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Neuroscience news
Congratulations to Brain Prize winners Marie-Germaine Bousser, Hugues Chabriat, Anne Joutel and Elisabeth Tournier-Lasserve
The Brain Prize 2019: French neuroscientists honoured for outstanding research into small vessel strokes in the brain
Aiming for treatment they have spent more than 30 years describing, understanding and diagnosing the most common hereditary form of stroke, CADASIL. For this, the four French neuroscientists are now receiving the world’s most valuable prize for brain research – the Lundbeck Foundation Brain Prize, worth 1 million euros.
A new experimental therapy for ALS and fronto-temporal dementia
Jean-Pierre Julien’s team recently published an article in the high impact journal, the Journal of Clinical Investigations, about a new experimental therapy for ALS and frontotemporal dementia based on the use of antibodies that target the abnormal accumulation of a protein called TDP-43 in degenerating neurons. The formation of TDP-43 aggregates is associated with ALS development.
Spinal cords contribute to complex hand function
We often think of our brains as the centre of complex motor function and control, but how ‘smart’ is your spinal cord? Turns out, it is smarter than we think.
Circuits which travel down the length of our spine control things like the pain reflex in humans and some motor-control functions in animals. Now, new research from Western has shown that the spinal cord is also able to process and control more complex functions, like the positioning of your hand in external space.
Brain scan series aid concussed rugby players
Ravi Menon
Researchers at Western have developed an objective way to monitor female athletes’ concussion injury, by using brain scans to study their brains over time.
By using a technique that combines both structural and functional MRI information, Western University researchers were able to identify three unique signatures – one that shows acute brain changes after an athlete has suffered a concussion, another that can identify persistent brain changes six months after the concussion and a third that shows evidence of concussion history.
Hormone could slow Alzheimer’s progression
Fernanda De Felice
Queen’s University researcher discovers potential new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
Queen’s University researcher Fernanda De Felice (Psychiatry), along with co-authors from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, have identified an exercise-linked hormone that could slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. This research was recently published in the high-profile publication, Nature Medicine.
Biologists at University of Alberta identify promising drug for ALS treatment
Ted Allison and Michele DuVal
Scientists find a new application for an existing drug, with potential to slow progression of the devastating degenerative disease.
A drug typically used to treat hepatitis could slow the progression of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, according to new research by University of Alberta scientists.
Gut hormone increases response to food
Dr. Alain Dagher
Ghrelin promotes conditioning to food-related odours
The holiday season is a hard one for anyone watching their weight. The sights and smells of food are hard to resist. One factor in this hunger response is a hormone found in the stomach that makes us more vulnerable to tasty food smells, encouraging overeating and obesity. New research on the hormone ghrelin was published on Dec. 4, 2018, led by Dr. Alain Dagher’s lab at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University.
VIP type neurons connect two brain regions involved in memory consolidation
Lisa Topolnik
Researchers have discovered a type of neuron that would coordinate the consolidation of memory
In an article published today in Nature Communications, researchers from Université Laval and Oxford University report having discovered a new type of neuron in the mouse brain. These neurons connect two structures associated with memory and may coordinate the consolidation of information about contextual or episodic memory.
Can’t sleep? Fruit flies and energy drinks offer new clues
Peco, van Meyel, Davla
Source: MUHC Newsroom
Sleep is an essential behavioural state in animals ranging from invertebrates to humans. It is critical for immune function, stable metabolism, brain repair, learning and memory. Over the course of a lifetime, more than 30 per cent of people will experience a sleep disorder, which is associated with a number of diseases including Alzheimer’s, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
