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Function and homeostasis of the brain relies on communication between its complex network of cells. Consequently, development of the different groups of cells in the brain needs to be coordinated in time and space. The group of Amparo Acker-Palmer (Buchmann Institute of Molecular Life Sciences and the Institute of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Goethe University) reported in the last issue […]
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In recent years, virtual reality technology has begun proving its worth outside the world of gaming, with applications in education, health care, military training and beyond. Now researchers at the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute at the Keck School of Medicine of USC are exploring a new frontier: VR as a tool for processing brain scan data. […]
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Patients with focal epilepsy that does not respond to medications badly need alternative treatments. In a first-in-humans pilot study, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have identified a sentinel area of the brain that may give an early warning before clinical seizure manifestations appear. They have also validated an algorithm that can automatically detect that early warning. These […]
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To call gambling a “game of chance” evokes fun, random luck and a sense of collective engagement. These playful connotations may be part of why almost 80 percent of American adults gamble at some point in their lifetime. When I ask my psychology students why they think people gamble, the most frequent suggestions are for pleasure, money or the thrill. […]
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Social behavior in mouse models of autism spectrum disorder normalized when investigators triggered the release of a specific signaling substance, serotonin, in a single part of the animals’ brains, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. “This points to a previously understudied brain mechanism that contributes to an inability to derive pleasure from social interactions,” said […]
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A space-exploring robot crashes on a distant planet. In order to gather the pieces of its damaged spaceship, it needs to build emotional rapport with the local alien inhabitants. The aliens speak a different language but their facial expressions are remarkably humanlike. This fantastical scenario is the premise of a video game developed for middle schoolers by University of Wisconsin–Madison […]
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Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they have found new evidence in lab-grown mouse brain cells, called astrocytes, that one root of Alzheimer’s disease may be a simple imbalance in acid-alkaline—or pH—chemistry inside endosomes, the nutrient and chemical cargo shuttles in cells. Astrocytes work to clear so-called amyloid beta proteins from the spaces between neurons, but decades of evidence has shown […]
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People with acquired prosopagnosia recognize few faces, a condition known also as “face blindness.” These are people who have suffered brain damage that interferes with their ability to recognize faces, even the faces of people they have met many times. The condition is rare. Only a few thousand people across North America have it. With support from the National Science […]
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After 10 years of research, a Rutgers-led team of scientists has identified two molecules that protect nerve cells after a traumatic brain injury and could lead to new drug treatments. The molecules promote full recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in mice, according to the study published online in Neurobiology of Disease. Traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of […]
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Research conducted at the Wayne State University School of Medicine has helped confirm the effectiveness of a blood biomarker that can indicate if patients with a head injury can avoid a costly CT scan because the blood test results indicate no traumatic brain injury (TBI). The findings, published online in The Lancet Neurology on July 24, validated the use of […]
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