By Dr. Patricia Varacallo, DO Updated: May 14, 2024 D3SIGN/GETTY IMAGES It’s the season for slushies, slurpies, and shakes: Doctors serve the scientific scoop on why favorite cold treats going down your digestive system can sometimes make your head scream. What is brain freeze?Scientifically known as sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, brain freeze is caused by a rapid...
Peer-Reviewed Publication PNAS NEXUS THE P17 TRANSPORTER IN MICE LEADS TO THE BUILDUP OF DAMAGED AND DISORGANIZED MEMBRANES IN AXONAL MITOCHONDRIA. THIS ACCUMULATION EVENTUALLY RESULTS IN THE DEGENERATION OF MYELINATED NEURONAL AXONS (SHOWN IN GREEN) FOLLOWING REPETITIVE MILD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY. CREDIT: KARAKAYA ET AL. Repeat concussions, also referred to as repetitive mild traumatic brain...
by Ramona Czakert Franson, University of Alberta Credit: Pixabay/Pete Linforth. In the human central nervous system, there are tiny cells that—for most people, most of the time—provide important immune protection to the brain and spinal cord. Occasionally these microglia cells run terribly awry, leading to neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. But in a...
by University of Seville A) Neuron of the cerebral cortex infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (viral particles in green). B and C) In B, cortical neurons infected by SARS-CoV-2 (in brown) and, in C, absence of infection in the same brain region of mice vaccinated with MVA-CoV2-S. Credit: IBiS Although the pathology of the respiratory...
by Tamara Bhandari, Washington University School of Medicine Astrocytes are normal non-neuronal brain cells, but in their reactive form they can harm, rather than protect, brain tissue. Mice with tau tangles in their brains—a model of Alzheimer’s and related diseases—have fewer reactive astrocytes (green) in their brains when treated with the drug digoxin (left) than...
Healthcare worker Demetra Ransom comforts a person with COVID-19 at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, on December 4, 2020. MARK FELIX/Getty Images A study demonstrated that participants hospitalized with COVID-19 experiencing neurological complications had higher levels of blood proteins or biomarkers associated with neurological damage than people with Alzheimer’s. Increased biomarker levels correlated...
by University of Illinois at Chicago Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A new study by University of Illinois Chicago researchers shows a mechanism that stops the herpes simplex virus 1 from causing serious brain damage and death. Researchers discovered a function of a protein complex, mammalian target of rapamycin complex 2, in an antiviral defense mechanism. This protein complex limits...
IMAGE: A MULTITAPER SPECTROGRAM OF 120 SECONDS OF READINGS FROM A HUMAN PATIENT UNDER KETAMINE ANESTHESIA SHOWS DISTINCT BANDS OF HIGH POWER (WARMER COLORS) AT HIGH “GAMMA” FREQUENCIES AND VERY LOW “DELTA” FREQUENCIES. CREDIT: BROWN LAB/MIT PICOWER INSTITUTE By developing the first statistical model to finely characterize how ketamine anesthesia affects the brain, a team...
by Bayreuth University Microscopic image of the Mauthner cell of a goldfish. The cell was stained using neurobiotin/streptavidin-Cy3. Credit: Peter Machnik The plasticisers contained in many everyday objects can impair important brain functions in humans. Biologists from the University of Bayreuth warn of this danger in an article in Communications Biology. Their study shows that even small...
by National Institutes of Health In an in-depth study, NIH researchers consistently found blood vessel damage in the brains of COVID-19 patients but no signs of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Here is a high-resolution scan of a patient’s brain stem. Arrows point to light and dark spots that are indicative of blood vessel damage observed in the study....
