Brain

Brazilian Prez Lula recovering in hospital after emergency brain surgery

The 79-year-old Lula was in stable condition and speaking and eating normally after the successful operation at Sirio-Libanes Hospital

Supreme Court dismisses plea to turn off 'machine' controlling man's brain

The appellant alleged that a 'human brain reading machinery' had been obtained by certain individuals at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) and was being used to control his brain

Inflammation in vital brain region could be driving long Covid: Study

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 ...

India's brain gain: 40 Indian univ alumni join US unicorn founders club

Other Indian universities on the list include IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (Pilani), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), and the University of Madras

Spike protein changes found to help Coronavirus infect brain: Study

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

Neuralink's 1st human patient able to control mouse through thinking: Musk

Musk said that now Neuralink was trying to get as many mouse button clicks as possible from the patient

Everything to know about Musk's Neuralink and its first human brain implant

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

Hunger hormone can cross the blood-brain barrier, impact brain: Study

A study on mice has shown how gut-produced hunger hormones can influence decision-making and drive an animal's behaviour. The researchers said that the findings demonstrate how the hunger hormone can cross the blood-brain barrier and directly impact the brain to drive activity, controlling a circuit in the brain that is likely to be the same or similar in humans. The blood-brain barrier is known to strictly restrict many substances in the blood from reaching the brain. The study findings are published in the journal, Neuron Researchers put mice in an arena that had some food, and looked at how the mice acted when they were hungry or full. While all the mice spent time investigating the food, only the hungry ones would begin eating, the researchers at University College London, UK, found. They also used brain imaging to study activity in the mice's ventral hippocampus, which is a decision-making part of the brain understood to help form and use memories to guide behaviour. The ...

Study identifies decline for brain ageing, sheds light on memory decline

A new study offers insight into the cognitive decline of normal ageing, shedding light on how ageing contributes to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases Most of us who have reached their middle age must have experienced a slowing memory and cognition. Until now, scientists did not have a clear picture of the molecular changes that take place in the brain to cause it. Now, a study on mice has determined that the most pronounced changes occur in the white matter, a type of nervous system tissue that is integral to transmitting signals across the brain. The study that identified a gene "fingerprint" for brain ageing also examined two treatments caloric restriction and infusions of plasma from young mice that affect certain regions of the brain, with the plasma appearing to slow the age-related memory decline. In many neurodegenerative diseases, certain areas of the brain are more vulnerable to damage, but there was a lack of clarity on the exact

Covid-19 may affect brain, trigger neurological problems, says doctor

COVID-19 may have been viewed and treated primarily as a respiratory illness, but it is more sinister and pervasive in its impact on the human body as it may affect the brain thereby accelerate or trigger neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, according to a doctor. Describing the pandemic as 'a beast with a thousand heads', Dr Yatish Agarwal, senior professor, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, says the effect of the COVID-19 extends far beyond the nose, throat, and lungs and may infect the brain, the most vital bodily organ. Vast clinical studies reveal that neurological complications occur in 36-84 per cent of COVID-19 patients. Strangely, many people who experience neurologic symptoms that linger after the disease are less than 50 years old and were healthy prior to the infection, he points out in an exclusive article for Manorama Yearbook 2023. Panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder and depression can occur among

Coronavirus: The pandemic is changing our brains - here are the remedies

Research suggests that the virus may gain access to the brain via the forebrain's olfactory bulb, which is important for the processing of smell

Researchers seek clues to head trauma in brains of dead athletes

The VA-Boston University-Concussion Legacy Foundation Brain Bank in Boston houses 850 human brains

This AI system may help doctors treat patients with traumatic brain injury

The study noted that the new AI system can predict the probability of the patient dying within 30-days with accuracy of 80-85 per cent

How a key mechanism in our brain enables us to rapidly focus attention

Research has shown that the electrical activity of the neocortex of the brain changes, when we focus our attention

Mind games: Can the brain be tricked into feeling pain relief?

The brain also seems to be able to be tricked into experiencing pain relief: Study

Human survival instinct: Brain spots early-stage disease in others

The human brain helps avoid sick people, says a new study

Brain regions synchronising memory tasks get smaller with age

Researchers from Princeton University in the US have found a novel method to characterise and compare the brain dynamics of individual people

Dysfunction in brain linked to sweet cravings in obese people

The fall in dopamine levels makes the older adults less attracted to sweets

Our brain is 'pre-adapted' to face any situation: Study

The brain anticipates all of the new situations that it may encounter in a lifetime by creating a special kind of neural network

Walk, jog or dance: It's all good for the ageing brain

Scans showed the top quartile of active individuals proved to have substantially more grey matter, compared with their peers, which is related to brain health