The health effects associated with occupational exposure to solvents have long been recognised. But despite greater health and safety awareness in general, our research suggests that workers from some industries are still at risk. New research suggests that spray painters and panel beaters could be at higher risk of health effects through solvent exposure. Several studies have shown both...
Tag: <span>brain</span>
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How to activate your brain’s ability to learn
A new study looks at the power of practicing well beyond mastery. In music, you have scales. In Jiu Jitsu, it’s drilling. Most of us just call it practice. Whatever you label it, many believe that greatness, heck even mere competency, requires training a skill well past proficiency. It’s continuing to practice your free throw even after you’ve nailed every...
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Waves move across the human brain to support memory
The coordination of neural activity across widespread brain networks is essential for human cognition. Researchers have long assumed that oscillations in the brain, commonly measured for research purposes, brain-computer interfacing, and clinical tests, were stationary signals that occurred independently at separate brain regions. Biomedical engineers at Columbia Engineering have discovered a new fundamental feature of...
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Aggression neurons identified
High activity in a relatively poorly studied group of brain cells can be linked to aggressive behaviour in mice, a new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows. Using optogenetic techniques, the researchers were able to control aggression in mice by stimulating or inhibiting these cells. The results, which are published in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience, contribute...
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Nanoparticles carry drug duo into the brain to fight cancer
Glioblastoma is one of the most deadly forms of cancer. Affecting the brain, those unlucky enough to receive a diagnosis don’t have many treatment options – and usually a median life expectancy of just over a year. Now, researchers at MIT have developed nanoparticles that could provide hope, crossing the blood-brain barrier and delivering two types of...
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Holographic Laser Activates Groups of Brain Neurons
At the University of California, Berkeley neuroscientists are engaged in activities normally reserved for sci-fi books. They’re using holographic projectors to control the activity of entire groups of neurons at the same time. Though there’s certainly room for abuse, the therapeutic and scientific potential for being able to manipulate the brain in a detailed fashion...
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Pericytes: Capillary Guardians in the Brain
Nerve cells, or neurons, in our brains, do amazing work, from telling our hearts to beat to storing our memories. But neurons cannot operate alone. Many kinds of cells support and regulate neurons and—like neurons—they can come under attack due to injuries or disorders, such as stroke or Alzheimer’s disease. Learning what jobs these cells...
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We can change our brain and its ability to cope with disease with simple lifestyle choices
Lifestyle factors such as meditation can change our brain for the better. Our life expectancy has increased dramatically over the past several decades, with advances in medical research, nutrition and health care seeing us live well into our 80s. But this longer life expectancy has also come at a cost, as the longer we live,...
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Three-minute version of brain stimulation therapy effective for hard-to-treat depression
In the largest study of its kind, a three-minute version of a brain stimulation treatment was shown to be just as effective as the standard 37-minute version for hard-to-treat depression. These results were published in a new Canadian study in The Lancet co-led by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the University Health Network’s...
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Music activates regions of the brain spared by Alzheimer’s disease
Ever get chills listening to a particularly moving piece of music? You can thank the salience network of the brain for that emotional joint. Surprisingly, this region also remains an island of remembrance that is spared from the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. Diagram of brain networks involved in processing attention. Researchers at the University of Utah...