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.

The brain fights neurodegenerative diseases by shifting resources

The brain continues to put up a fight even as neurodegenerative diseases like dementia damage certain areas and functions. In fact, recent findings in a Baycrest-University of Arizona study suggest that one method the brain uses to counter these diseases is the reassigning of tasks to different regions.

11 Apr 2018

Russian researchers develop new biosensor chips based on unconventional materials

Russian researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have developed biosensor chips of unprecedented sensitivity, which are based on copper instead of the conventionally used gold.

11 Apr 2018

Study shows impact of prenatal stress on offspring stress hormone levels

Vertebrate species, including humans, exposed to stress prenatally tend to have higher stress hormones after birth, according to a new Dartmouth-led study published in Scientific Reports.

11 Apr 2018

Johns Hopkins researchers wirelessly record brain activity of free-moving bats

Johns Hopkins University researchers have developed a way to study the brain of a bat as it flies, recording for the first time what happens as a roving animal focuses and refocuses its attention.

11 Apr 2018

Traumatic brain injury associated with higher risk of dementia

The risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's, was significantly higher in people who had experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) than with people who had no history of TBI, according to one of the largest studies to date on that association.

11 Apr 2018

Biomarker panel can guide future therapeutic decisions for glioma patients

In an article published April 10th in the journal Cell Reports, researchers at the University of São Paulo describe a biomarker panel that could tell physicians which patients diagnosed with glioma, a type of brain cancer, will tend to progress to a more aggressive form of the disease in the event of relapse.

10 Apr 2018

Japanese researchers develop new compound to enhance recovery of stroke patients

A team of Japanese researchers have developed a new compound that enhanced motor function recovery after brain damage in animal tests, according to a study published in the journal Science.

10 Apr 2018

Newly discovered predictive biomarkers could help assess level of glioma recurrence risk

Researchers have identified specific predictive biomarkers that could help assess the level of risk for recurrence in patients with malignant glioma. The study, led by Henry Ford Health System's Department of Neurosurgery and Department of Public Health Sciences, was published today in Cell Reports.

10 Apr 2018

Houston Methodist-led research focuses on rare, inherited neurodegenerative disorder

A rare, inherited neurodegenerative disorder will soon be the focus of an international clinical research effort led by Houston Methodist and funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health.

10 Apr 2018

New research sheds light on how neurons in the brain communicate with one another

Researchers from the University of Leicester have shed new light on how neurons in the brain communicate with one another. This could potentially help in our understanding of how and why a range of neurodegenerative diseases occur.

10 Apr 2018

Experts develop biology-based research framework for Alzheimer’s

Researchers have developed a new framework that can be applied in the study of Alzheimer’s disease to help establish a biologically-based definition of the disease.

10 Apr 2018

Experts develop biology-based research framework for Alzheimer’s

Researchers have developed a new framework that can be applied in the study of Alzheimer’s disease to help establish a biologically-based definition of the disease.

10 Apr 2018

New method to rapidly assess severity of head injuries could improve patient care

A new way to rapidly assess levels of consciousness in people with head injuries could improve patient care.

10 Apr 2018

Mild head injury increases risk for long-term headaches

"Most people with a mild head injury take off work for a week and then forget about it, but some end up with long-term ailments like headaches," says Lena Hoem Nordhaug, a PhD candidate in neuromedicine at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

10 Apr 2018

Validating the Diagnosis of Depression

It’s very difficult to diagnose depression. With depression, you can't open the brain to find answers, and the chemistry of the brain is separate from the chemistry of the body.

From Pittcon 10 Apr 2018

Raising eyebrows came about as humans evolved

Early Homo sapiens had thick bone brows, this made raising eyebrows and a host of other facial expressions difficult for them. With passage of time evolution took its course and the brows smoothened.

10 Apr 2018

Hottest pepper gives man “thunderclap”

An unidentified 34 year old man reportedly ate a Carolina Reaper – one of the hottest rates peppers in the world, during a contest. What followed was a series of intense headaches and retching in the man. The headaches are typically termed 'thunderclap headaches'. The case study was published this week by the doctors attending the man in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

10 Apr 2018

New technique makes it possible to trace lineage of each cell

Every biology textbook states that cells are life's building blocks. But researchers are only now beginning to understand their diversity. Technologies such as RNA sequencing are revealing which genes are expressed in each individual cell.

9 Apr 2018

Families support groundbreaking research on Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Lorena Martin's twin daughters kick butt on the soccer field. Martin is proud of how they hold their own, despite having a rare genetic disease called Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), which has damaged their peripheral nervous system. The girls lack proper control of their hands and feet because their nerves can't send signals properly, so they play using power wheelchairs.

9 Apr 2018

Bilinguals regulate native language when reading in a second language, research shows

Research led by a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside, shows that bilinguals regulate, or suppress, their native language when reading in a second language.

9 Apr 2018