May 23, 2024 • Live Genki

THE BRAIN

Researchers Map Neural Connections Key to Wakefulness in the Human Brain

Human consciousness requires a person to be both awake and aware. While neuroscientists have learned a great deal from research about the underlying brain networks that sustain awareness, surprisingly little has been known about the networks that keep us awake.

Scientists discover how an essential nutrient enters the brain

Researchers have discovered that choline, an essential nutrient vital for brain health, is actively transported from the bloodstream into the brain by a protein. The findings may inform the development of new drugs that take advantage of this mechanism to treat brain disorders. The study, published in Nature, was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

New direct links discovered between the brain and its surrounding environment

In a recent study of the brain’s waste drainage system, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, collaborating with investigators at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a part of the National Institute of Health (NIH), discovered a direct connection between the brain and its tough protective covering, the dura mater. These links may allow waste fluid to leave the brain while also exposing the brain to immune cells and other signals coming from the dura. This challenges the conventional wisdom which has suggested that the brain is cut off from its surroundings by a series of protective barriers, keeping it safe from dangerous chemicals and toxins lurking in the environment.

Salty immune cells surrounding the brain linked to hypertension-induced dementia

A study supported by the National Institutes of Health suggests that the response of immune system cells inside the protective covering surrounding the brain may contribute to the cognitive decline that can occur in a person with chronic high blood pressure.

Brain Atlas Paves the Way for New Understanding of How the Brain Functions

When NIH launched The BRAIN Initiative® a decade ago, one of many ambitious goals was to develop innovative technologies for profiling single cells to create an open-access reference atlas cataloguing the human brain’s many parts. The ultimate goal wasn’t to produce a single, static reference map, but rather to capture a dynamic view of how the brain’s many cells of varied types are wired to work together in the healthy brain and how this picture may shift in those with neurological and mental health disorders.

Taking a Deep Dive into the Alzheimer’s Brain in Search of Understanding and New Targets

People living with Alzheimer’s disease experience a gradual erosion of memory and thinking skills until they can no longer carry out daily activities. Hallmarks of the disease include the buildup of plaques that collect between neurons, accumulations of tau protein inside neurons and weakening of neural connections. However, there’s still much to learn about what precisely happens in the Alzheimer’s brain and how the disorder’s devastating march might be slowed or even stopped.

Treating Hearing Loss to Help Brain Health

More than 6 million people in the U.S. are living with dementia. The condition causes loss of thinking abilities, memory, and other cognitive skills. Safe and affordable ways to prevent or slow the age-related loss of brain health are greatly needed.

Case study unlocks clues to rare resilience to Alzheimer’s Disease

Biomedical breakthroughs most often involve slow and steady research in studies involving large numbers of people. But sometimes careful study of even just one truly remarkable person can lead the way to fascinating discoveries with far-reaching implications.

Read more: https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2023/05/30/case-study-unlocks-clues-to-rare-resilience-to-alzheimers-disease/

Changes in Normal Brain Connections Linked to Eating Disorders

Anyone who has ever had a bad habit knows how vexingly difficult breaking it can be. The reason is the repeated action, initially linked to some type of real or perceived reward, over time changes the way our very brains are wired to work. The bad habit becomes automatic, even when the action does us harm or we no longer wish to do it.

Read more: https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2023/04/11/changes-in-normal-brain-connections-linked-to-eating-disorders/

Brain Stimulation Can Affect Memory in Older Adults

The number of older adults worldwide is rising, along with an increase in age-related memory decline. Researchers have long sought ways to prevent or reverse memory impairment. They’ve been able to pinpoint specific brain circuits and networks that underlie learning and memory. But effective and lasting interventions to improve memory have remained elusive.

The Amazing Brain: Where Thoughts Trigger Body Movement

The Amazing Brain: Capturing Neurons in Action

With today’s powerful imaging tools, neuroscientists can monitor the firing and function of many distinct neurons in our brains, even while we move freely about.

Groundbreaking study maps key brain circuit

Biologists have long wondered how neurons from different regions of the brain actually interconnect into integrated neural networks, or circuits.

NIH researchers discover brain area crucial for recognizing visual events

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) report that a brain region in the superior temporal sulcus (fSTS) is crucial for processing and making decisions about visual information.

Activity patterns in the brain are specific to the color you see

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have decoded brain maps of human color perception. The findings, published today in Current Biology, open a window into how color processing is organized in the brain, and how the brain recognizes and groups colors in the environment.

The Gut Trains the Immune System to Protect the Brain

The membranes surrounding our brains are in a never-ending battle against deadly infections, as germs constantly try to elude watchful immune cells and sneak past a special protective barrier called the meninges.

Cognitive super agers defy typical age-related decline in brainpower

Although it’s normal for brainpower to decline as people age, it’s not inevitable, studies show. Some people remain cognitively sharp into their 80s, 90s, and beyond, defying the common assumption that cognitive decline is a natural part of aging. These lucky few, called cognitive super agers…

How the Aging Brain Affects Thinking

The brain controls many aspects of thinking — remembering, planning and organizing, making decisions, and much more. These cognitive abilities affect how well we do everyday tasks…

The BRAIN Initiative®

With nearly 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion connections, the human brain remains one of the greatest mysteries in science and one of the greatest challenges in medicine.

The Heart's Brain

Our hearts are primarily controlled by the brain and autonomic nervous system, but we also have a backup. The heart has its own mini-brain called the intracardiac nervous system (ICN), which fine tunes external autonomic signals and keeps the heart pumping smoothly.

Do you know what foods help keep your brain healthy?

There’s a lot of information out there about what you should and shouldn’t eat. Test your knowledge and find out if you’re eating right.

Take the quiz: https://brainhealth.nia.nih.gov/engage-your-brain

Brain Basics: Know Your Brain

The brain is the most complex part of the human body. This three-pound organ is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior. Lying in its bony shell and washed by protective fluid, the brain is the source of all the qualities that define our humanity. The brain is the crown jewel of the human body.

A Life-Long Approach to Physical Activity for Brain Health

It is well established that engaging in lifelong Physical activity (PA) can help delay the onset of many chronic lifestyle related and non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type two diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases. Additionally, growing evidence also documents the importance of PA for brain health, with numerous studies indicating regular engagement in physical activities may be protective against cognitive decline and dementia in late life.

Exercising Your Brain

Human beings have an amazing capacity to learn new skills and adapt to new environments.

What is Brain Health?

Throughout your life, your brain’s job is to help you make sense of the world and help oversee your daily operations and life. Brain health refers to the ability to remember, learn, plan, concentrate and maintain a clear, active mind. It's being able to draw on the strengths of your brain—information management, logic, judgement, perspective and wisdom. Simply, brain health is all about making the most of your brain and helping reduce some risks to it as you age.

The Amazing Brain

A major aim of the NIH-led Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative is to develop new technologies that allow us to look at the brain in many different ways on many different scales.

NIH does not endorse or recommend any commercial products, processes, or services.

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