Health Problems

Research reveals machinery of a deadly childhood brain cancer

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have mapped the effects of aberrant biological machinery that drives a deadly brain cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). The research included development of a genetically engineered mouse that will offer ways to further understanding of such brain cancers, as well as a laboratory model for developing more […]

Health News

South African musician plays guitar during brain surgery

His skull still open, a South African musician with a brain tumor played several notes on his guitar during a successful operation to remove most of the growth. Musa Manzini’s guitar-playing helped guide the medical team in their delicate task while preserving neural pathways, said Dr. Rohen Harrichandparsad, one of the neurosurgeons. Manzini was given […]

Health Problems

‘Error neurons’ play role in how brain processes mistakes

New research from Cedars-Sinai has identified neurons that play a role in how people recognize errors they make, a discovery that may have implications for the treatment of conditions including obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. Catching even small errors, such as making a typo while writing a letter, is a critical executive function that allows us […]

Health Problems

Advanced imaging technology measures magnetite levels in the living brain

Investigators at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have used magnetoencephalography (MEG) – a technology that measures brain activity by detecting the weak magnetic fields produced by the brain’s normal electrical currents—to measure levels of the iron-based mineral called magnetite in the human brain. While magnetite is known to be […]

Health Problems

Researchers hope to be able to replace dysfunctional brain cells

A new study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet supports the theory that replacement of dysfunctional immune cells in the brain has therapeutic potential for neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and Alzheimer’s disease. The study, which involved repopulating the brain with new immune cells in an experimental disease model, is published in Nature Communications. Macrophages are immune […]

Health Problems

Automated detection of sleep states from olfactory brain waves

Scientists have developed a completely automated technique for real-time detection of sleep/wake states in freely moving mice. Conducted by Karim Benchenane, Sophie Bagur and colleagues at the National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris, the study, publishing on November 8 in the open-access journal, PLOS Biology, describes how local brain activity in the olfactory bulb […]