by Marta Wegorzewska, Washington University School of Medicine Researchers at WashU Medicine collaborated with an international team of doctors and scientists to identify the cause of a rare disorder involving intellectual disability and brain malformations. Brain scans from a patient with this disorder reveal atypical features in white matter (arrows, left) and the cerebellum (arrows, right)....
Category: <span>Neurology</span>
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Combining VR and non-invasive brain stimulation: a neurotechnology that boosts spatial memory without surgery
EPFL researchers have combined virtual reality, non-invasive brain stimulation and advanced brain imaging techniques to improve spatial navigation in healthy participants. The study is a first step in addressing dementia in an aging population without med Peer-Reviewed Publication ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE THIS NON-INVASIVE TECHNIQUE, called transcranial temporal interference electric stimulation (TTIS), SENDS TARGETED PULSES WITHOUT...
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Reprogramming brain cells into neurons: New findings on astroglia has implications for regenerative medicine
by King’s College London Astroglial origin of the vast majority of Ascl1SA6-Bcl2 iNs. Credit: Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl5935 Researchers have successfully demonstrated how astroglia—cells that support the functioning of the brain—can be reprogrammed into cells resembling interneurons. The research, published in Science Advances, represents not only an important step forward in neuronal engineering, but also has vital implications for regenerative...
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A new era of treating neurological diseases at the blood-brain-immune interface
Integration of vascular risk factors with genetic susceptibility in neurological diseases. Credit: Cell (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.09.018 The question of what causes complex neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s or multiple sclerosis continues to confound scientists and doctors, with the unknowns standing in the way of early diagnoses and effective treatments. Even among identical twins who share the same genetic risk factors,...
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Researchers create ‘mini brains’ to model Lewy body dementia and pinpoint treatments
The computational 3D drug-working model depicting the binding interactions between α-SYN aggregates and the drug candidates (D1, D3, D4, and D6) and EGCG at the Tyr39 and Lys43 residues. Credit: Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk3700 Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that shares traits with both Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease but can be...
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Why Neurodivergent Individuals Hyperfixate
What is hyperfixation? Hyperfixation can be defined as an intense interest in or concentration on something for a prolonged period. This can manifest for a variety of activities or topics, and this period of focus is marked by completely disregarding everything else.1 This period of hyperfixation may appear as becoming fully engrossed in an activity,...
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An interactive game for people suffering from nerve pain is heading to clinical trials
A screenshot from the interactive game. Credit: University of New South Wales Scientists from UNSW Sydney have developed interactive software which could be used to help people who are experiencing neuropathic pain—also known as nerve pain—as a result of spinal cord injury (SCI). The intervention, called PainWaive, involves a headset and a game that measures...
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Neuronal wiring’s role in brain function varies across regions, study finds
Global comparison between structural and functional connectivities. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51395-6 Different brain regions are connected by—and interact through—networks of neurons. But the extent to which neuronal wiring drives shared function between these different regions is not well understood. Is this structure-function relationship the same throughout the brain? The same across functions? Yale researchers have...
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Harnessing stem-cell derivatives to treat CNS diseases
he efficacy of Aleeto is currently being assessed in two double-blind investor-initiated trials (IITs) at Beijing Tiantan Hospital, affiliated to Capital Medical University, the neurology department of which is among the top in China. Preliminary results have demonstrated superior efficacy of Aleeto compared to commercially available drugs in treating both disorders. “The neuroprotective effects of...
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Brain network study reveals clues about dementia’s behavior changes
Tau protein buildup in brain disrupts the salience network that connects multiple brain regions and helps us react to the outside world and our own thoughts Peer-Reviewed Publication Michigan Medicine – University of Michigan In this image created by averaging brain scans from hundreds of participants, purple spheres show the locations in the brain linked...