Posted Today While the presence of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain may be a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, giving patients an amyloid PET scan is not an effective method for measuring their cognitive function, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine and Thomas Jefferson University. The researchers concluded that...
Tag: <span>Brain Health</span>
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The Benefits of Playing Music Help Your Brain More Than Any Other Activity
Learning an instrument increases resilience to any age-related decline in hearing. Inc. | John Rampton Brain training is big business. Companies like BrainHQ, Lumosity, and Cogmed are part of a multimillion-dollar business that is expected to surpass $3 billion by 2020. But does what they offer actually benefit your brain? Researchers don’t believe so. In fact, the University...
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Wearing hearing aid may help protect brain in later life
A new study has concluded that people who wear a hearing aid for age-related hearing problems maintain better brain function over time than those who do not. It builds on important research in recent years pulled together by the Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care, through which hearing loss emerged as an important risk factor for dementia. This research suggests that wearing a hearing aid may mitigate that...
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Renegade immune cells found to raid aging brains and choke new neuron generation
Rich Haridy New work led by Stanford University scientists has revealed killer immune cells have been found to collect in parts of the brain where new nerve cells are generated. This damaging proliferation seems to naturally increase as a brain ages and the researchers hypothesize this may be a mechanism that underpins general age-related cognitive...
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Waterfall illusion: When you see still objects move—and what it tells you about your brain
by Niia Nikolova, Nick Wade, The Conversation Humans are fascinated by visual illusions, which occur when there is a mismatch between the pattern of light that falls on the retina, and what we perceive. Before books, films, and the internet allowed illusions to be shared widely, people were captivated by illusions in nature. Indeed, it is here that...
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Exercise and antioxidants: A winning combination for brain health?
by Matt Miles , Medical Xpress An international team of researchers representing several institutions in Japan and the US has published promising findings that may stand to benefit people living with the specter of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as age-related cognitive decline. In their paper published in PNAS, “Leptin in hippocampus mediates benefits...
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Regular crosswords and number puzzles linked to sharper brain in later life
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER Older adults who regularly take part in word and number puzzles have sharper brains, according to the largest online study to date. The more regularly adults aged 50 and over played puzzles such as crosswords and Sudoku, the better their brain function, according to research in more than 19,000 participants, led by the University of Exeter and King’s...
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Alzheimer’s in minibrains
by Ruhr-Universitaet-Bochum In the majority of cases, dementia can be traced back to Alzheimer’s disease. Its causes are not really understood yet. What is known is that plaques form from misfolded proteins and that there is an increase in neuronal cell death levels in the brain. However, the plaques don’t necessarily go hand in hand with any...
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Study: Contact in sports may lead to differences in the brains of young, healthy athletes
IMAGE: PEOPLE WHO PLAY CONTACT SPORTS SHOW CHANGES TO THEIR BRAIN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION, WITH SPORTS THAT HAVE GREATER RISK OF BODY CONTACT SHOWING GREATER EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN, ACCORDING TO… view more TORONTO, Aug. 22, 2017–People who play contact sports show changes to their brain structure and function, with sports that have greater risk of body...
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Can a single exercise session benefit your brain?
What is the relationship between the central neurochemical changes following acute exercise that have mainly been described in rodents and the behavioral changes seen after acute exercise that have mainly been described in humans? In a new review of the effects of acute exercise published in Brain Plasticity, researchers not only summarize the behavioral and...