April 2023

Researchers have published a study in Science Advances that looks into the genetic mechanisms behind the development of schizophrenia.

Students whose brainwaves are more in sync with their classmates and teacher are likely to learn better than those lacking this “brain-to-brain synchrony,” shows a new study by a team of psychology and education researchers. The findings, which appear in the journal Psychological Science, offer new insights into the learning process.

Scientists are testing a new personalized immunotherapy approach that is designed to work similarly to a vaccine by training the immune system to fight glioblastoma brain cancer.

People experiencing hearing loss who are not using a hearing aid may have a higher risk of dementia than people without hearing loss, suggests a new study published in The Lancet Public Health journal. However, using a hearing aid may reduce this risk to the same level as that of people without hearing loss.

Researchers have shown for the first time that in middle-aged men, Obstructive Sleep Apnea may cause early cognitive decline, even in patients who are otherwise healthy and not obese.

In a new study, teens who added walnuts to their diet for 100 days showed improvements in attention function, and for those with ADHD, frequent walnut consumption was associated with improvements in behavior. Researchers also noted an increase in fluid intelligence in those who frequently consumed walnuts as part of their daily diet.

Listening to or practicing music had positive implications on cognitive decline in older adults by stimulating the production of gray matter in key brain areas, a new study reveals.

Researchers have used machine learning to investigate the molecular and neural mechanisms that could underlie differences among individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Their paper, published in Nature Neuroscience, identifies different subgroups of ASD associated with distinct functional connections in the brain and symptomatology, which could be related to the expression of different ASD-related genes.

A novel imaging technique is capable of showing reactive astrocyte-neuron interactions. The technique sheds new light on Alzheimer’s pathologies and offers a potential breakthrough for the diagnosis and treatment of dementia.

An international team of 79 researchers has collaborated on a study published in Nature Medicine to delve into perivascular spaces (PVS), a poorly understood artifact seen in magnetic resonance imaging of cerebral small vessel disease, a leading cause of stroke and dementia.

Finally this week, new research findings show that probiotic supplementation could be a positive strategy to counteract oxidative stress and inflammation promoted by sleep loss.

A new study investigates how viewing visual art affects our emotions. The findings reveal how the aesthetic experience can impact the body’s emotional response.

New research has shown centenarians have distinct immune cell type composition and activity and possess highly functional immune systems that have successfully adapted to a history of sickness allowing for exceptional longevity. These immune cells may help identify important mechanisms to recover from disease and promote longevity.

Adding more magnesium-rich foods, such as spinach and nuts, to your daily diet can help reduce age-related brain shrinkage and stave off symptoms of dementia, a new study reports.

Scientists have found that the amino acid glycine can deliver a “slow-down” signal to the brain, likely contributing to major depression, anxiety and other mood disorders in some people. The discovery improves understanding of the biological causes of major depression and could accelerate efforts to develop new, faster-acting medications for such hard-to-treat mood disorders

A new method determines, with 91% accuracy whether a person is suffering from anxious or non-anxious depression from brain signals while the eyes are closed.

Researchers have found a way to assess consciousness without external stimulation, using a little-used approach where volunteers squeeze a force sensor with their hand when they breathe in and release it when they breathe out, resulting in more precise and sensitive measurements that may help improve treatment for insomnia and coma reversal.

Finally this week, new evidence suggests astrocytes can sense and react to change. These processes are key to memory formation and behavioral shifts.