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Zika virus causes altered immune responses and brain abnormalities in healthy pig offspring

Zika virus infection in the womb produces altered immune responses and sex-specific brain abnormalities in apparently healthy pig offspring, according to a study published November 14 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Uladzimir Karniychuk of the University of Saskatchewan, and colleagues.

From PLOS ONE 11 Nov 2019

Musical pleasure linked to right combination of uncertainty and surprise

Why is it that people find songs such as James Taylor's "Country Roads," UB40's "Red, Red Wine," or The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" so irresistibly enjoyable? In a study reported in the journal Current Biology on November 7, researchers analyze 80,000 chords in 745 classic U.S. Billboard pop songs--including those three--and find that musical pleasure comes from the right combination of uncertainty and surprise.

8 Nov 2019

Deep sleep may reduce anxiety levels

A study has found that a sleepless night can raise anxiety levels by up to 30% the following day.

7 Nov 2019

Early sound exposure can help treat hypersensitivity to noise associated with FXS

A research team at the University of California, Riverside, has found exposure to sound -- not sound reduction -- during early development of mice engineered to have Fragile X Syndrome, or FXS, restores molecular, cellular, and functional properties in the auditory cortex, the area of the brain that processes sounds.

6 Nov 2019

Research identifies neural pathway involved in memory consolidation during sleep

A new study could supply the missing link in the story of the brain consolidates floating memories into a permanent structure while we sleep. The study, published in the journal eNeuro, shows how a brain region, appropriately called the nucleus reuniens, ‘goes between’ two other memory-linked structures – the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.

6 Nov 2019

Pioneering brain chip to fight opioid addiction: first US clinical test

Opioid addiction is among the biggest medical conditions troubling the U.S. today, and is far from reaching a solution. In 2017, it claimed almost 50 deaths per 100,000 in the state of West Virginia – the highest drug-overdose-related death rate in the US. Today, however, there is a gleam of hope from a new trial of an old technology to help fight this battle – a brain-embedded chip to counter opioid-induced cravings in treatment-refractory patients.

6 Nov 2019

Study shows how the complex neural map of human brain operates

Fans of the blockbuster movie "Iron Man 3" might remember the characters step inside the digital projection of a "big brain" and watch as groups of neurons are "lit up" along the brain's neural "map" in response to physical touch.

6 Nov 2019

Neural networks predict which images optimally excite particular neurons

A new study published in Neuroscience reveals how computation can be used to find out the visual stimulation to which the brain cells respond most frequently and productively.

5 Nov 2019

Brain imaging shows links between self control and alcohol dependence

Excessive and harmful drinking is a key feature of an alcohol use disorder. The causes of substance use disorders are complex, but deficiences in certain aspects of self-control have been implicated.

5 Nov 2019

Deep sleep can calm and reset the anxious brain

When it comes to managing anxiety disorders, William Shakespeare's Macbeth had it right when he referred to sleep as the "balm of hurt minds." While a full night of slumber stabilizes emotions, a sleepless night can trigger up to a 30% rise in anxiety levels, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley.

4 Nov 2019

Genes linked to autism spectrum disorder may play role in eye movements

Researchers studying zebrafish have found that genes linked to autism spectrum disorder and other developmental brain abnormalities may be playing a role in people who cannot control their eye movements.

4 Nov 2019

UCLA team finds that the brain processes fear differently after traumatic brain injury

Post-traumatic stress disorder in U.S. military members frequently follows a concussion-like brain injury. Until now, it has been unclear why. A UCLA team of psychologists and neurologists reports that a traumatic brain injury causes changes in a brain region called the amygdala; and the brain processes fear differently after such an injury.

4 Nov 2019

Study uncovers cause for spatial-memory deficits in people with Down syndrome

Professor Juan Lerma's group, from the UMH-CSIC Institute of Neurosciences, in Alicante, has identified the gene called GRIK1, fundamental in the balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain, as one of the causes for people with Down syndrome having spatial orientation problems.

1 Nov 2019

Study finds altered brain asymmetry in autism spectrum disorder

The left and right halves of our brains develop differently, as each hemisphere 'specialises' in certain functions. For example, for most people the left hemisphere--controlling the right hand--is dominant for language.

31 Oct 2019

New study sheds light on artificial networks and human face recognition

Our brains are so primed to recognize faces - or to tell people apart - that we rarely even stop to think about it, but what happens in the brain when it engages in such recognition is still far from understood. In a new study reported today in Nature Communications, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have shed new light on this issue.

30 Oct 2019