Brain News and Research

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The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. Enclosed in the cranium, it has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times as large as the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size.

Altered nitrogen metabolism may contribute to emergence of new cancer mutations

Nitrogen is a basic building block of all the body's proteins, RNA and DNA, so cancerous tumors are greedy for this element. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in collaboration with colleagues from the National Cancer Institute and elsewhere, have now shown that in many cancers, the patient's nitrogen metabolism is altered, producing detectable changes in the body fluids and contributing to the emergence of new mutations in cancerous tissue.

13 Aug 2018

UAB study shows how ion channel differentiates newborn and mature neurons in the brain

The dentate gyrus of the hippocampus is part of the brain that helps form memories. It is also one of just two areas in the adult brain where new neurons are continuously formed.

13 Aug 2018

Quality-improvement project to standardize feeding practices helps micro preemies gain weight

A quality-improvement project to standardize feeding practices for micro preemies--preterm infants born months before their due date-- helped to boost their weight and nearly quadrupled the frequency of lactation consultations ordered in the neonatal intensive care unit, a multidisciplinary team from Children's National Health System finds.

13 Aug 2018

New biomarker may provide clues to create diagnostic tool for hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure

A new LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center study reveals that a novel biomarker might give us new answers necessary to creating a diagnostic tool for hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure.

13 Aug 2018

Connection between Alzheimer’s disease and degenerative eye diseases

According to a new study from the University of Washington School of Medicine there could be an association between Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and three types of degenerative eye diseases.

13 Aug 2018

Autoimmune response drives neurodegeneration in glaucoma

A research team from Massachusetts Eye and Ear and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has shown that immune cells in the eye that developed in response to early exposure to bacteria are a key contributor to progressive vision loss from glaucoma, the second leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world.

12 Aug 2018

Reduced levels of chaperone protein may have implications for development of Parkinson’s disease

Reduced levels of a chaperone protein might have implications for the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia, according to new research from investigators at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

10 Aug 2018

Autoimmune response contributes to vision loss in glaucoma patients

A research team from Massachusetts Eye and Ear and MIT has shown that immune cells in the eye that developed in response to early exposure to bacteria are a key contributor to progressive vision loss from glaucoma, the second leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world.

10 Aug 2018

Study: Many pediatric brain tumor survivors do not achieve complete independence as adults

In the first study of its kind, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators have found that more than half of pediatric central nervous system tumor survivors do not achieve complete independence as adults.

10 Aug 2018

Glaucoma could be an autoimmune disorder, study suggests

Glaucoma, a disease that afflicts nearly 70 million people worldwide, is something of a mystery despite its prevalence. Little is known about the origins of the disease, which damages the retina and optic nerve and can lead to blindness.

10 Aug 2018

Researchers uncover new details in how the olfactory epithelium develops

Dogs, known for their extraordinarily keen senses of smell, can be trained to use their sensitive sniffers to find drugs, bombs, bed bugs, missing hikers and even cancer. Among dogs and other animals that rely on smell, at least one factor that may give them an advantage is a sheet of tissue in the nasal cavity.

10 Aug 2018

PARP inhibitors show promise for treating and preventing brain disorders

A class of cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors could be useful for treating and preventing brain disorders, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig's disease, and some forms of frontotemporal degeneration, by halting the misplacement of specific proteins that affect nerve cells, according to a study published in Molecular Cell by researchers in the the School of Arts and Sciences and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

10 Aug 2018

NCCN releases new treatment guidelines for rare cancers that impact women during pregnancy

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network has released new treatment guidelines for a group of rare cancers that impact women during pregnancy.

10 Aug 2018

Obesity in PTSD patients accounts for increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus

Saint Louis University research finds post-traumatic stress disorder does not directly lead to type 2 diabetes mellitus, instead obesity in PTSD patients accounts for the increased risk.

10 Aug 2018

Scientists make surprising discovery in nerve cells

Purkinje cells are a central part of the human cerebellum, the part of the brain that plays an important role in motor learning, fine motor control of the muscle, equilibrium and posture but also influences emotions, perception, memory and language.

10 Aug 2018

New ‘closed-loop’ brain stimulation method improves learning, memory, and skill acquisition

HRL Laboratories, LLC, in collaboration with University of New Mexico, have published the first study showing that transcranial alternating current stimulation of the brain during sleep increases human subjects' ability to accurately assess hidden targets in novel visual scenes.

10 Aug 2018

Crowdsourcing of algorithms enables epileptic seizure prediction in wide range of patients

A study by University of Melbourne researchers reveals clinically relevant epileptic seizure prediction is possible in a wider range of patients than previously thought, thanks to the crowdsourcing of more than 10 000 algorithms worldwide.

10 Aug 2018

Study: Children who enter adolescence with weak cognitive control are at risk for trouble in adulthood

Children who struggle with weak cognitive control at an early age are at most risk for trouble in adulthood following their engagement in risk-taking activities in adolescence, according to new research.

10 Aug 2018

Study yields new insights into why the system needs sleep

Sleep is essential for brain functionality and overall health but understanding how sleep delivers its beneficial effects remains largely unknown. In an article publishing on August 9 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, Shanaz Diessler and Maxime Jan at the University of Lausanne and the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (Switzerland), sleep researchers are exploring new and unbiased approaches that can take sleep to a systems level.

10 Aug 2018

Study: 11% of IBS-D patients suffer from suicidal thinking when their condition is bad

Eleven percent of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea (IBS-D) patients reveal that they suffer from suicidal thinking when their condition is bad, a new study has found.

10 Aug 2018

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

Altered nitrogen metabolism may contribute to emergence of new cancer mutations

UAB study shows how ion channel differentiates newborn and mature neurons in the brain

Quality-improvement project to standardize feeding practices helps micro preemies gain weight

New biomarker may provide clues to create diagnostic tool for hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure

Connection between Alzheimer’s disease and degenerative eye diseases

Autoimmune response drives neurodegeneration in glaucoma

Reduced levels of chaperone protein may have implications for development of Parkinson’s disease

Autoimmune response contributes to vision loss in glaucoma patients

Study: Many pediatric brain tumor survivors do not achieve complete independence as adults

Glaucoma could be an autoimmune disorder, study suggests

Researchers uncover new details in how the olfactory epithelium develops

PARP inhibitors show promise for treating and preventing brain disorders

NCCN releases new treatment guidelines for rare cancers that impact women during pregnancy

Obesity in PTSD patients accounts for increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus

Scientists make surprising discovery in nerve cells

New ‘closed-loop’ brain stimulation method improves learning, memory, and skill acquisition

Crowdsourcing of algorithms enables epileptic seizure prediction in wide range of patients

Study: Children who enter adolescence with weak cognitive control are at risk for trouble in adulthood

Study yields new insights into why the system needs sleep

Study: 11% of IBS-D patients suffer from suicidal thinking when their condition is bad

Industry Focus eBook - Neurology/Neuroscience - 2nd edition eBook

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Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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