Tag: Brain Injury

Brain-computer interfaces without the mess

It sounds like science fiction: controlling electronic devices with brain waves. But researchers have developed a new type of electroencephalogram (EEG) electrode that can do just that, without the sticky gel required for conventional electrodes. Even better, the devices work through a full head of hair. The researchers report the flexible electrodes, which could someday

Researchers refine guidelines for pediatric brain injuries: Measuring carbon dioxide lines through the artery more effective than noninvasive method

When a child suffers a head trauma, medical professionals are in high gear to prevent further damage to a developing brain. Measuring and regulating the child’s level of carbon dioxide is critical to ensuring the brain is getting enough blood oxygen to prevent a secondary brain injury. High carbon dioxide can increase intracranial pressure, while

Differences in MS patients’ cerebrospinal fluid may be key to drugs that halt progression

The disability burden for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) can vary significantly depending on whether they have a relapsing/remitting form of the disease, where they experience periods of clinical remission, or a progressive form, where they have continued neurological deterioration without clinical remission. Effective therapies exist for managing relapsing/remitting MS, but treatment for progressive MS

Exercise improves brain function in overweight and obese individuals

New findings out of the University of Tübingen show that, on top of its benefits for metabolism, mood, and general health, exercise also improves brain function. In recent studies, researchers learned that obese and overweight individuals are prone to insulin resistance in the brain, where it provides information about current nutritional status, as well as

Looking at how the brain reacts to boredom could help people cope

Boredom is a common human experience. But how people cope with or handle being bored is important for mental health. “Everybody experiences boredom,” said Sammy Perone, Washington State University assistant professor in the Department of Human Development. “But some people experience it a lot, which is unhealthy. So, we wanted to look at how to

ALS patients may benefit from more glucose

Increased glucose, transformed into energy, could give people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, improved mobility and a longer life, according to new findings by a University of Arizona-led research team. Physicians have long known that people with ALS experience changes in their metabolism that often lead to rapid weight loss in a process called

Molecular scissors stabilize the cell’s cytoskeleton

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI in Villigen, Switzerland, have for the first time elucidated the structure of important enzymes in human cells that alter essential building blocks of the cellular cytoskeleton. This reveals the missing part of a cycle that regulates the build-up or breakdown of supporting elements of the cell. The enzymes

One step closer to chronic pain relief

Sortilin, which is a protein expressed on the surface of nerve cells, plays a crucial role in pain development in laboratory mice — and in all likelihood in humans as well. This is the main conclusion of the study ‘Sortilin gates neurotensin and BDNF signalling to control peripheral neuropathic pain’, which has just been published

Detecting dementia’s damaging effects before it’s too late

Scientists might have found an early detection method for some forms of dementia, according to new research by the University of Arizona and the University of Toronto’s Baycrest Health Sciences Centre. According to the study published in the journal Neuropsychologia last month, patients with a rare neurodegenerative brain disorder called Primary Progressive Aphasia, or PPA,

Connecting neurons in the brain

The brain consists of a large collection of interconnected neurons. How complex patterns of neuronal cells grow into functioning circuits during development has fascinated researchers for decades. A team of scientists at VIB and KU Leuven has now uncovered a new signaling mechanism in fruit flies that specifies the formation of neuronal circuits in the

Early lipids boost brain growth for vulnerable micro-preemies

Dietary lipids, already an important source of energy for tiny preemies, also provide a much-needed brain boost by significantly increasing global brain volume as well as increasing volume in regions involved in motor activities and memory, according to research presented during the Pediatric Academic Societies 2019 Annual Meeting. “Compared with macronutrients like carbohydrates and proteins,

Hidden control architecture of brain networks unveiled

A KAIST research team identified the intrinsic control architecture of brain networks. The control properties will contribute to providing a fundamental basis for the exogenous control of brain networks and, therefore, has broad implications in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. Although efficiency and robustness are often regarded as having a trade-off relationship, the human brain usually

3D-printed transparent skull provides a window to the brain: Device could provide new insight for brain research on concussions, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a unique 3D-printed transparent skull implant for mice that provides an opportunity to watch activity of the entire brain surface in real time. The device allows fundamental brain research that could provide new insight for human brain conditions such as concussions, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The research

Retinal prion disease study redefines role for brain cells: Microglia may benefit, not damage, photoreceptors

National Institutes of Health scientists studying the progression of inherited and infectious eye diseases that can cause blindness have found that microglia, a type of nervous system cell suspected to cause retinal damage, surprisingly had no damaging role during prion disease in mice. In contrast, the study findings indicated that microglia might delay disease progression.