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SDSU researchers awarded NIH grant to understand how autism plays out across the lifespan

In the public consciousness, autism spectrum disorder only affects children. In truth, ASD is a lifelong condition. But how it affects older adults is a gaping unknown in autism research. Now, a new and significant grant from the National Institutes of Health will help researchers at San Diego State University understand how the disorder plays out across the lifespan.

29 May 2015

Strategy-based cognitive training improves cognitive, psychological health after traumatic brain injury

In the first study of its kind, veterans and civilians with traumatic brain injury showed improved cognitive performance and psychological and neural health following strategy-based cognitive training. The Department of Defense-funded study, published this week in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, was conducted by an interdisciplinary team of cognitive neuroscientists, rehabilitation specialists, and neuroimaging experts from the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas.

29 May 2015

Study shows how people's expectation of pain affects the experience of pain

Picture yourself in a medical office, anxiously awaiting your annual flu shot. The nurse casually states, "This won't hurt a bit." But when the needle pierces your skin it hurts, and it hurts a lot. Your expectations have been violated, and not in a good way.

28 May 2015

Researchers investigate development of face perception in Japanese children

Face perception plays an important role in social communication. There have been many studies of face perception in human using non-invasive neuroimaging and electrophysiological methods, but studies of face perception in children were quite limited.

22 May 2015

Certain proteins may slow cognitive decline in people with Alzheimer's disease

Certain proteins may slow the devastating memory loss caused by Alzheimer's disease, according to a groundbreaking Iowa State University study.

21 May 2015

Parents share arduous, circuitous journey to get referrals for childhood epilepsy surgery

Having a child diagnosed with epilepsy can be a frightening and confusing time. Now, parents share their arduous and "circuitous" journey to get referrals for pediatric epilepsy surgery once their child's disease stops responding to anti-seizure medications. The UCLA study sheds light on the difficulties parents face obtaining specialty and sub-specialty care for their children during an already stressful time.

30 Apr 2015

Night shift workers classified as alert insomniacs have highest level of impairment in work productivity

A new study of night shift workers suggests that overnight occupational and cognitive impairment is more strongly correlated to insomnia than it is to sleepiness.

28 Apr 2015

Study: Cannabis consumers more prone to experiencing false memories

A new study published in the American journal with the highest impact factor in worldwide, Molecular Psychiatry, reveals that consumers of cannabis are more prone to experiencing false memories.

22 Apr 2015

Clinical trials show benefits of endovascular therapy for acute ischemic strokes

Anthony J. Furlan, MD, Chairman of Neurology and Co-Director of the Neurological Institute at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, who writes an accompanying editorial for five studies about endovascular stroke therapy published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM.org">NEJM.org April 17), says these randomized clinical trials represent a breakthrough in showing the benefits of endovascular therapy for acute ischemic strokes.

20 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

MEMREHAB trial shows that treatment with mSMT may be adversely affected by cognitive dysfunction

Kessler Foundation researchers published a subanalysis of their MEMREHAB trial, which shows that treatment with the modified Story Memory Technique (mSMT) may be affected by cognitive dysfunction. Investigators looked at the influence of processing speed on benefits of the mSMT, a 10-session cognitive intervention protocol shown to improve new learning and memory in individuals with MS.

13 Apr 2015

Understanding emotional processing deficit

Kessler Foundation researchers have linked the inability to recognize facial affect (emotion) with white matter damage after traumatic brain injury (TBI), an important first step toward understanding this emotional processing deficit. Their findings indicate a pattern of white matter damage and gray matter atrophy associated with this specific impairment of social cognition after TBI.

9 Apr 2015

Researchers report correlative links between family income, brain structure in children

Characterizing associations between socioeconomic factors and children's brain development, a team including investigators from nine universities across the country reports correlative links between family income and brain structure. Relationships between the brain and family income were strongest in the lowest end of the economic range - suggesting that interventional policies aimed at these children may have the largest societal impact.

31 Mar 2015

UCLA-led team validates first standardized protocol for tracking early signs of Alzheimer's disease

After six years of painstaking research, a UCLA-led team has validated the first standardized protocol for measuring one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease -- the atrophy of the part of the brain known as the hippocampus.

26 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

BAI researchers develop new brain image analysis method to better track amyloid changes

Researchers from Banner Alzheimer's Institute have developed a new brain image analysis method to better track the progression of beta-amyloid plaque deposition, a characteristic brain abnormality in Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in the March issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

20 Mar 2015

Researchers working to develop non-invasive diagnostic technique for detecting Alzheimer's early

The ELEKIN research group of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country is working to develop various non-invasive methodologies for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease.

18 Mar 2015

CMU scientists trace the brain processes that occur while learning new technical concepts

For the first time, Carnegie Mellon University scientists have traced the brain processes that occur during the learning of technical concepts. Published in NeuroImage, the findings reveal how new technical knowledge is built up in the brain during the course of different learning stages.

18 Mar 2015

Simple blood test could be developed to diagnose Alzheimer's disease, say UCLA researchers

UCLA researchers have provided the first evidence that a simple blood test could be developed to confirm the presence of beta amyloid proteins in the brain, which is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

12 Mar 2015

Multimodal approach to distinguish people with autism spectrum disorder

In an ancient Indian parable, a group of blind men touches different parts of a large animal to find what it is. Only when they share the descriptions of an ear, tail, trunk and leg do they know it is an elephant.

6 Mar 2015