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Study suggests prenatal origin for ‘young’ Parkinson’s disease

A new study published in the journal Nature Medicine on January 2020 suggests that Parkinson’s disease developing before the age of 50 years could be due to an abnormality in certain brain cells that remains dormant until the age of onset of the disease. It also indicates the potential usefulness of a specific drug to prevent this by correcting the brain cell disorder.

27 Jan 2020

Scientists reveal the damaging effect of Zika virus on a type of brain cell

The Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak in Brazil in 2015 sparked for many health agencies and scientists to study the pathogen, which has been linked to microcephaly and other fetal neurological disorders collectively known as Congenital Zika Syndrome.

27 Jan 2020

Stanford scientists complete first global census of cell surface proteins

Stanford scientists have completed the first global census of diverse proteins sprouting tree-like from the outer membrane of a cell. These cell surface proteins govern how cells interact with one another and how they assemble into tissues and organs such as hearts and brains.

24 Jan 2020

Discovery of mechanism by which Zika virus enters brain cells

Two independent studies published by Cell Press on January 16, 2020, report that the mechanism by which Zika virus enters brain cells has been identified and even more, exploited to prevent Zika infection and to kill cancer cells instead.

16 Jan 2020

Surgical removal of tumor may boost survival of patients with brainstem high-grade gliomas

For adult patients with brainstem high-grade gliomas -- one of the rarest and deadliest forms of brain cancer -- surgically removing the entire tumor may add many months or potentially years of survival beyond that offered by radiation and chemotherapy, according to results of a medical records study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

From Johns Hopkins Medicine 9 Jan 2020

New approach using deep learning could speed up brain image microscopy by 16 times

Textbook descriptions of brain cells make neurons look simple: a long spine-like central axon with branching dendrites.

8 Jan 2020

Dresden scientists identify newborn neurons in zebrafish

The zebrafish is a master of regeneration: If brain cells are lost due to injury or disease, it can simply reproduce them - contrary to humans where this only happens in the fetal stage. However, the zebrafish is evolutionarily related to humans and, thus, possesses the same brain cell types as humans.

7 Jan 2020

Lab-grown brain organoids may hold the answers to personalized treatments for glioblastomas

Lab-grown brain organoids developed from a patient's own glioblastoma, the most aggressive and common form of brain cancer, may hold the answers on how to best treat it.

26 Dec 2019

Oversleeping puts you at risk of stroke

Stroke is one of the leading causes of mortality in the United States. A new study has found that sleeping too much, such as sleeping nine hours a day and having frequent naps may increase the risk of this cardiovascular disease.

15 Dec 2019

Study could help improve GENUS to become a therapeutic approach for Alzheimer's disease

The sweeping extent to which increasing 40Hz "gamma" rhythm power in the brain can affect the pathology and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in mouse models has been surprising, even to the MIT neuroscientists who've pioneered the idea. So surprising, in fact, they can't yet explain why it happens.

11 Dec 2019

Scientists create artificial neurons that help cure chronic diseases

Artificial brain cells could now be implanted in the brain to repair the damage caused by chronic diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, thanks to a team of scientists who created bionic neurons that work like the real thing.

4 Dec 2019

Study reveals clue to preventing addiction relapse

With any addiction in which a user has successfully resisted a chemical, activity or substance, relapse is vexing. And with opioids, it's often deadly. Fatal overdoses following relapse from an opioid addiction is reaching epidemic proportions.

2 Dec 2019

Study sheds light on how Zika virus causes microcephaly in newborns

A new study led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine revealed how in utero Zika virus infection can lead to microcephaly in newborns. The team discovered that the Zika virus protein NS4A disrupts brain growth by hijacking a pathway that regulates the generation of new neurons.

14 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

Researchers identify potential drug targets for glioblastoma

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified 10 tumor-specific potential drug targets for the brain tumor glioblastoma. The results are presented in the scientific journal Cell Reports.

5 Nov 2019

Alzheimer's Association's 2020 Zenith Fellows awards support new approaches to treatment

The Alzheimer's Association today announced a new investment of more than $1.3 million in three research projects focused on more effective treatments and protection factors for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

2 Nov 2019

Scientists uncover how brain cells respond to and recover from lack of nutrition

We all know that food is essential to healthy development of the brain and body, especially in the earliest stages of life. But exactly how early brain growth is affected by nutrition is not as well understood, especially on a cellular level.

25 Oct 2019

Unhealthy gut microbiome reduces brain synaptic pruning, impairs learning

A new study by Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University has come up with more explanations of how gut microbes communicate with the brain neurons. The study, published in the journal Nature on October 23, 2019, examined the brains of mouse models and found that when the gut microbiome is significantly reduced, there are changes in gene expression in the brain’s microglial cells.

24 Oct 2019

New NIH BRAIN Initiative awards accelerate the pace of neuroscience research

Scientists have been developing astounding new tools for exploring neural circuits that underlie brain function throughout the first five years of the National Institutes of Health's Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative.

18 Oct 2019

Rare sex-specific brain cells found in male and female mice

Caltech researchers have discovered rare brain cell types that are unique to male mice and other types that are unique to female mice. These sex-specific cells were found in a region of the brain that governs both aggression and mating behaviors.

17 Oct 2019