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.

Study confirms benefits of removing blood clots after stroke

A technique that removes blood clots from large brain blood vessels reduced disability after stroke in a trial conducted in Catalonia, Spain, and co-led by an expert from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

20 Apr 2015

SLU study explores feasibility of using text messages for minority mothers with postpartum depression

A Saint Louis University research paper published online March 16 in JMIR Mental Health explores the feasibility of helping low-income mothers through postpartum depression using text messages.

17 Apr 2015

Endovascular therapy best treatment option for stroke patients

A research paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) today confirms earlier findings that a procedure called endovascular therapy (ET) for ischemic stroke is the best treatment option for many patients by reducing the incidents of disability.

17 Apr 2015

UC Irvine professor explores the link between autism and ADHD

For the better part of the last decade, a growing body of research has been revealing more and more similarities between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism.

17 Apr 2015

Majority of patients who survive cardiac arrest experience cognitive problems

Half of all patients who survive a cardiac arrest experience problems with cognitive functions such as memory and attention.

17 Apr 2015

Study shows epilepsy drug can protect vision of MS patients

A drug commonly taken to prevent seizures in epilepsy may surprisingly protect the eyesight of people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 67th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, April 18 to 25, 2015.

17 Apr 2015

Clot removal improves outcomes in stroke patients

Stroke is the leading cause of severe long-term disability in the United States, and less than 40 percent of patients who experience the most severe form of stroke regain functional independence if they receive the standard drug intervention alone.

17 Apr 2015

Toxic Botox travels through our nerves to reach central nervous system

New research might bring a frown to even the most heavily botoxed faces, with scientists finding how some of the potent toxin used for cosmetic surgery escapes into the central nervous system.

17 Apr 2015

Adapting new method to judge dementia perceptions can help improve care for south Asian people

Dementia care for south Asian people could be improved after researchers from The University of Manchester adapted a commonly used tool for judging perceptions of the disease.

17 Apr 2015

Inflammation plays causal role in neurologic changes associated with Lyme disease

About 15% of patients with Lyme disease develop peripheral and central nervous system involvement, often accompanied by debilitating and painful symptoms. New research indicates that inflammation plays a causal role in the array of neurologic changes associated with Lyme disease, according to a study published in The American Journal of Pathology.

17 Apr 2015

Zinc deficiency can activate Hedgehog signaling pathway

Zinc deficiency - long associated with numerous diseases, e.g. autism, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and ovarian cancers - can lead to activation of the Hedgehog signaling pathway, a biomolecular pathway that plays essential roles in developing organisms and in diseases, according to new research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

17 Apr 2015

Study could lead to new therapeutic targets for treating Huntington's disease

An international study led by researchers from Université Laval and CHU de Québec-Université Laval has identified significant vascular changes in the brains of people with Huntington's disease. This breakthrough, the details of which are published in the most recent issue of Annals of Neurology, will have significant implications for our understanding of the disease and could open the door to new therapeutic targets for treating this fatal neurodegenerative condition.

17 Apr 2015

Study provides detailed brain map of language impairments in aphasia after stroke

The exchange of words, speaking and listening in conversation, may seem unremarkable for most people, but communicating with others is a challenge for people who have aphasia, an impairment of language that often happens after stroke or other brain injury.

16 Apr 2015

Electronic micropump combined with anticonvulsant drug may treat brain diseases

Many potentially efficient drugs have been created to treat neurological disorders, but they cannot be used in practice. Typically, for a condition such as epilepsy, it is essential to act at exactly the right time and place in the brain.

16 Apr 2015

Wilson Therapeutics' WTX101-201 Phase 2 clinical study to be presented at EASL annual meeting

Wilson Therapeutics AB, a development stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced that a poster of the company's ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial for WTX101-201 will be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver, or the 50th International Liver Congress 2015, taking place in Vienna April 22-26.

16 Apr 2015

Study paves way for greater understanding of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Researchers at the Angiocardioneurology Department of the Neuromed Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalisation and Health Care of Pozzilli (Italy), have found, in animal models, that the absence of a certain enzyme causes a syndrome resembling the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

16 Apr 2015

New research links sleep apnea, heavy snoring with premature cognitive decline

Heavy snoring and sleep apnea may be linked to memory and thinking decline at an earlier age, according to a new study published in the April 15, 2015, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

16 Apr 2015

Patterns of DNA anomalies can predict outcomes in women with ovarian cancer

Nearly anyone touched by ovarian cancer will tell you: it's devastating. It's bad enough that cancer in almost 80 percent of patients reaches advanced stages before diagnosis, and that most patients are expected to die within five years. But just as painfully, roughly one quarter of women diagnosed have no warning that they are resistant to platinum-based chemotherapy, the main line of defense, nor that they will likely have 18 months to live.

16 Apr 2015

UW researchers use Activa PC+S DBS system to treat essential tremor

Essential tremor, a nervous system disorder that causes a rhythmic shaking in the hands, affects an estimated 10 million Americans and millions more worldwide. Deep brain stimulation, essentially a pacemaker for the brain, has been approved to treat essential tremor. But there is not an existing system that automatically provides electrical stimulation only when needed.

16 Apr 2015

Researchers examine how probiotics can help improve health, prevent disease

In recent years, research into the benefits of gut bacteria has exploded. Scientists across the globe are examining how these microbes can help improve health and prevent disease.

16 Apr 2015