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Macquarie University neuroscientists have developed a single-dose genetic medicine that has been proven to halt the progression of both motor neuron disease (MND) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in mice—and may even offer the potential to reverse some of the effects of the fatal diseases.

It may also hold opportunities for treating more common forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, which is the second most common cause of death in Australia after heart disease.

The new treatment, dubbed CTx1000, targets pathological build-ups of the protein TDP-43 in cells in the brain and spinal cord.

Neurologic immune-related adverse events (nirAEs) following immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for cancer are frequent and varied; a recent study identified risk factors for death after nirAEs.

Recent cohort studies have demonstrated that neurologic immune-related adverse events (nirAEs) following immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy for cancer are frequent, varied, and associated with higher overall survival (NEJM JW Neurol Sep 29 2023 and Neurology 2023; 101:e2472). Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of consecutive patients referred to a tertiary center during a 5-year period to characterize the clinical features of nirAEs and identify predictors of ICI response and survival.

The researchers identified 64 patients with confirmed nirAEs, 81% involving the central nervous system (CNS). The vast majority of CNS nirAE patients had encephalopathy, of which 73% were neither seropositive for well-characterized neural autoantibodies, nor had a distinctive encephalitis syndrome, nor had evidence of CNS inflammatory changes. The most common peripheral nervous system (PNS) syndrome was myasthenia and myositis (with or without myocarditis) overlap syndrome. Only 17% of PNS nirAE patients were seropositive. Steroids were given to 91% of nirAE patients after a median of 90 days of symptoms, and 48% received additional immunotherapy. At 1-month follow-up, 72% of nirAE patients showed improvement, 9% had worsened, and 17% had died. Among the 53 patients who survived the first month, median follow-up was 6 months; during follow-up, 30% died, most commonly of cancer progression or cancer-related complications. Death was associated with lung cancer (hazard ratio, 2.

Continue reading “Risk Factors for Death After Neurologic Immune-Related Adverse Events” »

What is happening in the cerebral cortex when someone hears a melody?

Music has been central to human cultures for tens of thousands of years, but how our brains perceive it has long been shrouded in mystery.

Continue reading “To appreciate music, the human brain listens and learns to predict” »

Research reveals potential of using low-intensity focused ultrasound for pain management. Scientists have found soundwaves from low-intensity focused ultrasound aimed at a place deep in the brain called the insula can reduce both the perception of pain and other effects of pain, such as heart rate changes.

You feel a pain, so you pop a couple of ibuprofen or acetaminophen. If the pain is severe or chronic, you might be prescribed something stronger — an opioid pain killer that can be addictive under some circumstances.

But what if you could ease pain by non-invasively manipulating a spot inside your brain where pain is registered?

For patients with acute ischemic stroke and large cores, endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) improves clinical outcomes compared with medical management (MM), according to a study published online Feb. 7 in the Journal of the American Medical Association to coincide with the annual American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference, which was held from Feb. 7 to 9 in Phoenix.

Amrou Sarraj, M.D., from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and colleagues describe the relationship between imaging estimates of irreversibly injured brain and at-risk regions and clinical outcomes and EVT treatment effect in an exploratory analysis of the SELECT2 trial.

Adults with acute ischemic stroke due to occlusion of the internal carotid or middle cerebral artery (M1 segment) and large ischemic core were randomly allocated to EVT versus MM across 31 global centers; the analysis included 336 patients.

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Researchers discovered dopamine plays a crucial role in adapting decisions to changing situations. Using PET and fMRI scans, they found dopamine increases in the brain’s reward center during task changes, aiding learning from mistakes.

Scientific research continuously expands our collective knowledge and pushes innovation forward. But what good is that innovation if it isn’t accessible to large swaths of the global population?

English is the standard language for most scientific communication — nearly 98% of scientific research is published in English. While standardizing scientific publications into a single language can streamline discussion, it is incredibly limiting for populations that don’t speak English.

A UCLA-led project aims to alleviate this issue. A collaboration among the UCLA Brain Research Institute, the UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the nonprofit organization Knowing Neurons is translating the informational content on Knowing Neurons’ platform into Spanish. Created by a group of graduate students at UCLA and USC in 2012, Knowing Neurons works to make neuroscience accessible to people interested in learning about the brain.

American Amber Pearson used to wash her hands until they bled, terrified by the idea of contamination from everyday items, a debilitating result of her obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

But the repetitive rituals of her condition are largely consigned to memory, thanks to a revolutionary brain implant that is being used to treat both her epilepsy and her OCD.

“I’m actually present in my daily life and that’s incredible,” the 34-year-old told AFP.