Missense mutations occur when there is a change in one gene’s DNA base pair, and the change results in the substitution of one amino acid for another in the gene’s protein. Mutations that disrupt the function of proteins are widely recognized as a risk source for development disorders such as intellectual disability, congenital heart defects...
Tag: <span>Mental Health</span>
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Never ignore depression
(HealthDay)—Studies show that depression is underreported. People aren’t getting the help they need, sometimes because they don’t know the warning signs or where to turn, or are embarrassed because of the stigma that can still surround mental health issues. But the numbers are too great to ignore. Up to 26 percent of U.S. women and...
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Large-scale study links PCOS to mental health disorders
Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common hormone condition among young women, are prone to mental health disorders, and their children face an increased risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. PCOS...
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Could new drug make a difference for kids with autism?
Fifteen-year-old Marshall Scarpulla is one of three children in his family with autism. His mother, Alissa Scarpulla, said she noticed some of the signs when he was 3 years old. “He was having a speech delay and the school brought it to my attention, too,” she told CBS News. According to the Centers for Disease Control...
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Study overturns age-old theory of brain learning
For decades, scientists thought that learning occurs in synapses, or the numerous junctions between brain cells. But now, a new study proposes that learning occurs in a few dendrites, the branches that feed inputs to the brain cell, or neuron. The results of a new study offer a brand new insight into brain learning. In...
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Neural fingerprints of altruism
There are two war veterans, both with penetrating traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by a gunshot. One of them tends to donate his own money to societal entities he believes in, and the other one punishes institutions that don’t represent him. The answer for these behavioral differences rely on brain areas, which, after being damaged...
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Is my child depressed? Being moody isn’t a mental health issue
It is difficult to open up a magazine or newspaper today without seeing a headline trumpeting the presence of a “mental health crisis” —particularly on our college and university campuses. Indeed, if the media coverage is to be believed, we are drowning in a sea of mental illness that threatens to overwhelm post-secondary institutions. The call...
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Worn Like a Helmet, a New Brain Scanner Aims to Make It Easier to Treat Kids with Epilepsy
New, wearable brain scanner. Credit: Wellcome A brain scanner now used to guide treatment of patients with epilepsy and other neurological disorders is bulky and challenging to use on fidgety young children—but researchers hope it might soon be replaced by a new machine that’s not much bigger than a bike helmet. Scientists at University College...
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Researchers look for clues in big data to enlist stem cells for brain repair
A team at the University of Toronto’s Medicine by Design has combined the latest genomic technology with machine learning in a new study that sheds light on brain stem cells, providing insights that could one day help the brain heal itself. “This research tells us more about how adult neural stem cells are formed in...
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Cell therapy could improve brain function for Alzheimer’s disease
PET scan of a human brain with Alzheimer’s disease. Like a great orchestra, your brain relies on the perfect coordination of many elements to function properly. And if one of those elements is out of sync, it affects the entire ensemble. In Alzheimer’s disease, for instance, damage to specific neurons can alter brainwave rhythms and...