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Category: neuroscience – Page 2

Gut bacteria may play role in bipolar depression by directly influencing brain connectivity

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by extreme mood changes. Individuals diagnosed with BD typically alternate between periods of high energy, euphoria, irritability and/or impulsivity (i.e., manic episodes) and others marked by feelings of sadness, low energy, and hopelessness (i.e., depression).

While there are now several medications that can help patients to manage the disorder and stabilize their mood, many of these drugs have side effects and dosages often need to be periodically adjusted. Recent studies suggest that the bacteria and microorganisms living in the digestive system, also known as gut microbiota, play a key role in mental health and might also contribute to some symptoms of BD.

Researchers at Zhejiang University, the Nanhu Brain-Computer Interface Institute and other institutes recently carried out a study investigating the possible connection between gut microbiota and the depressive episodes experienced by people diagnosed with BD. Their findings, published in Molecular Psychiatry, suggest that the microorganisms in the digestive system can directly influence connections between specific brain regions known to be affected by BD depression.

Scientists grow mini brains to uncover cells behind autism-related brain overgrowth

A new study in the lab of Jason Stein, Ph.D., modeled brain development in a dish to identify cells and genes that influence infant brain growth, a trait associated with autism.

Researchers have made great strides to understand early signs of autism.

Studies have found that certain factors like genetics, sleep deprivation, excess fluid in the brain—and brain size—can increase the risk of neurodevelopmental conditions, like autism.

Alzheimer’s Paper Retracted; Lipoic Acid and MS; Botched Autism Drug Rollout

Science Signaling retracted a 2017 paper that linked a specific amyloid form (amyloid-beta 56) to tau pathology after an investigation into allegations of data manipulation. Author Sylvain Lesné, PhD, who resigned from the University of Minnesota earlier this year, objected to the retraction.

Older adults who were awake more during the night performed worse on cognitive tests no matter how long they slept, data from the Einstein Aging Study showed. (Sleep Health)

Human herpesvirus 7 could be a contributing factor in multiple sclerosis (MS) etiology, a case-control study in Sweden suggested. (Brain Communications)

— News and commentary from the world of neurology and neuroscience.

Professor of Medicine Says Death Appears to Be Reversible

A near-death experience expert insists that one’s heart stopping doesn’t have to be the end, with current medical interventions that can help patients cheat death.

In an interview with The Telegraph, associate professor of medicine at New York University’s Langone Medical Center Sam Parnia insisted that by and large, the medical industry is still very behind on the concepts of death and dying.

According to Parnia, studies from the last five years — including some undertaken by his own eponymous lab at NYU — have suggested that our brains remain “salvageable for not only hours, but possibly days” after death.

Visual awareness study unlocks interplay between attention and consciousness

A new study led by Dr. Jiang Yi from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed the first clear evidence that visual awareness acts as a “conductor” that refines the speed, precision, and neural coordination of attentional rhythmic sampling.

Published in Nature Communications on Nov. 17, this study resolves a long-standing mystery about the interplay between attention and consciousness, opening new avenues for understanding cognitive function and deficits.

To flexibly organize thought, the brain makes use of space

In Current Biology, the Miller Lab at MIT provides new evidence that the brain recruits and controls ad hoc groups of neurons for cognitive tasks by applying brain waves to patches of the cortex.

News: Study:

#neuroscience #cognition #brain

In a new study, MIT researchers tested their theory of Spatial Computing, which holds that the brain recruits and controls ad hoc groups of neurons for cognitive tasks by applying brain waves to patches of the cortex.

This Brain Discovery Could Change How ADHD Is Treated

Attention disorders such as ADHD arise when the brain struggles to separate important signals from irrelevant noise. At any moment, the brain is flooded with information, and staying focused depends on filtering out distractions while responding to what matters most. Most current treatments address

A third path to explain consciousness: Biological computationalism

Right now, the debate about consciousness often feels frozen between two entrenched positions. On one side sits computational functionalism, which treats cognition as something you can fully explain in terms of abstract information processing: get the right functional organization (regardless of the material it runs on) and you get consciousness.

On the other hand is biological naturalism, which insists that consciousness is inseparable from the distinctive properties of living brains and bodies: biology isn’t just a vehicle for cognition, it is part of what cognition is. Each camp captures something important, but the stalemate suggests that something is missing from the picture.

In our new paper, we argue for a third path: biological computationalism. The idea is deliberately provocative but, we think, clarifying. Our core claim is that the traditional computational paradigm is broken or at least badly mismatched to how real brains operate.

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