https://medicalxpress.com/neurology-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Neurology In people diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, a biomarker tool that detects shrinkage of the brain's gray matter may predict how quickly someone may progress from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia, according to a new study published in Neurology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-brain-volume-clock-early-onset.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 16:00:10 EDT news706955767 Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute researchers have found that a pattern of brain atrophy visible on MRI could help predict how quickly people with early-onset Alzheimer's disease progress from mild cognitive impairment to dementia. This could help patients, families and clinicians know what to expect and plan future caregiving and living arrangements. Results are published in Neurology, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-mri-early-onset-alzheimer-disease.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 16:00:04 EDT news706880274 What if amyloid plaques are not the whole story of Alzheimer's disease? New research suggests that a broad range of Alzheimer's pathologies may be orchestrated by a molecular switch called ERBB4 when it turns on in the wrong neurons. Once activated, this misplaced signal can set off a chain reaction that disrupts brain circuits, eliminates synapses, activates glial cells, increases amyloid pathology and impairs memory. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-rogue-neuronal-root-alzheimer-disease.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 14:20:05 EDT news706967991 The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a protective filter that lines the brain's blood vessels and is notoriously hard to penetrate, making the treatment of brain disorders very difficult. Strategies designed to breach the BBB include using brain surgery and focused ultrasound waves to create physical openings for the transportation of medicines and employing engineered adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) to ferry genetic payloads into desired locations, but these methods have limitations. Now, researchers at Caltech have developed a new, more effective way to transport potentially life-changing therapeutics across the BBB. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-molecular-shuttle-delivery-medicines-bloodbrain.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 13:20:01 EDT news706963082 Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have shown that specific brain cells respond differently to H3.3 K27M, a mutation in the histone H3.3 protein that drives many cases of diffuse midline glioma (DMG), depending on the cells' location in the developing brain. These findings help explain why DMG, a pediatric brain cancer commonly associated with this mutation, typically arises in the brainstem and other midline regions. The study was published today in Nature Communications. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-mutation-disrupts-cell-region-specific.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 13:00:09 EDT news706963021 Eating may look effortless, but behind every bite, the brain runs a split-second relay of coordinated movement. In a recent study, researchers zoomed into the tiny world of fruit flies, or Drosophila, to uncover how their motor neurons orchestrate the rapid sequence of muscle movements that makes feeding possible. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-motor-neurons-choreograph-fruit-fly.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:30:01 EDT news706964367 A new study from the University of Oulu suggests that gut bacteria may send different biological signals in Parkinson's disease. The findings add to growing evidence that changes in the gut could be linked to Parkinson's disease and may eventually help researchers identify new underlying mechanisms for the condition. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-gut-bacteria-communicate-differently-human.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:20:07 EDT news706961762 A collaborative clinical study led by National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) and Taiwan Clinical Oncology Group, National Health Research Institutes (TCOG, NHRI) has yielded promising results for a new therapeutic regimen to treat primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), a rare and aggressive cancer that develops in the brain or other parts of the central nervous system. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-drug-treatment-regimen-difficult-brain.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:40:02 EDT news706956042 Cluster headache is a rare neurological disorder characterized by sudden, severe headache attacks. Due to the extreme pain, it is sometimes referred to as "suicide headache," and the underlying causes remain largely unknown. In two new studies, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden investigated both genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to cluster headache. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-clues-severe-headaches.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 10:20:06 EDT news706953987 Dementia with Lewy bodies is one of the most common forms of dementia in older adults, after Alzheimer's disease. It takes its name from "Lewy bodies," abnormal clumps of a protein called alpha-synuclein, first identified by neurologist Friedrich Lewy, that accumulate inside neurons and contribute to damaging them. The disease manifests through visual hallucinations, fluctuating cognition, agitated and often violent movements during dreams, and motor symptoms similar to those of Parkinson's disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-dementia-lewy-bodies-brain-regions.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 10:20:04 EDT news706955859 The Critical Path Institute (C-Path) has published "Regulatory endorsement for the application of alpha-synuclein seed amplification assay (αSyn-SAA) as a susceptibility and risk biomarker for clinical trials targeting synucleinopathies" in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, marking a significant milestone for its Critical Path for Parkinson's consortium. The findings detail scientific, regulatory and collaborative efforts culminating in a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) biomarker Letter of Support for this work. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-fda-advances-biomarker-earlier-precise.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:40:11 EDT news706953849 A researcher in Chicago remotely controls a miniaturized brain implant in Daejeon, Korea—over the internet. Korean researchers have developed a wireless device that can deliver drugs and light to precisely modulate targeted neurons from anywhere in the world. The technology is expected to overcome the constraints of distance and location, supporting long-term studies of brain disorders and the future development of therapeutic devices. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-neural-implant-korea-remotely-states.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:20:04 EDT news706954061 Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may reduce the risk of dementia, particularly for certain groups of women—according to a study from the University of East Anglia and the University of Exeter. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-hrt-linked-dementia-large-uk.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 07:00:06 EDT news706859748 Standard memory tests, such as word-pair or list-learning tests used in clinics, may fail to detect the real-life memory problems reported by many female breast cancer survivors after chemotherapy. A new study in journal Translational Neuroscience, "Limitations of Standard Memory Assessments in Breast Cancer Survivors," is the first to systematically compare the effectiveness of a standard memory test with a story-based test portraying real-life situations for these women. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-story-based-reveals-undetected-chemobrain.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 17:20:06 EDT news706895761 Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder characterized by difficulties with social interaction, restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. It has attracted significant attention because of its high prevalence, affecting approximately 1 in every 36 people, and symptoms that interfere with daily life. In recent years, genetic mutation analysis of individuals with autism has revealed that Chd8, a chromatin remodeler, is one of the genes most frequently mutated in association with autism. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-abnormal-differentiation-fetal-neural-progenitor.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:20:05 EDT news706883822 Poor sleep quality has been linked to cognitive decline, neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's disease in older adults. A new international study led by Concordia researchers and published in the journal Neurology shows that specific sleep brain waves provide protection against the harmful effects of a brain chemical usually associated with wakefulness and sleep transition. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-deep-brain-alzheimer-disease.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:00:06 EDT news706883296 Researchers have developed a tiny optical imaging probe designed for optical coherence tomography (OCT) inside blood vessels in the brain. With further development, the tiny probe—which is about the width of a pencil lead and the length of a grain of rice—could be used to acquire detailed information about vascular disease and devices such as stents implanted in the brain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-tiny-rotating-probe-degree-optical.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:00:10 EDT news706883042 In the early 1990s, researchers studying nonhuman primates discovered a population of brain cells they called "mirror neurons." These specialized brain cells fired when the animal performed an action and also when the animal observed another performing that same action. The discovery of mirror neurons seemed to support the idea that we understand the actions of others by internally simulating them in our own minds. But if that were the case, how would anyone be able to imagine doing something they had never done themselves? How could anyone understand Superman flying, for example, when no human has ever been able to fly? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-evidence-mirror-individual-human-neurons.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 12:00:02 EDT news706877342 For an experienced reader, recognizing the words on this page feels effortless. Yet, evolutionarily speaking, your brain shouldn't be able to read. Reading has existed for too short a time to have shaped a dedicated center in the brain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-brain-isnt-hardwired.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 10:20:01 EDT news706868701 Loneliness can reprogram the brain in ways that increase alcohol consumption, according to a new preclinical study led by Northwestern University and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The scientists identified, for the first time, a brain mechanism through which isolation escalates alcohol use in male mice but suppresses it in females. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-loneliness-rewires-brain-alcohol-preclinical.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 05:00:09 EDT news706808461 In a new study from Mass General Brigham, Boston University (BU), and the Concussion & CTE Foundation, researchers found evidence that at least one in four former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at the time of death, a much higher prevalence compared with the general population. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-nfl-players-died-cte.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 05:00:06 EDT news706779901 Brain cells that produce the protective coating around nerve fibers can become dysfunctional with age and may actively contribute to cognitive decline, according to new research. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-brain-cells-cognitive-decline.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 05:00:01 EDT news706793244 By the time Alzheimer's disease begins affecting a person's memory, the underlying changes in the brain may have been developing for decades. That delay limits opportunities for early intervention by the time most people receive a diagnosis. Current diagnostic tools often rely on costly brain imaging, blood tests or cognitive evaluations that are typically performed only after symptoms become noticeable. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-reveal-alzheimer-years-symptoms.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 21:20:02 EDT news706777150 A one-year follow-up analysis of a landmark clinical trial suggests that patients with severe strokes experienced better long-term outcomes after undergoing endovascular thrombectomy compared with medical management alone, according to findings published in JAMA. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-thrombectomy-year-gains-patients-severe.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:20:12 EDT news706802702 Doctors have long known that changes in body temperature can affect seizure activity. Fever can trigger seizures in some young children, while in rare forms of epilepsy, bathing in hot water can bring on a seizure. Raised body temperature can also trigger seizures in Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy that usually begins in infancy and is particularly sensitive to fever and overheating. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-brain-thermostat-epilepsy.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:00:06 EDT news706793221 Researchers at Georgia State University have identified a previously unknown aspect of schizophrenia that offers a new way to understand how the disorder affects large-scale brain coordination. In a new study, published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, researchers introduced a method for measuring how brain networks maintain balanced activity and recover when that balance is disrupted. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-uncover-brain-network-dynamics-schizophrenia.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 13:50:01 EDT news706797686 Not all physical activity is equal when it comes to protecting the brain from dementia. Where and why we move may matter more than most people realize. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-physical-paradox-dementia.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 13:20:04 EDT news706793521 A short workout or a nap can help protect memory after a sleepless night, a McGill University-led study has found. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-workout-nap-sleepless-brain.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news706790281 On the surface, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE) might seem like unrelated diseases. ALS destroys motor neurons, causing muscle weakness and eventually paralysis. FTD affects the brain's frontal and temporal lobes, affecting language, personality and behavior. LATE is a slowly progressing memory disorder that resembles Alzheimer's disease and tends to affect people over 85. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-rethinking-neurodegenerative-diseases.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:40:09 EDT news706788722 Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center studying Parkinson's disease have discovered a previously unrecognized sequence of abnormal activity across multiple regions of the brain, providing a new level of understanding that could improve treatment options. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-dual-beta-rhythms-precise-parkinson.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:40:07 EDT news706789021