Members’ SeminarTopic: Towards a mathematical model of the brainSpeaker: Lai-Sang YoungAffiliation: New York University; Distinguished Visiting Professor, Sc…
When learning, patients with schizophrenia or depression have difficulty making optimal use of information that is new to them. In the learning process, both groups of patients give greater weight to less important information and, as a result, make less than ideal decisions.
This was the finding of a several-months-long study conducted by a team led by neuroscientist Professor Dr. med. Markus Ullsperger from the Institute of Psychology at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg in collaboration with colleagues from the University Clinic for Psychiatry & Psychotherapy and the German Center for Mental Health.
By using electroencephalography (EEG) and complex mathematical computer modeling, the team of researchers discovered that learning deficits in depressive and schizophrenic patients are caused by diminished/reduced flexibility in the use of new information.
There is a neurological link between serotonin levels and the brain’s ability to control impulses and patience levels.
Summary: Researchers create a transparent graphene-based neural implant offering high-resolution brain activity data from the surface. The implant’s dense array of tiny graphene electrodes enables simultaneous recording of electrical and calcium activity in deep brain layers.
This innovation overcomes previous implant limitations and offers insights for neuroscientific studies. The transparent design allows optical imaging alongside electrical recording, revolutionizing neuroscience research.
An international scientific team including more than 40 authors from seven different countries, led by a researcher at the University of Malaga Juan Pascual Anaya, has managed to sequence the first genome of the myxini, also known as hagfish, the only large group of vertebrates for which there has been no reference genome of any of its species yet.
This finding, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, has allowed for deciphering the evolutionary history of genome duplications that occurred in the ancestors of vertebrates, a group that includes humans.
“This study has important implications in the evolutionary and molecular field, as it helps us understand the changes in the genome that accompanied the origin of vertebrates and their most unique structures, such as the complex brain, the jaw and the limbs,” explains the scientist of the Department of Animal Biology of the UMA Pascual Anaya, who has coordinated the research.
Last week, researchers at the West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute reported that by using focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier, they improved delivery of a new Alzheimer’s treatment and sped up clearance of the sticky plaques that are thought to contribute to some of the cognitive and memory problems in people with Alzheimer’s by 32%.
For this issue of The Checkup, we’ll explore some of the ways scientists are trying to disrupt the blood-brain barrier.
In the West Virginia study, three people with mild Alzheimer’s received monthly doses of aducanumab, a lab-made antibody that is delivered via IV. This drug, first approved in 2021, helps clear away beta-amyloid, a protein fragment that clumps up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. (The drug’s approval was controversial, and it’s still not clear whether it actually slows progression of the disease.) After the infusion, the researchers treated specific regions of the patients’ brains with focused ultrasound, but just on one side. That allowed them to use the other half of the brain as a control. PET scans revealed a greater reduction in amyloid plaques in the ultrasound-treated regions than in those same regions on the untreated side of the brain, suggesting that more of the antibody was getting into the brain on the treated side.
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OHSU becomes the first in Oregon to offer focused ultrasound to immediately relieve symptoms of essential tremor, tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease.
Discovered mechanism provides potential therapeutic targets to slow aging and age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
This is definitely a good find. Helping the brain can help a lot as well as reducing inflammation. I’ll make use of the meditation feature of my Pixel watch.
The brain doesn’t always stay the same. Mental disorders, health issues, and lifestyle habits can alter the way it looks and works.
Fresh from announcing positive Phase 1 trial results for its inflammation-targeting drug candidate, Utah-based biotech Halia Therapeutics is now pursuing Phase 2 studies in a range of indications. The Salt Lake City company’s lead compound is an inhibitor of the NLRP3 inflammasome, a known driver of systemic chronic inflammation, which is linked to conditions including fibrotic disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and many others.
Halia is taking a unique approach to the NLRP3 inflammasome by targeting the protein NEK7, which plays a key role in gene’s activity. In preclinical models, the company has shown its approach disrupts the formation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and promotes its disassembly once activated, reducing the overall inflammatory response. In its recent Phase 1 trial, in addition to showing positive safety and tolerability data, Halia’s drug demonstrated positive effects in blood samples taken from healthy volunteers, showing “over 90% suppression of multiple NLRP3-mediated cytokines and chemokines.”
Longevity. Technology: Chronic inflammation is a frequent topic of discussion in longevity circles. The term “inflammaging” refers to the increase of inflammatory cytokines in our bodies as we age, which is linked to chronic morbidity, disability, frailty and premature death. While there is no doubt that Halia believes that its approach can potentially impact many diseases, does the company have aging itself in its sights? We caught up with CEO Dr David Bearss to find out.
