Newsline — Tuesday, April 22, 2014 13:00
Anesthetic Technique Important to Prevent Damage to Brain
Brain Mapping Confirms Schizophrenia Patients’ Impaired Ability to Imitate
Tuesday, April 22, 2014 9:00
According to psychologists, imitation is something that we all do whenever we learn a new skill; however, that appears not be true of those with schizophrenia. As reported online in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the results of a brain-mapping experiment conducted by a team of neuroscientists at Vanderbilt University strengthen the theory that an impaired ability to imitate may underlie the profound and enduring difficulty with social interactions that characterize schizophrenia. The researchers report that when patients with schizophrenia were asked to imitate simple hand movements, their brains exhibited abnormal brain activity in areas associated with the ability to imitate. The new study is the first to use functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the brain activity of schizophrenia patients while performing basic imitation tasks. To read more about the study, click here.
Chronic Sleep Disturbance Could Trigger Onset of Alzheimer’s
Monday, April 21, 2014 13:00
According to a new study from researchers at Temple University, there’s another reason to make sure you always get a good night’s sleep: People who experience chronic sleep disturbance could face an earlier onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s. The eight-week animal study revealed memory and learning impairment from reduced sleep. Moreover, in examining the mice’s brains for pathology, the sleep deprivation group showed a significantly increased amount of tau protein tangles. “We can conclude from this study that chronic sleep disturbance is an environmental risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Domenico Praticò, professor of pharmacology and microbiology/immunology, who led the study. “But the good news is that sleep disturbances can be easily treated, which would hopefully reduce the Alzheimer’s risk.” To read more about the study, click here.
Halting Immune Response Could Save Brain Cells After Stroke
Monday, April 21, 2014 9:00
Using a compound to block the body’s immune response greatly reduces disability after a stroke, new research shows. The animal-based study, conducted by University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, revealed that particular immune cells, CD4+ T-cells, produce a mediator — interleukin (IL) -21 — that can cause further damage in stroke tissue. However, normal mice, ordinarily killed or disabled by an ischemic stroke, were given a shot of a compound that blocks the action of IL-21. Subsequent brain scans and brain sections showed that the treated mice suffered little or no stroke damage. The study shows that after a stroke, the injured brain cells provoke the CD4+ T-cells to produce a substance, IL-21, that kills the neurons in the blood-deprived tissue of the brain, giving new insight as to how stroke induces neural injury: In looking at brain tissue from people who had died following ischemic stroke, researchers found that CD4+ T-cells and their protein, IL-21 are in high concentration in areas of the brain damaged by the stroke. To read more about…
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The Impact of Neurotoxic Exposure
Friday, April 18, 2014 13:00
A recent article in The Atlantic, “The Toxins That Threaten Our Brains,” discusses chemical exposure and its detrimental effect to brain health. The article begins by addressing 12 neurotoxins — environmental substances, as well as those found in everyday items — shown to lower IQs and cause ADHD and autism spectrum disorder. For example, the article refers to one study that reveals genetics accounts for no more than 30 percent to 40 percent of brain development disorders, that instead toxic chemicals from environmental exposure are responsible; that research also correlated how neurobehavorial development disorders continue to rise. While the impact of those 12 neurotoxins is significant, importantly, the article points out that known carcinogens like asbestos still are used for everyday products. Moreover, the effects of most chemicals used are not in fact known; the article stresses that lack of testing and insufficient regulation are the serious underlying problems. As author James Hamblin states, “The greater concern lies in what we’re exposed to and don’t yet know to be toxic.” To read the full article,…
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New Stroke Research Combines Brain Stimulation, Gait Training
Friday, April 18, 2014 9:00
Thanks to a $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a University of Illinois at Chicago researcher will test whether brain stimulation combined with gait training can improve patients’ ability to walk after a stroke. Sangeetha Madhavan, assistant professor of physical therapy and director of UIC’s Brain Plasticity Lab, and her colleagues study how the brain changes in response to stroke, and how to tap into the brain’s potential to help in a functional recovery. Employing a top-down approach to stimulate the brain to make it more responsive to the therapy, she will use transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, which passes a very low level of current through the motor area in the brain that controls the legs. Subjects will be evaluated at the end of the four weeks and again three months later, at which times their walking speed and other clinical and quality-of-life measures will be assessed. People with stroke differ in how they respond to therapy, Madhavan said, and the transcranial magnetic stimulation technique “gives…
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Chronic Pain Research Delves into the Brain
Thursday, April 17, 2014 13:00
How the human brain responds to chronic pain could eventually lead to improved treatments for patients. Research conducted by the University of Adelaide reveals that chronic pain may be related to impaired neuroplasticity. An experiment was conducted on patients with chronic tension-type headache (CTTH). During the study, participants undertook a motor training task consisting of moving their thumb as quickly as possible in a specific direction. The change in performance (or learning) on the task was tracked by recording how quickly subjects moved their thumb, and a non-invasive brain stimulation technique also was used to obtain a measure of the participants’ neuroplasticity. According to Dr Ann-Maree Vallence, who conducted the research, “The people with no history of chronic pain got better at the task with training, and we observed an associated neuroplastic change in their brains. However, our chronic headache patients did not get better at the task and there were no associated changes in the brain, suggesting impaired neuroplasticity.” To read more about the study, click here.
Smokers’ Brains Biased Against Negative Images of Smoking
Thursday, April 17, 2014 9:00
According to a recent study, in chronic smokers, the use of cigarettes influences the perception of them, making these smokers more susceptible to their positive aspects and altering understanding of their drawbacks. The study conducted by Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal and University of Montreal showed that chronic smokers have altered emotional reactions when they are exposed to positive and negative images associated with tobacco. Using neuroimaging techniques, the study researchers compared the emotional reactions of 30 smokers as they looked at aversive smoking-related images, compared to other aversive images, as well as appetitive smoking-related images. The study’s first author Le-Anh Dinh-Williams explained, “For example, the brains of the smokers in our study were more aroused by images that showed smoking in a positive light than by images that encouraged them to stop. They were also more affected by aversive non-smoking related images than by images of the specific negative consequences of smoking.” To read more about this study, click here.
Brain Differences in College-aged Occasional Drug Users
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 13:00
Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered impaired neuronal activity in the parts of brain associated with anticipatory functioning among 18-24 year-old users of stimulant drugs such as cocaine, amphetamines, and prescription drugs such as Adderall. The brain differences, detected using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), are believed to represent an internal hard wiring that may make some people more prone to drug addiction later in life. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, measured reaction times of participants who were instructed to press buttons on a keyboard when either an X or O appeared on a computer screen. The outcomes from the study showed that the occasional drug users (characterized as having taken stimulants an average of 12 to 15 times) have slightly faster reaction times, suggesting a tendency toward impulsivity. The brain images of the occasional users showed consistent patterns of diminished neuronal activity in the part of the brain associated with anticipatory functioning. The results of the study suggest that the root of the problem…
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Landmark Study to Guide Protocol for Stroke Patients
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 9:00
Recent research conducted by the University Of North Carolina School of Medicine provided the first evidence for which course of treatment is best for patients with poor collateral blood vessel formation near the site of stroke. The study, published in the journal Neurology, found that patients should have their blood pressure lowered to normal levels instead of being left high. Doctors previously suspected that blood pressure should be left high in this group of patients to force blood around the blockage and through collateral vessels, reducing the patient’s risk of suffering a second stroke. Using PET scan data from 91 patients with poor collateral blood flow, 40 had an average blood pressure of less than 130/85 during the two years after stroke, 51 had blood pressure above that, and just three of the 40 patients with “normal” blood pressure had a second stroke. However, 10 of the 51 patients with high blood pressure suffered a second stroke. The data from the study showed that lowering blood pressure reduced the risk of a second stroke by…
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