New research published out of the University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) uncovers a mechanism to promote growth in damaged nerve cells as a means to restore connections after injury. Dr. Doug Zochodne and his team have discovered a key molecule that directly regulates nerve cell growth in the damaged nervous system. His study was published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, with lead authors Drs. Kim Christie and Anand Krishnan. Continue reading
Why do we tend to forget earlier memories, especially those from childhood, as we get older? New research from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) brings fresh insight into the mystery of infantile amnesia and begins to explain why we have no memories from our earliest years. Researchers demonstrate that new neuron formation, or neurogenesis, in the area of the brain where memories are stored, called the hippocampus, is associated with memory loss. Continue reading
Mice and rats stressed by male experimenters; reaction may skew research findings.
Scientists’ inability to replicate research findings using mice and rats has contributed to mounting concern over the reliability of such studies.
Now, an international team of pain researchers led by scientists at McGill University in Montreal may have uncovered one important factor behind this vexing problem: the gender of the experimenters has a big impact on the stress levels of rodents, which are widely used in preclinical studies. Continue reading
Researchers at the University of Toronto say a sleep disorder that causes people to act out their dreams is the best current predictor of brain diseases like Parkinson’s and many other forms of dementia.
“Rapid-eye-movement sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) is not just a precursor but also a critical warning sign of neurodegeneration that can lead to brain disease,” says associate professor and lead author Dr. John Peever. In fact, as many as 80 to 90 per cent of people with RBD will develop a brain disease.” Continue reading
Researchers from the uOttawa Brain and Mind Research Institute have made an important discovery in stroke research that could significantly advance recovery for patients. Their findings were published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications on April 1, 2014.
When a person suffers a stroke, oxygen—a vital component for cell survival in the human brain—is cut off. This loss of oxygen not only causes immediate cell death in the primary stroke area, but also puts the cells in the surrounding areas at risk. If their ability to produce energy is not restored, they will eventually die. With this in mind, researchers worked to understand what happens to cellular energy production in affected cells and what could be done to help salvage them. Continue reading
Two Simon Fraser University psychologists have discovered that our brains have an active suppression mechanism that helps us avoid distraction when we want to focus on a particular item or task.
Their study is the first to identify this mechanism, which they say could revolutionize doctors’ perception and treatment of attention-deficit disorders. Continue reading
Findings could help scientists study pain-inhibited sexual desire in humans
“Not tonight, dear, I have a headache.” Generally speaking, that line is attributed to the wife in a couple, implying that women’s sexual desire is more affected by pain than men’s.
Now, researchers from McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal have investigated, possibly for the first time in any species, the direct impact of pain on sexual behaviour in mice. Their study, published in the April 23 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, found that pain from inflammation greatly reduced sexual motivation in female mice in heat — but had no such effect on male mice. Continue reading
Bruno Giros, PhD, a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, has demonstrated, for the first time, the role that dopamine plays in a region of the brain called the hippocampus. Continue reading
Imagine being a parent receiving news that your six-year-old child has a brain tumour that has no effective treatment, and is almost universally fatal. This is a harsh reality for the 30 children in Canada who are diagnosed each year with a rare paediatric cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). Continue reading
People with schizophrenia often misinterpret what they see and experience in the world. New research provides insight into the brain mechanisms that might be responsible for this misinterpretation. The study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro – at McGill University and McGill University Health Centre, reveals that certain errors in visual perception in people with schizophrenia are consistent with interference or ‘noise’ in a brain signal known as a corollary discharge. Continue reading