Can you touch a finger to the tip of your nose with your eyes closed? Most of us can, thanks to a sense called proprioception, which tells us where our body parts are relative to each other and our environment. Not surprisingly, this sense is essential for normal movement and balance— walking, for instance. For…
Author: D.C.Demetre
Scientists Have Breached The Blood-Brain Barrier For The First Time
The blood-brain barrier has been non-invasively opened in a patient for the first time. A team at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto used focused ultrasound to enable the temporary and targeted opening of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), allowing the more effective delivery of chemotherapy into a patient’s malignant brain tumour. The team, led by…
Diverse Subtypes Of Serotonin-producing Neurons Uncovered
It used to be enough to call a serotonergic neuron a serotonergic neuron. These brain cells make the neurotransmitter serotonin, which helps regulate mood, appetite, breathing rate, body temperature and more. Recently, however, scientists have begun to learn that these neurons differ from one another–and that the differences likely matter in dysfunction and disease. Last…
What Is The Temporal Lobe?
The temporal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The temporal lobe is located beneath the lateral fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain. It is involved in processing sensory input into derived meanings for the appropriate retention of visual memory, language comprehension,…
Positive Stimuli Provide Benefits To The Distracted Brain
Researchers have identified how your mind processes and differentiates between positive and negative distractions when you’re trying to get a job done. According to Alexandru Iordan, graduate student in neuroscience and co-author of the paper, most studies have concentrated on how negative distractions impact our ability to complete a task. But few studies have focused…
Hippocampus An Essential Structure For Recognition Memory
The hippocampus, a brain structure known to play a role in memory and spatial navigation, is essential to one’s ability to recognize previously encountered events, objects, or people- a phenomenon known as recognition memory – according to new research from the departments of Neurosurgery and Psychology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University…
Right Brain Hemisphere Can Compensate For Post-stroke Speech Loss
Loss of speech from a stroke in the left hemisphere of the brain can be recovered on the back, right side of the brain, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found. The finding contradicts recent notions that the right hemisphere interferes with recovery, and contributes to a debate that has lasted more than 130…
JEDI T-cells Spur New Understanding Of Immune System
When it comes to fending off disease and helping prevent people from falling ill, the body’s immune system—armed with T-cells that help eliminate cancer cells, virus-infected cells and more—is second to none. But exactly how the immune system works remains, in many ways, a mystery, as there are numerous cell types whose functions and interactions…
CBT Therapy Helps Chronic Pain Sufferers Sleep
Therapy—not drugs—may be the best way to help people suffering from chronic pain finally get some much needed sleep. But only if the therapy is delivered in person. A new study shows that people suffering from chronic pain who take part in cognitive behavior therapy not only benefit from improved sleep but also experience decreases…