Results of the International Psychiatric Genomics Consortium unveiled
“If you got that lose, you want to kick them blues, cocaine
When your day is done, and you want to ride on cocaine
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie
Cocaine.”
-Eric Clapton
Despite its illegal status, cocaine remains one of the staples of social drug use. The stimulating effect of the chemical has been glamorized in modern-day culture and continues to be lauded as a means to artificially keep the mind active. Yet, as anyone who has tried this high can tell, the side effects are far less delightful. They include memory loss, increase heart rate, insomnia, and almost instantaneous addiction. Continue reading
Opioids, such as morphine and fentanyl, are powerful drugs used to manage a variety of pain conditions. However, chronic opioid use can result in the development of physical dependence. When individuals stop opioid use, they may suffer from a debilitating withdrawal syndrome. Continue reading
Of all psychiatric conditions, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD as it’s more commonly known, is perhaps the most widely known and also, misunderstood. Colloquially, this term is used to describe anyone with a penchant for a obsessive nature. Yet, this ailment, which only affects about 2% of the population, is quite difficult to both diagnose and manage. Continue reading
Scientists at the University of British Columbia have genetically engineered a mouse that does not become addicted to cocaine, adding to the evidence that habitual drug use is more a matter of genetics and biochemistry than just poor judgment.
The mice they created had higher levels of a protein called cadherin, which helps bind cells together. In the brain, cadherin helps strengthen synapses between neurons – the gaps that electrical impulses must traverse to bring about any action or function controlled by the brain, whether it’s breathing, walking, learning a new task or recalling a memory.
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Research determines how the brain recognizes what’s important at first glance.
Researchers at the Centre for Neuroscience Studies (CNS) at Queen’s University have discovered that a region of the brain – the superior colliculus – contains a mechanism responsible for interpreting how visual input from a scene determines where we look. This mechanism, known as a visual salience map, allows the brain to quickly identify and act on the most important information in the visual field, and is a basic mechanism for our everyday vision. Continue reading
Recent events at home and abroad foreshadow a more divided and closed world. As such, the Canadian Association for Neuroscience wants to state their position that science can and must remain a builder of bridges between the peoples of all nations, regardless of differences in political views, religious beliefs or country of origin. Scientists around the world share a desire to advance knowledge in ways that benefit all humans. Continue reading
Scientists identify mechanism for brain dysfunction following seizures and drugs that prevent this impairment from occurring.
Six years ago, Cam Teskey, PhD, decided to follow a hunch. Armed with an advanced new tool designed to measure oxygen levels in tissues, he wanted to look at the brains of rats to see what was happening during seizures. Continue reading
Have you ever met someone who just wasn’t into music? They may have a condition called specific musical anhedonia, which affects three-to-five per cent of the population.
Researchers at the University of Barcelona and the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University have discovered that people with this condition showed reduced functional connectivity between cortical regions responsible for processing sound and subcortical regions related to reward.
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Drug shown to reduce new attacks/symptom progression in some patients
In separate clinical trials, a drug called ocrelizumab has been shown to reduce new attacks in patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), and new symptom progression in primary progressive MS.
Three studies conducted by an international team of researchers, which included Amit Bar-Or and Douglas Arnold from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University, have discovered that ocrelizumab can significantly reduce new attacks in patients with relapsing MS, as well as slow the progression of symptoms caused by primary progressive MS. Continue reading