The connection between food and memory is one of those fundamentally human experiences we can all relate to. A compelling new study from the University of Southern California has revealed an intriguing explanation behind this phenomenon, and it illustrates how strongly the “second brain” in our gut communicates with our brain.

Inside our gastrointestinal tract lies a massive mesh of neurons often referred to as our “second brain.” While this neuronal control system primarily works to independently manage our digestive system, it also has been found to directly communicate with the brain via a long nerve, called the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve has been found to mediate a great deal of metabolic communication between the gut and the brain. For example, one recent study revealed how feeding behavior, modulated by activity in the hippocampus, is directly activated by vagal nerve stimulation, mediated by signals from the gastrointestinal tract.

Good news: The toolkit for neurorehabilitation is growing.

___ MindMaze Consolidates First-ever FDA Approval for Inpatient and Outpatient Neurorehabilitation Therapy (press release): MindMaze, a leader in braintech, has today announced that it has obtained FDA clearance to launch its portable neurorehabilitation product, MindMotion™ GO, in the United States. Together with.

Recent research published in Cerebral Cortex shows where spirituality exists in the brain by comparing brain scans of people in a spiritual state, stressful state, and a neutral state. Spiritual experiences, it seems, may boil down to rising and falling experiences in the brain.

FDA-approved asthma drug appears to be effective against dementia in mice.

For the first time in an animal model, researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University showed that the tau pathology that accompanies Alzheimer’s disease can be reversed using the asthma drug zileuton [1].

Abstract

Continue reading “Researchers Reverse Cognitive Impairments in Mice with Alzheimer’s” »

The typical contemporary view assumes that there is going to be some deep tension between faith and science. From our perspective that’s an illusion.

Washington D.C., Jun 10, 2018 / 05:00 am (CNA).- A Thomistic philosopher, an evolutionary biologist, and a Harvard astronomy professor walk into a bar. Well, not a bar.

But they did walk into a Washington, D.C. symposium this week, at which graduate students, professors, religious sisters, and other curious Catholics discussed highly technical scientific questions over bourbon and pecan pie, late into the night.

Continue reading “Priests and scientists talk neuroscience, cosmology, and philosophy” »

“These findings are disturbing. Suicide is one of the top 10 causes of death in the US right now, and it’s one of three causes that is actually increasing recently, so we do consider it a public health problem — and something that is all around us,” Schuchat said. The other two top 10 causes of death that are on the rise are Alzheimer’s disease and drug overdoses, she noted.

Suicide rates increased by 25% across the United States over nearly two decades ending in 2016, according to research published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Twenty-five states experienced a rise in suicides by more than 30%, the government report finds.

More than half of those who died by suicide had not been diagnosed with a mental health condition, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC.

Continue reading “US suicide rates increased more than 25% since 1999, CDC says” »

Neurotechnology startup CTRL-Labs hopes to create the first mass-market brain-computer interface using an electrode-studded wristband. We got an early taste of how it works.

It was a great pleasure to share latest data and insights with a fantastic community of researchers, engineers, innovators and investors last week, hosted by the Imperial College Centre for Neurotechnology in London. Hope you enjoy the overview slides!

Presentation by Alvaro Fernandez hosted by the Imperial College Centre for Neurotechnology in London.

Description: As seen in patent and investment trends, research findings and consumer/patient behaviors, Mental Health and Brain Enhancement are rapidly evolving in transformational ways which some call “empowering” and some “controversial.” Alvaro Fernandez, Editor-in-Chief of independent market research firm SharpBrains, will present and discuss the latest market data and forecasts on how digital platforms are poised to revolutionize brain & mental health diagnostics, monitoring, therapies and enhancement.

Continue reading “Why the Future of Brain Enhancement and Mental Health is Digital and Pervasive” »

The Neurogenesis Debate

Written by Nicholi Avery

On March 7 2018, a study was published in the highly esteemed journal Nature by an international team of scientists claiming that #neurogenesis starts to rapidly decline in the #human brain as early as 13 years old and becomes undetectable in adults. This rocked the scientific community as there has been a long-established theory that neurogenesis takes place throughout the course of life in the mammalian #brain. Until the 1990s, neurologists were practicing their profession under the doctrine established in the late 19th to early 20th century by the prominent histologist Ramon y Cajal, often referred to as a god of neuroscience;

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