Soldiers Who Suffer Mild TBI During Combat May Be More Vulnerable to PTSD
Study Links PTSD to Hidden Head Injuries Suffered in Combat. Even when brain injury is so subtle that it can only be detected by an ultra-sensitive imaging test, the injury might predispose soldiers in combat to post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study. The research is important for physicians who [...]
New Hope for Migraine Sufferers
Griffith University identifies female gene link. New hope has arrived for migraine sufferers following a Griffith University study with the people of Norfolk Island. Led by Professor Lyn Griffiths from the University’s Griffith Health Institute, the team has identified a new region on the X chromosome as playing a role in migraines. The research provides [...]
Wisconsin Research Team Reveals Novel Way to Treat Drug-Resistant Brain Tumor Cells
New research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison explains why the incurable brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is highly resistant to current chemotherapies. The study, from the brain-tumor research lab of Dr. John Kuo,assistant professor of neurological surgery and human oncology at UW School of Medicine and Public Health, also reports success for a combination therapy that [...]
Fish Study Raises Hope for Spinal Injury Repair
Scientists have unlocked the secrets of the zebrafish’s ability to heal its spinal cord after injury, in research that could deliver therapy for paraplegics and quadriplegics in the future. A team from Monash University’s Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI), led by Dr Yona Goldshmit and Professor Peter Currie, discovered the role of a protein in [...]
To Spread, Nervous System Viruses Sabotage Cell, Hijack Transportation
Herpes and other viruses that attack the nervous system may thrive by disrupting cell function in order to hijack a neuron’s internal transportation network and spread to other cells. Princeton University researchers made the first observation in neurons that common strains of the herpes virus indirectly take control of a cell’s mitochondria, the mobile organelles [...]
Exendin-4 Diabetes Medication may Minimize Damage for Blast Related TBI
Diabetes Drug Could Be a Promising Therapy for Traumatic Brain Injury TAU research finds that existing diabetes medication may ease damage caused by brain-addling explosions Although the death toll is relatively low for people who suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI), it can have severe, life-long consequences for brain function. TBI can impair a patient’s [...]
Microglia Eliminate Unnecessary Synapses During Brain Development
Immune cells “sculpt” circuits in the brain by eating away excess connections Findings offer a fresh look at developmental and degenerative brain diseases We’re born with our brains prewired, but as information comes in from our environment, this circuitry is updated. A study from Boston Children’s Hospital provides a new glimpse of how this happens: [...]
Antioxidant Urate Could Protect Against Parkinson’s Disease
Study supports urate protection against Parkinson’s disease, hints at novel mechanism In vitro study indicates urate protection extends beyond antioxidant effect Use of the antioxidant urate to protect against the neurodegeneration caused by Parkinson’s disease appears to rely on more than urate’s ability to protect against oxidative damage. In the May issue of the open-access [...]
Cognitive Effect of Head Impacts on Student Athletes
Dartmouth researchers investigate the cognitive effects of athlete head impacts. Dartmouth faculty and students played prominent roles in a recent study on the cognitive effects of head impacts among student athletes. Tested at the beginning and end of one season, 22 percent of those students who participated in contact sports scored significantly lower in memory [...]
Suspicion Resides in Two Regions of the Brain
Our baseline level of distrust is distinct and separable from our inborn lie detector. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on my parahippocampal gyrus. Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have found that suspicion resides in two distinct regions of the brain: the amygdala, which plays a central role [...]
