Brain health is a rapidly expanding field. WHO’s position paper on optimizing brain health across the life course is a technical complement to the recently-adopted Intersectoral global action plan on epilepsy and other neurological disorders 2022–2031. Many determinants are known to affect brain health at different stages of life. The …
the structure of the brain is ultimately governed by natural selection. Samuel Wang, neuroscientist at Princeton University, usa, has worked out what percentage of the total brain volume is taken up by different brain regions in different species and how species evolution in the primates is related with change in …
the human foetus does have a memory. This recently reported discovery could lead to new tests to identify and find solutions to health problems in the central nervous system of the foetus. Jan Nijhuis, professor at the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University Hospital in Masstricht, the Netherlands, …
people who use mobile phones experience headaches more often than those who do not. Moreover, the headaches last longer if the call duration is high. These are the findings of a study conducted in Singapore to study the prevalence of the symptoms of specific central nervous system (cns) ailment among …
scientists have located the specific set of neurons in the brain where error recognition occurs. The area may be part of a larger system that has evolved in the brain to make decisions, correct errors and override habitual responses. Neuroscientists at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, usa, monitored the brain …
in what is termed as environmental racism, a consignment of 118 tonnes of used neuro-toxic mercury from the us is on its way to an undisclosed location in India. It is reported that a portion of the mercury has reached a purification centre in Albany, New York, from where it …
anybody who has tasted chillies deliberately or accidentally would know what it means to have your mouth on fire. A few years ago scientists discovered the reason. A cell surface protein that in cultured cells responds both to heat and to capsaicin, the active ingredient of chilli peppers. Now, scientists …
Neural Tube Defect (NTD) is a birth defect that results from incomplete closure of the neural tube during embryonic development. Some of the manifestations of it are: ANENCEPHALY: a universally fatal deformity, where the brain is partially formed. It comprises between 50 per cent and 80 per cent of all …
among the most common activities performed by humans is going to a familiar place to carry out a routine, daily task. For example, we may need to chart out a fairly complex path each day from our home to the bus stop, but we do so without thinking about it. …
the brain is a complex organism that is still not well understood. It can pick a voice of a particular person in a crowded room. It can recognise the face of someone known to you from an extremely crowded room. That kind of processing is difficult to do even with …
for the first time, scientists have found convincing evidence that the blood-brain barrier, the nearly impenetrable membrane preventing entry of toxins into the brain, can be successfully invaded by the metal mercury. In a study conducted at Canada's Maurice La Montagne Institute and the University of Agricultural Sciences in Sweden, …
it has been noted that some patients with strokes or brain damage have severe difficulty with language and exact calculations, while their ability to estimate remains intact. Now, a team of French and us researchers has obtained first-hand evidence to prove that two very different modes of brain activity underlie …
the disease first goes unnoticed, affecting people in the autumn of their lives. Initially, people forget where the keys were left, forget a name or two and, eventually, they lose their direction
the human brain is arguably the most complex structure known to us. Consisting of roughly ten billion neurons with trillions of connections, this half kilogram of tissue performs functions like language learning and visual perception, which the best computers can't even begin to mimic. But what happens when one merges …
The genetic link to male homosexuality has come under scrutiny. A team of researchers at the US National Cancer Institute had earlier studied 40 pairs of gay brothers from families with maternal gay relatives. They observed that the brothers conspicuously shared certain DNA markers on a region of the X …
it takes anywhere from one-thirtieth to one-tenth of a second for a visual stimulus falling on the retina of the eye to evoke neural activity in the brain. This time is long enough for a rapidly moving object to cover a fair distance, implying that when we see such an …
A study on mice shows that animals who run on an exercise wheel create more new cells in the hippocampus, the part of the brain involved in learning and memory. Now, scientists are trying to find out if the extra brain cells make mice smarter. Some mice got to use …
