A new treatment approach is needed to deal with the side effects of aromatase inhibitors, drugs that are commonly given to men and women to stop the recurrence of estrogen-positive breast cancer, researchers say. The therapy, though effective, has been linked with hot flashes, memory lapses, anxiety and depression. Sometimes the effects have been so… Continue reading Confronting The Side Effects of A Common Anti-Cancer Treatment
Tag: hippocampus
Scientists Can Now Study Thousands of Individual Brain Cells
Traumatic head injury can have widespread effects in the brain, but now scientists can look in real time at how head injury affects thousands of individual cells and genes simultaneously in mice. This approach could lead to precise treatments for traumatic brain injury (TBI). The study, which reported in Nature Communications, was supported by the… Continue reading Scientists Can Now Study Thousands of Individual Brain Cells
Alcohol and the Aging Brain
There’s really no way around it. Like all other organs and tissues of the human body, the brain is subject to the aging process and the typical structural and functional changes that go along with it. With normal aging, the brain begins to shrink in middle age, losing volume primarily in the frontal lobes and… Continue reading Alcohol and the Aging Brain
Aspirin and Alzheimer’s
Aspirin, already one of the most widely used medications in the world, may represent a new avenue for reducing Alzheimer’s disease pathology, according to new research. The discovery, made via a mouse-model study, was published in JNeurosci, a journal of the Society for Neuroscience. The exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease progression still isn’t known, although… Continue reading Aspirin and Alzheimer’s
Sleep Deprivation and Alzheimer’s
Scientists have uncovered an unsettling link between brief episodes of sleep deprivation and Alzheimer’s. Losing just one night of sleep led to an immediate increase in beta-amyloid, a protein in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a small, recent study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. In Alzheimer’s disease, beta-amyloid proteins… Continue reading Sleep Deprivation and Alzheimer’s
Dim Light May Make Us “Dimwits”
Researchers say that spending too much time in dimly lit rooms may actually change the brain’s structure and hurt one’s ability to remember and learn. Neuroscientists from Michigan State University studied the brains of Nile grass rats (which, like humans, are diurnal and sleep at night) after exposing them to dim and bright light for… Continue reading Dim Light May Make Us “Dimwits”
Researchers: Our Memory Capacity Is Extraordinary
The capacity of your memory is much higher than previously believed, researchers say. Salk Institute researchers and collaborators have achieved critical insight into the size of neural connections, putting the memory capacity of the brain far higher than common estimates. “This is a real bombshell in the field of neuroscience,” says Terry Sejnowski, Salk professor… Continue reading Researchers: Our Memory Capacity Is Extraordinary
Why Do We Decide to Delay Gratification?
Researchers have identified parts of the brain that are involved in deciding to delay gratification. In a paper recently published in the European Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from McGill University, in Montreal, demonstrated that the hippocampus (associated with memory) and the nucleus accumbens (associated with pleasure) work together in making decisions of this type.… Continue reading Why Do We Decide to Delay Gratification?