People with autoimmune disorders, a collection of diseases where the body’s immune system attacks its own cells, are more likely to have psychosis, according to our latest research. Lid retraction is a typical symptoms of Graves’ disease. Credit: Jonathan Trobe/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY Previous research found that rates of rheumatoid arthritis were lower in people with psychosis than would be expected in the general population....
Category: <span>Neuroscience</span>
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It’s not ‘all in your head’: When other doctors give up on patients, a boundary-breaking neurologist treats them
BOSTON — Even beforehand — before the compulsive writing and the bipolar diagnosis, before the niche medical practice and the best-selling book — Dr. Alice Flaherty stuck out. She had grown up beside a duckweed-filled pond in rural New Jersey, and by the time she was a young adult, she’d become a neuroscientist in a family of...
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Scientists solve the case of the missing subplate, with wide implications for brain science
Date: June 21, 2018 Source: Rockefeller University Summary: A new study shows that a group of neurons, previously thought to die in the course of development, in fact, become incorporated into the brain’s cortex. This research has implications for understanding — and possibly treating –several brain disorders. The subplate (green) sits directly below the developing cortex, the...
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Broken shuttle may interfere with learning in major brain disorders
Unable to carry signals based on sights and sounds to the genes that record memories, a broken shuttle protein may hinder learning in patients with intellectual disability, schizophrenia, and autism. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and other brain imaging technologies allow for the study of differences in brain activity in people diagnosed with schizophrenia. The...
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What 800 million tweets reveal about our thought patterns
A large analysis of around 800 million tweets during a 4-year period suggests that circadian rhythms control our way of thinking. Our circadian rhythms are known to affect our mood, as our energy levels spike and dip at different times of the day. When taken collectively, the content of our tweets reveals more insight into our predictable...
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Brainhealth: Financial decision-making capacity need not decline in healthy advanced aging
CENTER FOR BRAINHEALTH New research from The Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas shows that advancing age alone is not the defining factor in impaired financial decision-making. The study, published in Frontiers, assessed how – and whether – age influences cognitive processes that may be involved in financial decision-making. The researchers investigated how factors such...
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Researchers find important new piece in the Huntington’s disease puzzle
UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN THE FACULTY OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCES Researchers find important new piece in the Huntington’s disease puzzle In a new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have discovered a hitherto unknown error in the transport of glutamine between astrocytes and neurons in the brain of mice with Huntington’s disease. At the same time, it...
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Success of blood test for autism affirmed
First physiological test for autism proves high accuracy in the second trial RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Troy, N.Y. – One year after researchers published their work on a physiological test for autism, a follow-up study confirms its exceptional success in assessing whether a child is on the autism spectrum. A physiological test that supports a clinician’s diagnostic process...
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Planned movements and spontaneous reactions are processed differently in the brain
The runners are lined up at the starting line, patiently awaiting the start signal for the 1000-meter race. In the second turn a runner falls in front of the one next to him. He dodges his falling neighbor and continues to sprint towards the finish line. Whilst awaiting the start signal, the runner had time...
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Mechanism controlling multiple sclerosis risk identified
While the DNA sequence remains the same throughout a person’s life, the expression of the encoded genes may change with time and contribute to disease development in genetically predisposed individuals. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now discovered a new mechanism of a major risk gene for multiple sclerosis (MS) that triggers disease through so-called epigenetic...