Weekly Neuroscience Update

August 12, 2017Leave a comment

Brain scans from a 38-year-old, left, and a 73-year-old.

Researchers are embarking on a new study to answer how some people are able to stay sharper than others as they age.

Neurons in the brain that produce the pleasure-signaling neurotransmitter dopamine also directly control the brain’s circadian center, or “body clock” – the area that regulates eating cycles, metabolism and waking/resting cycles – a key link that possibly affects the body’s ability to adapt to jet lag and rotating shift work, a new study has demonstrated.

A molecule produced by insulating glial cells facilitates the functional wiring of brain cells involved in motor coordination.

Using the latest MRI scanning procedures, a team of researchers has shown how certain disorders of the hippocampus can initiate a drug resistant epilepsy. The team has discovered biomarkers that – if used for screening – could massively improve treatment options for epilepsy. The researchers have published their results in the online journal eLife.

A new study reveals the role circular RNA plays in brain function, including synaptic transmission and sensorimotor gating.

Depression has been shown to alter the structure of the brain’s white matter, which contains the circuitry that allows brain cells to communicate with each other, and which underpins brain function.

According to a new Nature study, in order for our taste system to work, the connection between neurons and taste bud cells have to rewire correctly each time.

A new optogenetic method called Optobow is helping researchers to discover specific and individual components of functional neural networks in the living brain. A Nature Communications report states this new method can help provide more detailed insights into both brain function and structure.

A neuroimaging study reveals people who report widespread pain have increased gray matter and functional connectivity in sensory and motor areas of the brain.

Finally this week, a large scale SPECT imaging study reveals women’s brains are significantly more active in more regions than males, including the prefronal cortex and limbic areas. Visual and areas associated with coordination were more active in males, researchers noted.

Weekly Neuroscience Update

April 28, 2017April 28, 2017Leave a comment

According to researchers, Parkinson’s disease may start in the gut and spread to the brain via the vagus nerve.

You probably know that walking does your body good, but it’s not just your heart and muscles that benefit. Researchers found that the foot’s impact during walking sends pressure waves through the arteries that significantly modify and can increase the supply of blood to the brain.

An international collaboration of neuroscientists has shed light on how the brain helps us to predict what is coming next in speech.

A recently published study, which combines four studies of extreme longevity, has identified new rare variants in chromosomes 4 and 7 associated with extreme survival and with reduced risks for cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists have discovered that neurons in brain regions that store memory can form networks in the absence of synaptic activity.

A new study reports estrogen fluctuations can alter brain circuit activation in women with a variant of a specific gene.

Your brain may not be the same age as your body, and an “older” brain may be linked to an increased risk of dying at a younger age, a new study finds.

Zapping the brain with just a bit of electricity at the right time may help to improve memory function in some people, according to a new study.

Gentle noise stimulation can enhance sleep quality and improve memory in older people, a new study reports.

Like air-traffic controllers scrambling to reconnect flights when a major hub goes down, the brain has a remarkable ability to rewire itself after suffering an injury. However, maintaining these new connections between brain regions can strain the brain’s resources, which can lead to serious problems later, including Alzheimer’s Disease, according to researchers.

Researchers have discovered a new cellular mechanism that may be a root cause of multiple sclerosis.

Combining brain training programs with transcranial direct current simulation can lead to cognitive improvements and better working memory, a new study reports.

Finally this week, a new video game is helping to speed up neuroscience research by allowing players to reconstruct the architecture of neurons.

Weekly Neuroscience Update

March 26, 2017Leave a comment

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Different people age at different rates and the same goes for their brains, according to scientists who have discovered a link between a common genetic variant and an increased risk for neurodegenerative diseases. The new biomarker becomes active around age 65 and may provide a new means of evaluating, preventing, or treating Alzheimer’s and other age-related brain disorders.

According to a new study, adolescence may be a crucial period for remodeling of the human brain.

The brains of those who are born blind make new connections in the absence of visual information, resulting in enhanced, compensatory abilities such as a heightened sense of hearing, smell and touch, as well as cognitive functions (such as memory and language) according to a new study.

Scientists have developed a new genetic test for Alzheimer’s risk that can be used to predict the age at which a person will develop the disease.

Using a satnav to get to your destination ‘switches off’ parts of the brain that would otherwise be used to simulate different routes, reveals new research.

Researchers trace the Pavlovian response to a small cluster of neurons in the striatum.

Finally this week, a new neuroimaging study reveals how different parts of the brain represent an object’s location in depth compared to its 2D location.

Weekly Neuroscience Update

March 17, 2017Leave a comment

image credited to Per Uvdal

New technology allows researchers to produce images that predate the formation of amyloid beta in the brain. The findings have prompted researchers to suggest stabilizing the protein, rather than attempting to limit it, in order to reduce Alzheimer’s symptoms.

A new study shines light on the process by which head injuries lead to brain disease later in life.

A new type of long-term potentiation that is controlled by kainate receptors has been reported by scientists. The finding could have major benefits to understanding how the brain works and what goes wrong in neurodegenerative disorders such as epilepsy and dementia.

According to researchers, axons coordinate each other’s destruction, contributing to neurodegeneration.

Dendrites are not just passive conduits, a new study reports. The finding could change scientists’ understanding of how the brain works, and lead to new approaches for treating neurological disorders.

Structural differences have been found in the cerebral cortex of patients with depression, and these differences normalize with appropriate medication, a new study reports.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet collaborating in the large-scale Karolinska Schizophrenia Project are taking an integrative approach to unravel the disease mechanisms of schizophrenia. In the very first results now presented in the prestigious scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry, the researchers show that patients with schizophrenia have lower levels of the vital neurotransmitter GABA as well as changes in the brain’s immune cells.

Finally this week, researchers have identified a genetic variant that can accelerate normal brain aging in older people by up to 12 years.

Weekly Neuroscience Update

December 23, 2016December 23, 2016Leave a comment

According to researchers, endurance runners appear to have greater functional connectivity in their brains that those who don’t exercise as much.

New research reveals that children begin using olfactory information to help guide their responses to emotionally-expressive faces at about five years of age. The findings advance understanding of how children integrate different types of sensory information to direct their social behaviour.

A new study explores how neurons adapt their function to respond to stimuli quickly.

A distinctive neural signature found in the brains of people with dyslexia may explain why these individuals have difficulty learning to read, according to a new study from MIT neuroscientists.

Brain connections that play a key role in complex thinking skills show the poorest health with advancing age, new research suggests.

Researchers have identified immune cells in the membranes around the brain that could be a ‘missing link’ in the gut-brain axis. The immune cells also appear to have a positive impact on recovery following spinal cord injury.

Therapeutic hypothermia following a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) significantly improves survival rate, a new study reports.

An enzyme found in the fluid around the brain and spine is giving researchers a snapshot of what happens inside the minds of Alzheimer’s patients and how that relates to cognitive decline.

Finally this week,a new study looks at the way in which noise sensitivity is manifested due to changes in the way in which the brain processes auditory information.

Weekly Neuroscience Update

November 18, 2016Leave a comment

A new study looks at the role the visual system plays in our food decisions.

Neurons found in the human eye naturally display a form of error correction in the collective visual signals they send to the brain, according to a new study in PLOS Computational Biology.

Researchers have created a new optical illusion which helps reveal how our brains determine the material properties of objects – such as whether they are transparent, shiny, matte or translucent – just from looking at them.

Genetic circuits can be isolated within individual synthetic cells, researchers report.

A new study identifies a sub region of the brain that works to form a particular kind of memory: fear-associated with a specific environmental cue or “contextual fear memory.”

Researchers have revealed multiple functions of visual attention, the process of selecting important information from retinal images.

As you age, you may find it more difficult to focus on certain tasks. But while distractions can be frustrating, they may not be as bad as we think. In a review published November 15 in Trends in Cognitive Sciences researchers suggest that there may be some benefits to reduced focus, especially in people over 50.

Consuming a high fat diet during adolescence could contribute to cognitive impairment as an adult, a new study reports.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Georgia has developed a new technology that may help scientists better understand how an individual cell synchronizes its biological clock with other cells.

A new study could be the first step to developing drugs that targets carbonic anhydrase in mitochondria to help protect against aging and neurodegeneration.

Researchers report altering synaptic plasticity leads to a computational switch in a hippocampal synapse which turns the presynaptic neuron turns into “detonator” mode, causing it to fire more readily.

Finally this week, a new study has revealed how three important brain signaling chemicals affect the way that we handle uncertainty.

Weekly Neuroscience Update

September 16, 2016Leave a comment

A new study sheds light on how some older people retain youthful thinking abilities and the brain circuits that support those abilities.

Relying on clinical symptoms of memory loss to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease may miss other forms of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s that don’t initially affect memory, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.

Bilingual people may have a cognitive advantage when it comes to maintaining attention and focus, a new study reports.

An EU-funded project is getting close to building combined brain and neuromuscular computer models to predict the progression of Parkinson’s and ensure the prescription of the correct medication.

A new study investigates what happens when we multitask and why it’s not such a good idea to drive and use a phone at the same time.

Researchers have found a switch that redirects helper cells in the peripheral nervous system into “repair” mode, a form that restores damaged axons.

A new study offers insight into the neurological processes involved in fear and anxiety.

According to researchers, a simple MRI brain scan could help diagnose people with a common cognitive disorder.

A new mathematical model could improve understanding of memory consolidation during deep sleep.

High stress between the ages of 5 and 8 is biologically embedded, posing mental health risks decades later into adult life, suggests US brain scans study.

Finally this week, a new paper reports on how understanding brain function has become more than a brain science.

Weekly Neuroscience Update

August 5, 2016August 5, 2016Leave a comment

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Regions with significant phoneme classification at the NoNoise condition for each group. NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to the researchers/Nature Communications.

Researchers have pinpointed the specific part of the brain that older adults rely on to differentiate speech sounds in background noise, which could revolutionise the treatment of hearing loss.

New research has identified how cells protect themselves against ‘protein clumps’ known to be the cause of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease.

Transcranial alternating current stimulation may help to improve memory when targeted to a specific kind of brain activity achieved during sleep.

Researchers in the US and Australia have made a breakthrough discovery in the international quest to discover a new and potentially effective vaccine targeting the pathological proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

A new study identifies different brain regions that become active when a strategy of categorisation is applied.

Researchers have developed a new machine learning system that analyses the entire human genome to predict which genes may cause autism spectrum disorder, raising the number of genes that could be linked to the disorder from 65 to 2,500.

Results from a study published in the online publication Nature Genetics finds 15 genomic regions that are significantly associated with a diagnosis of depression.

According to researchers, age related changes in the organization of neural networks when performing short term memory tasks may help to compensate for other aspects of brain aging.

Researchers report smoking related deficits in dopamine return to normal three months after quitting.

Genetic changes associated with Parkinson’s disease have been found in liver, fat, immune and developmental cells, a new study reports.

Brain imaging, twin studies and transcriptome data reveal genetic relationships between lobes.

Finally this week, a new study suggests regular physical activity may lead to greater hippocampal volume and could stave off dementia, especially in older people.

Weekly Neuroscience Update

July 3, 2015July 3, 2015Leave a comment

Reductions in cortical surface area and increases in cortical thickness in Down syndrome relative to typical controls. Panel A shows that the cortex surface area is lower in Down syndrome; panel B shows that the cortex is thicker in Down syndrome brains. Small red circles indicate the approximate locations where cortical surface area and thickness were most different between brains of participants with Down syndrome and brains of typically developing participants. Image credit: Lee et al., National Institute of Mental Health

The thickness of the brain’s cerebral cortex could be a key to unlocking answers about intellectual development in youth with Down Syndrome. It could also provide new insights to why individuals with this genetic neurodevelopmental disorder are highly susceptible to early onset Alzheimer’s Disease later in life.

In a study published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers report a surprising finding that challenges current anatomy and histology textbook knowledge: Lymphatic vessels are found in the central nervous system where they were not known to exist.

Changes in the vaginal microbiome are associated with effects on offspring gut microbiota and on the developing brain, according to a new study published in Endocrinology, a journal of the Endocrine Society.

Researchers discover that a protein called Taranis could hold the key to a good night’s sleep.

A team of researchers has now been able to demonstrate in a study that the bonding hormone oxytocin inhibits the fear center in the brain and allows fear stimuli to subside more easily. This basic research could also usher in a new era in the treatment of anxiety disorders.

Early life stress affects cognitive functioning in low-income children.

Researchers at Monash University have found physical differences in the brains of people who respond emotionally to others’ feelings, compared to those who respond more rationally, in a study published in the journal NeuroImage.

Having a stroke ages a person’s brain function by almost eight years, new research finds — robbing them of memory and thinking speed as measured on cognitive tests. In another pilot study, women who experience more hot flashes, particularly while sleeping, during the menopause transition are more likely to have brain changes reflecting a higher risk for cerebrovascular disease, such as stroke and other brain blood flow problems.

Researchers discover the anatomic reasons for the persistence of musical memory in Alzheimer patients.

A new study on successful ageing has linked better memory performance in older age with patterns of neural compensation. The research sheds light on how memory can remain efficient in spite of common age-related neural decline.

There are more boys than girls diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Now, a study shows that behaviors relevant to autism are more frequently observed in boys than in girls, whether they’re at risk of autism or not. Meanwhile an early intervention program for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder improves their intellectual abilities and reduces autism symptoms – and those results persist years after the children originally received treatment, according to a recent study. And in another study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, a team of researchers has shown for the first time that children with autism spectrum disorder who are overly sensitive to sensory stimuli have brains that react differently than those with the disorder who don’t respond so severely to noises, visual stimulation and physical contact.

The stress hormone cortisol strengthens memories of scary experiences.

Finally, this week, researchers have found that people who speak more than one language have twice as much brain damage as unilingual people before they exhibit symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. It’s the first physical evidence that bilingualism delays the onset of the disease.

Weekly Neuroscience Update

March 7, 2015Leave a comment

Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientists have identified a new pathway by which several brain areas communicate within the brain’s striatum.

An over-active habit system may be at the root of many psychological problems involving repetitive behaviours like OCD, alcoholism and binge eating, new research suggests. The neuroimaging study, which is published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, found that people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) had difficulty controlling their habits.

A new study suggests that the right hemisphere of the brain may be able to assist a damaged left hemisphere in protecting visual attention after a stroke.

Computer based ‘brain training’ can boost memory and thinking skills in older adults, but many programs promoted by the $1 billion brain training industry are ineffective, reveals new research by the University of Sydney.

Researchers have found that navigational brain cells that help sense direction are as electrically active during deep sleep as they are during wake time—and have visual and vestibular cues to guide them. Such information could be useful in treating navigational problems, among the first major symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders.

New technology could help researchers advance blood biomarker capabilities that show changes in low concentrations of specific proteins present following a neurological injury.

Our brains generate a constant hum of activity: As neurons fire, they produce brain waves that oscillate at different frequencies. Long thought to be merely a byproduct of neuron activity, recent studies suggest that these waves may play a critical role in communication between different parts of the brain.

Thousands of genetic “dimmer” switches, regions of DNA known as regulatory elements, were turned up high during human evolution in the developing cerebral cortex, according to new research from the Yale School of Medicine.

People with anorexia nervosa and with body dysmorphic disorder have similar abnormalities in their brains that affect their ability to process visual information, a new study reveals.

Finally this week, overall fluid intelligence — the ability to analyze information, engage in critical thinking, and solve problems — is thought to peak in early adulthood, but a new study suggests that different aspects of fluid intelligence peak at different ages.