New research by UCLA Health has identified a sex-chromosome linked gene that drives inflammation in the female brain, offering insight into why women are disproportionately affected by conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis as well as offering a potential target for intervention.

Rodney Scott, MBChB, MRCP, DipStat, PhD, Division Chief of Neurology, Nemours Children’s Health, Delaware Valley, has received a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Transformative Research Award. Dr. Scott will use the $2.6 million, five-year grant to investigate malfunctions in the brain’s hippocampal region, aiming to identify patterns that could lead to shared therapies for patients with autism, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease.

A new study found that individuals living in neighborhoods with higher levels of social vulnerability, environmental injustice and socioeconomic disadvantage showed measurable differences in brain structure and function. 

Using advanced techniques in biophysical chemistry, a team led by Meredith Jackrel at Washington University in St. Louis has achieved unprecedented views of a protein that may play a pivotal role in some cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the related disorder frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Their work could open doors to new approaches for treatment and prevention.

Medications commonly prescribed to ease dementia symptoms such as agitation, anxiety, and delirium — benzodiazepines and antipsychotics — may carry major unintended risks for people with dementia receiving hospice care, a new study finds.