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Archive for the ‘neuroscience’ category: Page 392

Sep 3, 2022

New Method Eradicates Deadly Brain Tumors

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

Summary: A new method that targets the astrocytes surrounding glioblastoma brain cancer eradicates tumor cells and extends lifespan in animal models.

Source: Tel Aviv University.

A groundbreaking study at Tel Aviv University effectively eradicated glioblastoma, a highly lethal type of brain cancer.

Sep 3, 2022

US health officials brace for mosquito-borne virus that can cause paralysis and death as temperatures rise

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health, neuroscience

Basically the United States has alerts for the west Nile as it seems to be spreading across many states.


As temperatures warm, US health officials are braced for rising rates of West Nile virus, a disease transmitted by mosquitoes that can cause meningitis, paralysis, and death.

Oklahoma reported its first West Nile death of the year on Thursday, in a resident who had been hospitalized with the illness.

Continue reading “US health officials brace for mosquito-borne virus that can cause paralysis and death as temperatures rise” »

Sep 2, 2022

Neurons Have Emergency Back-Up System, Neuroscientists Say

Posted by in category: neuroscience

The newly-discovered neuronal back-up system safeguards metabolic flexibility of neurons to cope with energy demands of electrical signaling, according to a team of researchers from the Center of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Medical University of Vienna.

If one of these systems fails, another one takes over and ensures that sufficient energy is supplied to meet the prevailing requirement.

Sep 2, 2022

The first spatiotemporal map of brain regeneration in the axolotl

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

A multi-institute research team led by BGI-Research has used BGI Stereo-seq technology to construct the world first spatiotemporal cellular atlas of the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) brain development and regeneration, revealing how a brain injury can heal itself. The study was published as a cover story in the latest issue of Science.

The research team analyzed the development and regeneration of salamander brain, identified the key neural stem cell subsets in the process of salamander brain regeneration, and described the reconstruction of damaged neurons by such stem cell subsets. At the same time, the team also found that brain regeneration and development have certain similarities, providing assistance for cognitive brain structure and development, while offering new directions for research and treatment of the nervous system.

In contrast to mammals, some vertebrates have the ability to regenerate multiple organs, including parts of the central nervous system. Among them, the axolotl can not only regenerate organs such as limbs, tail, eyes, skin and liver, but also the brain. The axolotl is evolutionarily advanced compared to other teleost, such as zebrafish, and its brain features a higher similarity to mammalian brain structure. Therefore, this study used the axolotl as an ideal model organism for research into brain regeneration.

Sep 2, 2022

Scientists Uncover New Kind Of Synapse Between The “Tiny Hairs” On Brain Cells

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Scientists from the Janelia Campus at Howard Hughes Medical Institute have made a surprising discovery, and it might help explain how brain cells communicate long-term changes to each other. Their findings, reported in the journal Cell, describe a new synapse between axons and primary cilia – hair-like structures present on different cell types including neurons.

Synapses normally span between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite of another, however, the new findings suggest that axons could take an alternative, shorter route and connect to special junctions of primary cilia to rapidly signal information to the cell’s nucleus, forming a new kind of synapse not seen before.

“This special synapse represents a way to change what is being transcribed or made in the nucleus, and that changes whole programs,” Janelia Senior Group Leader David Clapham, whose team led the new research, said in a statement.

Sep 2, 2022

This humanoid robot can help children describe their concerns better, research shows

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, robotics/AI

Nao is the new shoulder to lean on for children.

Sometimes it can be difficult for children to open their hearts to adults. If there is a mental disorder, this situation can be even more difficult. However, a robot called “Nao” overcame it.

Robots may be more effective in identifying children’s mental health problems than parental or self-reported testing, according to a recent study by the University of Cambridge.

Sep 2, 2022

A pharmaceutical jack of all trades? Novo CEO touts semaglutide’s potential in NASH, Alzheimer’s and its hot start in obesity

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Novo Nordisk’s recent growth renaissance has arrived thanks in no small part to semaglutide—the GLP-1 molecule behind the company’s leading marketed trio of Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy.

These days, much of the semaglutide hype surrounds Ozempic’s domination in diabetes, plus Wegovy’s potential to stir the slumbering giant that is the global obesity market. But even as the molecule’s metabolic empire prospers, Novo Nordisk isn’t letting its GLP-1 stay in its comfort zone. Novo is also pitting the drug against a pair of elusive targets: nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and Alzheimer’s disease.

And while CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen is quick to admit the company’s ambitions in these new diseases are among Novo’s “most risky” R&D endeavors, the payoff for patients could be “tremendous,” he said during a recent interview at Novo Nordisk’s headquarters in Plainsboro, New Jersey.

Sep 1, 2022

A novel injection therapy could restore cognitive function in people with Down syndrome

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

The promising results led to improved not only cognitive function but also brain connectivity.

An Inserm team at the Lille Neuroscience & Cognition laboratory is working with scientists at Lausanne University Hospital to evaluate the effectiveness of GnRH injection therapy in enhancing cognitive functions in a small group of Down syndrome patients, according to a press release published on Eurekalert.

Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal condition in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in every 6,000 babies born in the U.S. has Down syndrome. It causes various symptoms, such as deterioration in cognitive capacity.

Sep 1, 2022

Bridge centrality network structure of negative symptoms in people with schizophrenia

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Negative symptoms are complex psychopathology. Although evidence generally supported the NIMH five consensus domains, research seldom examined measurement invariance of this model, and domain-specific correspondence across multiple scales. This study aimed to examine the interrelationship between negative symptom domains captured by different rating scales, and to examine the domain-specific correspondence across multiple scales. We administered the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS), the Self-evaluation of Negative Symptoms (SNS), and the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) to 204 individuals with schizophrenia. We used network analysis to examine the interrelationship between negative symptom domains.

Sep 1, 2022

Fentanyl’s Effects on the Brain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Summary: Fentanyl exposure produces specific EEG signatures in the brain. The findings also revealed the drug impairs people’s breathing four minutes before noticeable changes in alertness.

Source: Mass General.

Fentanyl is used to supplement sedation and to relieve severe pain during and after surgery, but it’s also one of the deadliest drugs of the opioid epidemic.