Thalamus News and Research

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The Thalamus is an area of the brain that helps process information from the senses and transmit it to other parts of the brain.

Researchers find differences in the brain regions of children with Tourette's syndrome

Using MRIs, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified areas in the brains of children with Tourette's syndrome that appear markedly different from the same areas in the brains of children who don't have the neuropsychiatric disorder.

27 Oct 2016

Fetal brains use unique amplifier to transmit signals, research shows

Fetal brains use a special amplifier in order to transmit signals, according to research published in the journal eLife by George Washington University's (GW) Matthew Colonnese, Ph.D. and Yasunobu Murata, Ph.D. Early neural connections are sparse, weak, and unreliable.

12 Oct 2016

Brain atrophy patterns linked to loss of specific cognitive abilities in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Mathematical modeling of the brain scans of patients with Alzheimer's disease and others at risk for the devastating neurodegenerative disorder has identified specific patterns of brain atrophy that appear to be related to the loss of particular cognitive abilities.

8 Oct 2016

Research provides scientific evidence for adverse effects of cannabis intake on brain development

Researchers have clarified important mechanisms involved in the formation of neural circuits in the brain.

13 Sep 2016

MRI-guided focused ultrasound treatment improves quality of life in patients with essential tremor

Treatment with MRI-guided focused ultrasound significantly improves tremors and quality of life in patients with essential tremor (ET), the most common movement disorder, according to a study published in the August 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

27 Aug 2016

New report documents fetal brain abnormalities linked to congenital Zika infection

In a special report released August 23 in the journal Radiology, a team of researchers including Deborah Levine, MD, Director of Obstetric & Gynecologic ultrasound at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, documented the brain abnormalities associated with congenital Zika in 45 confirmed and presumed cases from northeastern Brazil.

26 Aug 2016

UCLA researchers use noninvasive ultrasound technique to jump-start the brain of coma patient

A 25-year-old man recovering from a coma has made remarkable progress following a treatment at UCLA to jump-start his brain using ultrasound.

25 Aug 2016

New noninvasive treatment option improves quality of life in patients with essential tremor

25 Aug 2016

FDA approves new ExAblate Neuro to treat patients with essential tremor

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first focused ultrasound device to treat essential tremor in patients who have not responded to medication. ExAblate Neuro uses magnetic resonance (MR) images taken during the procedure to deliver focused ultrasound to destroy brain tissue in a tiny area thought to be responsible for causing tremors.

11 Jul 2016

Neuroscientists map neural connections over long distances in the brain

A team of neuroscientists at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, in Lisbon, has been able to map single neural connections over long distances in the brain.

4 Jul 2016

Music instruction improves cognitive, socio-emotional development in young children

Music instruction appears to accelerate brain development in young children, particularly in the areas of the brain that are responsible for processing sound, language development, speech perception and reading skills, according to initial results of a five-year study by USC neuroscientists.

16 Jun 2016

Research highlights significance of ultra-rapid brain responses to threat-related visual stimuli

An international team lead by researchers from CTB-UPM shows that the amygdala in the human brain is able to detect possible threats in the visual environment at ultra-fast time scales.

15 Jun 2016

Mediodorsal thalamus plays key role in new learning and decision making

Scientists have confirmed one of the brain areas responsible for rapid updating of information during learning - the sort of information we use to negotiate many changing situations in everyday life.

1 Jun 2016

Exposing headache sufferers to pure-wavelength green light can lessen severity of migraines

Most migraine and post-traumatic headache sufferers find their headaches get worse in light, leading them to quit their most fundamental daily tasks and seek the comfort of darkness.

17 May 2016

Researchers identify role of darks in visual brain maps

Scientists have been studying how visual space is mapped in the cerebral cortex for many decades under the assumption that the map is equal for lights and darks. Surprisingly, recent work demonstrates that visual brain maps are dark-centric and that, just as stars rotate around black holes in the Universe, lights rotate around darks in the brain representation of visual space.

28 Apr 2016

Heavy marijuana use may lead to lower dopamine release in the brain

In a recent study, researchers found evidence of a compromised dopamine system in heavy users of marijuana. Lower dopamine release was found in the striatum - a region of the brain that is involved in working memory, impulsive behavior, and attention. Previous studies have shown that addiction to other drugs of abuse, such as cocaine and heroin, have similar effects on dopamine release, but such evidence for cannabis was missing until now.

16 Apr 2016

Understanding neuronal feedback could provide new insight into visual perception

Ever see something that isn't really there? Could your mind be playing tricks on you? The "tricks" might be your brain reacting to feedback between neurons in different parts of the visual system, according to a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience by Carnegie Mellon University Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Sandra J. Kuhlman and colleagues.

31 Mar 2016

Defective PTCHD1 gene in brain creates symptoms associated with autism and ADHD

Evidence is mounting that a gene called PTCHD1 helps the brain sort between important sights and sounds — and distractions. This gene is active in a brain region that attaches more attention to a conversation with your boss, for instance, than to an air conditioner buzzing in the background.

24 Mar 2016

MU researchers use MRI to study effects of Phenylketonuria

All children are screened for a host of conditions at birth, such as Phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder that is passed by mutated genes from both parents to their offspring. PKU is rare, only affecting one in every 10,000 children in the U.S.; therefore, it is seldom studied.

23 Mar 2016

Patients with schizophrenia demonstrate specific leftward asymmetry for globus pallidus volume

A Japanese research group found that patients with schizophrenia demonstrated a specific leftward volumetric asymmetry for the globus pallidus, one of the basal ganglia of the brain. The basal ganglia are involved in motivation and volition, the impairment of which may result in difficulties in social life. This finding is expected to help elucidate the underlying pathological mechanisms of schizophrenia. Moreover, it will be a step toward the development of therapeutic strategies for schizophrenia.

19 Mar 2016