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Summary: Opioid use disorder affects genes associated with proinflammatory immune molecule encoding and genes associated with remodeling the extracellular matrix, suggesting the connection between neurons may be altered as a result of opioid use. Additionally, those with OUD have higher levels of microglia in the brain.

Source: Elsevier.

The epidemic of opioid abuse affects millions of people worldwide, but researchers know surprisingly little about the molecular changes caused by opioids in the human brain.

The material properties of these protein droplets are important because they play pivotal roles in neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. The basic idea is that liquid droplets of certain proteins can change to clogs, or aggregates of molecules, which are hallmarks of these diseases.

Summary: Researchers have developed a new technique to quantify protein droplets associated with a range of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS.

Source: Rutgers University

Continue reading “A New Way to Study Neurodegenerative Diseases” »

In March, the Defense Health Agency, which oversees TRICARE, announced that by May, advanced behavioral analysis services outside of clinical settings will no longer be covered by the military insurance.

Registered behavior technicians help implement treatment and behavior plans that teach behaviors and skills universally used.

From April: Autism services for military families could be cut under DoD plan

Continue reading “‘A new low’: TRICARE cuts services for children with autism, concerning military families” »

Credit: Dani Clode. #Neuroscience #Research #Biology #Technology

“We showed that cholesterol is acting essentially as a signal in neurons that determines how much Aβ gets made—and thus it should be unsurprising that apoE, which carries the cholesterol to neurons, influences Alzheimer’s risk,” says study co-senior author Scott Hansen, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research, Florida.

Summary: A new advanced imaging technique shows how cholesterol regulates the production of Alzheimer’s associated amyloid beta proteins in astrocytes.

Source: Scripps Research Institute

Continue reading “Brain Cholesterol Regulates Alzheimer’s Plaques” »

This is interesting. 😃

A new discovery in rats shows that the brain responds differently in immersive virtual reality environments versus the real world. The finding could help scientists understand how the brain brings together sensory information from different sources to create a cohesive picture of the world around us. It could also pave the way for “virtual reality therapy” for learning and memory-related disorders ranging including ADHD, Autism, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy and depression.

Continue reading “Virtual reality boosts brain rhythms crucial for neuroplasticity, learning and memory” »

The research aims to bring the brains to a computer interface to solve its problems.

Eight months in, 2,021 has already become a record year in brain-computer interface (BCI) funding, tripling the $97 million raised in 2019.