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.

High-speed microscope records the passage of millisecond electrical pulses through neurons

Electrical and chemical signals flash through our brains constantly as we move through the world, but it would take a high-speed camera and a window into the brain to capture their fleeting paths.

19 Mar 2020

Research provides better understanding of how tremor happens

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital have improved our understanding of how tremor -- the most common movement disorder -- happens, opening the possibility of novel therapies for this condition.

19 Mar 2020

How Ritalin works: focus on benefits rather than costs of work

A new study published in the journal Science shows that brain stimulant drugs like Ritalin, often used to treat concentration problems in conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), work in a different way than commonly thought.

19 Mar 2020

Researchers find key molecule that helps neurons maintain information in working memory

Working memory, the ability to hold a thought in mind even through distraction, is the foundation of abstract reasoning and a defining characteristic of the human brain.

19 Mar 2020

Novel MRI contrast agent for early detection of brain metastases

A group of researchers led by Leif Schroeder from the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut fuer Molekulare Pharmakologie have found a way to detect metastases in certain types of cancer in the brain at an early stage, using only minimal amounts of contrast agent.

19 Mar 2020

Problems with processing visual impressions may be the real root of children’s problems

Visual processing is about how the brain perceives and processes the impressions of the eyes. Problems with processing visual impressions can also impact a variety of other skills.

19 Mar 2020

Cryo-electron microscopy helps visualize ball-and-chain inactivation of ion channels

Ion channels, which allow potassium and sodium ions to flow in and out of cells, are crucial in neuronal 'firing' in the central nervous system and for brain and heart function.

19 Mar 2020

Viewpoint: Could infectious pathogens play a role in Alzheimer's disease?

For researchers investigating Alzheimer's Disease (AD), a devastating neurodegenerative illness afflicting close to 6 million Americans, it is the best and worst of times.

18 Mar 2020

Drug from scorpion venom could offer hope for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

A research team led by Children's National Hospital faculty was able to "rescue" a pre-clinical model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in juvenile models, reversing motor skill deficits with the help of a novel drug derived from scorpion venom.

18 Mar 2020

Psychosis may be caused by problems with specialized nerve cells

A new Japanese study in mice published in the journal Nature indicates that the cause of the profound mental disturbance termed psychosis could be due to defects in the functioning of specialized nerve cells deep inside the brain, and due to some types of learning behavior. This could help understand how delusions arise in psychosis or schizophrenia, and eventually to develop therapies for these conditions.

18 Mar 2020

C-Path and Lundbeck join hands to improve scientific community's insight in Alzheimer's

The Critical Path Institute and H. Lundbeck A/S are proud to announce that they will work together to significantly improve the scientific community's insight in Alzheimer's disease through Lundbeck's contribution of a unique set of clinical trial data from more than 2,500 AD patients to the Critical Path for Alzheimer's Disease consortium's integrated database for qualified researchers across the globe to access.

18 Mar 2020

Using 'organs-on-a-chip' to study chronic inflammatory diseases

MIT biological engineers have created a multitissue model that lets them study the relationships between different organs and the immune system, on a specialized microfluidic platform seeded with human cells.

18 Mar 2020

Bacterial extracellular vesicles could combat antibiotic resistance

Children's National Hospital researchers for the first time have isolated bacterial extracellular vesicles from the blood of healthy donors, a critical step to better understanding the way gut bacteria communicate with the rest of the body via the bloodstream.

18 Mar 2020

Immune mechanism in the brain appears to play key role in the development of Alzheimer's

An immune reaction in the brain seems to play a major role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. In a way, it "adds fuel to the fire" and apparently causes an inflammation that, in a sense, keeps kindling itself. The study has now been published in the journal Cell Reports.

18 Mar 2020

Novel Alzheimer's risk genes affect microglial response to amyloid-beta

Our DNA determines a large part of our risk for Alzheimer's disease, but it remained unclear how many genetic risk factors contribute to disease.

18 Mar 2020

Women experience more chest pain, but lesser artery narrowing than men

Women with coronary artery disease that reduces blood flow and oxygen to the heart muscle (ischemia) have significantly more chest pain caused by plaque build-up, yet less extensive disease as compared with men, according to new research presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology.

18 Mar 2020

Odor alters how memories are processed in the brain, research reveals

In a new paper published in Learning and Memory, researchers from Boston University's Center for Systems Neuroscience reveal just how much power scents have in triggering the memory of past experiences--and the potential for odor to be used as a tool to treat memory-related mood disorders.

17 Mar 2020

Micro-CT scanning of 'Little Foot' skull reveals how human ancestor lived 3 million years ago

High-resolution micro-CT scanning of the skull of the fossil specimen known as "Little Foot" has revealed some aspects of how this Australopithecus species used to live more than 3 million years ago.

17 Mar 2020

Study provides new insight on neural basis of tremors

New insight on what happens in brain cells to cause tremors in mice has been published today in the open-access journal eLife.

17 Mar 2020

Cannabinoid 1 receptor expression displays sexually dimorphic pattern in the mouse brain

A major challenge in neuroscience lies in understanding how molecular and circuit differences in the brain synergistically contribute to sex differences in behavioral phenotypes. Sex differences in the brain may arise from the identity, distribution and relative abundance of cell types.

17 Mar 2020

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

High-speed microscope records the passage of millisecond electrical pulses through neurons

Research provides better understanding of how tremor happens

How Ritalin works: focus on benefits rather than costs of work

Researchers find key molecule that helps neurons maintain information in working memory

Novel MRI contrast agent for early detection of brain metastases

Problems with processing visual impressions may be the real root of children’s problems

Cryo-electron microscopy helps visualize ball-and-chain inactivation of ion channels

Viewpoint: Could infectious pathogens play a role in Alzheimer's disease?

Drug from scorpion venom could offer hope for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

Psychosis may be caused by problems with specialized nerve cells

C-Path and Lundbeck join hands to improve scientific community's insight in Alzheimer's

Using 'organs-on-a-chip' to study chronic inflammatory diseases

Bacterial extracellular vesicles could combat antibiotic resistance

Immune mechanism in the brain appears to play key role in the development of Alzheimer's

Novel Alzheimer's risk genes affect microglial response to amyloid-beta

Women experience more chest pain, but lesser artery narrowing than men

Odor alters how memories are processed in the brain, research reveals

Micro-CT scanning of 'Little Foot' skull reveals how human ancestor lived 3 million years ago

Study provides new insight on neural basis of tremors

Cannabinoid 1 receptor expression displays sexually dimorphic pattern in the mouse brain

Industry Focus eBook - Neurology/Neuroscience - 2nd edition eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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