Diagram of the brain of a person with Alzheimer’s Disease. Working with human brain tissue samples and genetically engineered mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers together with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health, the University of California San Diego Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Columbia University, and the Institute for Basic Research in Staten...
Category: <span>Mental health</span>
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‘Silent seizures’ discovered in patients with Alzheimer’s disease
On the left is Dr. Alica Goldman and on the right is Dr. Jeffrey Noebels. Deep in the brains of two patients with Alzheimer’s disease, the main memory structure, the hippocampus, displays episodic seizure-like electrical activity. These non-convulsive hippocampal seizures are the first signs of ‘silent’ brain electrical network dysfunction described in patients with...
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Combination approach may boost social interactions in autism
The hormone oxytocin, the so-called hug hormone or cuddle chemical, has more nicknames than proven medical uses. However, oxytocin may benefit children with autism spectrum disorders if receptors for opioids—brain chemicals activated by drugs such as heroin that tend to disconnect people socially—are also blocked, Yale researchers report the week of May 1 in...
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New type of cell that clears waste from the brain discovered
Scientists have found a previously unknown type of cell that clears waste away from the brain. They suggest that their findings will increase our understanding of the brain’s biology and of diseases such as dementia and stroke. Researchers have found a new type of cell that removes waste from around the brain. The researchers...
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150-year-old drug may provide ‘off’ time relief for people with advanced Parkinson’s disease
Immunohistochemistry for alpha-synuclein showing positive staining (brown) of an intraneural Lewy-body in the Substantia nigra in Parkinson’s disease. New research provides evidence that an old drug may provide relief for people with advanced Parkinson’s, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 69th Annual Meeting in...
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Scientists discover two repurposed drugs that arrest neurodegeneration in mice
PET scan of a human brain with Alzheimer’s disease. A team of scientists who a few years ago identified a major pathway that leads to brain cell death in mice, have now found two drugs that block the pathway and prevent neurodegeneration. The drugs caused minimal side effects in the mice and one is...
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Immune discovery points to therapies to improve stroke recovery
A blood clot forming in the carotid artery. Having a stroke damages immune cells as well as affecting the brain, research has found. The findings help explain why patients have a greater risk of catching life-threatening infections, such as pneumonia, after having a stroke. Therapies that boost survival of the affected immune cells or compensate...
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Experts excited by brain ‘wonder-drug’
Image caption There is no drug that slows the pace of dementia Scientists hope they have found a drug to stop all neurodegenerative brain diseases, including dementia. In 2013, a UK Medical Research Council team stopped brain cells dying in an animal for the first time, creating headline news around the world. But the compound used...
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Pioneering research into benefit of computer games to treat Parkinson’s Disease
Left- right are: Dr Aaron Pritchard, (BCUHB – Research & Development), Dr Rudi Coetzer – Bangor/BCUHB Joint Appointment and Prof Charles Leek. North Wales neuroscientists are researching the potential benefits of brain stimulating computer games in the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease. The study is being led by researchers at Bangor University’s School of Psychology...
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Link discovered between immune system, brain structure and memory
The thickness of the cerebral cortex is correlated with the epigenetic profile of immune-related genes. In two independent studies, scientists at the University of Basel have demonstrated that both the structure of the brain and several memory functions are linked to immune system genes. The scientific journals Nature Communications and Nature Human Behaviour have published the results of...