News
HCA UK’s The Wellington Hospital celebrated its Neurological Rehabilitation Centre’s success at the Neurological and Complex Care Awards last week, recognising the highly complex care their teams deliver every day. Their programme for patients with Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness (PDOC) was honoured with the 'Innovation in Neuro Rehab' award for Paolo Tomaselli’s work integrating Neurologic [...]
New research has provided new insight into how the habenula, a pea-sized brain region that helps regulate motivation and mood, may contribute to schizophrenia risk. Many schizophrenia-related molecular changes appear to be specific to this region, suggesting the habenula could be a potential target for future treatments. Researchers from the Lieber Institute for Brain Development [...]
A study using wearable brain-scanning technology has revealed how brain function differs in people with multiple sclerosis. This research marks the first use of a newly developed technique called OPM-MEG in MS, demonstrating its potential to study neurological disease. OPM-MEG (magnetoencephalography with optically pumped magnetometers) measures electrical brain activity in real time by detecting magnetic [...]
Researchers have received US$4.4m to conduct a world-first study of prefrontal cortical stimulation in severe bipolar disorder. The funding, from Breakthrough Discoveries for Thriving with Bipolar Disorder (BD²), will support research into how large-scale brain networks regulate mood and how manipulating these networks may contribute to shifts between depression and mania – the extreme mood [...]
DMT may protect the brain from stroke damage by stabilising the blood–brain barrier and reducing inflammation, new research suggests. The naturally occurring psychoactive compound dimethyltryptamine (DMT) significantly reduced brain damage in animal models of stroke by protecting the blood–brain barrier – the membrane that controls what passes from the bloodstream into brain tissue – and [...]
By Dr Martine Stoffels, consultant neuropsychiatrist and clinical director, Phoenix Mental Health Services Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has travelled an extraordinary path, from a niche neuroscience tool to a frontline therapy in treatment-resistant depression. But could it now reshape the future of neurorehabilitation? Dr Martine Stoffels, Consultant Neuropsychiatrist and Clinical Director at Phoenix Mental [...]
A County Durham man will walk 500 miles for charity, five years after sustaining a brain injury. Nigel Price, a specialist long-distance charity hiker from Shildon, aims to raise at least £5,000 for Rutherford House, an independent living scheme run by Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes Association (DAMHA). The trek will start at Durham Cathedral and [...]
A drug that promotes nerve growth in adult human brain cells could offer a new way to aid recovery after spinal cord injury. The compound, thiorphan, increased neurite outgrowth — the extensions that connect nerve cells — in adult human brain cells and improved hand function by 50 per cent in rats with spinal injuries. [...]
Military veterans who develop epilepsy after a traumatic brain injury may face a higher risk of death than those with epilepsy but no history of brain injury. The study analysed 210,182 veterans with epilepsy, including 28,832 who had sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) within five years before diagnosis. Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine [...]
A portable saliva biosensor costing just US$2.19 can detect protein levels linked to depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in under three minutes. The device measures brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein vital for neuron health whose altered levels are associated with several psychiatric conditions. Developed by researchers at the University of São Paulo and Embrapa [...]
