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NJIT professor receives Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, joins circadian clock research project

Casey Diekman, associate professor of mathematics at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), has been named recipient of a prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award to the United Kingdom in Mathematical Biology.

6 Nov 2019

Rapamycin prevents age-related brain vascular deterioration, study shows

A just-released study by UT Health San Antonio and collaborating institutions shows age-related decreases in blood flow to the brain and memory loss can be modified with the drug rapamycin.

6 Nov 2019

Research identifies neural pathway involved in memory consolidation during sleep

A new study could supply the missing link in the story of the brain consolidates floating memories into a permanent structure while we sleep. The study, published in the journal eNeuro, shows how a brain region, appropriately called the nucleus reuniens, ‘goes between’ two other memory-linked structures – the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.

6 Nov 2019

New model based on dynamic neural code can help humans to localize sounds

One of the enduring puzzles of hearing loss is the decline in a person's ability to determine where a sound originates, a key survival faculty that allows animals - from lizards to humans - to pinpoint the location of danger, prey and group members.

6 Nov 2019

Study shows how the complex neural map of human brain operates

Fans of the blockbuster movie "Iron Man 3" might remember the characters step inside the digital projection of a "big brain" and watch as groups of neurons are "lit up" along the brain's neural "map" in response to physical touch.

6 Nov 2019

Neural networks predict which images optimally excite particular neurons

A new study published in Neuroscience reveals how computation can be used to find out the visual stimulation to which the brain cells respond most frequently and productively.

5 Nov 2019

Brain imaging shows links between self control and alcohol dependence

Excessive and harmful drinking is a key feature of an alcohol use disorder. The causes of substance use disorders are complex, but deficiences in certain aspects of self-control have been implicated.

5 Nov 2019

Researchers successfully treat pain using nanoparticles to deliver a non-opioid medication

The use of nanoparticles to deliver a drug into specific nerve cells has resulted in significantly improved pain relief.

5 Nov 2019

UCLA team finds that the brain processes fear differently after traumatic brain injury

Post-traumatic stress disorder in U.S. military members frequently follows a concussion-like brain injury. Until now, it has been unclear why. A UCLA team of psychologists and neurologists reports that a traumatic brain injury causes changes in a brain region called the amygdala; and the brain processes fear differently after such an injury.

4 Nov 2019

Some skin cancers may originate in hair follicles

Some of the most deadly skin cancers may start in stem cells that lend color to hair, and originate in hair follicles rather than in skin layers, a new study finds.

4 Nov 2019

Study uncovers cause for spatial-memory deficits in people with Down syndrome

Professor Juan Lerma's group, from the UMH-CSIC Institute of Neurosciences, in Alicante, has identified the gene called GRIK1, fundamental in the balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain, as one of the causes for people with Down syndrome having spatial orientation problems.

1 Nov 2019

Scientists discover gene mutation involved in paraplegia and epilepsy

Researchers have made an important discovery that could help scientists understand the cause of paraplegia and epilepsy.

1 Nov 2019

Sleep protects the brain against Alzheimer’s by washing it

Researchers have found that when in deep sleep, the brain waves within can start off a cleaning system within the brain that can protect it against Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative brain diseases. The study titled, “Coupled electrophysiological, hemodynamic, and cerebrospinal fluid oscillations in human sleep,” was published this week in the latest issue of the journal Science.

31 Oct 2019

Tumour conversion of glial cells when exposed to bowel cancer secretions

A new study has shown that glial cells of the gut (part of the enteric nervous system) when exposed to secretions from colon cancer cells are convert into tumours themselves. These altered glial cells then convert into promoters of tumours said the study researchers.

31 Oct 2019

Cerebrospinal fluid washes through the brain in rhythmic waves during sleep

New research from Boston University suggests that tonight while you sleep, something amazing will happen within your brain. Your neurons will go quiet. A few seconds later, blood will flow out of your head.

31 Oct 2019

Scientists identify protein that pulls the brake on nerve growth

During embryonic development, nerve cells form thin, long extensions, which they use to wire up a complex network, the brain. Scientists from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn have now identified a protein that regulates the growth of these extensions by pulling a brake.

31 Oct 2019

High-intensity workouts improve memory in older adults

Researchers at McMaster University who examine the impact of exercise on the brain have found that high-intensity workouts improve memory in older adults.

31 Oct 2019

Discovery of 'cellular bike couriers' could shed light on disease spreading mechanisms

A previously unknown component of our cells that delivers proteins like a bike courier in heavy traffic could shed light on the mechanisms that allow cells to spread in diseases such as cancer.

31 Oct 2019

Researchers identify genes linked to most severe symptoms of multiple sclerosis

In a bid to determine factors linked to the most debilitating forms of multiple sclerosis, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have identified three so-called "complement system" genes that appear to play a role in MS-caused vision loss.

From Johns Hopkins Medicine 31 Oct 2019

New study sheds light on artificial networks and human face recognition

Our brains are so primed to recognize faces - or to tell people apart - that we rarely even stop to think about it, but what happens in the brain when it engages in such recognition is still far from understood. In a new study reported today in Nature Communications, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have shed new light on this issue.

30 Oct 2019