Enhancing Hippocampus Cortex Coupling Improves Memory

Scientists in the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CNRS/INSERM/Collège de France) have produced direct evidence that the long-term storage of memories involves a dialogue between two brain structures, the hippocampus and cortex, during sleep. By improving this dialogue, they succeeded in triggering the consolidation of memories that would otherwise have been lost. Since the…

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Lyrica: The Epilepsy Drug That Treats Chronic Nerve Pain

Lyrica is the brand name for a prescription medicine called pregabalin. Although it is an anticonvulsant, or an anti-epileptic drug, pregabalin is commonly prescribed to alleviate nerve or neuropathic pain – a type of pain caused by damage to, or a disease affecting, nerves. Neuropathic pain doesn’t normally respond to common painkillers such as ibuprofen…

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ADHD Can Be Triggered In Adulthood For Some

Attention-deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may often develop in the young adult years, a new study from King’s College London suggests. ADHD is a developmental disorder characterised by hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsiveness. It is one of the most common behavioral disorders in children and widely believed in adults to be the continuation of the disorder from…

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Does Lack Of REM Sleep Delete Memory?

Scientists have been debating for decades whether rapid-eye-movement sleep, the phase in which we dream, is directly involved in memory formation. A new study with mice offers evidence that REM sleep does in fact play this role. Sylvain Williams, a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and professor of psychiatry at McGill University,…

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Fear Of Death Underlies Most Of Our Phobias

Awareness of our mortality is part of being human. As author and existential philosopher Irvin Yalom said, we are “forever shadowed by the knowledge that we will grow, blossom and, inevitably, diminish and die”. There is growing research exploring the overwhelming anxiety that the inevitability of death, and our uncertainty about when it will occur,…

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IGF-2 Protective Against Neuron Death In ALS

Growth factor IGF-2 can prevent the death of human nerve cells in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a study from Karolinska Institutet and the University of Milan. ALS is a lethal disease characterised by progressive loss of motor neurons and subsequent muscle atrophy, weakness and paralysis. The study demonstrates that degeneration-resistant oculomotor neurons can…

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How Neural Circuits Process Infinite Options

Choosing what hat to buy, what to order for brunch, or whether to go with the hearty lager or the lighter pale ale all involve assigning values to the options. A small brain structure helps regulate the many decisions like this we make each day. But how do a limited number of neural circuits in…

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Can Raising Body Temperature Treat Depression Symptoms?

Raising the overall body temperature of depression sufferers to match a mild fever improved symptoms of major depression for up to six weeks after a single treatment, a new study shows. Led by Dr. Charles Raison of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, researchers conducted a small, double-blind trial to test whole-body hyperthermia as a novel treatment…

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WHO Releases New Multi-drug Resistant TB Treatment Guidelines

Current treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) involves going through a punishing two-year regimen, taking up to 20 tablets daily in addition to months of daily painful injections. Side-effects of the treatment can include permanent hearing loss, with some developing suicidal depression and psychosis, and even after all that, only around half of patients with multi-drug…

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