New research from scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has uncovered a role for the neurotransmitter GABA in maintaining body weight, energy balance and appetite. Influencing body weight is a complex process, as any dieter can tell you. As science continues to investigate the brain’s intricate circuitry and its part in metabolism, we are…
Category: Neuroscience
What are Sinus Headaches
Sinus headaches will accompany sinusitis, or sinus infection. Sinusitis is a medical condition in which your sinus membranes become swollen and inflamed. The signs and symptoms of a sinus headache are pain and pressure or fullness experienced in your cheeks, brow or forehead. The pain may worsen if you bend forward or lie down. You…
Exploding Head Syndrome
Exploding head syndrome is not nearly as dramatic or fatalistic as it may sound. It is actually a rare sleep disorder. As the name implies, this disorder interrupts sleep with an imagined explosion within the person’s head. There is no actual explosion, but people who suffer from this rare sleep disorder imagine a huge explosion…
Paradoxical Insomnia
When people think of sleep disorders they most commonly think of insomnia, a problem characterized by the sufferer not being able to get the kind of sleep he would like. Sometimes the issue may be not falling asleep easily, while other people will wake up before they want to and not be able to get…
What is Confusional Arousal Sleep Disorder
A confusional arousal is an instance when a person awakens in a confused or “foggy” state. The person may act in a strange way and may even show signs of aggression to the people nearby, and the person will not remember his or her actions after the instance of confusional arousal passes. Although waking up…
Perfusion MRI for Brain Cancer Detection
How do you tell when a low-grade glioma will turn into an aggressive high-grade glioma, before its too late? It just so happens that a specialized kind of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can predict cancerous transformation of brain tumors up to a year prior to when the malignancy would be visible on regular contrast-enhanced MRI,…
Grey Matter Definition
Grey matter is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of neuronal cell bodies, neuropil (dendrites and myelinated as well as unmyelinated axons), glial cells (astroglia and oligodendrocytes), synapses, and capillaries. Grey matter is distinguished from white matter, in that it contains numerous cell bodies and relatively few myelinated axons, while white matter…
Do Astronauts Snore in Space?
It might seem trivial, but a question of minor importance grew into a big debate in the scientific community. Could astronauts snore? This was discussed from the early days of manned space flights, and the debate continued into the days of shuttle flights and space station use. Some believed that without normal gravity, it was…
A History of Migraines
How long have migraines been around? Contrary to the beliefs of many, migraines are not a new disease, only a newly-named. In fact, based on the symptoms, it appears that migraines are among the oldest diseases known to mankind. Conditions that have been linked to migraines were described in detail in Babylonian writings dating back…