Feature Channels: Neuro

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers have discovered how a new epilepsy drug works, which may lead the way to even more effective and safer medications.

• share
• favorite_border

An international group of researchers has for the first time identified a set of 30 inherited recessive genes that play a role in intellectual disability, a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects as many as 213 million people around the world.

• share
• favorite_border

The Brain Health Summit will be the first meeting of medical experts, government agencies and other interested non-profit groups convening to discuss delayed cognitive recovery and postoperative delirium in elderly patients after surgery and anesthesia. The Brain Health Summit will explore the assessment and identification of at-risk patients, evaluate the need for educational materials for patients and their health care providers to increase patient safety, and promote advocacy efforts to fund research regarding these complications.

• share
• favorite_border

MINNEAPOLIS – According to new research, women who are overweight or obese may have an increased risk of the most common kind of stroke, called ischemic stroke, but a decreased risk of a more often deadly stroke, called hemorrhagic stroke. The study is published in the September 7, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study – the first to look at social media’s effect on memory – suggests posting personal experiences on social media makes those events much easier to recall.

• share
• favorite_border

Imagine if playing a new video game or riding a rollercoaster could help you prepare for an exam or remember other critical information. A new study in mice shows this link may be possible.

• share
• favorite_border

New research from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai using electroencephalography, or EEG, indicates that adults addicted to cocaine may be increasingly vulnerable to relapse from day two to one month of abstinence and most vulnerable between one and six months. The findings, published online today in JAMA Psychiatry, suggest that the most intense periods of craving for illicit substances often coincide with patients’ release from addiction treatment programs and facilities.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the University of Minnesota (UMN) have been awarded a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to launch the Baby Connectome Project (BCP). The BCP aims to provide scientists with unprecedented information about how the human brain develops from birth through early childhood and will uncover factors contributing to healthy brain development.

• share
• favorite_border

After receiving a stem cell injection into his spine, Kris Boesen, who was paralyzed from his neck to his toes after a car accident, is regaining movement in his extremities and hope for increased independence.

• share
• favorite_border

There may be a way to switch off the urge for compulsive drinking, according to a new study in animal models led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute.

• share
• favorite_border

Surprising findings specific brain cells as the key target

• share
• favorite_border

Using an experimental co-culture approach in which two different types of neurons from a mouse model of Huntington’s disease (HD) are grown side-by-side, connecting to form critically impacted circuits, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified a subunit of a protein that, when expressed, reverse the mutated gene effects responsible for HD.

• share
• favorite_border

Wearable sensing device tracks movements, ambient environment, bio-signals and more.

• share
• favorite_border

Results from an international, randomized study show that an implanted nerve stimulator significantly improves symptoms in those with central sleep apnea, without causing serious side effects.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the Institute for the Developing Mind at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles have analyzed current gene-disease findings to understand why people with neurodevelopmental and mental illness often have physical disorders.

• share
• favorite_border

The National Institutes of Health will fund six projects to identify biological factors that affect neural regeneration in the retina. The projects are part of the National Eye Institute (NEI) Audacious Goals Initiative (AGI), a targeted effort to restore vision by regenerating neurons and their connections in the eye and visual system. These projects will receive a total of $12.4 million over three years, pending availability of funds.

• share
• favorite_border

A number of common conditions are mistaken for multiple sclerosis (MS), a disabling central nervous system disease, say researchers at four academic medical centers across the U.S. in a study published online today in the journal Neurology.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study in the journal Neurology defines the current problems that lead patients to be misdiagnosed with MS and the possible reasons why they are misdiagnosed.

• share
• favorite_border

MINNEAPOLIS – Two epilepsy drugs, levetiracetam and topiramate, may not harm the thinking skills and IQs of school-age children born to women who took them while pregnant, according to a recent study. The research is published in the August 31, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. However, the drug valproate is associated with lower IQs in children, especially at higher dosages.

• share
• favorite_border

The National Institutes of Health have awarded Dr. Evgeny Pavlov, assistant professor of basic science and craniofacial biology at the New York University College of Dentistry , a $1.8M, five-year grant to study the phenomenon known as the “Mitochondrial Permeability Transition” to prevent strokes and heart attacks.

• share
• favorite_border

The phrase “it looks so good you can almost taste it” may actually be scientifically proven based on the findings of a new study by Stony Brook University researchers that explored how the brain processes stimuli predicting taste.

• share
• favorite_border

New study results provide insight into a long-observed, but little-understood connection between chronic pain and anxiety and offer a potential target for treatment. Researchers found that increased expression of PACAP -- a peptide neurotransmitter the body releases in response to stress -- is also increased in response to neuropathic pain and contributes to these symptoms.

• share
• favorite_border

WSU nursing faculty member Dr. Wendy Dusenbury has embarked on a new specialty practice. Because of her expertise in the area of stroke management, Dusenbury was invited to join an inaugural group of practitioners at the University of Tennessee to help test a one-of-a-kind mobile stroke unit. The specialized vehicle is the world's largest mobile stroke unit and contains the most advanced computerized tomography (CT) imaging capabilities ever in a mobile setting.

• share
• favorite_border

New UBC research has found that amplified electroencephalograms (EEGs) can produce diagnostic results of a brainwave associated with migraines and epilepsy that are comparable to the current, more invasive, standard--a discovery that could lead to better treatment and diagnosis of these conditions.

• share
• favorite_border

A University of Adelaide-led project has overturned the theory that the evolution of human intelligence was simply related to the size of the brain ─ but rather linked more closely to the supply of blood to the brain.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified 34 neural factors that predict adolescent alcohol consumption. The list, based upon complex algorithms analyzing data from neuropsychological testing and neuroimaging studies, was significantly more accurate —approximately 74 percent — than demographic information alone.

• share
• favorite_border

UAB pediatric neurosurgeons are working with their Vietnamese counterparts to improve epilepsy care in Vietnam as part of the Global Surgery Program at UAB and Children's of Alabama.

• share
• favorite_border

In a study of children with brain shunts at Children’s of Alabama, a University of Alabama at Birmingham investigational biomarker outperformed the current “gold standard” test for detecting bacterial infections in the shunts.

• share
• favorite_border

If you really want a drink right now, the source of your craving may be a pea-sized structure deep inside the right side of your brain, according to scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

• share
• favorite_border

New research published by the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring confirms the connection between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and cognitive impairment - in this case, among those who helped with search, rescue and cleanup efforts following the 2001 World Trade Center (WTC) attacks.

• share
• favorite_border

AUGUSTA, Ga. (Aug. 29, 2016) - Vesicles, fluid-filled sacs that brain cells make to trap amyloid, a hallmark of Alzheimer's, appear to also contribute to the disease, scientists report.

• share
• favorite_border

To remember events in the order they occur, the brain’s neurons function in a coordinated way that is akin to a symphony, a team of NYU scientists has found. Their findings offer new insights into how we recall information and point to factors that may disrupt certain types of memories.

• share
• favorite_border

A major new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that delivering integrated mental and physical healthcare in team-based primary care settings at Intermountain Healthcare results in better clinical outcomes for patients, lower rates of healthcare utilization, and lower costs.

• share
• favorite_border

Starting out as a college freshman can be hard.

• share
• favorite_border

Research led by SUNY Downstate Medical Center shows that, at the onset of puberty, the emergence of a novel inhibitory brain receptor, α4βδ (alpha four beta delta), reduces seizure-like activity in a mouse model of epilepsy.

• share
• favorite_border

Physical activity can help reduce cardiovascular disease and premature mortality in people with psychological problems. However, there is limited data on exercise in people with serious mental disorders, especially from low- and middle-income countries. This study explored whether complying with the World Health Organization recommendations of 150 minutes of moderate-vigorous exercise per week is related to psychotic symptoms or the diagnosis of a psychosis.

• share
• favorite_border

In a new study, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute offer new insights how calcium in mitochondria—the powerhouse of all cells—can impact the development of the brain and adult cognition.

• share
• favorite_border

Neuroscientists believe they have figured out how rats solve certain navigational problems. If there’s a “reward” at the end of the trip, specialized neurons in the hippocampus of the brain “replay” the route taken to get it, but backward. And the greater the reward, the more often the rats’ brains replay it.

• share
• favorite_border

A briefing featuring short presentations on key data shared at the 5th International Symposium on Focused Ultrasound. Experts will highlight clinical outcomes and advances in the use of focused ultrasound – a non-invasive therapeutic technology – to treat brain disorders, cancers, pain and hypertension. A Q&A and opportunity for interviews will follow.

• share
• favorite_border

A study published today in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine offers the most in-depth assessment yet of the safety and effectiveness of a high-tech alternative to brain surgery to treat the uncontrollable shaking caused by the most common movement disorder. And the news is very good.

• share
• favorite_border

People who experience job loss, divorce, death of a loved one or any number of life's upheavals often adopt coping mechanisms to make the situation less traumatic.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists from Harvard Medical School have identified a key instigator of nerve cell damage in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a progressive and incurable neurodegenerative disorder.

• share
• favorite_border

New research published in the UEG Journal1 has found that Crohn's disease sufferers experience slower response times than matched individuals that do not have the disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Treatment with MRI-guided focused ultrasound significantly improves tremors and quality of life in patients with essential tremor (ET), the most common movement disorder, according to a study published in the August 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM), were among an international group of investigators studying this new noninvasive treatment, which was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), based on this research.

• share
• favorite_border

There’s yet another reason to maintain a healthy weight as we age. An international team of researchers has identified eight additional types of cancer linked to excess weight and obesity: stomach, liver, gall bladder, pancreas, ovary, meningioma (a type of brain tumor), thyroid cancer and the blood cancer multiple myeloma.

• share
• favorite_border

People with high levels of four biomarkers in the blood may be more likely to develop a stroke than people with low levels of the biomarkers, according to a study published in the August 24, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists from Harvard Medical School have identified a key instigator of nerve cell damage in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a progressive and incurable neurodegenerative disorder.  Researchers say the findings of their study, published Aug. 5 in the journal Science, may lead to new therapies to halt the progression of the uniformly fatal disease that affects more than 30,000 Americans.

• share
• favorite_border

A smart helmet that can help diagnose concussions in football players is being developed by medical students at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso).

• share
• favorite_border

The Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) at Georgia State University has received a three-year, $970,704 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate how the human brain has evolved to support technological learning.

• share
• favorite_border

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) has been recognized by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC) as a Level 4 epilepsy center, providing the highest–level medical and surgical evaluation and treatment for patients with complex epilepsy.