A new study sheds light on the genetic causes of a range of neurodegenerative disorders, including ALS, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease, and determines factors that impact the age of onset as well as disease severity.
50% of a person's happiness is determined by their genetic makeup, researchers discovered. A new study considers the roles both nature and nurture play in a person's happiness.
Researchers report they have identified the neurons responsible for why delaying bedtime can create chronic daytime sleepiness.
APOE4 affects lipid metabolism, but taking choline supplements may help protect carriers from developing Alzheimer's disease and slow cognitive decline.
Scientists have laid bare a novel molecular mechanism responsible for the major depression symptom, anhedonia, the loss of the ability to experience pleasure. The brain circuit involved in this newly elucidated pathway is largely identical between rodents and humans, upping the odds that the findings point toward new therapies for depression and other disorders. Additionally, opinion leaders hailed the study’s inventive methodology, saying it may offer a much sounder approach to testing new antidepressants.
Mice lacking the autism-associated SHANK3 gene were more sensitive to sensation, including touch. The mice also had overactive excitatory neurons in the somatosensory cortex, which may account for sensory hypersensitivity.
Researchers question why many of us are unable to live without our daily cup of coffee. According to a new study, bitter tastes are a natural warning system to protect the body from harmful substances, yet people with heightened ability to detect the bitter taste of coffee learn to associate it with positive things and tend to drink more than those with lower sensitivity. Researchers say this sensitivity is caused by genetic variants.
A new study reports on a link between circadian cell disruption and cancerous tumor growth.
Researchers report on a link between core body temperature and circadian rhythm in mice.
A taste for black coffee and dark chocolate is possibly a genetic trait, a new study reports. Coffee drinkers who have a genetic variant that reflects faster caffeine metabolism prefer bitter, black coffee. The same genetic variant is found in those who prefer dark chocolate.
The planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling pathway appears to play a significant role in the formation and maintenance of a large number of synapses.
A new study reports depressed people who responded to ketamine found their activity increased during earlier parts of the day. Researchers suggest clock gene machinery may be linked to the type of depression that responds to ketamine treatment.
