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.

Hiccups in a newborn could mean their brains are developing say researchers

Newborn babies seem to hiccup a lot and there are myths and legends surrounding such behaviour. Now researchers have found that with each such hiccup in a new born, there is a trigger of brain signals that help the baby’s brain figure out breathing. The UCL scientists published the findings of their study in the latest issue of the journal Clinical Neurophysiology.

12 Nov 2019

White noise background improves hearing, study shows

Noise is not the same as noise - and even a quiet environment does not have the same effect as white noise.

12 Nov 2019

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may affect 77 million Europeans by 2050

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in adults who are more than 50. A new study revealed that the condition might affect 77 million Europeans come 2050.

12 Nov 2019

Chronic psychosocial adversity impairs dopamine production

People exposed to a lifetime of psychosocial adversity may have an impaired ability to produce the dopamine levels needed for coping with acutely stressful situations.

12 Nov 2019

First comprehensive characterization of blood-brain, blood-tumor barriers in brain metastases

The human brain has some remarkable capabilities - including the ability to block cancer drugs from effectively reaching cancer cells in the brain.

12 Nov 2019

Virginia Tech professor wins $1.85 million NIH grant for sepsis research

One drop of blood contains 5,000 neutrophils, the most abundant type of white blood cell that is deployed by the human immune system. Throughout the entire body, a human has 25 billion of these foot soldiers that are relentlessly patrolling to fight invading pathogens.

12 Nov 2019

Collaborative study shows sex-specific processes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Recent studies have found a high genetic similarity of the psychiatric diseases schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, whose disease-specific changes in brain cells show an overlap of more than 70 percent.

12 Nov 2019

Preterm birth and institutional deprivation have similar effects on child's temperament

A child's temperament is affected by the early stages of their life. Researchers from the University of Warwick, the University of Tennessee, University of Southampton and Kings College London have found children who were born very preterm (under 32 weeks gestation) or very low birthweight (under 1500g) had similar temperamental difficulties in controlling their impulses, to children who experienced institutional deprivation.

12 Nov 2019

Understanding neural processes behind motor behaviours and learning

Researchers have provided new insight into the neural processes behind movement and learning behaviours, according to a study published today in eLife.

12 Nov 2019

Maternal pregnancy-related anxiety may affect infant brain responses to sad speech

A study has shown a potential link between pregnancy-related anxiety and how a baby's brains respond to sad speech.

12 Nov 2019

Parkinson's Foundation and Parkinson's UK form new partnership

Each year, Parkinson's UK, their supporters and partners invest more than £4 million into the Parkinson's Virtual Biotech to rapidly develop and test the most promising research findings with the aim of turning them into treatments that will transform the lives of people with Parkinson's.

12 Nov 2019

Retinal hyperspectral imaging shows promise for early Alzheimer's disease detection

Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia in the U.S., with approximately 5.4 million currently affected and an estimated 16 million by 2050.

11 Nov 2019

Regulating gut bacteria could calm chemo side effects, reduce cognitive problems

In a new study, scientists observed several simultaneous reactions in mice given a common chemotherapy drug: Their gut bacteria and tissue changed, their blood and brains showed signs of inflammation, and their behaviors suggested they were fatigued and cognitively impaired.

11 Nov 2019

Australia has limited capacity to move future Alzheimer's therapy into wide clinical use

As in other countries, the Australian health care system has limited capacity to rapidly move a future treatment for Alzheimer's disease from approval into wide clinical use, which could leave thousands of older people without access to transformative care if such a breakthrough occurs, according to a new study by RAND Australia.

11 Nov 2019

Lupus flare-ups could be linked to environmental factors

Researchers have found that alteration in the environment and atomospheric factors could be associated with organ specific flare-ups of lupus among patients diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erethematosus (SLE). The study results were presented at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting. The abstract was titled, “Environmental and Atmospheric Factors in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Regression Analysis.”

11 Nov 2019

Meditation could help you become less error prone

If you are forgetful or make mistakes when in a hurry, a new study from Michigan State University - the largest of its kind to-date - found that meditation could help you to become less error prone.

11 Nov 2019

Toddlers with fewer spoken words have more frequent, severe temper tantrums

Toddler speech delays and temper tantrums have long been assumed to go hand in hand, but no large-scale research had successfully backed up that assumption with data.

11 Nov 2019

Study may shake up certain conventional theories on workings of sense of smell

Is a pair of brain structures called the olfactory bulbs, which are said to encode our sense of smell, necessary? That is, are they essential to the existence of this sense? Weizmann Institute of Science researchers recently showed that some humans can smell just fine, thank you, without olfactory bulbs.

11 Nov 2019

Future drugs aimed at halting cell-inactivation process may help prevent Parkinson's disease

In neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson's disease, a specific group of neurons start to die one by one, causing movement problems and other symptoms. Scientists have long focused on finding out why these neurons die. Now it turns out, they might not even be dead.

11 Nov 2019

New recommendations aim to improve outcomes of Parkinson's disease patients

Since the discovery that the gut microbiome may play a role in the development of Parkinson's disease (PD), this fresh scientific approach has produced varying results. In this review published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease scientists compare results of current research and provide recommendations to increase the comparability and utility of these studies with a view towards improving patient outcomes.

11 Nov 2019

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

Hiccups in a newborn could mean their brains are developing say researchers

White noise background improves hearing, study shows

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may affect 77 million Europeans by 2050

Chronic psychosocial adversity impairs dopamine production

First comprehensive characterization of blood-brain, blood-tumor barriers in brain metastases

Virginia Tech professor wins $1.85 million NIH grant for sepsis research

Collaborative study shows sex-specific processes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Preterm birth and institutional deprivation have similar effects on child's temperament

Understanding neural processes behind motor behaviours and learning

Maternal pregnancy-related anxiety may affect infant brain responses to sad speech

Parkinson's Foundation and Parkinson's UK form new partnership

Retinal hyperspectral imaging shows promise for early Alzheimer's disease detection

Regulating gut bacteria could calm chemo side effects, reduce cognitive problems

Australia has limited capacity to move future Alzheimer's therapy into wide clinical use

Lupus flare-ups could be linked to environmental factors

Meditation could help you become less error prone

Toddlers with fewer spoken words have more frequent, severe temper tantrums

Study may shake up certain conventional theories on workings of sense of smell

Future drugs aimed at halting cell-inactivation process may help prevent Parkinson's disease

New recommendations aim to improve outcomes of Parkinson's disease patients

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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