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Astrocytes play a key role in motor learning

From steering a car to swinging a tennis racket, we learn to execute all kinds of skilled movements during our lives.

10 Mar 2023

Symptomatic COVID-19 is associated with deficits in task-related cognitive function and psychiatric symptoms

Researchers conducted a prospective population survey, functional brain imaging, and a cognitive task performance test to determine whether a history of symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was associated with psychiatric and neurocognitive symptoms.

7 Mar 2023

Brain development in autistic Individuals differs from people with typical neurodevelopment, study confirms

A new study led by UC Davis MIND Institute researchers confirms that brain development in people with autism differs from those with typical neurodevelopment.

3 Mar 2023

PARK2 duplication or microdeletion and neurological diseases

In a recent study published in the Genes journal, researchers assessed the impact of PARK2 duplication or microdeletion on neurological diseases such as Parkinson's.

28 Feb 2023

Face blindness may be more common than currently believed

Face blindness, a mystifying condition that can trick us into believing we recognize people we've never met or make us fail to recognize those we have, has been previously estimated to affect between 2 and 2.5 percent of people in the world.

27 Feb 2023

The natural history of tau accumulation and the impact of disease stage and reference region on the magnitude and effect size of regional change

Researchers performed serial tau imaging with 18F-MK6240 to detect tau accumulation in cognitively unimpaired beta-amyloid negative Alzheimer’s disease patients as well as those with mild cognitive impairment who were Aβ+ at baseline.

27 Feb 2023

Are boys and girls wired differently when it comes to thinking?

Scientists have wondered whetherboys and girls think differently because their brains are different. A recent paper presents evidence that, indeed, girls do show meaningful differences in their brain circuits that could explain why their cognitive functions differ from those of boys.

23 Feb 2023

Research identifies potential treatment target for infantile spasms syndrome

New research from Tufts University School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences suggests that the timing of the death of certain inhibitory neurons in the brain shortly after birth may be at least partly to blame for infantile spasms syndrome (ISS), a rare but devastating form of epilepsy that develops most frequently between four and eight months of age but can emerge within weeks of birth until ages 4 or 5.

21 Feb 2023

Study reveals new clues to the underlying cause of FXS symptoms

In Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common cause of autism, sensory signals from the outside world are integrated differently, causing them to be underrepresented by cortical pyramidal neurons in the brain.

17 Feb 2023

Researchers use the drug fasudil to reverse two key symptoms of schizophrenia

A team from Nagoya University in Japan used the drug fasudil to reverse two common symptoms associated with schizophrenia: reduced density of pyramidal neurons and cognitive dysfunction associated with methamphetamine treatment.

17 Feb 2023

Novel experimental platform optically records neuronal activity during brain-wide fMRI in rodents

When we daydream or revisit memories, a large group of regions within our brain "lights up," or becomes more active.

16 Feb 2023

Brain cells may age faster in people with cocaine use disorder

A new study finds evidence from the DNA methylome that the biological age – different from the chronological age – of cells in Brodmann Area 9 of the prefrontal cortex might be greater in people with cocaine use disorder.

16 Feb 2023

Centrosome regulates nerve cell migration, study finds

Researchers from the DZNE have solved an important puzzle in neurobiology: the wiring and the movement of nerve cells are interwoven, but separately controlled.

15 Feb 2023

Cocaine use disorder leads to changes in the 'methylome' of a brain region

Scientists tend to view substance addiction as primarily a disease of the brain. When we enjoy sex, food, music, or hobbies, regions of our brain within the reward pathway are flooded with pleasure-inducing dopamine.

14 Feb 2023

Drug treatment in adulthood can counteract the behavioral abnormalities typical of autism

The behavioral disorders observed in autism are associated with a multitude of genetic alterations. Scientists from the Hector Institute for Translational Brain Research (HITBR) have now found another molecular cause for this condition.

14 Feb 2023

Active compound in Lion’s Mane mushroom improves nerve growth and memory

Scientists report that the active compound from an edible mushroom, Hericium erinaceus, can enhance nerve growth and boost memory.

13 Feb 2023

Fructose may be fueling the formation of Alzheimer’s disease

An ancient human foraging instinct, fueled by fructose production in the brain, may hold clues to the development and possible treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

13 Feb 2023

Study provides insight into the neural mechanisms of motor skill learning

A new study led by Cedars-Sinai investigators identified a marker in the brain that controls the ability to reach and grasp, a fundamental fine motor skill that is often impaired in motor or neural injuries such as a stroke.

13 Feb 2023

PTSD patients may repeatedly experience emotionally charged dreams during REM sleep

During periods of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, brain activity often resembles that of awake behavior. At times, the brain can actually be more active during REM sleep than when you're awake.

9 Feb 2023

Men with low sexual desire might benefit from kisspeptin

A new study in the journal JAMA Network Open aimed to analyze the mechanistic and clinical effects of the administration of kisspeptin in men with HSDD.

7 Feb 2023