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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.

Children exposed to smokeless tobacco in fetal life more likely to have higher blood pressure

Five to six year old children had higher systolic blood pressure if their mothers used snus, a moist, powdered smokeless tobacco that contains nicotine, while pregnant compared to children of mothers who did not use snus, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the open access journal of the American Heart Association.

16 Oct 2019

Drug may improve the safety of cannabis use in early pregnancy

Cannabis use during pregnancy may increase the risk of psychosis in children. Scientists have now found a drug that can reduce the effects of THC on the fetus.

16 Oct 2019

Subtle changes in mitochondrial DNA can have profound consequences for patient's health

Subtle changes in the DNA of mitochondria, the tiny power plants within cells, can have profound consequences for a patient's health.

16 Oct 2019

Good news for IBS sufferers as researchers identify “gut itch”

Researchers have identified receptors that cause the pain experienced in cases of irritable bowel syndrome.

16 Oct 2019

Hormone therapy linked to better cognitive status in older adult women

Estrogen has a significant role in overall brain health and cognitive function. That's why so many studies focused on the prevention of cognitive decline consider the effect of reduced estrogen levels during the menopause transition.

16 Oct 2019

Syphilis rates in patients with kidney failure found to be greater than general population

Syphilis rates, like other sexually transmitted disease rates in the United States, are soaring, and the first known study to examine syphilis rates in patients with kidney failure found an incidence greater than three times that of the general population.

16 Oct 2019

No more tater tots? California schools put healthier lunches to the test

When Miguel Villarreal addresses a crowded education conference, a group of school district administrators or a room full of curious parents, he often holds aloft a foil-wrapped package of Pop-Tarts — the heavily processed, high-sugar snack routinely sold on school campuses.

16 Oct 2019

Deaf infants of Deaf parents demonstrate strong gaze-following behavior

Eye gaze helps infants communicate. Through everyday interactions, eye gaze establishes a social connection between parent and child and is linked to early word learning.

15 Oct 2019

Machine learning system may offer warnings about negative side effects of drug-drug interactions

The more medications a patient takes, the greater the likelihood that interactions between those drugs could trigger negative side effects, including long-term organ damage and even death.

15 Oct 2019

Brain changes occurred independent of evolutionary rearrangements in the braincase

The human brain is about three times the size of the brains of great apes. This has to do, among other things, with the evolution of novel brain structures that enabled complex behaviors such as language and tool production.

15 Oct 2019

Amyloid-β protein misfolding proves to be strong risk prediction marker for Alzheimer's

In symptom-free individuals, the detection of misfolded amyloid-β protein in the blood indicated a considerably higher risk of Alzheimer's disease - up to 14 years before a clinical diagnosis was made.

15 Oct 2019

Mindfulness meditation appears to alter how the brain processes fear memories

Participating in an eight-week mindfulness meditation program appears to alter how the brain processes fear memories.

15 Oct 2019

AI detects over 95 percent of diabetic retinopathy cases

A new study presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmologists (AAO) on October 14, 2019 reports an astonishing 95.% yield when artificial intelligence (AI) is used to screen a real life population for diabetic retinopathy.

15 Oct 2019

Koalas protect their germline cells against retroviral attack

In a new study published in the journal Cell, scientists have found that koala DNA is protected against attack by retroviruses by a special type of immune response, which distinguishes foreign DNA from the host genome and destroys it before it can proliferate. This finding could help us understand both how koalas survive these infections, and the mechanics of adaptive gene change.

15 Oct 2019

New technique reveals how the brain responds to light signals received by the retina

In recent decades, scientists have learned a great deal about how different neurons connect and send signals to each other. But it's been difficult to trace the activity of individual nerve fibers known as axons, some of which can extend from the tip of the toe to the head.

15 Oct 2019

Individuals with higher cognitive abilities have more stable brain networks

The interconnections and communication between different regions of the human brain influence our behavior in many ways.

15 Oct 2019

A protein could play key role in neurodegenerative diseases, research suggests

Research led by Queen Mary University of London and the University of Seville around one protein's role in regulating brain inflammation could improve our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases.

15 Oct 2019

Widely available drug could reduce deaths in traumatic brain injury patients, major study shows

A low cost and widely available drug could reduce deaths in traumatic brain injury patients by as much as 20%, depending on the severity of injury, according to a major study published in The Lancet.

15 Oct 2019

Study: More aggressive blood pressure control can improve brain health in older adults

A major UConn School of Medicine study published in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation shows that more aggressively controlling daily blood pressure in older adults can improve brain health.

15 Oct 2019

Early diagnosis of infantile seizures crucial to brain development

When caring for a baby who is younger than 2 years old, you may focus on the usual development milestones like weight gain and head circumference. However, it may be worthwhile for pediatric specialists and parents to work together to identify if the baby has any neurological disorders.

15 Oct 2019

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

Children exposed to smokeless tobacco in fetal life more likely to have higher blood pressure

Drug may improve the safety of cannabis use in early pregnancy

Subtle changes in mitochondrial DNA can have profound consequences for patient's health

Good news for IBS sufferers as researchers identify “gut itch”

Hormone therapy linked to better cognitive status in older adult women

Syphilis rates in patients with kidney failure found to be greater than general population

No more tater tots? California schools put healthier lunches to the test

Deaf infants of Deaf parents demonstrate strong gaze-following behavior

Machine learning system may offer warnings about negative side effects of drug-drug interactions

Brain changes occurred independent of evolutionary rearrangements in the braincase

Amyloid-β protein misfolding proves to be strong risk prediction marker for Alzheimer's

Mindfulness meditation appears to alter how the brain processes fear memories

AI detects over 95 percent of diabetic retinopathy cases

Koalas protect their germline cells against retroviral attack

New technique reveals how the brain responds to light signals received by the retina

Individuals with higher cognitive abilities have more stable brain networks

A protein could play key role in neurodegenerative diseases, research suggests

Widely available drug could reduce deaths in traumatic brain injury patients, major study shows

Study: More aggressive blood pressure control can improve brain health in older adults

Early diagnosis of infantile seizures crucial to brain development

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

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

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