If the heart pumps too little blood into the body, the brain is usually not adequately supplied with oxygen. Until now, however, it was unclear how this affects brain structure. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences together with colleagues from the Leipzig Heart Clinic, have now figured out that...
Tag: <span>brain</span>
Learning difficulties due to poor connectivity, not specific brain regions
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Different learning difficulties do not correspond to specific regions of the brain, as previously thought, say researchers at the University of Cambridge. Instead poor connectivity between ‘hubs’ within the brain is much more strongly related to children’s difficulties. Between 14-30% of children and adolescents worldwide have learning difficulties severe enough to require...
How the brain and its arteries communicate to supply blood to areas of heightened neural activity
by Harvard Medical School The brain is a ravenous organ. A three-pound adult human brain consumes about a fifth of the body’s energy, yet it cannot store energy on its own and requires constant nourishment from the cardiovascular system. The organ’s energy needs fluctuate greatly depending on neural activity, and sufficient blood must be delivered...
Understanding how a protein wreaks havoc in the brain in Parkinson’s disease
by Ciara O’shea, Trinity College Dublin What causes neurons to die in Parkinson’s disease? Parkinson’s disease is a long-term (chronic) neurological condition that affects around 12,000 people in Ireland and between 7 and 10 million people worldwide. The disease affects the way the brain co-ordinates body movements like walking and talking, but cognitive abilities are...
The future of human healing lies in the brain of a starfish
by Adam Dove, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Chemical Engineering The incredible benefits of stem cell therapy have been widely known for decades. It can alleviate the pain of arthritis, and help patients heal exponentially faster after surgery. But stem cell therapies are prohibitively expensive—to the tune of $100,000 to $200,000 per patient. Because of...
Rich rewards: Scientists reveal ADHD medication’s effect on the brain
Researchers scan the brain to uncover how medication for ADHD affects the brain’s reward system OKINAWA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (OIST) GRADUATE UNIVERSITY Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobiological disorder characterized by symptoms of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity. People with the condition are often prescribed a stimulant drug called methylphenidate, which treats these...
America’s most widely consumed oil causes genetic changes in the brain
Soybean oil linked to metabolic and neurological changes in mice UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – RIVERSIDE New UC Riverside research shows soybean oil not only leads to obesity and diabetes, but could also affect neurological conditions like autism, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, and depression. Used for fast food frying, added to packaged foods, and fed to livestock,...
Researchers demonstrate how the brain assesses and predicts physiological states of the body
by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Interoception is the self-awareness of physiological states; it’s how animals and humans know they’re hungry or thirsty, and how they know when they’ve had enough to eat or drink. But precisely how the brain estimates the state of the body and reacts to it remains unclear. In a paper...
Pig study sheds new light on sugar’s addictive impacts on the brain
By Nick Lavars Much research has helped paint a picture of the relationship between sugar and our brain’s reward system, though there remains many blanks to be filled. Scientists in Denmark have now offered further insights into how the sweet stuff reshapes our brain chemistry, by performing experiments on pigs and taking note of how...
A key area of the brain is smaller in women on the pill
At the base of the brain is a small but crucial area that acts as a control hub for the nervous and hormonal systems. Now, a study has found that among women, it is significantly smaller in those using birth control pills. New research finds an intriguing link between birth control pills and the size...