

Researchers have discovered how two brain areas, the neocortex and the thalamus, work together to detect discrepancies between what animals expect from their environment and actual events. These prediction errors are implemented by selective boosting of unexpected sensory information. These findings enhance our understanding of predictive processing in the brain and could offer insights into how b

A research team at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences has developed a new implant that conveys electrical signals and may have the potential to encourage nerve cell (neuron) repair after spinal cord injury.

Deep in the brain, sheets of tissue known as the choroid plexus produce cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and act as a protective barrier between the brain and CSF. But the lab of Maria Lehtinen, Ph.D., at Boston Children's Hospital has shown that the little-known choroid plexus does much more. For example, it secretes factors that promote the health of the brain and CSF and influence the brain as it deve

Published in the Journal of Neural Engineering, a research team led by the University of Minnesota Medical School has evaluated the reliability of human experts in comparison to an automated algorithm in assessing the quality of intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) data. This research hopes to pave the way for more accurate and efficient seizure detection and localization, ultimately improvi

Neurosurgery for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy requires locating the precise brain areas that are generating the seizures. Typically, patients undergo seven to 10 days of invasive intracranial EEG monitoring, with electrodes surgically implanted inside the brain through one or more skull openings to capture seizure activity as it happens.

What happens in the brain when one musical phrase ends and another begins? The answer lies in musical boundaries—the invisible lines shaping our listening experience.

For older adults with type 2 diabetes, the risk for dementia seems similar with sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and the glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) dulaglutide, according to a study published online Aug. 27 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Visual object memory refers to our brain's ability to store, recognize, and recall visual information about objects we perceive. This capability is essential for interacting with the world, influencing learning, problem-solving, navigation, and social interactions. Without effective visual object memory, these activities would be nearly impossible. Consequently, many neuroscientists have been maki

Certain regions of the brain show changes during the early stages after quitting drinking that may contribute to increased anxiety and relapse rates in people attempting recovery from alcohol use disorder, according to a study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research.

As the global population ages, understanding the variability in cognitive aging becomes increasingly important. Why do some individuals remain cognitively sharp while others experience significant decline?

The pace at which the brain ages can vary significantly among individuals, leading to a gap between the estimated biological age of the brain and the chronological age (the actual number of years a person has lived).

An international research group led by MedUni Vienna and IMBA—Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Vienna, has made significant progress in understanding the mechanisms that influence the sensation of pain after surgery.

In a recent study published in Nature, researchers from Stanford University and Yale University have explored the interplay between short-term and long-term memory in animals.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), neuroscientists have identified several regions of the brain that are responsible for processing language.

The care of people seriously harmed by spinal cord injury can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a new analysis suggests that ability to pay influences how long a patient remains on life support.

Sensors that can be easily and safely introduced in the brain could have important medical applications and could also contribute to the development of brain-interfacing devices. While significant progress has been made toward the development of these sensors, most existing devices can only be deployed via invasive surgical procedures that can have numerous complications.

A study published in the journal Protein & Cell details the connection between SCARB2 deficiency and gastrointestinal dysfunction, revealing that the loss of SCARB2 leads to alterations in bile acid metabolism and dysbiosis in the gut microbiome. This disruption affects the signaling pathway involving FXR, which normally regulates bile acid synthesis and intestinal lipid absorption.

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) are far less likely than those without the condition to have the molecular hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

A team of neuroscientists, brain specialists and psychiatrists, led by a group at Cambridge University, in the U.K, has found evidence suggesting that minor brain injuries that occur early in life, may have health impacts later on.

Northwestern Medicine investigators have uncovered a new way in which neurons in the brain "forget" associations that help guide behavior and habits, according to a study published in Cell Reports.

Paradoxically, previous research has shown that despite its inherent health risks, cigarette smoking is linked with a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease (PD). Until now, however, it was not clear how.

Animal reproduction is supported by the integration of various external and internal processes. These processes include a combination of perceived sensory cues, behaviors and hormone secretion.

Scientists at Southwest Research Institute have developed a new screening method to identify drug formulations that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB), to facilitate treatment of brain diseases and conditions.

Daily, we encounter new people, situations, and things that require our attention. Fortunately, there is an area in the brain that contributes to consciousness and awareness. This area is called the "Claustrum complex" and is located deep within the brain in each hemisphere.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) involve mild to severe impairment of social, behavioral and communication abilities. These disorders can significantly impact performance at school, in employment and in other areas of life. However, researchers lack knowledge about how these disorders emerge at early stages of development.

An article published in the journal Current Biology describes experiments that mapped a brain circuit responsible for instantly detecting threats and forming memories of fear.

Thyroid hormone plays a key role in regulating a range of physiologic functions, including metabolism, temperature, heart rate, and growth. It accomplishes this impressive array of activities by interacting with almost every organ system in the body. Yet despite a long history of research on how thyroid hormone influences different organs, its effects on arguably the most crucial organ—the brain—h

The small molecule dopamine analog (DA) CA140, which binds to Amyloid-β (Aβ), presents new possibilities for the treatment of degenerative brain diseases.

Stroke and spinal cord injuries can severely impair motor functions, and understanding how to promote recovery is a critical challenge. While damaged neurons in the brain and spinal cord have limited ability to regenerate, the brain can form or strengthen alternative neural pathways involving uninjured parts of the brain, enabling functional recovery. Such reorganization of pathways in the brain i

One hundred years after the human brain's electrical activity was first recorded, experts are celebrating the legacy of its discovery and sharing their predictions and priorities for its future.

Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is a rare X-linked neuromuscular disorder that results from an abnormal expansion of gene sequences in the androgen receptor gene. SBMA has an adult onset and is a slowly progressive disease that usually presents with muscle weakness in the limbs, predominantly in the proximal regions.

Contrary to previous research, a new study of female participants finds no link between migraine and the risk of developing Parkinson's disease. The study is published in the August 21, 2024 online issue of Neurology.

An enzyme called PGK1 has an unexpectedly critical role in the production of chemical energy in brain cells, according to a preclinical study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The investigators found that boosting its activity may help the brain resist the energy deficits that can lead to Parkinson's disease.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine have discovered the neurons responsible for "item memory," deepening our understanding of how the brain stores and retrieves the details of "what" happened and offering a new target for treating Alzheimer's disease.

Bonn researchers have clarified the influence of treatment with tetrahydrocannabinol on the metabolic switch mTOR: A low-dose long-term administration of cannabis can not only reverse aging processes in the brain, but also has an anti-aging effect.

Kessler Foundation researchers have published a new clinical study investigating the effects of robotic postural stand training combined with spinal cord epidural stimulation (Stand-scES) on trunk control in individuals with high-level spinal cord injury (SCI).

Ischemic stroke is the second leading cause of death globally and the primary cause of death in China. Over the past two decades, Prof. Hongbin Han's team has been committed to advancing diagnosis and treatment of major brain disorders by investigating the brain extracellular space (ECS). Brain ECS occupies 15%–20% of the total brain volume, significantly more than the 3%–5% occupied by cerebral b

There is a legend that many hundreds of years ago—long before printing presses, computers, or telephones existed—a special method was used to remember significant events, such as land transfers, crucial agreements, or weddings. According to the legend, a child was chosen to witness the event and immediately thrown into a river. This extreme combination of events was believed to ensure that the chi

In a study recently published in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, researchers from Zhejiang University have unveiled significant findings that could enhance brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies, marking a crucial step towards more intuitive neuroprosthetic control and advanced rehabilitation therapies.

A team of researchers led by the University of California, Irvine has discovered that an antioxidant found in rosemary extract can reduce volitional intakes of cocaine by moderating the brain's reward response, offering a new therapeutic target for treating addiction.

In order to treat an underserved population of patients with a rare condition whose muscles gradually become weaker until they can no longer walk, a team of researchers across Japan have completed a clinical study to confirm the safety of long-term administration of a therapeutic drug.

Consciousness is a subjective, personal thing, so scientists who study it usually rely on people to tell them what they are conscious of. The problem is that infants are presumably conscious but, without speech, they can't let us know. Animals like dogs, cats, octopuses and maybe insects might also be conscious, but they can't tell us that either.

Through a large-scale brain imaging study, an international research team has identified five patterns of age-related degeneration in older people experiencing mental decline. In their study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, the team conducted the multi-year study of thousands of MRI scans using machine learning applications to find patterns in brain degeneration as people age.

Lip-read words can be decoded from the brain's auditory regions similarly to heard speech, according to a new University of Michigan report that looked at how vision supports verbal perception.

Microglia are the immune system's front-line enforcers in the brain. They are cells that patrol the brain and destroy anything harmful that they encounter, from invading bacteria to cellular debris. They also remove plaques and prune dysfunctional synapses between neurons.

In humans, the process of learning is driven by different groups of cells in the brain firing together. For instance, when the neurons associated with the process of recognizing a dog begin to fire in a coordinated manner in response to the cells that encode the features of a dog—four legs, fur, a tail, etc.—a young child will eventually be able to identify dogs going forward. But brain wiring beg

A new study now published in Science reveals that the memory for a specific experience is stored in multiple parallel "copies." These are preserved for varying durations, modified to certain degrees, and sometimes deleted over time, report researchers at the University of Basel.

Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS) in Japan have discovered a region of the brain that encodes where an animal is planning to be in the near future. Linked to internal maps of spatial locations and past movements, activity in the newly discovered grid cells accurately predicts future locations as an animal travels around its environment.

While everyone knows that a good night's sleep restores energy, a new Cornell University study finds it resets another vital function: memory.

The somatosensory cortex is a region of the mammalian brain known to play a crucial role in the processing of sensory information, including tactile sensations, temperature and pain. While this brain region has been the focus of numerous neuroscience studies, its unique contributions to perception-related decision-making remain poorly understood.

Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other neurological disorders can be seen as "dirty brain" diseases, where the brain struggles to clear out harmful waste. Aging is a key risk factor because, as we grow older, our brain's ability to remove toxic buildup slows down. However, new research in mice demonstrates that it's possible to reverse age-related effects and restore the brain's waste-clearing proces

New research co-led by experts at Mass General Brigham found that brain scans can detect consciousness in some patients with brain injury who are unresponsive.

A new brain-computer interface (BCI) developed at UC Davis Health translates brain signals into speech with up to 97% accuracy—the most accurate system of its kind.

A research team—co-led by Penn Nursing—has made a significant breakthrough in understanding the complex neural circuitry underlying reward and addiction by identifying 34 distinct subtypes of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key brain region involved in pleasure and motivation. The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, offer insights into the diversity

In late 2023, the first drug with potential to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease was approved by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration. Alzheimer's is one of many debilitating neurological disorders that together affect one-eighth of the world's population, and while the new drug is a step in the right direction, there is still a long journey ahead to fully understanding it, and other suc

Exercising is healthy, but not always appealing. Research led by Guadalupe Sabio from the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) may have found a "switch" that activates the desire to get moving, as it shows that during exercise the muscle activates proteins which encourage further activity. The paper is published in Science Advances.

A pilot study using a new screening tool shows promise for assessing neurobehavioral difficulties in children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and improving quality of life for patients and their families. Results appear in the Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases.

In the fight against Alzheimer's, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a promising, preventative therapeutic approach. They specifically targeted the amyloid beta biomolecule, which triggers the hyperactivity of nerve cells typical of the brain disease in its early stages.

Scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School and the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered a novel pathway to wake up dormant neural stem cells, offering potential new therapies for neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, learning disabilities, and cerebral palsy.

The coordinated activity of brain cells, like birds flying in formation, helps us behave intelligently in new situations, according to a study led by Cedars-Sinai investigators. The work, published in Nature, is the first to illuminate the neurological processes known as abstraction and inference in the human brain.

A new research perspective titled Lipid accumulation drives cellular senescence in dopaminergic neurons has been published in Aging.

A new type of degenerative brain disease, limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE), was recognized just a decade or so ago, and remains relatively unknown.

Young football players who sustained a head-to-ground concussion practicing or playing games on natural grass experienced more symptoms—and significantly higher severity—than those who suffered concussions on artificial turf, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center found.

Professor Hiroki R. Ueda , Dr. Kazuhiro Kon and their colleagues at Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, have published a study in Nature Communications on the importance of proper regulation of the activity of parvalbumin (PV)-expressing neurons, the major inhibitory neurons in the cerebral cortex, in the long, deep sleep (rebound sleep) that occurs after prolonged wakefulness.

A research team led by the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge have created new 'origami-inspired' brain electrodes that can fold up to a fraction of their full size. This advance could significantly reduce the amount of surgery needed to treat conditions such as epilepsy, or to install brain-computer interfaces.

Researchers at Uppsala University Hospital and Uppsala University have demonstrated that a simple blood test that reflects brain health can predict which people are most at risk of suffering a stroke. The discovery could contribute to more individualized treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation. The study has been published in the journal Circulation.

New findings out of Emory University are challenging existing theories about the origins of Alzheimer's, the leading cause of dementia in the elderly worldwide. A team led by researchers at the Goizueta Brain Health Institute has found strong evidence supporting a new understanding of the mechanism behind Alzheimer's disease.

Opioids, like the commonly prescribed pain reliever oxycodone, are known for being highly addictive. In 2022, nearly 85,000 people died from an opioid overdose in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. Yet opioids are still being prescribed at alarming rates, particularly in Southern states, because of the lack of effective alternatives.

In 2020, approximately 48 million licensed drivers were older than 65 years. Within this age group, car crashes led to 7,480 deaths and 149,881 non-fatal injuries. Moreover, 17% of people older than 65 years (approximately 8.2 million) experience mild cognitive impairment and are at increased risk for crashes. Accurate assessment of driving skills in these individuals cannot be done in a doctor's

Our brain interprets visual information by combining what we see with what we already know. A study published in the journal Neuron, by researchers at the Champalimaud Foundation, reveals a mechanism for learning and storing this existing knowledge about the world.

A team from The College of Engineering at Seoul National University has developed a biodegradable electronic tent technology that enables brain disease diagnosis using a needle.

For decades, scientists have focused on how the brain processes information in a hierarchical manner, with different brain areas specialized for different tasks. However, how these areas communicate and integrate information to form a coherent whole has remained a mystery.

A study led by the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology shows how feeding mice a drug called GSM-15606 provides protection against air pollution-related increases in proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease.

Everyone has moments of forgetfulness from time to time, especially as we get older. But older adults don't just have difficulty remembering new information. They also have a harder time modifying those memories when new details emerge. Yet, little is known about the mechanisms behind memory updating and how those mechanisms go awry with age.

Most people wouldn't think twice after seeing sugar spilled on a counter. But for someone with a history of cocaine use, this visual cue could trigger powerful associations with their past drug use and a compulsive urge to seek the drug.

Memory loss, confusion, speech problems—Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, affecting about 35 million people worldwide, and the number is growing.

Increasing serotonin can change how people learn from negative information, as well as improving how they respond to it, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications.

Sleep is among the most fascinating phenomena observed in both humans and animals, known to be characterized by different cycles and types of brain activity. Past neuroscience studies have found that during sleep, groups of neurons in the hippocampus replay past experiences and forecast potential future experiences.

A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is caused by a contusion to the head that may result in injury to the brain. This type of injury combined with the inherited genetic risk factors can result in the accelerated development of Alzheimer's disease and related dementia, or ADRD.

Houston Methodist researchers have discovered a more accurate and timely way to deliver life-saving drug therapies to the brain, laying the groundwork for more effective treatment of brain tumors and other neurological diseases.

Early-stage trials in Alzheimer's disease patients and studies in mouse models of the disease have suggested positive impacts on pathology and symptoms from exposure to light and sound presented at the gamma band frequency of 40 Hz.

People eat either because they are hungry or for pleasure, even in the absence of hunger. While hunger-driven eating is fundamental for survival, pleasure-driven feeding may accelerate the onset of obesity and associated metabolic disorders.

The Olympic and Paralympic Games represent the pinnacle of athletic achievement, where the world's sporting elite showcase their prowess. Modern athletes benefit from top-notch coaching, optimized nutrition and recovery strategies. Yet, some are turning to more unique methods for the competitive edge—training the brain.

In a study, published in the journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a molecule identified and synthesized by UCLA Health researchers was shown to restore cognitive functions in mice with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease by effectively jump-starting the brain's memory circuitry.

Pain management is an important component of caring for adults with cerebral palsy. However, it's the least understood comorbidity in the adult cerebral palsy population.

A significant breakthrough in the understanding of sleep mechanism opens new promise for treating sleep disorders and associated neuropsychiatric conditions: Scientists have pinpointed the melatonin receptor MT1 as a crucial regulator of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep.

An upright neuroimaging device developed by West Virginia University neuroscientists, physicists and engineers that allows patients to move around while undergoing a brain scan could help set priorities for the evolution of imaging tools.

An international team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of Bologna has investigated the neural mechanisms underlying imitative behavior: a phenomenon that facilitates interaction and social cohesion and allows people to engage spontaneously with others.

You have probably heard of dopamine. The substance also known as the "feel-good hormone."

Researchers at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and UNSW Science have conducted a study examining the impact of alcohol on the electrical conductivity of the brain, highlighting its sedative effects.

Skin-to-skin cuddling with a parent has lasting cognitive benefits for premature babies, according to a new Stanford Medicine study. Preemies who received more skin-to-skin contact, also known as kangaroo care, while hospitalized as newborns were less likely to be developmentally delayed at 1 year of age, the study found.

A new way to combat Alzheimer's disease has been discovered by Takaomi Saido and his team at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS) in Japan. Using a mouse model, the researchers found that treatment with dopamine could alleviate physical symptoms in the brain as well as improve memory.

Grab a drink with friends at happy hour and you're likely to feel chatty, friendly and upbeat. But grab a drink alone and you may experience feelings of depression. Researchers think they now know why this happens.

Migraines are throbbing headaches often accompanied by nausea and increased sensitivity to light, sound and touch. Nearly 30 million Americans suffer from migraines, and almost 1 in 4 of them have at least four severe attacks each month. Three times as many women suffer from migraine headaches as men, and this disparity is even more pronounced during reproductive years.

Racism steals time from people's lives—possibly because of the space it occupies in the mind. In a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, our team showed that the toll of racism on the brain was linked to advanced aging, observed on a cellular level.

The mechanisms underlying intellectual disabilities or autism remain largely unknown. Researchers in the labs of Prof. Pierre Vanderhaeghen and Prof. Vincent Bonin at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research and NERF have discovered that mutations in a gene called SYNGAP1 disrupt the prolonged development of human neurons, which is thought to be essential for normal cognitive function

Women with epilepsy are four times more likely to die during pregnancy and their babies are 50% more likely to suffer illness or death. These are the findings of a major new study led by Karolinska Institutet and published in JAMA Neurology. The researchers believe that better care of women before, during and after pregnancy can reduce the risks.

Should I go and exercise, or would I rather go to the café and enjoy a delectable strawberry milkshake? Until now, what exactly happens in our brain when we make this decision has been a mystery to science, but researchers at ETH Zurich have found the solution. They have deciphered which brain chemical and which nerve cells mediate this decision: the messenger substance orexin and the neurons that

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a rapid, noninvasive tool to track the neurons and biomolecules activated in the brain by psychedelic drugs. The protein-based tool, which is called Ca2+-activated Split-TurboID, or CaST, is described in research published in Nature Methods.

Children with medical complexity (CMC) often have neurodevelopmental and mental health diagnoses, which are associated with increased health care utilization, according to a study published online Aug 5 in Pediatrics.

For patients with Meniere disease (MD), vestibular neurectomy is effective, resolving vertigo episodes and resulting in hydrops regression, according to a study published online July 30 in Acta Neurologica Belgica.

A multi-disciplinary team has found that depriving lab mice of sleep can lead to a reduction in synapse diversity in the brain. In their study, published on the open-access site Current Biology, the group compared the brains of mice that were allowed normal amounts of sleep with others who were kept awake for an extra six hours.

DGIST Department of Brain Sciences Professor Lee Kwang and his team have discovered a new correlation between neural signaling in the brain and dopamine signaling in the striatum. The human brain requires fast neural signal processing in a short period of less than a second.

The variability in recovery performance among individuals who have suffered a stroke has puzzled clinicians. A research group from University of Tsukuba has discovered that meta-learning ability enhances motor skill recovery in these patients.

When two people interact, their brain activity becomes synchronized, but it was unclear until now to what extent this "brain-to-brain coupling" is due to linguistic information or other factors, such as body language or tone of voice.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a way to capture the effects of aging in the development of Alzheimer's disease. They devised a method to study aged neurons in the lab without a brain biopsy, an advancement that could contribute to a better understanding of the disease and new treatment strategies.

RIKEN neuroscientists have gained new insights into how the hippocampus generates and sustains oscillations, which will be helpful for informing models on how the brain region works.

Strokes lead to irreversible damage to the brain and are one of the most common causes of dependency or death. As the cellular reactions to a cerebral infarction are not yet fully understood, there are no current techniques to promote the regeneration of damaged nerve tissue in the brain.

Peter Mac researchers have discovered new insights into neural stem cell development in fruit flies that may provide answers on how brain tumors grow in humans.

Having high blood pressure, specifically high diastolic blood pressure, was linked to a slightly higher odds of ever having migraine in female participants, according to a new study published in the July 31, 2024, online issue of Neurology. Diastolic pressure is when the heart is resting between beats. However, the study did not find an increased risk between other cardiovascular risk factors and

A study led by Georgetown University neuroscientists reveals that the part of the brain that receives and processes visual information in sighted people develops a unique connectivity pattern in people born blind. They say this pattern in the primary visual cortex is unique to each person—akin to a fingerprint.

with a close family member living with multiple sclerosis Stephen J. Crocker, Ph.D., associate professor of neuroscience and immunology at UConn School of Medicine, takes his research personally.

Findings from a novel study in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, suggest that using a specialized diffusion weighted MRI scan to monitor the spatial pattern of individual cortical microstructural change in the brain may be a promising approach to characterize individuals who may be vulnerable to developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) prior to significant cognitive declin

In a study published in JAMA Neurology co-authored by Vibhor Krishna, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery at the UNC School of Medicine, researchers found that a staged bilateral focused ultrasound treatment for essential tremor is safe and effective. Essential tremor, a neurological condition that causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking, can be so profound that typical life tasks become diffi

By studying the brains of macaque monkeys during turn-taking exercises, researchers may be one step closer to understanding how individual neurons in the frontal cortex work together to analyze spatial locations of other individuals in social contexts.

The inflammatory activity in the body caused by rheumatoid arthritis is linked to specific cognitive impairments, finds a small comparative study, published in the open access journal RMD Open.

To make it to the Olympics, elite athletes spend countless hours preparing not only their bodies—but their brains, as well.

People with Parkinson's disease are receiving a new treatment in a clinical trial started after University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists demonstrated the safety and feasibility of the therapeutic delivery method in a study of non-human primates.

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system, have developed a model that rapidly converts stem cells to brain cells with protein structures characteristic of Parkinson's disease (PD), enabling the study of the condition's unique and highly variable disease pathology in a petri dish.

A new study led by a Keele University research team has found that deaf toddlers fitted with cochlear implants interact with their parents just as well as their hearing peers.

Rats with alcohol exposure in adolescence are less able as adults to adapt their behavior in changing circumstances, according to a study that highlights the possible brain mechanisms involved. The findings may help us better understand ways that alcohol use during the teen years can lead to long-lasting cognitive and behavioral impairments.

A research team led by UC San Diego has, for the first time, shown that a wearable, non-invasive device can measure activity in human cervical nerves in clinical settings.

The brain contains many cell types, from the prominent neurons to the lesser-known microglia. The latter are integral to the brain's immune system and play a crucial role as the brain's cleanup crew. A recent study conducted by researchers from the University Hospital Bonn and the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) at the University of Luxembourg, in collaboration with colleagues fr

Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered that mitochondria are not necessary for the proliferation of specialized immune cells in the central nervous system, but do help those cells respond to demyelinating injuries, according to a study published in Nature Metabolism.

Researchers from Kyushu University have identified a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of advanced multiple sclerosis (MS), a potentially disabling condition associated with the central nervous system.

On a scale of one to ten, how much pain do you feel?

Parkinson's disease (PD), as well as many other neurodegenerative disorders, has shown a link between the abnormal aggregation of a protein called α-synuclein (aSyn) and neuronal death. These aggregates, known as Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites depending on their subcellular localization, can spread by continuously causing normal endogenous aSyn to misfold.

Machine learning models can reliably inform clinicians about the disability progression of multiple sclerosis, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Digital Health by Edward De Brouwer of KU Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues.

Chaos may be behind the brain's ability to compute probabilities, according to a new analysis by two neuroscientists at RIKEN. The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A researcher at AIST, in collaboration with the Japan Medical Startup Incubation Program (JMPR) and N.B. Medical Corporation, has developed a novel anti-thrombogenic coating for stents used in the treatment of intracranial aneurysms. The details of this technology were published in Scientific Reports on July 10, 2024.

A team from King's College London and collaborators have pinpointed how different areas of the neuron age differently, with a potential knock-on effect on healthy cell function and the development of neurodegenerative conditions. The paper is published in the journal Aging Cell.

In humans and other animals, signals from a central circadian clock in the brain generate the seasonal and daily rhythms of life. They help the body to prepare for expected changes in the environment and also optimize when to sleep, eat and do other daily activities.

Mark Petersen, MD, has seen firsthand the devastating effects of brain bleeds in premature babies. It's an exceedingly common condition that affects up to 20% of infants born before 28 weeks of gestation, bringing an increased risk for developmental delays and autism.

An interdisciplinary team of scientists has found changes in the strength of neural pathways in an area of the brain involved in reward processing and movement coordination when someone has Parkinson's disease.

In a study published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, David L. Perez, MD, MMSc, Founding Director of the Functional Neurological Disorder Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and others, investigated whether structural brain MRI has the potential to be a clinically useful tool for diagnosing

Using a socially assistive robot (SAR) in post-stroke rehabilitation improves outcomes, according to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers. They conducted the first long-term study of robot use in physical therapy. The study opens a totally new method for rehabilitation exercises.

An MIT study published in Nature provides new evidence for how specific cells and circuits become vulnerable in Alzheimer's disease, and hones in on other factors that may help some people show resilience to cognitive decline, even amid clear signs of disease pathology.

The placebo effect is very real. This we've known for decades, as seen in real-life observations and the best double-blinded randomized clinical trials researchers have devised for many diseases and conditions, especially pain. And yet, how and why the placebo effect occurs has remained a mystery. Now, neuroscientists have discovered a key piece of the placebo effect puzzle.

New research, led by the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton, shows that inflammation outside the brain, such as that caused by common infections such as colds and urine infections, is linked to the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Nearly 40 million adults in the U.S. have sleep apnea, and more than 30 million of them use a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine while sleeping. However, the machines tend to be expensive, clunky and uncomfortable—resulting in many users giving up on using them.

A Johns Hopkins University research team has developed an algorithm to non-invasively measure intracranial pressure (ICP) using vital sign data routinely checked in the ICU.

There is a potential connection between a diagnosis of certain gastrointestinal (GI) syndromes and the formation and rupture of intracranial (brain) aneurysms, according to research presented today at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery's (SNIS) 21st Annual Meeting.

Changing standard procedures for evaluating and treating patients with suspected stroke has led to improved access to lifesaving stroke surgery across the state of Delaware and should inform triage and treatment nationwide, according to research released today at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery's (SNIS) 21st Annual Meeting.

Research presented at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery's (SNIS) 21st Annual Meeting highlights the role of socioeconomic variables and their role in successful recovery after stroke surgery, specifically the impact of living in a coal-mining county.

Non-English-speaking patients are less likely to arrive by ambulance when experiencing stroke symptoms and less likely to receive thrombectomy, according to research released today at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery's (SNIS) 21st Annual Meeting.

The very thought of being 'locked in' following a brain injury or even aware during general anesthesia induces fear because it awakens the classic terror trope of being buried alive. But what does it mean to be awake, but entirely unable to respond, and what can this tell us about consciousness itself?

Recent advances in the study of proteomes (i.e., the entire range of proteins expressed by human cells and tissues) have opened new opportunities for identifying the biological markers of specific diseases or mental disorders. This could in turn inform the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these medical conditions.

New research has found that people who experience partial vision loss in early childhood find it more difficult to accurately judge the location of a sound than those who lose sight later in life.

The ability to study human neurological systems depends on having viable, accurate models of brain function. St. Jude researchers have now created a model for such research by combining thalamic cells and cortical cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells.

Ever hear the old adage that time flies when you're having fun? A new study by a team of UNLV researchers suggests that there's a lot of truth to the trope.

A team of epilepsy specialists at UC San Francisco has developed a method to predict 24-hour seizure risk. The discovery, which may be scalable to large numbers of patients, could help to improve the quality of life for the 2.9 million Americans living with the daily uncertainties of epilepsy.

Obesity is known to cause lower testosterone in men, impacting muscle mass and cognition, as well as reproductive function by diminishing sperm numbers and lowering libido. Just how obesity produces these changes, in addition to causing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, is not fully understood.

Shorter sleep and later bedtimes are linked to potentially harmful functional changes to parts of the brain important for coping with stress and controlling negative emotions, our recently published research found. And children in families with low economic resources are particularly at risk.

Past neuroscience studies found that when the central nervous system (CNS) is damaged, for instance following a stroke or spinal cord injuries, the lesions become surrounded by borders of newly proliferated astrocytes.

Neuroscientists from RIKEN have discovered the effects that different areas in the prefrontal cortex of macaque monkeys have on the variability in the time it takes them to perform tasks involving quick decisions. This information could help to tailor rehabilitation for people with injuries to their prefrontal cortex.

A team of scientists led by Prof. Dr. Ilka Diester, Professor of Optophysiology and spokesperson of the BrainLinks-BrainTools research center at the University of Freiburg, has developed a formal description of internal world models and published it in the journal Neuron.

Star-shaped glial cells, so-called astrocytes, are more than just a supporting cell of the brain. They are actively involved in learning processes and interact with nerve cells. But what exactly is it that astrocytes do?

Insurance-dependent racial and ethnic disparities and regional variations are seen in post-acute service utilization after stroke, according to a study published online July 17 in Neurology: Clinical Practice.

Humans see the world through the five senses, but how and when the ability to integrate across the senses arises is debated. Research shows that humans combine sensory information together, particularly when one sense is not able to produce a sufficient response alone. Studies also show that infants may use multisensory cues to perceive their environments more efficiently.

Traveling to and from a clinic or a laboratory for treatment can be difficult and expensive for older Americans. To address this, scientists developed and tested a new training and supervision program for older adults so they can receive Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES), a promising intervention for various clinical conditions, in their homes.

Nearly 10 million people worldwide suffer from Parkinson's disease (PD), a condition causing muscle rigidity and tremors due to the loss of the chemical dopamine in the brain. One cause of PD is exposure to toxins. In a recent study, Thomas Jefferson University's Scott A. Waldman, MD, Ph.D., and his team discovered that a gut receptor protein called GUCY2C could prevent PD development by protectin

Tackling brain cancer is complicated, but recent research could help add another tool to the cancer-fighting arsenal. A team from Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech has published a paper in APL Bioengineering that explores a new option that could one day be used to target glioblastoma, a deadly and fast-growing brain tumor.

A significant discovery by Australian scientists has the potential to improve the effectiveness of drugs currently used to manage cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Defiance, tantrums, aggression: All signs of a condition called conduct disorder, which Mental Health America says affects up to 16% of boys and 9% of girls.

You join a swing dance class, and at first you're all left feet. But—slowly, eyes glued to the teacher—you pick up a step or two and start to feel the rhythm of the big band beat. A good start. Then you look over and realize the couple next to you has picked up twice the steps in half the time. Why?

Researchers at Mayo Clinic have established new criteria for a memory-loss syndrome in older adults that specifically impacts the brain's limbic system. It can often be mistaken for Alzheimer's disease. The good news: Limbic-predominant Amnestic Neurodegenerative Syndrome, or LANS, progresses more slowly and has a better prognosis, and is now more clearly defined for doctors working to find answer

Researchers at Phoenix's Barrow Neurological Institute and the University of Pittsburgh have created a vast interactive atlas that may eventually help doctors use precision medicine to target treatments for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients—and could replace the existing uniform treatment model. The research is published in the journal Neuron.

Retired rugby players who have suffered multiple concussions have higher levels of certain proteins in their blood, which may make them more prone to developing diseases such as motor neuron disease (MND), according to a new study.

Sleep and wake: They're totally distinct states of being that define the boundaries of our daily lives. For years, scientists have measured the difference between these instinctual brain processes by observing brain waves, with sleep characteristically defined by slow, long-lasting waves measured in tenths of seconds that travel across the whole organ.

The human brain is responsible for critical functions, including perception, memory, language, thinking, consciousness, and emotions.

Socioeconomic deprivation increases the risk for sustaining a traumatic brain injury (TBI), and in some age groups, it may also increase the risk for epilepsy after a TBI, according to a research letter published in the July issue of Epilepsy & Behavior.

There's good news and bad for stroke survival in the United States: New research shows that Americans are now more likely to survive long-term, but that's more true for whites than for Black Americans.

By the age of three, children are capable of understanding others, "mirroring" those they are with to imitate and anticipate their intentions. They are able to do it thanks to the sophisticated neurofunctional architecture that is necessary to understand others' intentions, the mirror neurons, that are already active at this age.

Neurological disorders are becoming an increasingly significant societal burden, highlighting the critical need for improved diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), known for its nanometer-scale resolution and piconewton-scale force sensitivity, offers insights into the biomechanical properties of brain cells and tissues and their interactions within their microenviro

Overall rates of long-term survival following stroke are improving, but Black individuals experience worse long-term outcomes compared to white individuals, according to University of Cincinnati research published online July 15 in Neurology.

Changes in climate are possible trigger factors for seizure-related hospitalizations in patients with epilepsy, according to a study published online June 11 in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

A study conducted at the lab of Beth Stevens, Ph.D., at Boston Children's Hospital, has revealed that an immune protein impacts neuronal protein synthesis in the aging brain. Previous work from the Stevens lab had uncovered that immune cells in the central nervous system, microglia, help prune synapses in the developing brain by tagging synapses with the immune protein C1q.

In recent times, research on brain injury has garnered significant attention, particularly for understanding the cellular and molecular changes that are associated with neurological diseases. In this context, the study of different clinical biomarkers can shed light on the various pathological processes that lead to brain injury.

The largest study of CTE to date has found a new link between playing contact sports, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and the development of a movement disorder known as parkinsonism.