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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Heparin has long been used as a blood thinner, or anticoagulant, for patients with blood clotting disorders or after surgery to prevent complications. But the medication remains difficult to dose correctly, potentially leading to overdosing or underdosing. A team of Penn State researchers combined heparin with a protein fragment, peptide, to slow down the release […]
In virtually all persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a protein called TDP-43 is lost from its normal location in the nucleus of the cell. This triggers the loss of stathmin-2, a protein crucial to regeneration of neurons and the maintenance of their connections to muscle fibers, essential to contraction and movement. In the study […]