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.

Soft diets may alter the brain's control of chewing, study finds

Incoming sensory information can affect the brain's structure, which may in turn affect the body's motor output. However, the specifics of this process are not always well understood.

9 Jun 2021

Nose-to-brain: Nasal delivery of biopharmaceuticals to the brain

Placing medications as close as possible to the site of the disease: This sounds completely believable in theory, but is unfortunately not so simple in practice. While this works well for many drugs via the bloodstream or the digestive tract, it does not apply to the brain.

9 Jun 2021

Research clarifies neuron-specific DNA methylation changes and characteristics in bipolar disorder

A research collaboration based in Kumamoto University, Japan has revealed the DNA methylation status of gene transcriptional regulatory regions in the frontal lobes of patients with bipolar disorder (BD).

9 Jun 2021

Childhood stress associated with early emergence of permanent molars

Early in her career neuroscientist Allyson Mackey began thinking about molars. As a researcher who studies brain development, she wanted to know whether when these teeth arrived might indicate early maturation in children.

9 Jun 2021

Researchers identify a common mechanism underlying diverse brain disorders

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified a common mechanism underlying a spectrum of epilepsy syndromes and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, that are caused by variations in a gene encoding a vital transporter protein in the brain.

9 Jun 2021

Researchers find brain alterations in obese children

Obesity is generally linked to poor eating habits and the availability of tasty, high-calorie foods. However, a new study led by researchers from the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research Unit in the Department of Radiology at Hospital del Mar and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, a center supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, has found that more elements are involved.

9 Jun 2021

Women now drink as much as men — and are prone to sickness sooner

Victoria Cooper thought her drinking habits in college were just like everyone else's. Shots at parties. Beers while bowling. Sure, she got more refills than some and missed classes while nursing hangovers, but she couldn't have a problem, she thought.

9 Jun 2021

Study examines brain scans of COVID-19 patients

In a Journal of Neuroimaging analysis of data obtained from 193 patients with COVID-19 who had brain and/or spine imaging and a lumbar puncture because of neurologic symptoms, investigators found that imaging results were related to the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the cerebrospinal fluid.

9 Jun 2021

QurAlis gears up for clinical development of therapeutic candidate, QRL-101

(BUSINESS WIRE)--QurAlis Corporation, a biotech company developing breakthrough precision medicines for ALS and other genetically validated neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the publication of an article in Cell Reports.

9 Jun 2021

Healthy behaviors can prevent dementia, finds study

A new Alzheimer's disease drug will hit the market soon, the first in nearly two decades. But some experts say the evidence for it isn't terribly strong and worry that it may cost a lot.

9 Jun 2021

Researchers map brain activity that flows when people learn a new skill

In a study of healthy volunteers, National Institutes of Health researchers have mapped out the brain activity that flows when we learn a new skill, such as playing a new song on the piano, and discovered why taking short breaks from practice is a key to learning.

9 Jun 2021

New study has implications for research and advancements in Alzheimer’s and related memory disorders

Scientists have observed for the first time what it looks like in the key memory region of the brain when a mistake is made during a memory trial.

9 Jun 2021

Researchers map potential toxicity of lanthanide metals used in medicine

Lanthanides are rare-earth heavy metals with useful magnetic properties and a knack for emitting light. Researchers had long assumed that lanthanides' toxicity risk was low and therefore safe to implement in a number of high-tech breakthroughs we now take for granted: from OLEDs (organic light-emitting displays)¬¬ to medical MRIs and even hybrid vehicles.

9 Jun 2021

Cyperus rotundus medicinal plant shows promise for novel COVID-19 therapeutics

Cyperus rotundus is a plant with a history as herbal medicine, containing many chemical substances frequently found to be drug-like in character: flavonoids, terpenoids, and the like. Compounds sourced from the plant have demonstrated some inhibitory activity against HIV by modulation of the CYP3A4 enzyme, and thus in a drug lead discovery effort, Kumar et al. (July 2021) computationally screened these natural compounds against MPRO in a paper recently published to Computers in Biology and Medicine.

9 Jun 2021

Physiotherapy program that uses Nintendo Wii console improves functionality, balance of stroke patients

A study by the Faculty of Physiotherapy of the University of Valencia (UV), in collaboration with the Autonomous University of Madrid, has shown that a physiotherapy programme that uses the Nintendo Wii console improves the functionality, balance and daily activities of patients who have suffered a cerebrovascular accident or stroke.

9 Jun 2021

AI-powered tool could accelerate the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases

A team of researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore, and the National Heart Centre Singapore have invented a tool that could speed up the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases.

8 Jun 2021

Weak brain signals may be an early warning sign of age-related neurodegenerative diseases

Weakened electrical signals in the brain may be an early warning sign of age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, suggests a study published today in eLife.

8 Jun 2021

Researchers identify genomic cellular map associated with hippocampal sclerosis

A multidisciplinary team led by researchers from the Spanish Research Council identifies the genomic cellular map associated with hippocampal sclerosis, a major histopathological condition of temporal lobe epilepsy.

8 Jun 2021

New resin acid molecules have promising properties as potential drugs against epilepsy

New molecules, developed by researchers at Linköping University, have promising properties as possible drugs against epilepsy.

8 Jun 2021

Researchers uncover new gene mutation responsible for cerebral cavernous malformation

Researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Beijing Tiantan Hospital have recently uncovered a new gene mutation responsible for the non-familial patients of cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) - a brain vascular disorder which inflicted about 10~30 million people in the world.

8 Jun 2021