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.

Deaf infants better at following adult's gaze than their hearing peers

Deaf infants who have been exposed to American Sign Language are better at following an adult's gaze than their hearing peers, supporting the idea that social-cognitive development is sensitive to different kinds of life experiences.

17 Oct 2019

Concussed athlete's brain may not fully recover even one year after return to play

How long does it take an athlete to recover from a concussion? New research has found an athlete's brain may still not be fully recovered one year after being allowed to return to play.

16 Oct 2019

Scientists use patient-derived neurons to develop new treatment strategy for Parkinson's disease

Northwestern Medicine scientists have used patient-derived neurons to develop and test a new strategy to treat Parkinson's disease by mitigating the effects of harmful genetic mutations, as detailed in a study published today (Oct. 16) in Science Translational Medicine.

16 Oct 2019

EPFL and Mass. Eye and Ear researchers are developing highly elastic hearing implants

Close to half a million people around the world suffer from a serious hearing impairment. In some cases, they can find relief with hearing aids, cochlear and other types of implants. Yet these devices do not help people whose inner ear is damaged or whose cochlear nerve does not function properly.

16 Oct 2019

Fluorescent tags help diagnose and monitor brain gliomas more effectively

A new study published online in the journal eBioMedicine on October 15, 2019, describes the use of an orally ingested agent called 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) to confirm the diagnosis of the aggressive brain tumor called glioma.

16 Oct 2019

Measuring development in young children: the DNA clock

Scientists have come up with a new discovery that could transform our understanding of how childhood growth and development are measured – the DNA clock. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, is the first paper to...

16 Oct 2019

New blood self-collection device quickly estimates a person's exposure to radiation

A University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix research team has developed a blood self-collection device to quickly estimate a person's exposure to radiation in the event of a nuclear accident or attack.

16 Oct 2019

Type of activity may have effect on brain's response to aging

Running and lifting weights might be a crucial step in helping your body delay the effects of aging, but those exercises may be only part of the story.

16 Oct 2019

Temple researchers win NIH grant to study HIV-related neuroinflammation in context of opioid addiction

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a Temple research team a 5-year, $3.27 million grant to study neuroinflammation following HIV-infection in the context of opioid addiction.

16 Oct 2019

Skin's circadian clock is independent of the eyes or brain, study finds

Squids, octopuses, cuttlefish, amphibians, and chameleon lizards are among the animals that can change the color of their skin in a blink of an eye. They have photoreceptors in their skin that operate independently of their brain. The photoreceptors are part of a family of proteins known as opsins.

16 Oct 2019

Brain's neural activity plays a role in human aging, life span

The brain's neural activity - long implicated in disorders ranging from dementia to epilepsy - also plays a role in human aging and life span, according to research led by scientists in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School.

16 Oct 2019

UCLA research identifies potential strategy that may halt Huntington's disease

A new study examining the role that star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes play in Huntington's disease has identified a potential strategy that may halt the disease and repair some of the damage it causes.

16 Oct 2019

Study aims to find whether lifestyle changes may counteract a person's genetic risk for dementia

A new study at Rush University Medical Center aims to determine whether a combination of lifestyle changes can protect memory and thinking skills in people at risk of developing dementia.

16 Oct 2019

Researchers identify circuit that links cigarette smoking and risk of developing diabetes

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have discovered a circuit in rats that links cigarette smoking and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a study featured on the cover of the October 17 issue of Nature.

16 Oct 2019

Spectrum Health, MSU researchers aim to find new or better treatments for "orphan diseases"

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a Michigan State University researcher a $2.1 million, five-year grant to search vast databases of existing drugs.

16 Oct 2019

Researchers identify neural pathways that underlie hunger-induced changes in taste preferences

Why does everything taste better when we're hungry? According to new findings from the National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Japan, not only does food taste sweeter when our stomachs are rumbling, but bitter food also becomes less difficult to eat--and both effects are moderated by a neural circuit in the hypothalamus.

16 Oct 2019

New test could detect abnormal forms of protein associated with tauopathies

National Institutes of Health scientists have developed an ultrasensitive new test to detect abnormal forms of the protein tau associated with uncommon types of neurodegenerative diseases called tauopathies.

16 Oct 2019

NIH-funded research consortium aims to advance treatments for frontotemporal lobar degeneration

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a five-year, multi-investigator research grant expected to total more than $63 million to Mayo Clinic and the University of California, San Francisco, to advance treatments for frontotemporal lobar degeneration

16 Oct 2019

Australian researchers discover link between itchy skin and gut pain

This is big news for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) patients: 11 percent of the world's population suffers from IBS, but the fight against chronic pain has taken a major step forward with scientists identifying receptors in the nervous system which cause the condition in the hope of developing effective treatments.

16 Oct 2019

Scientists decipher assembly line of glutamate receptors

Rapid communication of neurons in the brain, as well as the ability to learn, fundamentally rely on neurotransmitter receptors located in the contact sites of neurons, the synapses. The most important receptors in the mammalian brain are glutamate receptors of the AMPA-type that generate the electrical signal required for fast communication between neurons.

16 Oct 2019

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

Deaf infants better at following adult's gaze than their hearing peers

Concussed athlete's brain may not fully recover even one year after return to play

Scientists use patient-derived neurons to develop new treatment strategy for Parkinson's disease

EPFL and Mass. Eye and Ear researchers are developing highly elastic hearing implants

Fluorescent tags help diagnose and monitor brain gliomas more effectively

Measuring development in young children: the DNA clock

New blood self-collection device quickly estimates a person's exposure to radiation

Type of activity may have effect on brain's response to aging

Temple researchers win NIH grant to study HIV-related neuroinflammation in context of opioid addiction

Skin's circadian clock is independent of the eyes or brain, study finds

Brain's neural activity plays a role in human aging, life span

UCLA research identifies potential strategy that may halt Huntington's disease

Study aims to find whether lifestyle changes may counteract a person's genetic risk for dementia

Researchers identify circuit that links cigarette smoking and risk of developing diabetes

Spectrum Health, MSU researchers aim to find new or better treatments for "orphan diseases"

Researchers identify neural pathways that underlie hunger-induced changes in taste preferences

New test could detect abnormal forms of protein associated with tauopathies

NIH-funded research consortium aims to advance treatments for frontotemporal lobar degeneration

Australian researchers discover link between itchy skin and gut pain

Scientists decipher assembly line of glutamate receptors

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