Cigarette smoking causes the brain to shrink, according to a new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO (WashUMed). Brain shrinkage is also associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The study’s results show that quitting smoking at any time stopped further gray...
by Washington University School of Medicine Overview of the study. We examined: 1) the predictive ability of the smoking initiation polygenic risk score (PRS) for smoking for a history of daily smoking; 2) the association between the smoking initiation PRS for smoking initiation and brain measures; and 3) the association between smoking behaviors and brain measures....
Updated: Mar. 20, 2022, 8:38 a.m. | Published: Mar. 19, 2022, 9:00 a.m. MRI scan of a human brain. A major study on the impact of COVID-19 on the brain indicates even a mild case can significantly affect the complex organ, thinning tissue and disrupting functions that control smell and some cognitive abilities. The findings are...
Summary: Even mild COVID-19 infection can lead to cognitive alterations and brain shrinkage, researchers report. The findings could help explain the brain changes that contribute to long-COVID. Source: The Conversation Most of what we know about how COVID can affect the brain has come from studies of severe infection. In people with severe COVID, inflammatory cells from...
