Brain Health

Symptoms of long Covid, including fatigue and brain fog, have been linked to damage to the brainstem or the brain region, which acts as a "critical junction" between consciousness and all that is physically happening in the body, according to a study. The brainstem connects the spinal cord to two main parts of the brain -- cerebrum and cerebellum. Often dubbed as the 'control centre' of involuntary functions, the brainstem regulates basic life-sustaining activities such as breathing, heart rate and sleep, and located at the base of the brain. Symptoms of long Covid have been studied to persist in some patients for up to two years following initial infection. The previous studies have found prolonged inflammation to be one of the main drivers of long Covid. In this study, the researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, UK, looked at high resolution MRI brain scans of 30 patients, who had severe COVID-19 early in the pandemic, and found that the infection caused ...

Changes in the spike protein enhanced the ability of the coronavirus to infect the brain, which could underlie the brain-related symptoms of the disease, including brain fog of long Covid, according to a new study. The spike protein directs the virus, SARS-CoV-2, how to enter human cells before infecting them with COVID-19. The exact causes of long Covid, which persists for months after the initial infection, and its brain-affecting symptoms are still not known and are being widely studied around the world. The study could, therefore, help scientists understand these aspects better and may lead to specific treatments to protect and clear the virus from the brain, according to researchers at Northwestern University, UK, and the University of Illinois-Chicago, US. For the study, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, the researchers infected mice with the coronavirus. As the virus multiplied itself within the host, the researchers compared the spike proteins of the viruses in

Brain tumour in children is a very serious issue which needs timely treatment. Here are the 8 warning signs that you should look out for before it gets too late

Climate change is likely to negatively affect the health of people suffering from brain conditions such as migraine and Alzheimer's, new research published in The Lancet Neurology journal has found. Extreme temperatures, both low and high, and greater changes over the course of the day -- driven by climate change -- were shown to have an impact on brain diseases, explained lead researcher Sanjay Sisodiya from the University of College London's Institute of Neurology, UK. "Night-time temperatures may be particularly important as higher temperatures through the night can disrupt sleep. Poor sleep is known to aggravate a number of brain conditions," he said. The study, reviewing 332 papers published from around the world between 1968 and 2023, looked at 19 different nervous system conditions, including stroke, migraine, Alzheimer's, meningitis, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. The researchers found an increased number of admissions, disabilities or deaths resulting from a stroke due t

"In order to work properly, the brain has to be maintained within a relatively narrow temperature range," said Sanjay Sisodiya, a professor at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Sadhguru had been expressing complaints of worsening headaches for the last four weeks. On March 17, a brain scan revealed a massive bleeding in his skull, leading to an emergency surgery

The World Thinking Day celebrates the friendship, sisterhood, and empowerment of girls and young women everywhere. It promotes gender equality and raises awareness of global issues

International Epilepsy Day 2024 is marked every year on February 12 to make masses aware of the disease. Over 50 million people in the world are living with epilepsy

Researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that can predict the onset of psychosis in people using brain scans. They said that the model, trained on brain scans from people globally, could be helpful in clinical settings, as earlier intervention typically leads to better outcomes with less negative impact on people's lives, even as most experiencing psychosis recover fully. Psychosis is a mental state characterised by being out of touch with reality and symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations or radical changes in behaviour and thinking. The condition has no single cause, but can be triggered by trauma, drug or alcohol use, or a genetic predisposition. "At most only 30 per cent of clinical high-risk individuals later have overt psychotic symptoms, while the remaining 70 per cent do not," said associate professor Shinsuke Koike from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tokyo, Japan, and the corresponding author of the study ...

For the first time Musk has given the implant device a name

Neuralink's brain implant aims to help people with traumatic injuries operate computers using only their thoughts

Stress, less sleep, mood swings, or headaches are the possible symptoms of Brain Fog. Read to know more about Brain Fog symptoms, causes, precautions, treatment and more

Markers of brain injury developed due to COVID-19 were found in patients even months after the infection and despite blood tests measuring inflammation returning normal results, according to a new research. Researchers from universities in the UK explained that during the acute phase of the viral infection, when symptoms develop quickly, key inflammatory proteins and brain injury markers are produced. They analysed over 800 hospitalised patients' samples from across England and Wales. Surprisingly, even months after being discharged from the hospital, there is on-going robust biomarker evidence of brain injury developed due to COVID-19, the researchers said in their study published in a journal, Nature Communications. The biomarker evidence was more prominently seen in patients experiencing neurological dysfunction during the acute illness, and continued in the recovery phase in patients suffering acute neurological complications, the researchers said. "While some neurological ...

The new imaging technique, known as correlated diffusion imaging (CDI), was developed by systems design engineering professor Alexander Wong at University of Waterloo

The human brain's cerebellum might be more vulnerable to Covid infections than other brain regions, a new study employing an innovated MRI technique has found. The study from Rotman Research Institute and Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, Canada, reinforces the idea that Covid can lead to changes in the brain, it said. The new imaging technique, called correlated diffusion imaging (CDI), was developed by Alexander Wong, a systems design engineering professor, University of Waterloo, Canada. A new form of MRI, CDI can better highlight the differences in the way water molecules move in tissue by capturing and mixing MRI signals at different gradient pulse strengths and timings, the study published in the journal Human Brain Mapping said. Wong had previously developed CDI as a better imaging measure for detecting cancer. The CDI imaging of frontal-lobe white matter (in the brain's cerebrum) revealed a less restricted diffusion of water molecules in COVID-19 patients. At the same time, i

World brain tumour day is marked on 8 June yearly and it is a significant occasion to make individuals aware of the dangerous illness. An abnormal growth around the brain is called a brain tumour

In a related commentary, Alexander Gerhard, of the University of Manchester in UK, said the study was limited by PET's signal, which is not restricted to microglial cells

The health condition of former Maharashtra chief minister and ex-Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi is critical and he continues to be in a semi-comatose state, a city-based private hospital, where he was admitted two days back after suffering from brain haemorrhage, said on Wednesday. His son Unmesh Joshi also said his father continues to remain unconscious. Manohar Joshi (85), a veteran Shiv Sena leader, was admitted to P D Hinduja Hospital in a "semi-coma state" on Monday. In a statement, the hospital said, "Joshi is critical and semi-comatose. His brain haemorrhage is stable. He continues to be in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), being managed medically, and his condition is being closely monitored." In a medical emergency, Joshi was admitted to the hospital on May 22 in a semi-coma condition. He was breathing on his own and was not on a ventilator, it said. Talking to PTI, his son Unmesh said his father is unconscious and doctors treating him have asked him to "wait and watch". "

The number of deaths worldwide from ischemic stroke is expected to increase to nearly five million by 2030, according to a study. The research, published in the journal Neurology, focused on ischemic stroke, which is caused by a blockage of blood flow to the brain and is the most common type of stroke. It found that the number of deaths worldwide from the disorder increased from two million in 1990 to more than three million in 2019. "This increase in the global death toll of ischemic stroke along with a predicted further increase in the future is concerning, but ischemic stroke is highly preventable," said study author Lize Xiong, of Tongji University in Shanghai, China. "Our results suggest that a combination of lifestyle factors like smoking and a diet high in sodium along with other factors such as high blood pressure and high body mass index can lead to an increased risk of stroke, Xiong said. The researchers analysed data from the Global Health Data Exchange from 1990-2019.

Brain stroke, heart-related issues have been on an uptick after the Covid-19 infectios, experts have said