_ Apathy Could Indicate Brain Changes By Jane Farrell article Among older people without depression, apathy may be an indicator of significant brain changes, according to new research. “Just as signs of memory loss may signal brain changes related to brain disease, apathy may indicate underlying changes,” said Lenore J. Launer, PhD, with the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
_ Green Tea Boosts Your Brain By article Green tea is said to have many positive effects on health. Now researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland are reporting the first evidence that green tea extract enhances cognitive functions, in particular the working memory. The findings, published in April 2014 in the journal Psychopharmacology, suggest promising clinical implications for the treatment of cognitive impairments in psychiatric disorders such as dementia.
_ This Is Your Brain on Meditation By article Brown University researchers have intergrated mindfulness meditation with brain imaging and neural signal data to form testable hypotheses about the science of the practice, and the reported mental health benefits. The investigators maintain that their method of coding the reports meditators provide about their mental experiences can be “rigorously correlated with quantitative neurophysiological measurements”.
_ Common Anesthetic Ups Risk of Brain Damage By article Researchers at the University of Adelaide have discovered that a commonly used technique called hypotensive anesthesia that reduces the blood pressure of patients undergoing surgery could increase the risk of starving the brain of oxygen.
_ Brain Cell Malfunctions Could Be Stopped By Jane Farrell article Scientists have discovered a way to possibly halt the progression of dementia that’s caused by the malfunctioning of the protein tau. In many forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s, tau goes awry. Instead of performing its normal cellular functions, it begins accumulating and interfering with cell-to-cell communications.
_ The Aging Brain Needs REST By article Researchers at the Harvard Medical School have discovered that a gene regulator called REST, which is active during fetal brain development, switches back on later in life to protect aging neurons from stresses including the toxic effects of abnormal proteins. The team also showed that REST is lost in critical brain regions of people with Alzheimer's and mild cognitive impairment.
_ Too Many Unnecessary Brain Scans By Jane Farrell article The cost of brain scans for headache patients has reached $1 billion annually, a study has found. But many of the scans are unnecessary. Research from the University of Michigan Medical School found that 12 percent of doctor visits in the U.S. for headache resulted in a brain scan. Several national guidelines for physician advise against scanning the brains of patients who complain of headache and migraine. Still, the rate of brain scans is rising, not falling, since the guidelines were issued.
_ Hope for TX for Brain Disorders & Pain Issues By article Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA and at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN have created the most detailed 3-D picture yet of a membrane protein that is linked to learning, memory, anxiety, pain, and brain disorders such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and autism. The research, which focuses on the mGlu1 receptor, was reported in the March 6th, 2014 issue of the journal Science.
_ Will Brain Training Make You Smarter? By article By Deane Alban Last year over $1 billion was spent on brain training programs, making this an exploding new industry. But do brain training programs live up to the hype? Are they worth the time and money spent? Do the benefits gained translate to better overall brain function?
_ Lactic Acid May Help Crucial Brain Functions By Jane Farrell article Researchers have uncovered a previously unknown mechanism in the body that regulates a hormone that is essential for a number of crucial functions, including the control of blood pressure.
Mental & Emotional Health This Is Your Brain on Anxiety By article According to the National Institute of Mental Health, over 18 percent of American adults suffer from anxiety disorders. These people suffer from excessive worry or tension that often leads to physical symptoms. A release from the California Institute of Technology reports that previous studies of anxiety in the brain have focused on the amygdala, an area known to play a role in fear. However, Caltech researchers had a hunch that understanding a different brain area, the lateral septum, could provide more clues into how the brain processes anxiety. Their instincts paid off.
Hearing Loss Hastens Brain Tissue Loss By article Although the brain becomes smaller with age, the shrinkage seems to be fast-tracked in older adults with hearing loss, according to the results of a study by researchers from Johns Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging. The findings add to a growing list of health consequences associated with hearing loss, including increased risk of dementia, falls, hospitalizations, and diminished physical and mental health overall.
_ Brain Training With Neurofeedback By article A new imaging technique lets people to “watch” their own brain activity in real time and control or adjust function in pre-determined brain regions. The study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro, McGill University, and the McGill University Health Centre was published in the journal NeuroImage. It’s the first to demonstrate that magnetoencephalography (MEG) can be used as a potential therapeutic tool to control and train specific targeted brain regions.
_ Experience, Not Cognitive Decline, Slows Aging Brains By article Older brains are slow due to greater experience rather than cognitive decline, according to astudy led by Dr. Michael Ramscar of the University of Tuebingen in Germany and published in the journal Topics in Cognitive Science. The researchers found that aging brains may take longer to process ever increasing amounts of knowledge and that this phenomenon has often been misidentified as declining capacity.
_ Brain Health Mental & Emotional Health Stress Management Stress-Free Living NatureΓÇÖs Balm for the Stressed Brain By article New findings on nociception, a system in the brain that naturally moderates the effects of stress, shows promise for the development of therapies for anxiety and addiction. Collaborating scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of Camerino in Italy published their results in the January 8th in the Journal of Neuroscience.
_ Reading Can Change Your Brain's Responses By Jane Farrell article If you’ve ever read a story that changed your life, it may have changed your brain as well. Researchers from Emory University have discovered that reading a novel can cause changes in the brain’s “resting-state connectivity.”
Vision Health Brain Hot Spots for Post-Stroke Vision Recovery By article Research done in Germany and published in the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience suggests that vision restoration after a stroke depends mostly on activity of residual vision that is still left after the injury. The study showed that both local neuronal activity and activity in the immediate surrounding area influence the development of visual recovery "hot spots." The team maintains that this is evidence that recovery of vision is mediated by partially surviving neurons.
Brain Training Works ΓÇ£With a CatchΓÇ¥ By Jane Farrell article Do online exercises, games, software, and apps designed to “train your brain” really work? University of Oregon psychologists say, yes, but "there's a catch." The catch, according to Elliot T. Berkman, a professor in the Department of Psychology and lead author on a study published in the January 1st 2014 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, is that training for a particular task does heighten performance, but that advantage doesn't necessarily carry over to a new challenge.