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University of Michigan

Brain Cancer Featured Genetics Neurology Open Neuroscience Articles

·August 2, 2020·5 min read

New Approach to Improve Radiation Therapy Resistance in Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma brain cancer cells that are more resistant to radiation therapy have higher levels of purines. Reducing the level of purines made the cancer cells more sensitive to radiation.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 31, 2020·3 min read

‘Talkative’ Brain Regions Create Self-Control Challenges for Teens With Obesity

Obesity risk in teens appears to be associated with stronger connectivity within and between regions of the brain implicated in determining the salience of stimuli. This may have implications for reward processing. Researchers report executive control efforts in the brain decrease when salience and reward-processing regions are engaged in teens with obesity.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 27, 2020·5 min read

Ultra-Low Power Brain Implants Find Meaningful Signal in Grey Matter Noise

Researchers reduced the power requirements of neural interfaces while improving their accuracy by tuning into a subset of brain waves.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·June 16, 2020·4 min read

How does our brain trigger different sighs?

Researchers have identified a brain circuit that regulates all types of sighing but activates sighs for different reasons using input signals from different parts of the brain.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 25, 2020·2 min read

Higher levels of destructive white blood cells associated with more severe COVID-19

Patients with severe COVID-19 infections have higher blood levels of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), which produce NETosis, an inflammatory type of neutrophil cell death. Researchers believe the NETs may be relevant to numerous aspects of novel coronavirus as thrombosis and inflammation are hallmarks of the severe infection.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Psychology

·April 22, 2020·3 min read

Spinal cord injury increases risk for mental health disorders

People who experience a spinal cord injury have an increased risk of developing a mental health disorder, a new study reports. Those with SCI had higher instances of anxiety, depression, and psychological multimorbidity than those who had not experienced a debilitating injury.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 13, 2020·2 min read

Mandated TB vaccination predicts flattened curves for COVID-19 spread

Researchers report that if the US had adopted mandatory BCG vaccines against tuberculosis decades ago, we may not have reached death rates in triple digits for coronavirus. Countries that have a current policy mandating BCG vaccinations have significantly slower growth of both COVID-19 cases and deaths compared to countries with no mandates for the TB vaccination.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 8, 2020·3 min read

Could a smartwatch identify an infection before you start spreading it?

A medical wrist device detected disrupted sleep patterns 24 hours before participants started shedding the flu virus. While the initial study was focused on influenza, researchers speculate the device could be sufficient at spotting the beginning of other infections, including COVID-19. While it should not be considered a full diagnostic device, the wristband data will be useful to guide when people should self isolate as a precaution.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 8, 2020·4 min read

Common coronaviruses are highly seasonal, with most cases peaking in winter months

Common coronaviruses are usually detected between December and May, with a peak of infection during January and February. Only 2.5% of cases occurred in the summer months. Researchers caution it is still too early to tell if COVID-19 will follow the same seasonal path as other coronaviruses.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 23, 2020·4 min read

Containment efforts appear to step COVID-19 spread down from exponential norm

Community actions taken to slow the spread of COVID-19 may help to contain the virus and stop the exponential growth of cases. Researchers say the viral spread in China occurred in a fractal pattern. When social distancing was implemented, viral spread slowed. With more communities adopting social distancing measures, the spread became smaller in each new area exposed.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·March 11, 2020·4 min read

A delicate dance of dynamic changes in the conscious brain

The brain quickly transitions from one network to another in regular patterns. The transition trajectories constitute a temporal circuit where the conscious brain cycles through a structured pattern of states over time.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·February 12, 2020·3 min read

Love matters: How parents’ love shapes children’s lives

Children whose parents reported loving marital relationships stayed in school longer and entered into marriage later than children whose parents were less affectionate toward each other.