A magnified image of a mouse cerebellar section shows multiple layers. New research shows this part of the brain may be a target for treating autism through brain stimulation. Scientists are examining the feasibility of treating autistic children with neuromodulation after a new study showed social impairments can be corrected by brain stimulation. The...
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Cognitive status doesn’t impact cortical A-beta, tau in Parkinson’s
(HealthDay)—Patterns of cortical β-amyloid (Aβ) and tau are not different for patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) who are cognitively normal (PD-CN) or with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and for healthy adults, according to a study published online Dec. 11 in JAMA Neurology. Joseph R. Winer, from the University of California in Berkeley, and colleagues conducted a...
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Suicidal thoughts rapidly reduced with ketamine, finds study
3-D model of Ketamine. Ketamine was significantly more effective than a commonly used sedative in reducing suicidal thoughts in depressed patients, according to researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). They also found that ketamine’s anti-suicidal effects occurred within hours after its administration. The findings were published online last week in the American Journal of...
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Transcranial direct current stimulation no aid to memory
(HealthDay)—Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) may not enhance short-term memory in healthy individuals, according to a study published online Nov. 23 in CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics. Jing Wang, from Capital Medical University in Beijing, and colleagues assessed whether tDCS impact short-term memory (digit span and visual short-term...
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Action video games to fight dyslexia
Experts intend to extract the components and elements that optimize the visual attention to use them in the creation of a new fun and entertaining software. A study conducted by BCBL, the Basque research center, reveals that action video games improve visual attention and reading ability, two deficits suffered by people with dyslexia. The...
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Brain training games may help older adults with hearing loss
(Reuters Health) – Hearing-impaired adults who play computer games designed to improve audio skills may have an easier time understanding conversations in a noisy room, a small experiment suggests. Researchers asked 24 elderly adults who used hearing aids to spend 3.5 hours a week for eight weeks playing computer games. Half of the participants were...
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Transcranial direct current stimulation facilitates motor learning post-stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Abstract Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an attractive protocol for stroke motor recovery. The current systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the effects of tDCS on motor learning post-stroke. Specifically, we determined long-term learning effects by examining motor improvements from baseline to at least 5 days after tDCS intervention and motor practise. 17 studies reported long-term...
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Could our body clock help to prevent cancer?
A new study published in the journal PLOS Biology suggests that the way that experts approach optimizing cancer treatment may need to be rethought to include factors relating to the biological, or “circadian,” clock. Researchers suggest that our biological clock may help to prevent or treat cancer. We all have a biological clock, which is tasked...
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Landmark CAR-T cancer study published
How CAR-T cell therapy harnesses a patient’s immune system to fight cancer. Loyola University Medical Center is the only Chicago center that participated in the pivotal clinical trial of a groundbreaking cancer treatment that genetically engineers a patient’s immune system to attack cancer cells. Patrick Stiff, MD, director of Loyola’s Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center,...
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Global CAR T therapy trial shows high rates of durable remission for NHL
In a pair of clinical trials stretching from Philadelphia to Tokyo, the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy Kymriah (formerly known as CTL019) demonstrated long-lasting remissions in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) patients. Results from a global, multisite trial will be presented today at the 59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta...