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In a large study led by the MHH neurology department, researchers investigated the cognition of patients with the rare disease NMOSD. It was found that about 20 percent of those affected have limited cognitive abilities.

People with the rare neuromyelitis optica spectrum disease (NMOSD) have severe physical and psychological impairments. But do they also suffer from limitations in their cognitive abilities? Neurologists investigated this in the CogniNMO study. A total of 17 treatment centers specialized in the disease in Germany took part. Professor Dr. Corinna Trebst and Dr. Martin Hümmert from the Department of Neurology at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) led the study. The results were published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal.

There are a few thousand people with NMOSD in Germany. This is a rare autoimmune disease that causes relapsing inflammations of the central nervous system. Those affected suffer from limitations such as impaired vision, paralysis, incontinence and pain. “Whether their cognitive abilities are also reduced has not been clear until now. Studies had delivered different and partly contradictory results on this,” Professor Trebst says.

The function of the human brain is exceptional, driving all aspects of our thoughts and creativity. Yet the part of the human brain—the neocortex—responsible for such cognitive functions has a similar overall structure to other mammals.

Through close collaboration between The University of Queensland (UQ), The Mater Hospital and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, researchers have discovered the human brain’s enhanced processing power may stem from differences in the structure and function of our neurons.

The results of this study have been published in Cell Reports as “High-fidelity dendritic sodium spike generation in human layer 2/3 neocortical pyramidal neurons.”

Biodegradable devices that generate energy from the same effect behind most static electricity could help power transient electronic implants that dissolve in the body, researchers say.

Implantable electronic devices now help treat everything from damaged hearts to traumatic brain injuries. For example, pacemakers can help keep hearts beating properly, while brain sensors can monitor patients for potentially dangerous swelling in the brain.

However, when standard electronic implants run out of power, they need to be removed lest they eventually become sites of infection. But their surgical removal can result in potentially dangerous complications. Scientists are developing transient implantable electronics that dissolve once they are no longer needed, but these mostly rely on external sources of power, limiting their applications.

A study published in the journal Stem Cell Reports on March 23, led by Dr. Ryosuke Tsuchimochi and Professor Jun Takahashi, examined the effects of combining cell transplantation and gene therapy for axonal outgrowth in the central nervous system. The authors demonstrated the potential of this combinatorial therapy for promoting axonal regeneration in patients with central nervous system injuries.

Stroke and traumatic brain/spinal cord injuries often damage the corticospinal tract (CST), composed of descending axonal tracts from the motor cortex down the spinal cord, that innervates motor neurons to activate skeletal muscles for controlling voluntary movements. Pharmacological and surgical interventions, in conjunction with rehabilitation, can maintain some lost motor functions, but patients with such acute neural injuries often suffer from lifelong severe motor impairment.

Cell replacement therapy—the implantation of new neurons into damaged brain regions —is viewed as a last hope that could help patients recover sufficient motor functions to live a normal life. The research team previously demonstrated that brain tissues transplanted into injured mouse brains could find their way to the CST and spinal cord but believed that further optimization of the host environment was necessary to promote CST reconstruction and functional recovery.

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Fellow scientists labeled him a crackpot. Now Stuart Hameroff’s quantum consciousness theories are getting support from unlikely places.

A new publication released today in The EMBO Journal identified a key protein in the molecular mechanism triggering neurogenesis in the hippocampus. They found that tight regulation of Yap1 activity is essential as dysregulation can cause tissue disruption seen in the early stages of brain cancer.

Neurogenesis is the process by which new neurons are produced by neural stem cells (NSCs) in the brain. Neurogenesis is a crucial process in embryo development, but it also continues in some brain regions after birth and all throughout adulthood. In adulthood, neurogenesis is mainly responsible for brain plasticity.

In the adult hippocampus, a brain area responsible for memory and learning, most stem cells are held at quiescence. This reversible pause protects stem cells against damage and controls the rate of neurogenesis. When necessary, the stem cells can be taken off this pause to undergo activation. The mechanisms controlling quiescence and activation are still not fully understood.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an experimental treatment strategy which uses an implanted device to help patients with severe depression who have reached a point where no other treatment works.

But despite her involvement in the DBS collaboration, which involves neuroscientists, neurosurgeons, electrophysiologists, engineers and computer scientists, neurologist Helen Mayberg does not see it as a long-term solution.

“I hope I live long enough to see that people won’t require a hole in their brain and a device implanted in this way,” she says. “I often have a nightmare with my tombstone that kind of reads like, what did she think she was doing?”

The traditional diagram showed brain regions linked to specific body parts, but we might also have areas connected to whole-body control.