https://medicalxpress.com/neurology-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Neurology A recent study from Johns Hopkins Medicine reveals that pathways in both the liver and brain contribute to different symptoms of the same rare inherited disorder. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-liver-brain-pathways-distinct-symptoms.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 16:40:34 EDT news711038101 In a new study, Broad Institute researchers report that two small-molecule chemicals that reduce oxygen delivery to cells improved symptoms of neurodegeneration in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease. The scientists had previously found that excess oxygen in the brain is associated with neuronal death in Parkinson's—and that reducing the oxygen that mice breathe could help reverse symptoms. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-drug-combination-oxygen-tissues-parkinson.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 15:20:10 EDT news711035341 Diseases such as Alzheimer's and frontotemporal dementia are considered neurodegenerative tauopathies, in which tau proteins in the brain misfold and lead to cognitive decline. Until now, it has been unclear how misfolded tau recruits other seemingly healthy tau and causes it to misfold and clump. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-key-tau-hotspot-dementia-linked.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 15:00:03 EDT news710834100 Are people who have been blind for most of their lives better at hearing than sighted individuals? In a new study in JNeurosci, Woon Ju Park, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and colleagues explored this question by comparing tone detection and pitch discrimination in people with and without sight. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-people-experienced-musicians-distinguish-pitches.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 13:00:11 EDT news710757542 Whether you're a quick or slow thinker depends on several factors, such as the efficiency of the brain's wiring and the amount of gray matter in specific control centers. But there may be another, rather surprising influence, and that's the bacteria in your mouth. Scientists have found an association between the mix of microbes on your tongue and how well the brain performs cognitive tasks as we age. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-bacteria-tongue-linked-brainpower.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 12:40:02 EDT news711023251 International research has produced some of the most comprehensive and comparable estimates of new dementia cases worldwide, revealing that an estimated 11.4 million people developed dementia in 2023—a figure projected to rise to 24.7 million a year by 2050. The study, published in JAMA Neurology, analyzed data from 38,418 people across 22 population-based studies spanning 18 countries and territories on six continents. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-global-dementia-reveals-million-cases.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 11:00:22 EDT news711015590 Anesthetics, drugs that reduce sensation or, in the case of general anesthetics, awareness, help doctors minimize the pain and discomfort experienced by patients during surgeries or other procedures. Many anesthetics produce similar behavioral changes in different species, suggesting that they affect their brains similarly. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-anesthesia-neural-patterns-species.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 09:30:01 EDT news711014759 Understanding how the human brain processes and represents spoken language remains an important goal for neuroscientists. Understanding spoken words involves more than simply recognizing sounds—it also requires the brain to decipher the meaning of words and how those meanings change with context. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-llm-brain-cells-encode-words.html Sun, 11 Oct 2026 09:40:01 EDT news710683659 Intensive breathing exercises can reduce blood flow to the brain by up to 45% and alter communication between brain networks, according to a new brain-imaging study. Participants reported experiences resembling some effects of psychedelic drugs, including altered perception, vivid mental imagery, a sense of unity and changes in self-experience. The researchers, presenting the work at the ECNP Congress in Munich, say changes in brain communication, rather than reduced blood flow alone, appear to be key to the altered state. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-intensive-linked-consciousness-brain-communication.html Sat, 10 Oct 2026 18:10:01 EDT news710683321 Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, the Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children's Hospital and collaborating institutions have identified new genetic candidates that help explain why autism is diagnosed about four times more often in boys than in girls. The study, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, reveals that small changes in the gene MECP2 on the X chromosome might help explain part of this difference. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-genetic-candidates-autism-affects-males.html Sat, 10 Oct 2026 09:00:01 EDT news710767996 Researchers from the University Hospital of Bonn and the University of Bonn have succeeded in dramatically rejuvenating human cells in a test tube. To do so, they directly reprogrammed red blood cell precursors into stem cells from which neurons can be derived. During this process, the molecular clocks that indicate a cell's age were reset. For example, blood cells from an 80-year-old were transformed into stem cells with a molecular age of less than 20 years. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-blood-cells-year-donor-stem.html Fri, 09 Oct 2026 13:00:06 EDT news710769361 Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Over the last 30 years, studies have shown that a protein called alpha-synuclein abnormally aggregates in people with Parkinson's disease, becoming toxic to neurons in a region of the brain that controls movement. This leads to tremor, rigidity and slowness of movement. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-protein-suppresses-parkinson-linked-buildup.html Fri, 09 Oct 2026 11:40:12 EDT news710762882 The 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee weighed the available evidence on dietary patterns associated with the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia but said there were not enough data to make a recommendation. In response, a new paper by U.S. and European researchers addresses ambiguities across studies and harmonizes key data to shed light on how different diets may shape cognitive performance, executive function and dementia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-diets-linked-cognitive.html Fri, 09 Oct 2026 11:20:07 EDT news710760541 A major clinical trial involving 410 people with early Parkinson's disease has found no clinical benefit from nicotinamide riboside (NR), a compound that increases cellular levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). The findings are published in JAMA. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-nad-boosting-treatment-parkinson-benefit.html Thu, 08 Oct 2026 17:40:14 EDT news710696521 Scientists at The Wistar Institute have identified a combination treatment that overcomes two of the biggest barriers to immunotherapy in glioblastoma. In a study published in Neuro-Oncology, the researchers show that reprogramming myeloid cells, a type of immune cell that glioblastoma tumors co-opt to protect themselves, while simultaneously boosting cancer-fighting T cells shrank the tumors and prevented them from coming back. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-scientists-uncover-pronged-strategy-glioblastoma.html Thu, 08 Oct 2026 15:40:01 EDT news710692441 Researchers from the Department of Cell Biology, Genetics and Physiology at the University of Malaga have led an international scientific team studying how a traumatic brain injury caused by a severe blow to the head affects the brain's long-term response to subsequent stressful situations. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-traumatic-brain-injury-subsequent-response.html Thu, 08 Oct 2026 10:20:30 EDT news710670566 A study in fruit flies led by researchers at NYU Langone Health has confirmed a long-standing suspicion about how the brain encodes short-term memories. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-fruit-fly-reveals-neural-gates.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 19:00:08 EDT news710609041 Decades before the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease appear, some changes associated with the disease may begin to leave a trace in the blood. A study by the Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) has found that, in people with Down syndrome, levels of β-synuclein, a protein related to synaptic function, begin to rise in the third decade of life, long before symptoms appear and earlier than other blood biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-blood-marker-flag-alzheimer-syndrome.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:20:01 EDT news710605921 Researchers have carried out the first single-cell analysis of mitochondrial DNA in a population of brainstem neurons that are particularly vulnerable to degeneration in Parkinson's disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-cell-dna-analysis-reveals-mitochondrial.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 16:20:04 EDT news710605595 The claustrum is a thin sheet of neurons buried deep within the cerebral cortex. The structure is so small and hidden that neuroscientists once found it very difficult to access, let alone investigate. Now, researchers at Yale School of Medicine have not only found a way to peer into this enigmatic structure but have also discovered its surprising role in how humans learn and adapt to uncertainty. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-hidden-brain-region-reveal-clues.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 15:40:01 EDT news710604721