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Most neurological diseases have one thing in common: an accumulation of abnormal proteins around neurons. Researchers agree that these improperly fabricated proteins become progressively more toxic by interacting with healthy proteins, disrupting their functions. This picture, however, may be incomplete, according to a study.

In a recent study published in the Journal of Cell Biology, scientists from Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, have discovered the mechanism of action by which abnormal proteins actually unleash the inherent, but normally latent, toxicity of a natural protein in neurons, causing defects in dendrites (branched parts of a neuron that connect to the next neuron). Therefore, their results provide some clarity as to what actually goes on in diseased neurons. Though the researchers focused on Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), the implications of their results are relevant to other diseases as well.

Canadian scientists are pioneering the use of individualised brain stimulation therapy to treat aphasia in recovering stroke patients.

Aphasia is a debilitating language disorder that impacts all forms of verbal communication, including speech, language comprehension, and reading and writing abilities. It affects around one-third of stroke survivors, but can also be present in those with dementia, especially in the form of primary progressive aphasia. "Aphasia can be very isolating," says Dr. Jed Meltzer, Baycrest's Canada Research Chair in Interventional Cognitive Neuroscience and a neurorehabilitation scientist at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute (RRI). "It can negatively affect people's personal relationships, and it often determines whether or not someone can continue working."

In conjunction with Mental Health Day 2020, Irwin Mitchell organised a webinar offering valuable insights into maintaining good mental health for those affected by Spinal Cord Injury (SCI).

The speakers were a mixture of professionals and people living with a SCI. Dr Parashar Ramanuj, Consultant Psychiatrist gave an in depth clinical insight as to what a person who has recently sustained an SCI may be dealing with and what ‘coping’ really means Sophie Lester, a case manager and spinal occupational therapist provided some really helpful guidance on how to maintain good mental health alongside rehabilitation and sustaining a healthy balance.

In the hours and days after a traumatic brain injury, inflammation inside the brain can accelerate to the point that more brain damage occurs, says a scientist working to better understand the acceleration and whether interventions like cannabinoids can improve patient outcomes.

While some TBI patients do well, most would benefit from therapy to create a better balance between the vigorous inflammation needed in the immediate injury aftermath to clean up the site and the deceleration needed to complete healing and avoid more brain damage, says Dr. Kumar Vaibhav, translational neuroscientist in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Georgia. "You cannot suppress the entire pro-inflammatory process otherwise it would be difficult to recover from your injury," Vaibhav says. But in this case, there is too much inflammation, a major factor in the reality that one-third of hospitalized patients with a TBI die from damage that continues after their acute injury.

A key figure in UK case management has won a prestigious award in recognition of her work in opening up access to chronic pain management support through innovative use of digital technology. 

Deborah Edwards has overseen the creation of the RESTORE programme, an eight-week online support and coaching initiative which is helping people across the country to improve how they manage and deal with pain.  The “revolutionary” programme, which delivers evidence-based improvements in sleep and movement for chronic pain sufferers, has enabled people to bypass long NHS waiting times to access a tailored programme and bespoke advice from specialists. 

Having suffered a traumatic brain injury in an assault aged only 24, Martin’s life was changed forever. Here, he tells NR Times how his personality was changed beyond recognition, and why he is now relieved his suicide attempt failed.

It was a Wednesday morning. The sun was shining, children walked past my house on their way to school, it was a day like any other. But for me, today was different. Today was the day I decided I no longer wanted to be in this world.

I took one last look at the sun from my window, closed the blinds, then went to my bedroom with a cocktail of pills to hopefully make it all just end…

Having suffered a brain injury two years previously in a violent assault, which left me with a personality even I didn’t recognise, my life was in ruins.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, with patient numbers being expected to double worldwide in the next 20 years. The detailed molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying its pathogenesis remains unclear, although recent evidence has pointed towards the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the onset of the disease.

Mitochondria -- small cellular 'subunits' involved in cell metabolism and energy generation -- constantly and dynamically interact with each other, forming perpetually changing networks known as mitochondria interaction networks (MINs).

In the orchestra of the brain, the firing of each neuron is controlled by two notes - excitatory and inhibitory - that come from two distinct forms of a cellular structure called synapses.

Synapses are essentially the connections between neurons, transmitting information from one cell to the other. The synaptic harmonies come together to create the most exquisite music--at least most of the time. When the music becomes discordant and a person is diagnosed with a brain disease, scientists typically look to the synapses between neurons to determine what went wrong. But a new study from Duke University neuroscientists suggests that it would be more useful to look at the white-gloved conductor of the orchestra - the astrocyte.

Researchers from the University of Seville and the University of Oxford have described how the presence of brain metastases causes acute cerebrovascular dysfunction from the early stages of the disease.

The study, whose main author was Manuel Sarmiento Soto, Marie Curie researcher and member of the Group on Mechanisms of Cell Death in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Seville, shows that this alteration is chiefly caused by the activation of cells called astrocytes.

An NHS-approved cognitive training app is helping to improve the lives of those with Parkinson’s Disease, research shows.

A paper by Radboud University Medial Center Nijmegen and Maastricht (UMC) in the Netherlands shows that patients who used the app regularly for 24 weeks reversed the decline in their global cognition – their memory, their ability to concentrate, make decisions and learn new things. This was when compared to a controlled group of patients in a similar condition who didn’t use the app. Keiron Sparrowhawk, neuroscientist and founder of the MyCognition app says: “These results are fantastic news for people who are suffering with Parkinson’s Disease, or have loved ones who are. Not only has it shown that it can prevent the decline of cognition, but it actually helps to reverse decline, giving patients the ability to self-assess and self-train their cognition.