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Heavy cannabis use during pregnancy linked to disruption in brain growth

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-heavy-cannabis-pregnancy-linked-disruption.html

Published: November 18, 2025 13:01

McGill University researchers at the Douglas Research Center have found evidence that heavy cannabis use during pregnancy can cause delays in brain development in the fetus that persist into adulthood.

When we see someone being touched, our brains automatically simulate how it feels

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-brains-automatically-simulate.html

Published: November 18, 2025 11:01

Touch is fundamental to how we perceive our own bodies and connect with others. A gentle brush stroke on our body can feel soothing, while a pinch or cut can be painful. We often think of touch as something we feel through our skin, but our eyes also play…

Using robotic testing to spot overlooked sensory deficits in stroke survivors

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-robotic-overlooked-sensory-deficits-survivors.html

Published: November 18, 2025 09:36

A decade ago, at age 55, Don Lewis suffered a stroke in his sleep. When he woke up, he couldn't move his left arm or leg. Lewis's neighbor realized his truck hadn't moved in two days and called 911 for a welfare check. When paramedics found him, he was…

First fully synthetic brain tissue model engineered by scientists

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-fully-synthetic-brain-tissue-scientists.html

Published: November 18, 2025 09:34

For the first time, scientists have grown functional, brain-like tissue without using any animal-derived materials or added biological coatings. The development opens the door to more controlled and humane neurological drug testing.

Psilocybin could reverse effects of brain injuries resulting from intimate partner violence, rat study finds

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-psilocybin-reverse-effects-brain-injuries.html

Published: November 18, 2025 07:40

The term intimate partner violence (IPV) refers to physical, sexual or psychological abuse perpetrated by an individual on their romantic partner or spouse. Victims of IPV who are violently attacked and physically abused on a regular basis can sometimes…

Deep brain stimulation succeeds for 1 in 2 patients with treatment-resistant severe depression and anxiety in trial

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-deep-brain-succeeds-patients-treatment.html

Published: November 18, 2025 05:00

Deep brain stimulation—implants in the brain that act as a kind of "pacemaker"—has led to clinical improvements in half of the participants with treatment-resistant severe depression in an open-label trial.

Chasing a winning streak: A new way to trigger responses in the body by simulating psychological pressure

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-streak-trigger-responses-body-simulating.html

Published: November 18, 2025 00:10

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed an experimental method to induce a strong physiological response linked to psychological pressure by making participants aim for a streak of success in a task.

Why are super-recognizers so good at learning and remembering faces?

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-super-good.html

Published: November 17, 2025 20:00

Some people are so good with faces that there's a name for them—super-recognizers. And a new study using eye-tracking technology has given us some insights into how they do it.

A unified model of memory and perception: How Hebbian learning explains our recall of past events

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-memory-perception-hebbian-recall-events.html

Published: November 17, 2025 15:55

A collaboration between SISSA's Physics and Neuroscience groups has taken a step forward in understanding how memories are stored and retrieved in the brain. The study, recently published in Neuron, shows that distinct perceptual biases—long thought to…

Simple test brings clarity and hope for families with inherited neuropathy

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-simple-clarity-families-inherited-neuropathy.html

Published: November 17, 2025 14:43

A new, inexpensive urine test that measures two sugar alcohols, sorbitol and xylitol, is making it easier, faster, and far less expensive to identify a common inherited nerve disorder called SORD-related neuropathy. The test, developed through a…

Next-generation microbiome medicine may transform Parkinson's treatment

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-generation-microbiome-medicine-parkinson-treatment.html

Published: November 17, 2025 14:22

The age-old advice to "trust your gut" could soon take on new meaning for people diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, thanks to a creative feat of bioengineering by researchers in the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine.

Non-opioid pain relief: Brain's 'cleanup crew' reveals a new target

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-opioid-pain-relief-brain-cleanup.html

Published: November 17, 2025 13:17

Chronic pain is a daily reality for millions of Americans, interfering with their everyday activities and quality of life. An estimated 24.3% of adults in the United States experienced chronic pain in 2023, and current treatment options are not always…

How people identify scents and perceive their pleasantness

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-people-scents-pleasantness.html

Published: November 17, 2025 13:00

In a new JNeurosci paper, Masako Okamoto and colleagues, from the University of Tokyo, explored the brain activity involved in smelling odors.

Mild cognitive impairment, dementia risk up with increasing biological severity of Alzheimer's disease

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-mild-cognitive-impairment-dementia-biological.html

Published: November 17, 2025 12:00

For individuals who are currently cognitively unimpaired, the lifetime and 10-year absolute risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia increases with increasing amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) centiloid value, according to a study…

Brain stimulation found to improve vision recovery after stroke

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-brain-vision-recovery.html

Published: November 17, 2025 11:21

Scientists at EPFL have developed an innovative, non-invasive brain stimulation therapy to significantly improve visual function in stroke patients who have suffered vision loss following a stroke. The approach could offer a more efficient and faster way…

Trial evaluates a vitamin B3 derivative in people with long COVID

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-trial-vitamin-b3-derivative-people.html

Published: November 17, 2025 11:13

Millions of people worldwide continue to experience lingering symptoms after COVID-19, a condition known as long COVID. These symptoms can affect people of all ages and often include neurological issues such as "brain fog," which makes thinking and memory…

New study identifies part of brain animals use to make inferences

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-brain-animals-inferences.html

Published: November 17, 2025 11:00

Animals survive in changing and unpredictable environments by not merely responding to new circumstances, but also, like humans, by forming inferences about their surroundings—for instance, squirrels understand that certain bird noises don't signal the…

Researcher out to solve mystery of migraine

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-mystery-migraine.html

Published: November 17, 2025 09:48

Often dismissed as a minor ailment, migraine is a debilitating neurological disease affecting hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders. At the University of Otago's School of Biomedical Sciences, world-leading research by Professor Debbie Hay and her team…

Keto diet stops a young girl's epileptic seizures

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-keto-diet-young-girl-epileptic.html

Published: November 17, 2025 09:10

Alana "Lani" Silverberg was a real firecracker with a big personality at age 3—until she started having seizures.

Supercomputer simulation is changing how we study the brain

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-supercomputer-simulation-brain.html

Published: November 17, 2025 08:00

Harnessing the muscle of one of the world's fastest supercomputers, researchers have built one of the largest and most detailed biophysically realistic brain simulations of an animal ever.

Tracing schizophrenia's origins: Study maps chromatin accessibility in postmortem brain tissue

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-schizophrenia-chromatin-accessibility-postmortem-brain.html

Published: November 17, 2025 06:30

Schizophrenia is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by hallucinations, false beliefs about oneself or the world (i.e., delusions), and other disruptions in thought, emotion and perception. Recent genetic studies show that many risk variants…

Learning to see after being born blind: Brain imaging study highlights infant adaptability

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-born-brain-imaging-highlights-infant.html

Published: November 17, 2025 05:00

Some babies are born with early blindness due to dense bilateral congenital cataracts, requiring surgery to restore their sight. This period of several months without vision can leave a lasting mark on how the brain processes visual details, but…

A time-sensitive genetic switch for sex-specific features of developing neurons

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-sensitive-genetic-sex-specific-features.html

Published: November 16, 2025 10:40

Researchers have identified that the precisely timed transcription of two genes named grim and reaper is responsible for the targeted death of neurons within the developing nervous system of female flies. This group of neurons normally survive in males and…

Low-glutamate diet linked to brain changes and migraine relief in veterans with Gulf War Illness

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-glutamate-diet-linked-brain-migraine.html

Published: November 15, 2025 15:00

Veterans with Gulf War Illness experienced significant improvement in migraine symptoms after following a diet low in glutamate, a component of flavor-enhancing food additives commonly found in processed foods, according to new research presented by…

Software optimizes brain simulations, enabling them to complete complex cognitive tasks

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-software-optimizes-brain-simulations-enabling.html

Published: November 15, 2025 10:30

A new software enables brain simulations which both imitate the processes in the brain in detail and can solve challenging cognitive tasks. The program was developed by a research team at the Cluster of Excellence "Machine Learning: New Perspectives for…

Exercise-induced vesicles boost neuron growth when transplanted into sedentary mice

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-vesicles-boost-neuron-growth-transplanted.html

Published: November 15, 2025 08:00

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign report that extracellular vesicles released into the bloodstream during aerobic exercise can, on their own, drive a robust increase in adult hippocampal neurogenesis when transferred into sedentary…

How the brain learns and applies rules: Sequential neuronal dynamics in the prefrontal cortex

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-brain-sequential-neuronal-dynamics-prefrontal.html

Published: November 14, 2025 12:56

Understanding how the brain learns and applies rules is the key to unraveling the neural basis of flexible behavior. A new study from the University of Toyama, Japan, reveals that our ability to follow procedural rules is encoded in the evolving dynamics…

Hypertension affects the brain much earlier than expected, study suggests

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-hypertension-affects-brain-earlier.html

Published: November 14, 2025 12:24

Hypertension impairs blood vessels, neurons and white matter in the brain well before the condition causes a measurable rise in blood pressure, according to a new preclinical study from Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The changes help explain why…

How brain fluid flow predicts survival in glioblastoma

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-brain-fluid-survival-glioblastoma.html

Published: November 14, 2025 09:58

Glioblastoma—the most aggressive form of brain cancer—remains one of medicine's biggest challenges. Despite surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, most patients survive only about a year after diagnosis.

Unusual days signal rising migraine risk

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-unusual-days-migraine.html

Published: November 14, 2025 09:08

Harvard Medical School researchers report that higher day-to-day "trigger surprisal" scores were associated with migraine attacks over the next 12 and 24 hours. In this cohort, higher surprisal scores aligned with greater odds of a headache attack, even…

Neural 'barcodes': Intra-regional brain dynamics linked to person-specific characteristics

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-neural-barcodes-intra-regional-brain.html

Published: November 14, 2025 07:40

People can think, behave and function very differently. These observed differences are known to be the result of complex interactions between genetics, neurobiological processes and life experiences.

Quantifying the intensity of emotional response to sound, images and touch through skin conductance

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-quantifying-intensity-emotional-response-images.html

Published: November 13, 2025 16:55

When we listen to a moving piece of music or feel the gentle pulse of a haptic vibration, our bodies react before we consciously register the feeling. The heart may quicken and palms may sweat, resulting in subtle electrical resistance variations in the…

Brain's mechanical properties influence synapse formation and electrical signal development, study finds

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-brain-mechanical-properties-synapse-formation.html

Published: November 13, 2025 16:37

In the brain, highly specific connections called synapses link nerve cells and transmit electrical signals in a targeted manner. Despite decades of research, how synapses form during brain development is still not fully understood.

Vagus nerve's right branch plays a key role in digestive signaling

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-vagus-nerve-plays-key-role.html

Published: November 13, 2025 14:50

After years of work, cognition and neuroscience doctoral student Hailey Welch is—for the first time—the lead author of a study published in an academic journal, a paper appearing in Cell Reports, which examined the role of the vagus nerve's branches in…

Signal in the silence: Researchers uncover hidden potential in discarded MRI data

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-silence-uncover-hidden-potential-discarded.html

Published: November 13, 2025 14:43

In every functional MRI scan, after the whir and pounding begins, there is a brief 10 to 20 seconds of stabilization as the machine's magnetic field settles into place. For decades, scientists have treated this period as dead time, discarding the data or…

Headaches affect almost a third of people worldwide

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-headaches-affect-people-worldwide.html

Published: November 13, 2025 13:01

Do you have regular migraine headaches? If so, you've got a lot of company.

What are the signs of a brain tumor?

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-brain-tumor.html

Published: November 13, 2025 07:49

Have you been having headaches that won't go away, confusion or changes in your senses? You may wonder if these are signs of a brain tumor.

Veteran suicide rates are declining, but remain high for those with brain injuries, research shows

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-veteran-suicide-declining-high-brain.html

Published: November 13, 2025 06:33

After climbing for nearly two decades, suicide rates among U.S. military veterans have shown a significant decline since 2020, according to new research from the University of Utah.

Alzheimer's risk calculator could spot danger years before symptoms begin

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-alzheimer-danger-years-symptoms.html

Published: November 12, 2025 18:30

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a new tool that can estimate a person's risk of developing memory and thinking problems associated with Alzheimer's disease years before symptoms appear.

Sickle cell disease pain brought into focus with newly developed app

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-sickle-cell-disease-pain-brought.html

Published: November 12, 2025 15:26

Pain is a constant, complex companion that clinicians often struggle to understand and measure for people living with sickle cell disease. Traditional pain scales reduce this deeply personal experience to a single number that is often inaccurate.

Chemical compound holds potential against Alzheimer's disease

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-chemical-compound-potential-alzheimer-disease.html

Published: November 12, 2025 14:41

A team of researchers at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) in Brazil has developed a new chemical compound with the potential to treat Alzheimer's disease. The research involved computer simulations (in silico), cell culture tests (in vitro), and…

Repurposed antibiotic shows promise against central nervous system tuberculosis

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-repurposed-antibiotic-central-nervous-tuberculosis.html

Published: November 12, 2025 13:00

Researchers at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), have demonstrated that doxycycline, a commonly available and inexpensive antibiotic, can improve survival rates and neurological outcomes in central…

Speaking more languages might keep you younger, study suggests

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-languages-younger.html

Published: November 12, 2025 12:23

Can learning another language help you stay younger for longer? Far beyond its cultural and social value, speaking multiple languages may protect both brain and body health, slowing down the biological processes of aging and strengthening resilience across…

Findings reveal role of FBXO21 in axon degeneration

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-reveal-role-fbxo21-axon-degeneration.html

Published: November 12, 2025 11:48

NMNAT2 is a key protein required for axon integrity whose rapid depletion following axon injury triggers Wallerian degeneration. The molecular mechanism controlling NMNAT2 turnover in neurons has not been fully understood. It has been believed that NMNAT2…

Research in mice reveals brain cells that drive—and prevent—anxiety

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-mice-reveals-brain-cells-anxiety.html

Published: November 12, 2025 11:09

Anxiety disorders are some of the most common mental health conditions in America, affecting about one in five people nationwide. But much remains unknown about the roots of anxiety in the brain. Now, research at the University of Utah has identified two…

LSD microdosing reduces depression scores without major side effects, clinical trial finds

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-lsd-microdosing-depression-scores-major.html

Published: November 12, 2025 10:03

University of Auckland researchers report that an 8-week, twice-weekly LSD microdosing regimen for major depressive disorder was feasible and well-tolerated, with Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) scores reduced by 59.5% at the end of…

Brain tumor patients miss out on new treatments due to unequal access to tumor freezing and genetic testing, study warns

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-brain-tumor-patients-treatments-due.html

Published: November 12, 2025 09:23

Molecular and genetic testing has become a game-changer in brain tumor care—shaping diagnosis, guiding treatments and opening doors to new therapies. Once available to a handful of patients, these tests are now rapidly being adopted across the NHS,…

Newly discovered RNA molecule could limit protein aggregation and prevent neuronal damage

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-newly-rna-molecule-limit-protein.html

Published: November 12, 2025 06:50

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia, are medical conditions that entail the progressive loss of neurons and a decline in brain function. Past studies have found a link between these diseases and the buildup of misfolded…

Everyday speech may reveal early signs of brain health changes

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-everyday-speech-reveal-early-brain.html

Published: November 11, 2025 18:40

The way we speak in everyday conversation may hold important clues about brain health, according to new research from Baycrest, the University of Toronto and York University. The study found that subtle features of speech timing—such as pauses, fillers…

Following anti-amyloid therapy, MRI shows no short-term change in waste clearance function in Alzheimer's patients

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-anti-amyloid-therapy-mri-short.html

Published: November 11, 2025 16:53

A group from Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan, led by graduate student Tatsushi Oura and Dr. Hiroyuki Tatekawa, found that treatment using the drug lecanemab to remove amyloid plaques in the brain does not change the waste clearance function in the…

Infants born with hearing loss show disruptions in brain design, underscoring the urgency of intervention

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-infants-born-loss-disruptions-brain.html

Published: November 11, 2025 16:20

Infants born deaf or hard of hearing show adverse changes in how their brains organize and specialize, but exposure to sound and language may help them develop more normally, according to new research.

Nonsurgical treatment shows promise for targeted seizure control

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-nonsurgical-treatment-seizure.html

Published: November 11, 2025 16:00

Rice University bioengineers have demonstrated a nonsurgical way to quiet a seizure-relevant brain circuit in an animal model. The team used low-intensity focused ultrasound to briefly open the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in the hippocampus, delivered an…

It's not just in your head: Stress may lead to altered blood flow in the brain

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-stress-blood-brain.html

Published: November 11, 2025 15:46

While the exact causes of neurodegenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia are still largely unknown, researchers have been able to identify a key characteristic in affected brains: reduced blood flow. Building upon this foundational…

Research reveals shared genetic roots for psychiatric and neurological disorders

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-reveals-genetic-roots-psychiatric-neurological.html

Published: November 11, 2025 15:42

Researchers from the Center for Precision Psychiatry at the University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital have discovered extensive genetic links between neurological disorders like migraine, stroke and epilepsy, and psychiatric illnesses such as…

Tabletop blast device brings traumatic brain injury research to the lab bench

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-tabletop-blast-device-traumatic-brain.html

Published: November 11, 2025 12:39

Four University of Rhode Island researchers have developed and tested a cost-effective, easy-to-use tabletop device that can generate pressure waves, mimicking the impact of blasts that can cause neurodegeneration. Their study was recently published in the…

Drug candidate slows motor neuron disease progression and preserves muscle function in preclinical study

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-drug-candidate-motor-neuron-disease.html

Published: November 11, 2025 11:47

A drug candidate found to protect nerve cells damaged by motor neuron disease (MND), could offer new hope to people living with the devastating condition.

Can brain training really shave ten years off brain aging, as a recent study suggests?

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-brain-ten-years-aging.html

Published: November 11, 2025 10:43

A ten-week online brain training program helped older adults' brains act as though they were a decade younger, a recent study has found.