Bipolar disorder (BD) is a debilitating psychiatric disorder characterized by fluctuating periods of depression and mania. Researchers have long suspected that BD may be accompanied by abnormal structural and functional changes in the brain. Small cross-sectional brain imaging studies of people with BD have shown hints at those changes, but the ability to interpret data
Ischemic stroke, the second leading cause of death worldwide, occurs when a vessel to the brain is blocked, reducing blood flow to the brain and depriving it of critical supplies of oxygen and nutrients. This process leads to the death of brain cells and leaves the patient with a sudden loss of certain body functions.
Scientists have known for a century that female animals become more active just as they are about to ovulate, a behavior that evolved to enhance their chances of mating when they are fertile. Now, a team at UC San Francisco has identified the specific neurons and signaling pathway that make sexually receptive females of many
The incidence of brain cancer in children in Canada is three in 100,000. Brain cancers are treatable when they are localized but prognosis worsens and they become less treatable as they grow larger, spread throughout the brain and in some cases metastasize through the cerebrospinal fluid down the spine and around the brain. They are
Consciousness remains one of the brain’s biggest mysteries. We know very little about how it emerges from activity within the brain, but most neuroscientists agree consciousness is dynamic in nature. Our subjective experience doesn’t appear to us like a sequence of disjointed snapshots. Instead, we feel the world as a continuous stream of information. This
Our visual memory system has a phenomenally large capacity. Flick through the image gallery on your phone, or fast forward through a previously watched movie, and notice how the briefly presented images trigger memories with little or no effort on your part. Well, my colleagues and I have harnessed this passive visual memory system to
Most people who have been students can recognize this: You have managed to put down your phone with all its visual and audio alerts that try to tell you that you’re missing out on something exciting. Now you will finally find peace of mind in the study hall, concentrate on the syllabus, on what is
Reasoning is an ability that is unique to human cognition. However, despite our advances in neuroimaging techniques, we cannot clearly map the neural regions involved in human reasoning. In a new study, researchers from Korea came up with a new approach to understand the foundations of both inductive and deductive reasoning and identify the major
This week marks the 11th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, and the thousands of scientists attending this year's virtual conference will hear from PETA scientists on matters ranging from scientific and ethical concerns regarding inflicting permanent brain damage on primates to toxicity testing in rabbits. PETA has more scientists
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of nasopharyngeal swabs have been taken in Austria – millions worldwide. Their correct performance is essential for diagnosing and challenging Covid-19. To assist the correct collection of nasopharyngeal material, a systematic anatomical study conducted at MedUni Vienna specifies guidelines and landmarks and evaluates the danger for the
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common type of dementia, causes the death of neurons and leads to shrinking of the brain. Patients with AD will eventually experience gradual deterioration in memory, thinking, behavior and the ability to perform everyday activities. Yet, scientists do not fully understand what causes this disease. A recent study conducted by
When people see a toothbrush, a car, a tree—any individual object—their brain automatically associates it with other things it naturally occurs with, allowing humans to build context for their surroundings and set expectations for the world. By using machine-learning and brain imaging, researchers measured the extent of the “co-occurrence” phenomenon and identified the brain region
Jessica Damoiseaux, Ph.D., an associate professor with the Institute of Gerontology at Wayne State University, recently published the results of a three-year study of cognitive changes in older adults. The team followed 69 primarily African American females, ages 50 to 85, who complained that their cognitive ability was worsening though clinical assessments showed no impairments.
Alzheimer's disease is predominant in elderly people, but the way age-related changes to lipid composition affect the regulation of biological processes is still not well understood. Links between lipid imbalance and disease have been established, in which lipid changes increase the formation of amyloid plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. This imbalance inspired researchers from
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 (SARS-CoV-2), an RNA virus that belongs to the family Coronaviridae. According to research, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients often suffer from neurological disorders like strokes, lost taste or smell, memory loss, confusion, and delirium. By comparing the symptoms associated with other coronavirus infections,
The immune system is the brain's best frenemy. It protects the brain from infection and helps injured tissues heal, but it also causes autoimmune diseases and creates inflammation that drives neurodegeneration. Two new studies in mice suggest that the double-edged nature of the relationship between the immune system and the brain may come down to
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder caused by the death of dopaminergic neurons in a part of the brain (known as substantia nigra pars compacta), which leads to a deficit of dopamine (DA), one of the main neurotransmitters active in the central nervous system. Symptomatic treatment focuses on increasing the concentration of dopamine
It might seem like a given that mothers take extra risks to protect their children, but have you ever wondered why? A new study led by Kumi Kuroda at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS) in Japan shows that in mice, this and other nurturing behaviors are driven in part by neurons in a
Can a protein found in a mosquito lead to a better understanding of the workings of our own brains? Prof. Ofer Yizhar and his team in the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Neurobiology Department took a light-sensitive protein derived from mosquitoes and used it to devise an improved method for investigating the messages that are passed
Weight loss surgery is more effective than dieting to reduce brain pressure that can cause blindness in patients with a neurological condition, finds a study led by the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB). Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) is a debilitating condition that raises pressure in the brain and can
