News • Optical coherence tomography
Retinal texture could provide early biomarker of Alzheimer's disease
New imaging technique combines two technologies to spot early warning signs of Alzehimer's disease in mice.
Brain
News • Dynamic measurement of glucose in brain
New MRI technique for early detection of Alzheimer's
A research team co-led by a scientist at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has discovered a new, non-invasive way to detect early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, helping patients get the necessary treatments around 10 years before any symptoms appear. In collaboration with Johns Hopkins University in the US, Dr Kannie Chan Wai-yan, Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering…
News • First biomarker for regenerative medicine
MRI predicts efficacy of stem cell therapy for brain injury
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and Loma Linda University Health have demonstrated the promise of applying magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to predict the efficacy of using human neural stem cells to treat a brain injury—a first-ever “biomarker” for regenerative medicine that could help personalize stem cell treatments for neurological disorders and improve…
News • Neuro-infection
Can Covid-19 infect the brain?
As Covid-19 spreads throughout the country, much attention has been paid to the devastating effects of the virus on the lungs. But doctors are learning how the virus may affect other organs, including the brain. Some patients with Covid-19 have had neurological symptoms, which may include an increased risk of stroke.
News • Medulloblastoma
New insights into deadly brain tumours in children
The causes of 40 percent of all cases of certain medulloblastoma – dangerous brain tumors affecting children – are hereditary. A genetic defect that occurs in 15 percent of these children plays a key role by destabilizing the production and breakdown of proteins. The researchers suspect that protein metabolism defects could be a previously underestimated cause of other types of cancer.
News • Enhancing cancer imaging
New contrast agent for early diagnosis of brain metastases
A group of researchers led by Leif Schröder from the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) have found a way to detect metastases in certain types of cancer in the brain at an early stage, using only minimal amounts of contrast agent. To this end, the team uses a synthetic molecule that helps to detect the formation of new blood vessels, producing much more sophisticated…
News • Smart algorithm
Automated analysis of whole brain vasculature
Diseases of the brain are often associated with typical vascular changes. Now, scientists at LMU University Hospital Munich, Helmholtz Research Centre for Environmental Health and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have come up with a technique for visualising the structures of all the brain's blood vessels – right down to the finest capillaries – including any pathological changes. So…
Article • Assessment of brain tumour treatment response
Developing AI algorithms for earlier glioblastoma detection
Novel advanced imaging biomarkers are being developed in a series of studies at several UK centres that may lead to the earlier assessment of treatment response to glioblastoma (GBM) and a better survival rate.
News • Glioblastoma
New imaging technique to study 3D printed brain tumors
Glioblastomas are complex, fast-growing malignant brain tumors that are made up of various types of cells. Even with aggressive treatment — which often includes surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy — glioblastomas are difficult to treat, leading to an average survival of 11-15 months. In research published in Science Advances, Xavier Intes, a professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer,…
News • Behind the PICS
Causes for cognitive impairment after intensive care explored
People who have been treated in intensive care commonly suffer from residual cognitive impairment, but the reason for this is unknown. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now link cognitive impairment with lasting inflammation and a potential treatment target. The results are presented in the scientific journal Intensive Care Medicine.
Article • X-Nuclei MRI
Oxygen provides insights into tumour metabolism
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) usually measures the magnetic moment of the hydrogen atomic nuclei arising from the spin. However, scientists at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) are investigating the spin of other nuclei for imaging: ‘X-nuclei imaging has a large potential for MRI imaging as the x-nuclei play an important part in many physiological processes,’ according to doctor and…
Article • Blood test & AI power
Early brain tumour detection – within minutes
A simple blood test coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) analysis could help spot the signs of a brain tumour sooner in patients. Brain tumour diagnosis is difficult: patients often see their family doctor (GP) several times before referral for a scan. However, research presented at the 2019 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Glasgow last November suggests the…
News • Medulloblastoma
Brain cancer mechanism might give insights into many tumour types
A surprising discovery about a rare form of childhood brain cancer suggests a new treatment approach for that cancer – and potentially many others. Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the supposedly simple cancer, called medulloblastoma, forms an unexpectedly intricate network to drive its growth. Some tumor cells actually turn into another type of…
News • Look out!
Eye movement test confirms brain-ageing effects
University of Liverpool researchers have used a newly developed eye movement test to improve the understanding of how parts of the brain work. Healthy, older adults are widely reported to experience cognitive decline, including impairments in inhibitory control (the ability to stop ourselves thinking or doing things). However, because ageing effects on inhibitory control are highly variable…
News • Finding treatment for Parkinson's disease
Synthetic neurons could take brain research to the next level
The body can recover from many things, but the damage caused by Parkinson’s disease isn’t one of them. No cure exists for Parkinson’s, which 1 million people in the U.S. are expected to be living with by 2020. But an outright cure isn’t the primary objective of research by Chongli Yuan, a Purdue University chemical engineering professor and leader of Purdue’s section of a…
News • MRI & machine learning
A look into the genome of brain tumors
Researchers at Osaka University have developed a computer method that uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and machine learning to rapidly forecast genetic mutations in glioma tumors, which occur in the brain or spine. The work may help glioma patients to receive more suitable treatment faster, giving better outcomes. The research was recently published in Scientific Reports. Cancer treatment…
News • Dementia diagnostics
Lack of sleep might throw off Alzheimer’s test
A preliminary study has found that when young, healthy men were deprived of just one night of sleep, they had higher levels of tau, a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease, in their blood than when they had a full, uninterrupted night of rest. The study is published in the January 8, 2020, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Tau is a protein found in…
News • Big data vs. neuroblastoma
Smart algorithm finds possible treatment for childhood cancer
Using a computer algorithm, scientists at Uppsala University have identified a promising new treatment for neuroblastoma. This form of cancer in children, which occurs in specialised nerve cells in the sympathetic nervous system, may be life-threatening. In the long term the discovery, described in the latest issue of the scientific journal Nature Communications, may result in a new form of…
News • Stimulated Raman histology
Imaging system and AI algorithm accurately identify brain tumors
A novel method of combining advanced optical imaging with an artificial intelligence algorithm produces accurate, real-time intraoperative diagnosis of brain tumors, a new study finds. Published in Nature Medicine, the study examined the diagnostic accuracy of brain tumor image classification through machine learning, compared with the accuracy of pathologist interpretation of conventional…
Video • PET precision brain imaging
‘Tau’ protein far more predictive for Alzheimer's damage than amyloid
Brain imaging of pathological tau-protein “tangles” reliably predicts the location of future brain atrophy in Alzheimer’s patients a year or more in advance, according to a new study by scientists at the UC San Francisco Memory and Aging Center. In contrast, the location of amyloid “plaques,” which have been the focus of Alzheimer’s research and drug development for decades, was found…
News • Biomarker for personalised treatment
Non-invasive technique to assess brain tumours in children
Ground-breaking research by the University of Birmingham has discovered a new technique to assess the aggressiveness of childhood brain tumours. Funded by Children with Cancer UK, Action Medical Research and The Brain Tumour Charity, the study is the first of its kind and will allow clinicians to give more personalised treatments for childhood brain cancers, which currently account for one third…
News • Molecular map
Striatum: where our brain makes decisions
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have come one step closer toward understanding how the part of our brain that is central for decision-making and the development of addiction is organized on a molecular level. In mouse models and with methods used for mapping cell types and brain tissue, the researchers were able to visualize the organization of different opioid-islands in striatum. Their…
News • Brain inflammation
AI could develop personalised psychosis therapies
A new multicentre study will investigate the link between brain inflammation and psychosis, and use artificial intelligence techniques to identify patients that might benefit most from novel treatments. The study, funded by UKRI Medical Research Council, is led by the Universities of Birmingham and Cambridge. Researchers will examine how and if activated inflammatory cells may act differently in…
News • Chronobiology in colour
Will blue light ruin your sleep? Not necessarily
Contrary to common belief, blue light may not be as disruptive to our sleep patterns as originally thought – according to University of Manchester scientists. According to the team, using dim, cooler, lights in the evening and bright warmer lights in the day may be more beneficial to our health. Twilight is both dimmer and bluer than daylight, they say, and the body clock uses both of those…
News • Machine learning for the mind
Astrophysics and AI team up for early dementia diagnosis
Crucial early diagnosis of dementia in general practice could improve thanks to a computer model designed in a collaboration between Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) and astrophysicists at the University of Sussex. Currently, only two-thirds of people with dementia in the UK receive a formal diagnosis, and many receive it late in the disease process, meaning that a large number are…
