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The implications of this research could redefine the boundary between life and death. ================================================================= About five years ago, Yale School of Medicine neuroscientist Zvonimir Vrselja, Ph.D., and his colleagues shocked the medical community with a groundbreaking experiment. They removed a slaughterhouse pig’s brain from its head and deprived it of oxygen at room temperature for four hours. Then, they hooked it up to their resuscitation machine and revived it—to an extent. A living brain’s vasculature, or network of blood vessels, carries oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood to the brain through arteries and capillaries. So, the researchers used their machine, called BrainEx, to...

Reducing high blood pressure substantially lowers the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment without dementia, according to the results of a phase 3 clinical trial involving almost 34,000 patients. These findings highlight the potential importance of widespread adoption of more intensive blood pressure control among patients with hypertension to reduce the global disease burden of dementia. Research has found that people with untreated hypertension have a 42% greater risk of developing dementia in their lifetime than healthy study participants. Jiang He and colleagues tested the effectiveness of an intervention led by non-physician community health care providers (sometimes called "village doctors")...

A new study is shedding light on how insufficient consumption of vitamin K may adversely affect cognition as people get older. The study suggests that a lack of vitamin K may increase inflammation and hamper proliferation of neural cells in the hippocampus, a portion of the brain that is capable of generating new cells and is central to functions such as learning and memory. Vitamin K is found in green leafy vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli, green peas, kale, and spinach. In the new research, researchers conducted a six-month dietary intervention to compare the cognitive performance of mice that...

People’s political affiliation can be shown in their brain activity when they carry out mundane chores such as buying food, a new study shows. How the brain reacts to food purchasing decisions can be used to determine people’s political affiliation with almost 80 per cent accuracy, researchers have found. Although buying eggs and milk can lack emotional potency and political content, understanding how the neural systems lead people to make indistinguishable choices may help to explain the broader mechanisms of partisanship.Experts from Iowa State University, the University of Kansas Medical Center, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Exeter measured...

Scientists have long recognized the brain's need for energy, but new research has now illuminated how the brain's energy utilization significantly influences our sleep patterns. The team discovered certain channels in the brain, called ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels, act as energy sensors and play a pivotal role in maintaining stable sleep-wake cycles and facilitating smooth transitions between cycles. "Our study shows that even small changes in energy usage can profoundly impact behavior," said Macauley. These changes impact when we sleep, how we sleep and the overall quality of our sleep. The study identified a previously unknown function of KATP channels...

A research team is testing a new combination drug therapy that could both treat and prevent melanoma metastasis to the brain. Holmen first examined what causes melanoma cells to spread to the brain and identified focal adhesion kinase (FAK) as a potential target for new therapies. FAK is an enzyme that regulates cell growth, and, they found, is a major contributor to melanoma metastasis. "The window of time to treat a patient with brain metastasis is shortened because the average survival from time of diagnosis of brain metastasis is only about a year—even while using these other therapies." Holmen and...

High-grade glioma, an aggressive form of pediatric and adult brain cancer, is challenging to treat given the tumor location, incidence of recurrence and difficulty for drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier. Researchers established a collaborative team to uncover a potential new avenue to address this disease. The team's study shows that high-grade glioma tumor cells harboring DNA alterations in the gene PDGFRA responded to the drug avapritinib, which is already approved by the US FDA to treat gastrointestinal stromal tumors with a PDGFRA exon 18 mutation as well advanced systemic mastocytosis and indolent systemic mastocytosis. "We were excited to see...

In a new study, scientists analyzed MRI data stored at the UK Biobank and identified seven genes responsible for fast biological brain aging and 13 existing drugs that can target those genes. Slowing the aging process is a powerful strategy to prevent many diseases and enhance longevity. A crucial parameter in brain health research is the brain age gap (BAG), which is the difference between a person's estimated biological brain age and their chronological age. The brain age gap is also a reliable biomarker (or proxy) for studying brain health. While the effects of the BAG are well explored, identifying...

A study has unveiled that brain aging follows a distinct yet nonlinear trajectory with critical transition points. The research offers insights into when interventions to prevent cognitive decline might be most effective. The team analyzed brain networks in more than 19,300 individuals. Their findings reveal functional communication between brain regions (brain networks) begins to destabilize around age 44, with the degeneration of brain networks accelerating most rapidly at age 67 and plateauing by age 90. The researchers identified its primary driver: neuronal insulin resistance. By comparing metabolic, vascular, and inflammatory biomarkers, they found that metabolic changes consistently preceded vascular and...

Scientists have identified a potential new strategy for treating glioblastoma, the deadliest form of brain cancer, by reprogramming aggressive cancer cells into harmless ones. The findings demonstrate that combining radiation therapy with a plant-derived compound called forskolin can force glioblastoma cells into a dormant state, making them incapable of dividing or spreading. When tested in mice, the addition of forskolin to radiation prolonged survival, offering a potential new avenue for combating glioblastoma, a disease with limited treatment options and a median survival time of just 15 to 18 months after diagnosis. "Radiation therapy, while effective in killing many cancer cells,...

The brain was discovered inside a skull found at Heslington near York A human brain, believed to be the oldest ever discovered, may have been preserved for over 2,000 years by mud, archaeologists have said. The organ was found inside a decapitated skull at an Iron Age dig site near York in 2008. Tests on the remains suggested they were from the 6th Century BC, making them about 2,600 years old. York Archaeological Trust said the skull had been buried in wet, clay-rich ground providing an oxygen-free burial. They said the burial location could have helped conserve the brain,...

A brain in near-perfect condition is found in a skull of a person who was decapitated over 2,600 years ago. THE GIST • One of the world's best preserved prehistoric human brains was recently found in a waterlogged U.K. pit. • The brain belonged to an Iron Age man who was hanged and then decapitated, with his head falling in the pit shortly thereafter. • Scientists believe that submersion in liquid, anoxic environments helps to preserve human brain tissue. • One of the pieces of a 2,600-year-old brain after removal from the skull. 
York Archaeological Trust A human skull dated...

An Iron Age man whose skull and brain was unearthed during excavations at the University of York was the victim of a gruesome ritual killing, according to new research. Scientists say that fractures and marks on the bones suggest the man, who was aged between 26 and 45, died most probably from hanging, after which he was carefully decapitated and his head was then buried on its own. Archaeologists discovered the remains in 2008 in one of a series of Iron Age pits on the site of the University’s £750 million campus expansion at Heslington East. Brain material was still...

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said that President Donald Trump “misused” some of the guests at his speech Tuesday night — including the angel families who lost their loved ones to illegal immigrant crime and the young boy battling brain cancer. “Pretty awful, and I really did not like the way he used the tragic incidents and the families that were there, who, of course, appreciated, you know, what they think is their president caring about what happened,” Waters said, implying that Trump does not actually care about these individuals. “You know, to the 12-year-old, and to others who were victims,...

Enhancing levels of "healthy fats" like omega-3s in the brain could be beneficial in motor neuron disease (MND) finds a study in fruit flies and brain cells, led by researchers. The study found increasing the levels of these healthy fats in the brain cells of fruit flies carrying a gene mutation called C9orf72, saw a "dramatic" increase in their survival. The C9orf72 mutation is the most common genetic cause of MND and a rare form of dementia, known as frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Cells were also collected from people with these conditions and converted into brain cells in the lab. Healthy...

Meeting the minimum requirement for vitamin B12, needed to make DNA, red blood cells and nerve tissue, may not actually be enough—particularly if you are older. It may even put you at risk for cognitive impairment. A new study found that older, healthy volunteers, with lower concentrations of B12, but still in the normal range, showed signs of neurological and cognitive deficiency. These levels were associated with more damage to the brain's white matter—the nerve fibers that enable communication between areas of the brain—and test scores associated with slower cognitive and visual processing speeds, compared to those with higher B12....

A man discovered he had been living with just half a brain after being hit by a common symptom that plagues millions. The unnamed 44-year-old from the south of France started feeling a mild pain and weakness in his leg for around two weeks, which prompted him to visit his doctor. More than a third of Americans suffer from some form of leg pain, which is usually down to muscle strain, arthritis or harder-to-identify causes, like vascular issues. After doctors ruled out those common physical causes, they were concerned it could be due to a neurological condition that affects nerve...

A dietary supplement has been found to stop the progression of heart failure in animal models. The paper has shown that feeding mice a diet that included this supplement, elevated energy-boosting, anti-oxidant fats that circulate in our blood, called plasmalogen lipids, which restores the integrity of damaged cells in a failing heart. Plasmalogens make up about 15% of cell membranes—the outer layer of cells—and are predominantly found in the brain and heart. Disruptions to the cell membrane can change the composition of the lipids within cells and that can contribute to and exacerbate the seriousness of diseases including obesity, neurological...

Turmeric has been a healing remedy in traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine for centuries. It comes from the rhizome (root) of the Curcuma longa plant and has a warm, earthy flavor. Turmeric's active compound, curcumin, is a potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant with many health benefits, from soothing joint pain to enhancing digestion and immunity. 1. Arthritis (Joint Pain) Arthritis is a broad term that describes over 100 conditions that cause joint inflammation, pain, stiffness, and reduced mobility. Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, typically develops due to age-related "wear and tear." Other types, like rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic...

While manganese is an essential mineral involved in many bodily functions, both deficiency and excessive exposure can cause health issues. Chronic manganese exposure may result in a condition known as manganism, characterized by symptoms resembling Parkinson's disease, including tremors, muscle stiffness, and cognitive disturbances. New research employs model systems and human nerve cells to show the mechanisms by which manganese inflicts damage to the central nervous system. The study also suggests that the vitamin biotin may have a protective effect, potentially mitigating manganese-induced damage. "In this study, we applied untargeted metabolomics using high-resolution mass spectrometry and advanced cheminformatics computing in...