Are stressed-out brain cells the root cause of neurodegenerative disease?

by

[ad_1] Many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, are characterized by the accumulation of protein clumps, or aggregates, in the brain, which has led scientists to assume that the protein tangles kill brain cells. The search for treatments that break up and remove these tangled proteins has had little success, however. But a … Read more

Unraveling Cannabis’s Role in Binge Eating Behaviors

by

[ad_1] Summary: Over 23% of individuals seeking treatment for binge eating reported using cannabis in the past three months, suggesting a potential connection between substance use and eating disorders. Despite higher alcohol consumption and related problems among cannabis users, there was no significant increase in the severity of eating disorder or depression symptoms. The research … Read more

Revolutionizing Memory Recall with Neural Prosthetics

by

[ad_1] Summary: Researchers made a landmark advancement in neural prosthetics, demonstrating the ability to recall specific memories using a newly developed memory decoding model (MDM). This breakthrough builds on previous research, utilizing surgically implanted electrodes in the hippocampus to decode and stimulate neural activity for targeted memory recall. The study, involving 14 adults with epilepsy, … Read more

Study finds that COVID infection increases risk of new-onset dementia among elderly people

by

[ad_1] The release of a study in pre-print form, pending peer review and publication in The Lancet, by investigators from the US and UK, found that COVID-19 infections among the elderly, those 60-years-of-age and older, caused a 60 percent increased risk of developing new-onset dementia (NOD) within a year of infection compared to controls without any other respiratory infections.  … Read more

Inside the NIH’s $200m study that will produce the definitive diet for health: Hundreds of Americans will live in labs for weeks, eating precise diets and undergoing hundreds of medical tests

by

[ad_1] Imagine getting paid by the government to take six weeks off work and eat junk food. That’s the reality for some of the Americans taking part in one of the most comprehensive nutrition studies ever conducted.  The near-$200million project – run by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – involves 500 participants who are living … Read more

Egypt on edge as Israel’s war presses more than a million Palestinians up against its border

by

[ad_1] Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here. CNN  —  Egypt is boosting its security presence at its border with the Gaza Strip, wary of a spillover of Israel’s war on Hamas onto its territory should … Read more

Love Hormone Oxytocin Plays Key Role in Memory and Learning

by

[ad_1] Summary: Researchers uncovered the mechanisms by which oxytocin (OXT) influences learning and memory in animals. Their study utilized pharmacogenetic techniques to activate specific OXT neurons within the brain, assessing the impact on cognitive functions through tasks like the Novel Object Recognition Task (NORT). The findings reveal that activating OXTergic neurons significantly enhances long-term object … Read more

Nicotine’s Influence on Reward and Aversion

by

[ad_1] Summary: A new study delves into how nicotine influences the brain, revealing its complex effects on areas related to reward and aversion. Focusing on the medial habenula, researchers found its activity varies significantly with nicotine dosage, presence of menthol, and the subject’s sex, a discovery that challenges previous understanding of nicotine’s uniform impact on … Read more