How the inflamed brain becomes disconnected after a stroke
Whether reeling from a sudden stroke or buckling under the sustained assault of Alzheimer's, the brain becomes inflamed, leading to cognitive problems and even death.
Apr 12, 2024
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Whether reeling from a sudden stroke or buckling under the sustained assault of Alzheimer's, the brain becomes inflamed, leading to cognitive problems and even death.
Apr 12, 2024
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64
Just as you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found that you can't make long-term memories without DNA damage and brain inflammation. Their surprising findings ...
Mar 27, 2024
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For the first time, research shows that a certain kind of visual illusion, neon color spreading, works on mice. The study is also the first to combine the use of two investigative techniques called electrophysiology and optogenetics ...
11 hours ago
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Saturday evening at a well-attended stand-up party. Servers balance trays of appetizers over the heads of the guests. We spot donuts on one of these passing platters and decide in a matter of seconds in favor of the one on ...
11 hours ago
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Neuroscience researchers from Bochum confirm different strategies when choosing between primary and secondary rewards. The lever is impulsivity.
12 hours ago
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Compared with computers, the brain can perform computations with a very low net energy supply. Yet our understanding surrounding how the biological brain manages energy is still incomplete. What is known, however, is that ...
13 hours ago
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Medulloblastoma (the most common malignant childhood brain tumor) is separated into four molecular groups, with Group 3 bearing the worst prognosis. By studying EP300 and CBP, critical proteins in Group 3 medulloblastoma ...
Apr 25, 2024
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A newly developed nanomaterial that mimics the behavior of proteins could be an effective tool for treating Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. The nanomaterial alters the interaction between two key proteins ...
Apr 25, 2024
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Creatine is a popular dietary supplement in the sports community that is used to improve physical performance. Researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich have now discovered that a high single dose of creatine can temporarily ...
Apr 25, 2024
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As people age, their brains do, too. But if a brain ages prematurely, there is potential for age-related diseases such as mild cognitive impairment, dementia, or Parkinson's disease. If "brain age" could be easily calculated, ...
Apr 24, 2024
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The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals. Some primitive animals such as jellyfish and starfish have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any nervous system at all. In vertebrates, the brain is located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary sensory apparatus of vision, hearing, balance, taste, and smell.
Brains can be extremely complex. The cerebral cortex of the human brain contains roughly 15-33 billion neurons depending on gender and age, linked with up to 10,000 synaptic connections each. Each cubic millimeter of cerebral cortex contains roughly one billion synapses. These neurons communicate with one another by means of long protoplasmic fibers called axons, which carry trains of signal pulses called action potentials to distant parts of the brain or body and target them to specific recipient cells.
The most important biological function of the brain is to generate behaviors that promote the welfare of an animal. Brains control behavior either by activating muscles, or by causing secretion of chemicals such as hormones. Even single-celled organisms may be capable of extracting information from the environment and acting in response to it. Sponges, which lack a central nervous system, are capable of coordinated body contractions and even locomotion. In vertebrates, the spinal cord by itself contains neural circuitry capable of generating reflex responses as well as simple motor patterns such as swimming or walking. However, sophisticated control of behavior on the basis of complex sensory input requires the information-integrating capabilities of a centralized brain.
Despite rapid scientific progress, much about how brains work remains a mystery. The operations of individual neurons and synapses are now understood in considerable detail, but the way they cooperate in ensembles of thousands or millions has been very difficult to decipher. Methods of observation such as EEG recording and functional brain imaging tell us that brain operations are highly organized, but these methods do not have the resolution to reveal the activity of individual neurons.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA