Serotonin neurons contribute to fail-safe mechanism that ensures recovery from interrupted breathing

Scientists trying to identify the roots of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the leading cause of death in U.S. infants between 1 month and 1 year old, have increasingly turned their attention to the neurotransmitter serotonin and the brain cells that produce it. Studies have linked serotonin-producing neurons to the regulation of breathing, which may go awry in SIDS. In […]

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pH imbalance in brain cells may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease

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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Cyberbullying, unmet medical needs contribute to depressive symptoms among sexual minority youth

Cyberbullying, dissatisfaction with family relationships, and unmet medical needs are major contributors to the high rates of depressive symptoms seen among adolescents who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or questioning their sexual orientation, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Their new study on sexual minority youth now appears in Pediatrics. Researchers used data from the NEXT Generation Health […]

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