Lifeboat Foundation

In a global research effort, scientists have uncovered a relationship between metabolism problems in the brain and a range of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, from autism to Alzheimer’s disease and more.

Despite their diverse symptoms, these conditions – as well as depression, epilepsy, schizophrenia, intellectual disability, and bipolar disorder – all involve a degree of cognitive impairment and often share genetic or metabolic features, hinting at a common biological basis.

The extensive collaboration by the International Brain pH Project Consortium, involving 131 scientists from 105 labs in seven countries, identified changes in brain acidity and lactate levels in animals as key signs of this metabolic dysfunction.

The idea of growing functioning human brain-like tissues in a dish has always sounded far-fetched, even to researchers in the field. Towards the future goal, a Japanese and French research team has developed a technique for connecting lab-grown brain-mimicking tissue in a way that resembles circuits in our brain.

The work appears in Nature Communications.

It is challenging to study exact mechanisms of the brain development and functions. Animal studies are limited by differences between species in brain structure and function, and brain cells grown in the lab tend to lack the characteristic connections of cells in the human brain. What’s more, researchers are increasingly realizing that these interregional connections, and the circuits that they create, are important for many of the brain functions that define us as humans.

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In a recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers explored how changes in daily step counts and variability affect cognitive function in older adults during a 10-week physical activity intervention.

Study: Association between changes in habitual stepping activity and cognition in older adults. Image Credit: SibRapid / Shutterstock.

Continue reading “Step steady: Consistent walking improves brain function in older adults” »

(TBI) is a sudden injury that causes damage to the brain. It may happen when there is a blow, bump, or jolt to the head. This is a closed head injury. A TBI can also happen when an object penetrates the skull. This is a penetrating injury.

Symptoms of a TBI can be mild, moderate, or severe. Concussions are a type of mild TBI. The effects of a concussion can sometimes be serious, but most people completely recover in time. More severe TBI can lead to serious physical and psychological symptoms, coma, and even death.

For many of these individuals, the response to repotrectinib lasted for several years.

“Repotrectinib can lead to long-term responses for patients with ROS1 fusion–positive lung cancers, including those who have and have not received prior targeted therapy,” said Alexander Drilon, M.D., of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who led the TRIDENT-1 study.

Treatment with repotrectinib also shrank tumors that had spread to the brain, a common location for lung metastases, the researchers reported.

Register for free to get subscriber-only benefits: https://closertotruth.com/If consciousness is 100% physical, we would have to conclude that the same kind…

Synchron on Monday plans to launch an online…

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) — Synchron Inc, a rival to Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain implant startup, is preparing to recruit patients for a large-scale clinical trial required to seek commercial approval for its device, the company’s chief executive told Reuters.

Synchron on Monday plans to launch an online registry for patients interested in joining the trial meant to include dozens of participants, and has received interest from about 120 clinical trial centers to help run the study, CEO Thomas Oxley said in an interview.

Continue reading “Exclusive: Synchron, a rival to Musk’s Neuralink, readies large-scale brain implant trial” »

Recent research in mice investigates a new, immunotherapy-based approach to treating Alzheimer’s disease aiming to clear toxic protein accumulations in the brain.

From Caltech & NVIDIA

This explains the prospect of #deeplearning on advancing science, #simulation, and design.