Neuroimaging News and Research

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Brains have different traits that affect anatomical and cognitive factors

Everyone has a different mixture of personality traits: some are outgoing, some are tough and some are anxious. A new study suggests that brains also have different traits that affect both anatomical and cognitive factors, such as intelligence and memory.

27 Feb 2016

Frontotemporal dementia often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease in many patients

Many patients showing signs of dementia are quickly diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease when they might actually suffer from frontotemporal dementia, delaying the appropriate treatment for them.

25 Feb 2016

Understanding the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder

Advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition and analyses over the last two decades have enabled the identification of neuroanatomical abnormalities in a range of mental disorders, however one question which has consistently surfaced is the extent to which the medications used to treat such disorders may accentuate or ameliorate these abnormalities.

17 Feb 2016

Electronic health records could help identify people who have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes

In 2012, a group of UCLA researchers set out to mine thousands of electronic health records for a more accurate and less expensive way to identify people who have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. The researchers got much more than they bargained for.

16 Feb 2016

TAU research highlights neuroprotective potential of protein-protectant drug candidate SKIP

Activity-dependent neuroprotective protein (ADNP), essential for brain formation, is frequently mutated in children on the autism spectrum. In older men and women, ADNP expression in the blood is correlated with cognition and further altered in Alzheimer's disease.

11 Feb 2016

Novel non-invasive method of vagus nerve stimulation reduces depressive symptoms

Researchers of a new study published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry report successful reduction of depressive symptoms in patients using a novel non-invasive method of vagus nerve stimulation, or VNS.

5 Feb 2016

Noninvasive FMRI may help evaluate effectiveness of new pain medications

New research may allow new, more effective and safer pain medications to reach patients who suffer from chronic pain sooner. According to a recent study published in Anesthesiology, the official medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), to measure the brain's neural response to pain, may be a viable tool for evaluating the effectiveness of new pain medications during the early stages of human drug development - providing the needed objective evidence to prevent the premature discarding of potentially beneficial therapies.

4 Feb 2016

Study finds no evidence of genetic overlap between schizophrenia risk and subcortical brain volumes

Over the last decade, important contributions to our understanding of schizophrenia have come from two different types of studies. Neuroimaging studies have found that certain parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus and amygdala, are smaller in people with schizophrenia - a devastating psychiatric illness with high heritability.

3 Feb 2016

Men with ASD have differences in brain connections

Research at King's College London has revealed subtle brain differences in adult males with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which may go some way towards explaining why symptoms persist into adulthood in some people with the disorder.

30 Jan 2016

Children with sensory processing disorder have altered pathways for brain connectivity

Researchers at UC San Francisco have found that boys and girls with sensory processing disorder (SPD) have altered pathways for brain connectivity when compared to typically developing children, and the difference predicts challenges with auditory and tactile processing.

27 Jan 2016

People suffering from chronic stress, anxiety may be at increased risk for depression and dementia

A scientific review paper warns that people need to find ways to reduce chronic stress and anxiety in their lives or they may be at increased risk for developing depression and even dementia.

22 Jan 2016

Study provides better understanding of familial risk for depression

Building on a 30-year, three-generation study of depressed individuals, their children and offspring, a study published in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging provides a better understanding of the familial risk for depression and the role neuroplasticity might have in increasing the risk of developing depression.

21 Jan 2016

Neuroscientists identify the brain network system that causes people to slip when anxious

As musicians, figure skaters and anyone who takes a driving test will know, the anxiety of being watched can have a disastrous effect on your performance. Now neuroscientists at the University of Sussex's Sackler Centre and Brighton and Sussex Medical School have identified the brain network system that causes us to stumble and stall just when we least want to.

20 Jan 2016

Mayo Clinic researchers explore how Alzheimer's disease targets memory-related brain networks

Alzheimer's disease relentlessly targets large-scale brain networks that support the formation of new memories. However, it remains a mystery as to why the disease selectively targets memory-related brain networks and how this relates to misfolded proteins seen by pathologists at autopsy.

19 Jan 2016

Graph theoretical analysis may help predict recovery of motor function after stroke

Graph theoretical analysis is proving to be helpful in understanding complex networks in the brain. Investigators in the Republic of Korea used a graph theoretical approach in examining the changes in the configuration of the two hemispheres of the brain in 12 patients after stroke.

18 Jan 2016

People with intermittent explosive disorder have smaller 'emotional brains'

Neuroimaging studies suggest that frontolimbic regions of the brain, structures that regulate emotions, play an important role in the biology of aggressive behavior.

13 Jan 2016

Naturally occurring changes in brain wiring can help patients avert onset of bipolar disorder

Naturally occurring changes in brain wiring can help patients at high genetic risk of developing bipolar disorder avert the onset of the illness, according to a new study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published online today in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

6 Jan 2016

Emotions affect brain's creative network, new study finds

The workings of neural circuits associated with creativity are significantly altered when artists are actively attempting to convey emotions, according to a new brain-scanning study of jazz pianists.

5 Jan 2016

Scientists unravel longstanding mystery of fundamental property of the brain

In new research published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a team of scientists from the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, in the Faculty of Medicine, unraveled a longstanding mystery of a fundamental property of the brain.

24 Dec 2015

Researchers awarded $16 million NIH/NINDS grant to create methods for detecting CTE during life

Researchers from Boston University, the Cleveland Clinic, Banner Alzheimer's Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, have been awarded a $16 million grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

23 Dec 2015