Monthly Archives: May 2023

Key Role Identified for Nervous System in Severe Allergic Shock

A key feature of the severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis is an abrupt drop in blood pressure and body temperature, causing people to faint and, if untreated, potentially die. That response has long been attributed to a sudden dilation and leakage of blood vessels. But Duke Health researchers have found that this response, especially […]

Diet High in Fruit and Vegetables Linked to Lower Miscarriage Risk

Researchers at the University of Birmingham, analyzed 20 studies which explored women and birthing people’s eating habits in the months before and shortly after conceiving a baby to see whether these studies showed evidence of association with a lower or higher chance of miscarriage. The Research team concluded that there is evidence to suggest a […]

Promising Depression and Anxiety Treatment

Artificial intelligence could be a useful tool in mental health treatment, according to the results of a new pilot study led by University of Illinois Chicago researchers. The study, which was the first to test an AI voice-based virtual coach for behavioral therapy, found changes in patients’ brain activity along with improved depression and anxiety […]

Gut Health and Alzheimer’s Risk

Could changing your diet play a role in slowing or even preventing the development of dementia? We’re one step closer to finding out, thanks to a new UNLV study that bolsters the long-suspected link between gut health and Alzheimer’s disease. The analysis — led by a team of researchers with the Nevada Institute of Personalized […]

New Review Finds Antidepressants Are Ineffective for Treating Chronic Pain

Depression and pain conditions share several neural pathways. Estimates suggest that 35–45% of people with chronic pain experience depression. Earlier this year, a meta-analysis of 26 studies found that antidepressants were effective in relieving pain in around 25% of cases. However, for the remaining 75% of cases, antidepressants were either inefficacious or data was inconclusive. […]

Promising New FDA-Approved Alzheimer’s Drug

For the first time, researchers described the structure of a special type of amyloid beta plaque protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) progression. Published May 10 in the journal Neuron, this research also provided evidence that a newly approved AD treatment could neutralize these small, diffusible aggregates. In January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration […]

Therapeutic Target to Aid in Glaucoma Treatment

Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease that causes vision loss and blindness due to a damaged optic nerve. Unfortunately, there is currently no treatment. In a newly published paper, researchers found neurons use mitochondria for a steady source of energy, and restoring mitochondrial homeostasis in the diseased neurons can protect the optic nerve cells from being […]

Microbiome Changes May Be a Signature for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Researchers have found differences in the gut microbiomes of people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) compared to healthy controls.  ME/CFS is a serious, chronic, and debilitating disease characterized by a range of symptoms, including fatigue, post-exertional malaise, sleep disturbance, cognitive difficulties, pain, and gastrointestinal issues. The causes of the disease are unknown and there […]

How Human Vision Perceives Scale

Researchers from Aston University and the University of York have discovered new insights into how the human brain makes perceptual judgements of the external world. The study, published on 8 May in the journal PLOS ONE, explored the computational mechanisms used by the human brain to perceive the size of objects in the world around […]

Treating Excessive Daytime Sleepiness

McMaster University researchers Dena Zeraatkar and Tyler Pitre have found that the drug solriamfetol is the most effective treatment for excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) for people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The standard treatment for OSA is a positive airway pressure (PAP) mask that uses compressed air to support lung airways during sleep. However, some […]