News by Subject Medicine & Health

Researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) of McGill University examined the effects of aging on neuroplasticity in the primary auditory cortex, the part of the brain that processes auditory information. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to modify its connections and function in response to environmental demands, an important process in learning.

The processing of external information varies during the phases of the cardiac cycle, shows a new study from the University of Jyväskylä.

Diagnosing Alzheimer's disease can be difficult, as several other conditions can cause similar symptoms. Now a new brain imaging method can show the spread of specific tau protein depositions, which are unique to cases with Alzheimer's. "The method works very well. I believe it will be applied clinically all over the world in only a few years", says Oskar Hansson.

Brains of baby boys born prematurely are affected differently and more severely than premature infant girls' brains. This is according to a study published in the Springer Nature-branded journal Pediatric Research. Lead authors Amanda Benavides and Peg Nopoulos of the University of Iowa in the US used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans as part of an ongoing study on premature babies to examine how the brains of baby boys and girls changed and developed.

Investigators have assessed the prevalence of treatable traits in severe asthma and have determined which specific traits are predictive of future asthma attacks. Their findings, which are published in Respirology, are the result of an extensive national collaborative study in Australia.

Type 2 diabetes has been linked with an increased risk of cognitive dysfunction and dementia, but the underlying mechanisms are uncertain. In a new Diabetic Medicine study, imaging tests revealed that changes in white matter regions of the brain that are indicative of small vessel disease are associated with decreased processing speed (the the time it takes a person to do a mental task) in people with Type 2 diabetes.

Zombie cells are the ones that can't die but are equally unable to perform the functions of a normal cell. These zombie, or senescent, cells are implicated in a number of age-related diseases. And with a new letter in Nature, Mayo Clinic researchers have expanded that list.

People who participate in light to moderate physical activity, such as walking at least four hours a week or swimming two to three hours a week, may have less severe strokes than people who are physically inactive, according to a study published in the Sept. 19, 2018, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Humans can creatively combine their memories to solve problems and draw new insights, a process that depends on episodic memory. But current theories do not easily explain how people can use their episodic memories to arrive at these novel insights. Results from researchers at DeepMind and Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, publishing in the journal Neuron on Sept. 19, provide a window into the way the human brain connects individual episodic memories to solve problems.