Newsline — Friday, September 19, 2014 9:00
Variable Blood Pressure Linked to Acute Cardiovascular Risks
Toxic Proteins Removed Through Immune System Booster
Thursday, September 18, 2014 13:00
Alzheimer’s disease experts at NYU Langone Medical Center and elsewhere are reporting success in specifically harnessing a mouse’s immune system to attack and remove the buildup of toxic proteins in the brain that are markers of the neurodegenerative disease. The researchers say that work advances the development of more effective clinical treatments for Alzheimer’s disease because their immune booster reduced both amyloid beta plaques and tau tangles. “Our study results confirm that precisely boosting the immune system in mice can work effectively against Alzheimer’s disease, a treatment model that could very well be applied in humans,” said the study’s senior investigator. If further animal testing proves successful, human clinical trials could begin with a year. To read more about this study, click here.
Study Looks to Disrupt Addiction
Thursday, September 18, 2014 9:00
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has awarded the University at Buffalo a grant to conduct research that could provide an answer to why cocaine addicts relapse after months or years of abstinence. The research has the potential to identify novel therapies for treating cocaine addiction and other psychostimulants. The five-year grant focuses on the short- and long-term neurobiological changes in the brain that are induced by addiction. An addict’s brain undergoes dramatic and profound changes while being exposed to cocaine, known as neuroplasticity. The plasticity, includes cellular changes that, in turn, control changes in the shape of neurons and the number of connections they have with other neurons, ultimately causing changes in the addict’s behavior. “The question is, how can we interfere with those changes?” asks the study’s investigators. “How can we either prevent the rewiring in the addicted state or somehow reverse it?” A key component of the grant is the ability to understand how the brain changes at different time points following abstinence from drugs. To read more about this study, click…
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Researchers Developing Noninvasive Method for Diagnosing Back Conditions
Wednesday, September 17, 2014 13:00
An interdisciplinary research team from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center received a grant to develop the first imaging technique used to identify biomarkers that could indicate patients who have degenerative back conditions. When non-invasive imaging procedures can identify exactly where the biomarkers are, researchers may alleviate the need for painful and invasive, diagnostic procedures and, in the future, provide targeted, stem-cell based therapies to those suffering. As described in the article, published in the journal Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, identifying the exact disc that is the source of pain by employing the latest imaging techniques may save patients from painful and invasive diagnostic procedures, such as injections of contrast agents or non-toxic dyes into a patients’ spinal discs. “Our research team is interested in the role of stem cells in this disease and how we can utilize these cells to regenerate the disc and turn it back into a functional tissue,” said one of the study’s investigators. To read more about this study, click here.
Sleep Loss Linked to Decline in Brain Volume
Wednesday, September 17, 2014 9:00
According to a recent study published in the journal Neurology, sleep difficulties may be linked to faster rates of decline in brain volume. The study included 147 adults between the ages of 20 and 84, and researchers examined the link between sleep difficulties such as having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at night, and brain volume. All participants underwent two MRI brain scans an average of 3.5 years apart, before completing a questionnaire about their sleep habits. A total of 35 percent of the participants met the criteria for poor sleep quality, scoring an average of 8.5 out of 21 points on the sleep assessment, which looked at how long people slept, how long it took them to fall asleep at night, use of sleep medications and other factors. The results showed that sleep difficulties were linked with a more rapid decline in brain volume over the course of the study in widespread brain regions, including within frontal, temporal and parietal areas. “It is not yet known whether poor sleep quality is a cause…
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Brain Networks Hyper-Connected in Young Adults with Depression
Tuesday, September 16, 2014 13:00
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have discovered that young adults who previously experienced depression have hyper-connected emotional and cognitive networks in their brains. The researchers used fMRI to examine the brain connectivity of young adults ages 18 to 23, who had previously experienced depression, in addition to 23 healthy participants. “We wanted to see if the individuals who have had depression during their adolescence were different from their healthy peers,” said the study’s lead author. The researchers found many regions that are “hyper-connected — or talking to each other a little too much — among those who have a history of depression,” added the author. These hyper-connected brain networks were related to rumination, with individuals thinking about a problem over and over without actively trying to come up with a solution. The researchers also looked at cognitive control, which is a predictor of response to treatment and also relapse of illness. The transition to adulthood, a time when the brain networks are nearly mature, may be a critical window for any…
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Study Links Alcohol Dependence Gene to Neurotransmitter
Tuesday, September 16, 2014 9:00
In a recent study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have figured out why a specific signaling pathway can be associated with alcohol dependence. The signaling pathway is regulated by a gene called neurofibromatosis type 1 (Nf1), which TSRI scientists linked to excessive drinking in mice. The research found that Nf1 regulates gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that lowers anxiety and increases feeling of relaxation. Researchers have long sought a gene, or genes, that might be responsible for risk and severity of alcohol dependence. To study the effects of partially deleting Nf1, the research team tested several behavioral models, including a model in which mice escalate alcohol drinking after repeated withdrawal periods. In this experiment, they found that mice with functional Nf1 genes steadily increased their ethanol intake, starting after just one episode of withdrawal. The research team sees the new findings as pieces to the puzzle, and want to focus next on exactly how NF1 regulates the GABA system, and how gene expression may be altered during…
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Study Helps Explain Risky Teenage Behavior
Monday, September 15, 2014 14:00
A series of studies has shed light on specific brain mechanisms that help explain what might be going on inside juvenile male brains that predispose them to risky behaviors. A series of 19 studies approached the question from multiple specific domains, including psychology, neurochemistry, brain imaging, clinical neuroscience and neurobiology. The results of the study showed that teenage boys produce enhanced activity in the part of the brain that controls emotions when confronted with a threat; they were mostly immune to the threat of punishment but also hypersensitive to the possibility of large gains from gambling; the study also found less activity in a molecule known to be vital in developing fear in dangerous situations. The findings point toward neurochemical differences between teenage and adult brains, which may underlie the complex behaviors exhibited by teenagers. To read more about this study, click here.
Mouse Model Provides Window into Working Brain
Monday, September 15, 2014 10:00
In a recent study published in the journal Neuron, scientists from the University of Utah developed a genetically engineered line of mice that could open the door to new research on epilepsy, Alzheimer’s and other diseases. The mice carry a protein marker, which changes in degree of fluorescence in response to different calcium levels. This allows many cell types, including cells called astrocytes and microglia, to be studied in a new way. With the new mouse line, scientists can use a laser-based fluorescence microscope to study the calcium indicator in the glial cells of the living mouse, either when the mouse is anesthetized or awake. Calcium is an important signaling molecule in the body and it can reveal how well the brain is functioning. “We believe this will give us new insights for treatments of epilepsy and for new views of how the immune system of the brain works,” said one of the study’s corresponding authors. The ability to track calcium changes in the microglial cells will also open up the possibility of studying inflammatory…
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Training Your Brain to Prefer Healthy Foods
Friday, September 12, 2014 13:00
According to new research conducted by scientists at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA), it may be possible to train the brain to prefer healthy, low-calories foods over unhealthy, higher-calorie foods. Published in the journal Nutrition & Diabetes, the brain-scan study in adult men and women suggests that it is possible to reverse the addictive power of unhealthy food, while also increasing the preference for healthy food. Scientists have suspected that once unhealthy food addiction circuits are established, they may be hard or impossible to reverse, subjecting people who have gained weight to a lifetime of unhealthy food choices. To find out whether the brain can be retrained to support healthy food choices, researchers studied the reward system in the brains of thirteen overweight and obese men and women, eight of whom were participants in a new weight loss program designed by Tufts University, specifically designed to change how people react to different foods. After six months, results of the brain scans revealed changes in area of the brain reward center…
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