What causes autism? It isn’t vaccines, studies show. Here are some possibilities that researchers are exploring.
There is no one factor that causes autism — or explains its growing prevalence. Researchers are seeking explanations for the surge. Here are some possibilities.
Researchers with the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) have unveiled a critical mechanism that links cellular stress in the brain to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
The study, published in the journal Neuron, highlights microglia, the brain’s primary immune cells, as central players in both the protective and harmful responses associated with the disease.
Microglia, often dubbed the brain’s first responders, are now recognized as a significant causal cell type in Alzheimer’s pathology. However, these cells play a double-edged role: some protect brain health, while others worsen neurodegeneration.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the type of trees affected by Phanerochaete velutina.
A species of wood-eating fungus didn’t need a brain to pass a cognitive test with flying colors, and researchers say this first-of-its-kind discovery could have broader implications for understanding consciousness and intelligence in a variety of life forms.
A team of researchers at Japan’s Tohoku University, led by Yu Fukasawa, associate professor in the Graduate School of Agricultural Science, set out to determine whether fungi could recognize shapes. Their study, published in the journal Fungal Ecology in October, found evidence that these bottom feeders possess memory and decision-making abilities despite not having a central nervous system.
Cytomegalovirus (CMV), which causes a cold-like illness, can be spread in the same way as other viruses from person to person through body fluids such as blood, saliva and urine.
But the infection is present in up to 45 per cent of Alzheimer’s cases, US scientists have claimed.
Some people exposed to the bug may develop a chronic intestinal infection, allowing it to enter the bloodstream and travel to the brain.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder associated with a progressive decline in memory and mental abilities, which can significantly hinder people’s ability to complete daily tasks. Past studies found that patients diagnosed with AD, as well as some other neurodegenerative disorders, exhibit an abnormal accumulation of tau protein in their neurons.
Tau protein is a microtubule-associated protein (MAP) known to stabilize the internal structure of neurons, binding to microtubules. These are microscopic tubular structures that support the transport of nutrients, proteins and other vital molecules within individual neurons or other cells.
Recent findings suggest that tau proteins interact with extracellular vesicles (EVs), small membrane-bound particles secreted by cells that carry molecules and deliver them to other cells. While the research hints at a connection between these vesicles and tau proteins in AD, the link between the two is not yet fully understood.
A new study may overturn the century-old understanding of how neurons are shaped—but not everyone is on board.
The speed of the human brain’s ability to process information has been investigated in a new study, and according to scientists, we’re not as mentally quick as we might like to think.
In fact, research suggests our brains process information at a speed of just 10 bits per second. But how is this possible, in comparison to the trillions of operations computers can perform every second?
Research suggests this is the result of how we internally process thoughts in single file, making for a slow, congested queue.
A study published in Cell Reports Medicine reveals that bowel movement frequency significantly influences physiology and long-term health, with the best outcomes linked with passing stools once or twice a day.
Previous research has suggested associations between constipation and diarrhea with higher risks of infections and neurodegenerative conditions, respectively.
But since these findings were observed in sick patients, it remained unclear whether irregular bathroom visits were the cause or result of their conditions.
DOI: Abstract We are living in a historical period in respect to the deterioration in public health, as we experience the rise of the catastrophic obesity epidemic and mental health crisis in recent decades, despite the great efforts from the scientific and medical community to seek health solutions and to try to find cures to the enormous human suffering and economic costs resulting by this collapse in public health. This trend has reached such a critical level that it jeopardizes society when over 40% of the population is obese in the United States, suffering grave medical health conditions, even as the expenditure on public health is rising exponentially to over 20% of gross domestic product. This should point to a monumental failure in our fundamental understanding of basic human biology and health. This article suggests that our current Western reductionist scientific paradigm in both biology and medicine has proved impotent and failed us completely. Therefore, the current cultural health crises require a more holistic approach to human biology and health in terms of chronobiological trends. The emerging neuroscience of brain energy metabolism will be considered as a holistic model for understanding how solar cycles affect our civilization and drive our sex and growth hormones and neurotransmitters that shape both our physical and mental health.
Children with hereditary deafness regained their hearing thanks to a type of gene therapy, a new study published on Wednesday found.
In a clinical trial, co-led by investigators from Mass Eye and Ear, a specialty hospital in Boston, six children who had a form of genetic deafness called DFNB9 were examined.
This deafness is caused by mutations of the OTOF gene. This mutation fails to produce a protein known as otoferlin, which is necessary for the transmission of sound signals from the ear to the brain, according to the researchers.