Newsline — Monday, September 7, 2015 9:00
Tissue Bank Pays Dividends for Brain Cancer Research
Study Finds Current Brain Cancer Treatments May Cause Brain Shrinkage
Friday, September 4, 2015 13:00
In a recent study published in the journal Neurology, researchers from the Pappas Center for Neuro-Oncology found that radiation and chemotherapy may be shrinking patients’ brains. Although it is well known that whole brain radiation can have adverse, neurotoxic effects this is the first study to characterize structural brain changes resulting from standard radiation and chemotherapy in patients with malignant brain tumors. During the study, researchers analyzed 14 patients with a glioblastoma, who were scheduled to receive chemotherapy and radiation after their tumors were surgically removed. Before and after their 35-week treatment, MRIs were taken with a high-powered scanner. Only eight patients had an adequate number of images taken, but all of them saw the overall amount of brain tissue decrease significantly throughout the course of treatment. Because chemotherapy was ongoing simultaneously, chemotherapy cannot be ruled out as the cause for the shrinkage. Researchers said that the volume reduction occurred within a few weeks after beginning treatment, and was primarily seen in grey matter. The ventricles also became larger and changes were seen in the…
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New Molecular Feedback Process May Protect Against Alzheimer’s Disease
Friday, September 4, 2015 9:00
New research conducted by Rockefeller University has identified a series of naturally occurring molecular steps — known as a pathway — that can dampen the production of amyloid-β, the key toxic protein fragments indicated in Alzheimer’s disease. “Our discovery centers on a protein called WAVE1, which we found to be important in the production of amyloid-β. The reduction of WAVE1 appears to have a protective effect against the disease,” said the study’s lead author. “When levels of amyloid-β rise, there is an accompanying increase in another molecule, AICD, which reduces the expression of WAVE1. This has the effect of reducing the production of amyloid-β. To take a closer look at the relationship between amyloid-β and WAVE1, the researchers tested the brains and memories of mice genetically altered to produce high levels of amyloid-β and varying levels of WAVE1. They found a dose-dependent response — mice brains with low WAVE1 levels produced less amyloid-β, and these animals performed better on memory tests. To read more about this study, click here.
Saliva Test for Stress Hormone Levels
Thursday, September 3, 2015 13:00
According to a study published in the journal Neurology, testing the saliva of healthy older people for their cortisol levels may help identify individuals who should be screened for problems with cognition. The study found that people with higher levels of cortisol in the evening were more likely to have a smaller total brain volume and to perform worse on tests of thinking and memory skills. “Studies have shown that depression increases the risk for dementia, but we don’t know much about how this relationship occurs,” said the study’s lead author. The study analyzed 4,244 people with an average age of 76 who did not have dementia. Participants underwent a brain scan so researchers could look at their brain volume and then took tests of their thinking and memory skills. Saliva samples were taken from the participants once in the morning and in the evening to determine cortisol levels, and were then divided into three groups based on cortisol levels of high, medium and low. Results showed that people with the highest level of cortisol…
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Maltreated Children’s Brains Show Ability to Regulate Emotion
Thursday, September 3, 2015 9:00
In a study recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, a team of researchers from the University of Washington analyzed the brains of maltreated adolescents when they viewed emotional images in order to understand if maltreatment has an impact on the brain regions involved in emotion control. The study involved 42 boys and girls ages 13 to 19, half of whom had been physically and/or sexually abused. Using magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers tracked the teens’ brain activity as they were shown a series of photographs, both negative and positive. “The question is, do we see differences in the brain in terms of how it responds to emotional information in kids who have been maltreated?” said the lead research of the study. The answer, the researchers concluded, is yes. The positive images generated little difference in brain activity between the two groups. But when looking at negative images, the maltreated teens had more activity in brain regions involved in identifying potential threats — including the amygdala, which plays…
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Healthy Moods Spread Via Social Contact, Not Depression
Wednesday, September 2, 2015 13:00
Research recently published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B revealed that having mentally healthy friends can help someone recover from depression or even continue to remain mentally healthy. In contrast, the study found that having depressed friends does not make you more likely to become depressed yourself. During the study, researchers analyzed more than 2,000 adolescents in a network of U.S. high school students to find out how their moods influenced each other. They modeled their method by using similar tracking techniques typically used for the spread of infectious diseases. The team found that while depression does not “spread,” having enough friends with a healthy mood can halve the probability of developing, or double the probability of recovering from, depression over a six- to 12-month period. In the context of depression, this is a very large impact. “We know social factors, for example, living alone or having experienced abuse in childhood, influences whether someone becomes depressed,” said the study’s lead author. “We also know that social support is important for recovery from…
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Studying Worm Movements May Offer Clues to the Human Brain
Wednesday, September 2, 2015 9:00
In a study recently published in the journal in the journal PLOS Biology, researchers from MRC’s Clinical Sciences Centre at Imperial College London developed a pioneering tool to analyze a worm’s posture is it wriggles and are investigating how exactly the worm’s brain controls its movements. Researchers created a library of shapes that each depict a key posture adopted by small worms. This nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, is a mainstay of scientific research. It’s the only animal for which scientists have established how all of its neurons are connected. It is also a good model for the human brain because some of the genes that encode its neurons can be found in people, and many of the molecules that its neurons use to communicate with each other, such as dopamine and serotonin, are thought to play similar roles in the human brain. During the study, a computer assigned the worm’s posture to a numerical value between 1 and 90, each of which denotes a benchmark posture. The sequence of postures that a worm adopts over…
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How Exposure to Brief Trauma and Sudden Sounds Form Lasting Memories
Tuesday, September 1, 2015 13:00
Researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center recently found how even brief exposure to sudden sounds or mild trauma can form permanent, long-term brain connections, or memories. The research team, working with rats, said it was able to chemically stimulate those biological pathways in the locus coeruleus — the area of the brain best known for releasing the “fight or flight” hormone, noradrenaline — to heighten and improve the animals’ hearing. The results of the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, allow for deeper insight into the functions of the locus coeruleus as a powerful amplifier in the brain, controlling how and where the brain stores and transforms sudden, traumatizing sounds and events into memories. According to the researchers, their findings provide insight into how and where traumatizing events stick in our minds and may possibly explain why it may take years to learn dates in history class but only seconds to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), from a shock or sudden event. They also say these study results may help explain how electrical impulses,…
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New Cancer Drugs May Cause Memory Loss in Mice
Tuesday, September 1, 2015 9:52
Results from a recent study regarding a new class of cancer drugs were found to cause memory loss in mice. The findings, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, tested BET inhibitors, and could lead to safer drug therapies that reduce the risk of potential side effects, such as memory loss. During the study, researchers used a compound that was designed to thwart the activity of a specific BET protein, called Brd4. They used the original version of the drug, called Jq1, which they knew could cross the blood-brain barrier. The researchers added the drug to mouse neurons grown in the lab, then stimulated the cells in a way that mimicked the process of memory formation. Normally, when neurons receive this type of signal, they begin transcribing genes into proteins, resulting in the formation of new memories — a process that is partly regulated by Brd4. “To turn a recent experience into a long-term memory, you need to have gene transcription in response to these extracellular signals,” said the lead research of the study. To test…
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Antidepressants Fine-Tune Brain Reward Pathway to Lessen Neuropathic Pain
Friday, August 28, 2015 13:00
According to a study recently published in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, commonly used antidepressant drugs change levels of a key signaling protein in the brain region that processes both pain and mood. The newly understood mechanism could yield insights into more precise future treatments for nerve pain and depression. Past studies have shown that chronic neuropathic pain often leads to depression, but the brain mechanisms underlying this connection were previously unknown, as were the mechanisms by which common antidepressant drugs counter both pain and depression-related symptoms. The current study found that the molecular adaptations required for recovery from pain and depression are controlled by a gene (RGS9) and the protein it codes for, named RGS9-2. Mice that lacked the gene responsible for encoding RGS9-2 responded much earlier to very low doses of antidepressants, showed significant improvement of sensory deficits and had no signs of depression-related behaviors. “Our data reveals that antidepressants that target specific neurotransmitters in the brain, particularly [tricyclic antidepressants] and [Serotonin-Norepinephrine inhibitors], regulate chronic pain and depression-related symptoms through…
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