Neuroscience News and Research

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Sensory nerves drive breast cancer growth and spread, study reveals

Cancer doesn't grow in a vacuum - each tumor grows in a particular microenvironment within the body and spreads through a tangled web of vasculature and nerves.

7 Aug 2024

Novel blood test could predict chronic lung disease in preterm babies within hours of birth

A blood test can help predict which preterm babies will go onto develop chronic lung disease, allowing for earlier diagnosis and more targeted treatments, according to a new study.

7 Aug 2024

Study advances understanding of complex neurological disorder

To effectively treat a disease or disorder, doctors must first know the root cause. Such is the case for developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs), whose root causes can be hugely complex and heterogeneous. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital demonstrated the value of DNA methylation patterns for identifying the root cause of DEEs, showing specific gene methylation and genome-wide methylation "episignatures" can help identify the genes that cause DEE. The findings were published today in Nature Communications.

7 Aug 2024

Study uncovers roles of certain brain cells in Alzheimer's plaque formation

A study in Nature Neuroscience found that both neurons and oligodendrocytes contribute to amyloid-β plaque burden in Alzheimer's disease, highlighting new therapeutic targets.

7 Aug 2024

How social drinking and dopamine influence alcohol-induced euphoria in fruit flies

Grab a drink with friends at happy hour and you're likely to feel chatty, friendly and upbeat. But grab a drink alone and you may experience feelings of depression.

6 Aug 2024

Brain chemical orexin plays key role in choosing exercise over treats

Should I go and exercise, or would I rather go to the café and enjoy a delectable strawberry milkshake? Until now, what exactly happens in our brain when we make this decision has been a mystery to science, but researchers at ETH Zurich have found the solution.

6 Aug 2024

Child Mind Institute leads effort to enhance fMRI

The Child Mind Institute has released a paper detailing their pioneering study in the journal Nature Human Behaviour titled, "Moving Beyond Processing and Analysis-Related Variation in Resting State Functional Brain Imaging." The research identifies significant challenges in the reproducibility and standardization of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) used to understand brain function and behavior - and proposes concrete solutions to move the field towards results that translate into real world impact.

6 Aug 2024

Rapid, noninvasive tool tracks neurons and biomolecules activated in the brain by psychedelic drugs

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a rapid, noninvasive tool to track the neurons and biomolecules activated in the brain by psychedelic drugs.

5 Aug 2024

Unraveling complex genetic and environmental landscape of schizophrenia

Patrick Sullivan, MD, FRANZCP, the Yeargan Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Genetics at the UNC School of Medicine, and researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, have developed a comprehensive outline of the genetics of schizophrenia.

2 Aug 2024

New optical neural chip technology reveals unexpected dopamine dynamics

DGIST (President Lee Kunwoo) Department of Brain Sciences Professor Lee Kwang and his team have discovered a new correlation between neural signaling in the brain and dopamine signaling in the striatum.

2 Aug 2024

Understanding brain coupling in conversations through linguistic context

When two people interact, their brain activity becomes synchronized, but it was unclear until now to what extent this "brain-to-brain coupling" is due to linguistic information or other factors, such as body language or tone of voice.

2 Aug 2024

Salk Institute receives CIRM funding for stem cell research on aging and neurodegeneration

The Salk Institute was awarded $3.6 million by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), one of the world's largest institutions dedicated to regenerative medicine.

31 Jul 2024

High diastolic blood pressure linked to increased migraine risk in women

Having high blood pressure, specifically high diastolic blood pressure, was linked to a slightly higher odds of ever having migraine in female participants, according to a new study published in the July 31, 2024, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

31 Jul 2024

Study reveals personalized brain connectivity in blind individuals

A study led by Georgetown University neuroscientists reveals that the part of the brain that receives and processes visual information in sighted people develops a unique connectivity pattern in people born blind. They say this pattern in the primary visual cortex is unique to each person - akin to a fingerprint.

31 Jul 2024

Spatial patterns of cortical microstructural change can be early indicators of Alzheimer's disease risk

Findings from a novel study in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, published by Elsevier, suggest that using a specialized diffusion weighted MRI scan to monitor the spatial pattern of individual cortical microstructural change in the brain may be a promising approach to characterize individuals who may be vulnerable to developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) prior to significant cognitive decline and irreversible neuronal damage.

30 Jul 2024

Maternal immune response to flu linked to fetal brain changes

A bad case of the flu during pregnancy can increase the risk for fetal neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder. But it's not the virus itself doing the damage; it's the mother's immune response.

29 Jul 2024

UCLA scientists awarded $300,000 grant to study glioblastoma microenvironment

Scientist Dr. Aparna Bhaduri, assistant professor of medicine and biological chemistry, and neurosurgeon Dr. Kunal Patel, assistant professor of neurosurgery, both part of the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, have received the 2024 Neurobiology of Brain Disorders Award from the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience, which supports innovative research by U.S. scientists who are studying neurological and psychiatric diseases.

26 Jul 2024

Study reveals enhanced electron transport in folded peptides

What puts the electronic pep in peptides? A folded structure, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

26 Jul 2024

Experimental cancer drug could make thinking easier for individuals with Rett syndrome

An experimental cancer drug could make thinking easier for individuals with Rett syndrome, a rare disorder linked to autism, according to new research from the University of California San Diego - a discovery that could lead to therapies for patients with other neurological conditions.

25 Jul 2024

Massive neuroimaging dataset advances stroke research

In this era of machine learning and artificial intelligence, harnessing large-scale neuroimaging can facilitate new discoveries in neuroscience research.

25 Jul 2024