The brain is plastic – adapting to the hundreds of experiences in our daily lives by reorganizing pathways and making new connections between nerve cells. This plasticity requires that memories of new information and experiences are formed fast. So fast that the body has a special mechanism, unique to nerve cells, that enables memories to be made rapidly. Continue reading
Researchers at the University of Toronto discover how the body’s muscles accidentally fall asleep while awake
Normally muscles contract in order to support the body, but in a rare condition known as cataplexy the body’s muscles “fall asleep” and become involuntarily paralyzed. Cataplexy is incapacitating because it leaves the affected individual awake, but either fully or partially paralyzed. It is one of the bizarre symptoms of the sleep disorder called narcolepsy. Continue reading
A team of researchers led by Dr. Michel Cayouette at the IRCM made an important discovery, published online yesterday by the scientific journal Developmental Cell, that could better explain some inherited forms of hearing loss in humans. The Montréal scientists identified a group of proteins crucial for shaping the cellular organ responsible for detecting sounds. Continue reading
Yves De Koninck’s team shows that chronic pain depends on a cellular disorder that can be corrected
Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of Université Laval have just taken a step towards the development of a new class of drugs to relieve chronic pain. Continue reading
A team of scientists led by Dr. Antoine Adamantidis, a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and an assistant professor at McGill University, has released the findings from their latest study, which will appear in the October issue of the prestigious scientific journal Nature Neuroscience. Continue reading
September 2013 – A new edition of Sight Unseen, An Exploration of Conscious and Subconscious Vision, Edited by Melvyn Goodale and David Milner, has recently been published by the Medicine Department at Oxford University Press. Continue reading
Overnight flights across the Atlantic, graveyard shifts and stress-induced insomnia are all prime culprits in keeping us from a good night’s sleep. Thanks to new research from McGill University and Concordia University, however, these common sleep disturbances may one day be put to bed. Continue reading
Newborns with congenital heart disease are found to be highly vulnerable to brain injuries. While the link between heart defects and slower brain development has long been demonstrated, a new study published on July 16 in Neurology has further uncovered a direct connection between altered brain development and brain injuries in newborns with congenital heart disease. Continue reading
Researchers at Western University have furthered their game-changing neuroimaging techniques in communicating with patients believed to be in a vegetative state by connecting with an individual that has proved otherwise unresponsive for the past 12 years. Continue reading
The cellular mechanisms that promote long-term cell survival and maintenance of the adult nervous system are only poorly-understood, in spite of their clinical relevance. A study from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and the University of Toronto has identified one such mechanism in brain stem cells that may be important for healthy cognitive aging. Continue reading
