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.

Keystone meeting focuses on neuroinflammation, Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases

As Alzheimer's disease sweeps through the brain, do the brain's immune cells sit idly by and let it happen? Or could they overreact and make the disease worse?

23 Mar 2015

EHT expert paper raises important and unanswered questions about safety of wearable tech

Wearable technology is raising health concerns worldwide. A recent New York Times article by Nick Bilton is raising important and unanswered questions about the safety of wearable tech, according to the non-profit research group, Environmental Health Trust.

23 Mar 2015

Saccharin could potentially lead to development of drugs for difficult-to-treat cancers

Saccharin, the artificial sweetener that is the main ingredient in Sweet 'N Low, Sweet Twin and Necta, could do far more than just keep our waistlines trim. According to new research, this popular sugar substitute could potentially lead to the development of drugs capable of combating aggressive, difficult-to-treat cancers with fewer side effects.

23 Mar 2015

Discovery can help stop emergence of age-related neurodegenerative diseases

As medicine has improved, increasing our ability to treat disease, so our longevity. The deterioration of the body with age, though, is a whole other matter.

23 Mar 2015

Brief sleep can significantly improve memory performance

Generations of school students have gone to bed the night before a maths exam or a vocabulary test with their algebra book or vocabulary notes tucked under their pillow in the hope that the knowledge would somehow be magically transferred into their brains while they slept.

23 Mar 2015

New study pinpoints major increase in subdural hematoma surgery by 2030

By 2030, chronic subdural hemorrhage (SDH) will be the most common adult brain condition requiring neurosurgical intervention in the U.S., according to a new study conducted by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center.

23 Mar 2015

Hypermethylation serves as protective barrier inhibiting development of ALS, FTD

Penn Medicine researchers have discovered that hypermethylation - the epigenetic ability to turn down or turn off a bad gene implicated in 10 to 30 percent of patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) - serves as a protective barrier inhibiting the development of these diseases.

21 Mar 2015

WHO calls for intensification of routine immunization services in all Ebola-affected areas

A growing risk of outbreaks of measles, pertussis, and other vaccine-preventable diseases in countries affected by Ebola must be countered by urgent scaling up of routine immunization activities, according to the World Health Organization.

21 Mar 2015

Milk protein comparison study may help improve infant formula

Human babies appear to need more of a nutritional boost from breast-milk proteins than do infants of one of their closest primate relatives, suggests a study comparing human milk with the milk of rhesus macaque monkeys.

20 Mar 2015

Healthcare systems miss life-saving treatments learnt on battlefield

Trauma is responsible for more global deaths annually than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Yet healthcare systems in many countries are missing out on life-saving treatments learnt on the battlefield, according to a review by King's College London and published today in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

20 Mar 2015

Olive ingredients may prevent Alzheimer's disease

It has long been proven that people who follow a Mediterranean diet and keep physically and mentally active are less likely to suffer from dementia. Olives in particular appear to play a key role in this regard. But just what are the substances contained in these small, oval fruit that are so valuable? This is what a Hessen-based group of researchers from the Goethe University Frankfurt, the Technical University of Darmstadt and Darmstadt company N-Zyme BioTec GmbH intends to find out. The three-year project "NeurOliv" has a project volume of 1.3 million Euros and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the high-tech initiative "KMU-innovativ Biochance".

20 Mar 2015

New methodology isolates functional differences between autistic, non-autistic brains

The functional differences between autistic and non-autistic brains have been isolated for the first time, following the development of a new methodology for analysing MRI scans.

20 Mar 2015

University of Manitoba professors, brain experts discuss how concussions affect the brain

University of Manitoba professors and brain experts are gathering at McNally Robinson Booksellers on March 18 to have a lively, interactive panel discussion on how concussions affect the brain.

20 Mar 2015

New diet may significantly lower risk of Alzheimer's disease

A new diet, appropriately known by the acronym MIND, could significantly lower a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, even if the diet is not meticulously followed, according to a paper published online for subscribers in March in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

20 Mar 2015

RNA molecule can be manipulated to generate more neurons from neural stem cells

A research team at UC San Francisco has discovered an RNA molecule called Pnky that can be manipulated to increase the production of neurons from neural stem cells.

20 Mar 2015

New MRI technique from NIST may help diagnose TBI in U.S. veterans

More than 300,000 U.S. veterans have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in recent years, a legacy of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But these numbers don't tell the whole story. While severe TBI can be obvious, milder cases involving symptoms such as memory loss or inability to concentrate are difficult to confirm and treat.

20 Mar 2015

Study offers new insights into diagnosis and treatment of social dysfunctions

What if there were a pill that made you more compassionate and more likely to give spare change to someone less fortunate? UC Berkeley scientists have taken a big step in that direction.

20 Mar 2015

IUPUI professor receives grant to model human motor movements for Huntington's research

Yaroslav Molkov, assistant professor of mathematics in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, in collaboration with researchers at Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, has received a grant to use computational modeling to map a motor control system to study Huntington's disease.

20 Mar 2015

Researchers find way to enhance effects of immunotherapy in glioblastoma

When cancer strikes, it may be possible for patients to fight back with their own defenses, using a strategy known as immunotherapy. According to a new study published in Nature, researchers have found a way to enhance the effects of this therapeutic approach in glioblastoma, a deadly type of brain cancer, and possibly improve patient outcomes.

20 Mar 2015

UZH researchers map spinal cord neurons involved in 'Gate Control Theory' of pain

Sensing pain is extremely unpleasant and sometimes hard to bear - and pain can even become chronic. The perception of pain varies a lot depending on the context in which it is experienced. 50 years ago, neurobiologist Patrick Wall and psychologist Ronald Melzack formulated the so-called "Gate Control Theory" of pain.

20 Mar 2015

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

Keystone meeting focuses on neuroinflammation, Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases

EHT expert paper raises important and unanswered questions about safety of wearable tech

Saccharin could potentially lead to development of drugs for difficult-to-treat cancers

Discovery can help stop emergence of age-related neurodegenerative diseases

Brief sleep can significantly improve memory performance

New study pinpoints major increase in subdural hematoma surgery by 2030

Hypermethylation serves as protective barrier inhibiting development of ALS, FTD

WHO calls for intensification of routine immunization services in all Ebola-affected areas

Milk protein comparison study may help improve infant formula

Healthcare systems miss life-saving treatments learnt on battlefield

Olive ingredients may prevent Alzheimer's disease

New methodology isolates functional differences between autistic, non-autistic brains

University of Manitoba professors, brain experts discuss how concussions affect the brain

New diet may significantly lower risk of Alzheimer's disease

RNA molecule can be manipulated to generate more neurons from neural stem cells

New MRI technique from NIST may help diagnose TBI in U.S. veterans

Study offers new insights into diagnosis and treatment of social dysfunctions

IUPUI professor receives grant to model human motor movements for Huntington's research

Researchers find way to enhance effects of immunotherapy in glioblastoma

UZH researchers map spinal cord neurons involved in 'Gate Control Theory' of pain

Industry Focus eBook - Cell & Gene Therapy (1st Edition) eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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