In the models of a totally crushed peripheral nerve, the damage axons are broken; allowing healthy ones to regrow. But humans rarely suffer complete axonal damage. Instead, axons tend to be partially damaged, causing neuropathic pain a difficult-to-treat; chronic pain associated with nerve trauma, chemotherapy, and diabetes. Explore the role of immune cells in breaking…
A University of California, Irvine-led study reveals that connectivity within the brain. It appears to largely dictate by spatial architecture rather than cell type-specific cues. To understand how the brain works; current neuroscience research has focused on mapping the connect to determine how the brain is built and how it is wired. Much research has done…
Known for its role in relieving depression, the neurochemical serotonin may also help the brain execute instantaneous; appropriate behaviors in emergency situations, according to a new Cornell study published in Science. Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a monoamine neurotransmitter. It has a popular image as a contributor to feelings of well-being and happiness, though its actual biological function is complex and…
Surgery to remove the thymus gland in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG); a rare autoimmune disease affecting neuromuscular function, provides significant clinical benefits for as long as five years after the procedure. The study followed 68 patients for up to five years after undergoing thymectomy, the surgical removal of the thymus gland. The benefits they exhibited…
Poor sleep has long been linked with Alzheimer's disease, but researchers have understood little about how sleep disruptions drive the disease. Now, studying mice and people, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that sleep deprivation increases levels of the key Alzheimer's protein tau.
For people in their 20s and 30s, having blood pressure above normal but below the level considered to be high blood pressure, may be linked to loss of brain volume, according to a study published on January 23, 2019, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Adding to the growing body of evidence that physical activity has a positive impact on cognition, new research shows that these benefits may even extend to older adults with blood and brain biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other common age-related brain pathologies. More total daily activity and better motor abilities were each associated with a boost in cognitive reserve, investigators report.
Nerve axons serve as the wiring of the nervous system, sending electrical signals that control movement and sense of touch. When axons are damaged, whether by injury or as a side effect of certain drugs, a program is triggered that leads axons to self-destruct. This destruction likely plays an important role in multiple neurodegenerative conditions, including peripheral neuropathy, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
A new study in people with major depression reports that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) induces changes in the fibers connecting the hippocampus to brain regions involved in mood and emotion . Only patients who responded to the treatment showed these changes, and those who had the greatest changes in hippocampal pathways also showed the largest improvements in mood.
Poor quality sleep in later life is associated with early signs of Alzheimer's disease (AD), results of a longitudinal observational study show. Investigators found higher levels of β-amyloid deposition and tau accumulation in the brain both of those hallmarks of AD in older adults who spent less time in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) slow wave sleep.
Researchers from the University of Barcelona have shown that defective versions of human brain cells called astrocytes are linked to the buildup of a toxic protein that is the hallmark of Parkinson's disease. The studied astrocytes, derived from Parkinson's disease patients with a genetic mutation that affects cell clean-up functions, caused more accumulation of the toxin, alpha-synuclein, than those derived from healthy individuals.
An inter-disciplinary research team led by scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has successfully used machine learning to uncover new insights into the cellular architecture of the human brain.