Brain

Anyone who has struggled with a foggy brain while adjusting to daylight saving time knows first-hand how an out-of-sync circadian clock can impair brain function.

Now, by manipulating the circadian clocks of Siberian hamsters, Stanford scientists may have identified a brain structure that disrupts memory when circadian rhythms fall apart, as they often do in patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Adding just one gram of turmeric to breakfast could help improve the memory of people who are in the very early stages of diabetes and at risk of cognitive impairment.

The finding has particular significance given that the world's ageing population means a rising incidence of conditions that predispose people to diabetes, which in turn is connected to dementia.

Early intervention could help to reduce the burden, whether by halting the disease or reducing its impact, said Emeritus Professor Mark Wahlqvist, from the Monash Asia Institute at Monash University.

Case Western Reserve researchers have developed a procedure that restores function to muscles involved in the control of breathing - even when they have been paralyzed for more than a year. The breakthrough offers hope that one day patients with severe spinal cord injuries will be able to breathe again without the assistance of a ventilator.

Blocking a key receptor in brain cells that is used by oxygen free radicals could play a major role in neutralizing the biological consequences of Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at Temple University.

The researchers' findings, "Modulation of AD Neuropathology and Memory Impairments by the Isoprostane F2α Is Mediated by the Thromboxane Receptor," were published Oct. 13 by the journal Neurobiology of Aging.

The findings of this international collaboration have been published today in Nature Genetics.

Progressive myoclonus epilepsies (PME) are rare, inherited, and usually childhood-onset neurodegenerative diseases whose core symptoms are epileptic seizures and debilitating involuntary muscle twitching (myoclonus).

Professor Berkovic said this finding of a new gene underlying progressive myoclonus epilepsy is one of the most devastating forms of epilepsy.

Men who have asymptomatic subclinical vascular disease are more likely to develop erectile dysfunction than men who don't have early stage vascular disease, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014.

"Erectile function can be a window into men's cardiovascular and overall health," said David I. Feldman, B.S., lead author and research assistant at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. "Erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disease commonly coexist."

Scientists have revealed the mechanisms that enable certain brain cells to persuade others to create 'Mexican waves' linked with cognitive function.

Ultimately, the team say their work may help researchers understand more about normal brain function and about neurocognitive disorders such as dementia.

Neurons are cells in the brain that communicate chemical and electrical information and they belong to one of two groups- inhibitory or excitatory. While much is known about excitatory neurons, the role of inhibitory neurons is still being debated.

Increasing the amount of omega-3s in your diet, whether from fish or flax, will likely decrease your risk of getting heart disease, according to Penn State nutritionists.

A substantial amount of evidence exists supporting the heart-health benefits of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (EPA and DHA), marine-derived omega-3 fatty acids. However, much less evidence exists to demonstrate the positive effects of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a plant-based omega-3 fatty acid.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- A new study provides an illustration of the power that reward has over learning and memory. In an experiment reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, mere sips of apple juice overcame a well-documented phenomenon in psychology known as "retrieval-induced forgetting" -- RIF.

A couple of years ago a scientist looking at dozens of MRI scans of human brains noticed something surprising. A large, fiber pathway that seemed to be part of the network of connections that process visual information showed up on the scans, but the researcher couldn't find it mentioned in any of the modern-day anatomy textbooks he had.

Scientists from Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) in Japan have developed an advanced imaging system to identify cells responsible for storing memory within a tiny worm. Their study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, not only offers a new way to identify molecular substrates of memory but may also one day lead to understanding how memory loss occurs in humans.

MONTREAL: An infant's mother tongue creates neural patterns that the unconscious brain retains years later even if the child totally stops using the language, (as can happen in cases of international adoption) according to a new joint study by scientists at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro and McGill University's Department of Psychology. The study offers the first neural evidence that traces of the "lost" language remain in the brain.

(NEW YORK - November 17) Brief usage of the painkiller oxycodone may impair behavioral flexibility even after that use ends, suggesting impaired decision-making as an enduring consequence of exposure, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published November 17 in the journal Learning and Memory.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability (ID), as well as the most frequent monogenic cause of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). FXS is caused by the absence or incorrect production of the protein FMRP (Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein). Scientists at VIB and KU Leuven (Belgium), in collaboration with Tor Vergata University (Italy) and VU University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) have pinpointed a novel role that FMRP plays during the embryonic development of the brain cortex.

A biological process in the brains of zebra finches shows that the songbirds respond quickly to trauma and are capable of controlling the natural inflammation that occurs to protect the brain from injury.