Weekly Neuroscience Update

sleep

Sleep disturbances and long sleep duration are both associated with an increased risk for inflammation, a new study reports.

Abnormalities in brain regions involved in forming insight may help explain why some people with anorexia nervosa have trouble recognising their dangerous, dysfunctional eating habits.

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

Researchers have identified – and shown that it may be possible to control – the mechanism that leads to the rapid build-up of the disease-causing ‘plaques’ that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

Using data from the largest ever genetic study of schizophrenia, researchers have shed light on the role of the immune system.

Using data from the Human Connectome Project, researchers have created a multimodal map of the human cortex that combines data from cortical architecture, function, connectivity, and topography. The map, detailed today (July 20) in Nature, identifies 180 brain areas, 97 of which are new to neuroscience.

A new study reports on how sensory neurons work together to transmit itch signals from the skin, via the spinal cord and to the brain.

A combination of transcranial magnetic stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation may help in the rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injury, according to a new patient study conducted at the BioMag laboratory at the Helsinki University Hospital.

Researchers have discovered an interaction in neurons that contributes to Parkinson’s disease.

In a new study published in JAMA Neurology, researchers find stronger reason to be concerned about the long term effects of head injuries, particularly when it comes to Parkinson’s disease, which recently contributed to the death of Muhammad Ali.

Finally this week, researchers have identified how different parts of the brain interact with each other at different times in order to discover how intellect works.

 

 

Weekly Neuroscience Update

japanesesupe

Researchers in Japan have used the powerful K computer, the world’s fastest supercomputer, to simulate the complex neural structure of our brain.

Heavy drinking as a teenager is the single biggest risk factor for developing dementia unusually early, according to new research. A study of almost 500,000 Swedish men identified “alcohol intoxication” as a late adolescent as the most serious of nine separate risk factors for young onset dementia (YOD) – that is, dementia before reaching 65.

For the first time, researchers have documented irregular brain activity within the first 24 hours of a concussive injury, as well as an increased level of brain activity weeks later—suggesting that the brain may compensate for the injury during the recovery time. The findings are published in the September issue of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.

New findings may help neuroscientists pinpoint better targets for anti-anxiety treatments.

The synapses in the brain act as key communication points between approximately one hundred billion neurons. They form a complex network connecting various centres in the brain through electrical impulses. New research from Lund University suggests that it is precisely here, in the synapses, that Huntington’s disease might begin.

In patients with early Alzheimer’s disease, disruptions in brain networks emerge about the same time as chemical markers of the disease appear in the spinal fluid, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown.

New research indicates that teens with anorexia nervosa have bigger brains than teens that do not have the eating disorder.

Assessing consciousness in patients with severe brain trauma is a difficult challenge for doctors, as the injury effectively takes away any ability to blink, squeeze a hand or otherwise respond. But scientists have found a way to measure the brain’s response to a magnetic pulse, helping them determine a person’s level of awareness.