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.

Neurogenesis diminishes after childhood, finds study

In a recent study, scientists concluded that adult neurogenesis, which is seen in other species, does not occur in human beings.

8 Mar 2018

Mind over body: A psychiatrist tells how to tap into wisdom and grow with age

We've all seen it happen: An older friend or family member retires, is diagnosed with a serious illness or loses a spouse. Suddenly, this individual's world is altered, sometimes seemingly beyond recognition. He has reached a fork in the road; will he get stuck or find a way to regroup and move on?

8 Mar 2018

Research could help design effective activities to train the brain to avoid dyslexia

The ability of the brain to synchronize with the tone and intonation of speech influences how language is processed. This concludes a study by the Basque research center BCBL, whose results could help design more effective activities to train the brain in order to avoid future disorders such as dyslexia.

8 Mar 2018

Study investigates use of drugs for the stomach and risk of major depressive disorder

A new study investigating the relationship between one of the commonest type of drugs used for protecting the stomach is presented in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

8 Mar 2018

Researchers show complex link between physical, behavioral characteristics and brain health

Mount Sinai researchers have shown, for the first time, the complex web of links between physical and behavioral characteristics, like age, body mass index (BMI), and substance use, and specific patterns of brain structure and function in patients with psychosis.

7 Mar 2018

Early life stress or trauma could rewire the brain for later neuropathological disorders

Federal researchers have discovered that severe stress or trauma early in life could actually change how the brain responds to stress hormones, essentially "re-wiring" the brain for later neuropathological disorders, according to a study, "A role for corticotrophin releasing factor signaling in the lateral habenula and its modulation by early life stress," published in Science Signaling, March 6.

7 Mar 2018

Female mosquito brain map may help uncover neural circuitry behind biting and other behaviors

A mosquito's head is about the size of a pencil tip, but it packs a dangerous punch: it is the delivery system for malaria, yellow fever, and Zika, among other blood-borne diseases. In most mosquito species, females are the more dangerous sex. They're the ones drinking - and transferring - blood.

7 Mar 2018

Feeling anxious about your waistline?

A new study has found that middle-aged women face a high risk of developing anxiety, one of the most prevalent mental health disorders, due to their BMI.

7 Mar 2018

FDA expands approval of smaller size replacement heart valve for treating newborn pediatric patients

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today expanded the approval of a heart valve to include a size small enough to be used in newborn pediatric patients to treat heart defects. Specifically, the agency approved the Masters Series Mechanical Heart Valve with Hemodynamic Plus Sewing Cuff to include the 15-mm valve size, making it the smallest mechanical heart valve approved in the world.

7 Mar 2018

Individual damaged nerve cells cause neurodegenerative diseases

If the sense of smell disappears, this can indicate a disease such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. However, unlike previously assumed, general degenerations in the nervous system do not play a leading role in the loss of the sense of smell with increasing age, but individual nerve cells or classes of nerves are decisive.

7 Mar 2018

New MIT study shows how the brain tracks moving objects

Catching a bouncing ball or hitting a ball with a racket requires estimating when the ball will arrive. Neuroscientists have long thought that the brain does this by calculating the speed of the moving object. However, a new study from MIT shows that the brain's approach is more complex.

6 Mar 2018

As surgery centers boom, patients are paying with their lives

The surgery went fine. Her doctors left for the day. Four hours later, Paulina Tam started gasping for air.

6 Mar 2018

Pain begins differently for men and women at the cellular level, research says

New research from The University of Texas at Dallas supports the growing consensus that pain begins differently for men and women at the cellular level.

6 Mar 2018

Smart sleep tips to help people prepare for daylight saving time

Sleep keeps the brain working properly. It helps us control our weight, as well as our emotions. It is also plays a role in helping to heal and repair the heart and blood vessels.

6 Mar 2018

New study identifies the body's 'glucostat'

It is the pancreatic islets that have the overall responsibility for maintaining normal blood glucose levels in our bodies, according to a new study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, USA.

6 Mar 2018

Duke scientists pinpoint new therapeutic target for macular degeneration

Duke Researchers have pinpointed a new therapeutic target for macular degeneration, an eye disease that affects over 10 million Americans and is the leading cause of blindness in adults over 60.

6 Mar 2018

People with MDD feel more negative emotion when remembering painful experiences

People with major depressive disorder (MDD) feel more negative emotion when remembering painful experiences than people without the disorder, according to a new study in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. The study reports that people with MDD were able to control the negative emotions about as well as people unaffected by MDD, but used somewhat different brain circuits to do so.

6 Mar 2018