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.

Irritable bowel disease heightens the risk of dementia

Scientists have long explored the link between the gut and the brain. Now, a new study shows that older adults with chronic inflammation of the digestive tract may develop dementia more than seven years earlier than those who do not have the condition.

26 Jun 2020

New German-Canadian lab decodes the brain with artificial intelligence

The new German-Canadian lab HIBALL aims to create a microscopic 3D map of functional neuroanatomy at the cellular level with the help of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence.

25 Jun 2020

Parkinson's disease breakthrough seen in mouse model

Researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found a way to create new neurons in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease. The severely debilitating and progressive neurodegenerative disease, as of now, has no cure, and this breakthrough could help hundreds of thousands of patients with the condition feel experts.

25 Jun 2020

GW researchers awarded $2.2 million to study chronic stress

The National Institutes of Health has awarded $2.2 million to researchers at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences for a study on chronic stress.

25 Jun 2020

Variation in natural speech is challenging for dyslexic adults

A new study brings neural-level evidence that the continuous variation in natural speech makes the discrimination of phonemes challenging for adults suffering from developmental reading-deficit dyslexia.

25 Jun 2020

Cities brace for ‘collision course’ of heat waves and COVID-19

Aaron McCullough brought his 3-year-old daughter, Ariana, to a playground in a leafy neighborhood of Rochester, New York, on a day in mid-June when the temperature topped out at 94 degrees.

25 Jun 2020

Researchers develop gold nanoparticles to reduce neuronal cell death

Gold nanoparticles have been developed in the laboratory in order to reduce the cell death of neurons exposed to overexcitement.

25 Jun 2020

Zika virus during pregnancy can hamper vital collagen development in babies’ brains

Zika virus can hamper vital collagen development in the brains of babies whose mothers were infected with the disease while pregnant, new research reveals, as the search for a vaccine continues.

25 Jun 2020

Fearing the deadly combo of COVID-19 and cancer

Three Tuesdays each month, Katherine O'Brien straps on her face mask and journeys about half an hour by Metra rail to Northwestern University's Lurie Cancer Center.

25 Jun 2020

New therapeutic approach for Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases

Xiang-Dong Fu, PhD, has never been more excited about something in his entire career. He has long studied the basic biology of RNA, a genetic cousin of DNA, and the proteins that bind it. But a single discovery has launched Fu into a completely new field: neuroscience.

25 Jun 2020

Protein profile in serum reflects COVID-19 severity

The wide range of manifestations of COVID-19 has continued to baffle investigators. Now, a new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in June 2020 shows that blood proteins in COVID-19 patients change over time, and these can possibly predict or reflect the severity of disease. More, they may present targets for treatment.

25 Jun 2020

Whole genome sequencing can improve diagnosis and treatment of patients with rare diseases

A research programme pioneering the use of whole genome sequencing in the NHS has diagnosed hundreds of patients and discovered new genetic causes of disease.

24 Jun 2020

Making AI systems to diagnose more like a doctor

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an important innovation in diagnostics, because it can quickly learn to recognize abnormalities that a doctor would also label as a disease.

24 Jun 2020

A stereo sense of smell subconsciously guides navigation in humans

"If in doubt, always follow your nose," said Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. Despite Gandalf's advice, humans tend to regard themselves as "microsmatic" - having a poor sense of smell.

24 Jun 2020

Study identifies world's first genetic and environmental risk factor for common childhood epilepsy

A new study of childhood epilepsy has identified the world's first environmental risk factor for the disease - maternal smoking in pregnancy, and discovered a new genetic association with the condition, pointing to potential new treatments for the disease.

24 Jun 2020

Cell signaling pathway may offer new drugs for tuberous sclerosis complex

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a neurological disorder causing non-cancerous tumors, called cortical tubers, to grow throughout the brain and body, as well as other conditions like epilepsy and autism.

24 Jun 2020

Tau protein modifications may be linked to heterogeneity in Alzheimer’s disease

A new study reveals a possible biological reason that Alzheimer's Disease (AD) progresses at different rates in different patients.

24 Jun 2020

Researchers develop a noninvasive technology to destroy cancer cells

An international research team led by Dr. Tali Ilovitsh of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Tel Aviv University developed a noninvasive technology platform for gene delivery into breast cancer cells.

24 Jun 2020

Ghost bill: UVA siphons couple’s tax refund to pay 20-year-old medical debt

The notice from the Virginia tax department puzzled a Charlottesville couple last October. It said their state income tax refund had been reduced because of an outstanding medical debt to the University of Virginia Medical Center. Instead of $220, they got $110.

24 Jun 2020

Neuroscientists shed new light on mechanisms responsible for familial migraine

Neuroscientists of the University of Zurich shed a new light on the mechanisms responsible for familial migraine: They show that a genetic dysfunction in specific brain cells of the cingulate cortex area strongly influences head pain occurrence.

24 Jun 2020