Plans to develop major research centres will add more power to knowledge about the brain.
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Category: neuroscience – Page 886
A diet rich in fiber helps reduce inflammation in murine brains.
According to a new study performed by University of Illinois researchers and published in Frontiers in Immunology, a diet rich in fiber reduces inflammation in aged mice, both in the guts and the brain. This beneficial reduction is due to high levels of butyrate, which result from the fermentation of fiber during digestion [1].
Study abstract
Aging results in chronic systemic inflammation that can alter neuroinflammation of the brain. Specifically, microglia shift to a pro-inflammatory phenotype predisposing them to hyper-activation upon stimulation by peripheral immune signals. It is proposed that certain nutrients can delay brain aging by preventing or reversing microglial hyperactivation. Butyrate, a short chain fatty acid (SCFA) produced primarily by bacterial fermentation of fiber in the colon, has been extensively studied pharmacologically as a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, and serves as an attractive therapeutic candidate, as butyrate has also been shown to be anti-inflammatory and improve memory in animal models. In the present study, we demonstrate that butyrate can attenuate pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in microglia in aged mice.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease with characterization of deficits in progressive memory loss, cognitive and behaviour functions. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a predromal stage of AD, displaying cognitive deficit but neither marked functional impairment nor satisfying established clinical criteria for dementia or probable AD. However, not all MCI patients may eventually progress to AD (progressive MCI, pMCI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2013.10.
(2014)." href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-31794-8#ref-CR2" id="ref-link-section-d1856e5935"]2, and some remain unchanged (stable MCI, sMCI), or are recovered from. Therefore, differential diagnosis of MCI types and earlier diagnosis of AD and prediction of disease evolution are difficult
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New research published in PLOS One has found that virtual reality use impairs physical and cognitive performance while trying to balance.
“I became interested in this topic because virtual reality headsets have recently become widely available, with great potential to make rehabilitation more enjoyable and varied for patients,” said study author Steven M. Peterson of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
“While many studies have explored upper-limb activities, I wanted to understand how immersive and mentally challenging a virtual reality headset is when the user is walking around and not seated. We decided to test the realism of virtual reality by looking for stress at high heights because just the perception of heights can affect how people walk and how cautious they are.”
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Promising approach to deliver personalized and non-invasive brain stimulation in clinical settings.
BrainsWay’s Brain Stimulation Device Receives FDA Approval to Treat Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (IEEE Spectrum):
In 2013, Jerusalem-based BrainsWay began marketing a new type of brain stimulation device that uses magnetic pulses to treat major depressive disorder.
Now, thanks to positive results in a study of 100 patients, the company has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market the device for a second psychiatric condition—obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) …
This is beautiful. If you have time to read the article and watch the full video please do. This woman used EEG to select parts of the brain containing emotion and transferred that signal to vibration in pools of water.
“The more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what it is.” – Baruch Spinoza.
Artist Lisa Park has come up with an interesting new art form.
