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Researchers at the University of California San Diego have identified new mechanisms in neurons that cause Alzheimer's disease.

In particular, they discovered that changes in the structure of chromatin, the tightly coiled form of DNA, trigger neurons to lose their specialised function and revert to an earlier cell state. This results in the loss of synaptic connections, an effect associated with memory loss and dementia. The study was founded on the question: how do neurons in patients with Alzheimer's disease differ from neurons in healthy individuals?

The loss of oligodendrocytes (OLs) - highly specialised cells of the brain that produce myelin, an essential structure enabling an efficient transmission of electrical signals and the support of neural activity - is a frequent condition in patients suffering neurodegenerative diseases.

Researchers of the Department of Cellular Biology, Genetics and Physiology of the University of Malaga (UMA) have succeeded in generating human OLs from pluripotent stem cells derived from patients with nervous system diseases, specifically multiple sclerosis or ALS.

Drivers are being urged to reduce their speed on the roads to avoid the potential for crashes - the estimated cause of up to 50 per cent of traumatic brain injuries. 

New research has revealed the extent of the problem of speeding on the UK’s roads, with a third of all drivers admitting having been in a vehicle which has exceeded 100mph.  More than a quarter of men - 28 per cent - said they had driven at such a speed on a public road, compared to 9 per cent of women, with those in the 25 to 34 year old bracket being the most prolific offenders, research from road safety charity Brake has revealed. 

A first-of-its-kind course for nurses to enhance their capability in supporting patients recovering from brain injuries and strokes has been developed. 

The online course, which is open to applications from around the world, enables registered nurses to study part-time while continuing their clinical roles, and will enable them to develop integrated brain, body and mind specialist skills, which are urgently needed in neurological rehabilitation.

Neuroscientists exploring the lasting impacts of COVID-19 on the brain are recruiting participants for a study which has been created to provide answers for healthcare professionals and improved care for millions of patients across the world.

The COVID-19 Brain Study is looking to find 50,000 people globally who received a confirmed positive diagnosis of the virus, in order to answer some of the main questions about the disease’s direct and indirect effects on the brain.

The study, which has been translated into three languages, hopes to break new ground in understanding the neurological impact of COVID-19, which so far remains largely unknown.

Stroke is a leading cause of death and severe long-term disability with limited treatment available. A research team led by Prof. Gong Chen at Jinan University, Guangzhou, China recently reported the first non-human primate study demonstrating successful in vivo neural regeneration from brain internal glial cells for stroke repair.

Ms. Long-Jiao Ge, the first author of the work and a PhD student in the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: "Current treatment of ischemic stroke mainly aims at restoring blood flow and neuroprotection, typically with a narrow time window of several hours.

Preventing heart attacks and strokes in type 2 diabetes patients managed in primary care should be an urgent priority, concludes a new study.

"The most striking result of our study was that the vast majority of patients (93%) had a high or very high risk of fatal events within a decade. Half of patients in the very high-risk group had no history of heart disease, meaning they would not be receiving medications to prevent heart attacks and strokes," said study author Dr. Manel Mata-Cases, a general practitioner for the Catalan Institute of Health.

Up to 22% of soccer injuries are concussions that can result from players using their heads to direct the ball during a game.

To reduce risk of injury, a new study recommends preventing how hard a ball hits the head by inflating balls to lower pressures and subbing them out when they get wet. A study, conducted by Purdue University engineers, found that inflating balls to pressures on the lower end of ranges enforced by soccer governing bodies such as the NCAA and FIFA could reduce forces associated with potential head injury by about 20%. But if the ball gets too wet, it can quickly surpass the NCAA weight limit for game play and still produce a nasty impact, the researchers said.

What happens in our brain that makes us experience the sweet taste of a donut or the bitter taste of tonic water? What are the patterns of neural activity responsible for the perception of taste?

A new study from Stony Brook University found that the map of neural responses mediating taste perception does not involve, as previously believed, specialized groups of neurons in the brain, but rather overlapping and spatially distributed populations. The findings, to be published in Current Biology, counter an influential but controversial theory based on studies suggesting that there is a topographic map in the gustatory cortex that is responsible for our perception of taste. According to this theory, the gustatory cortex has "hot spots" of neurons whose activation leads to the perception of certain tastes. The new study by Stony Brook researchers demonstrates such a simple map of taste does not exist in the cortex of behaving animals.