Brain Disabilities

Problems with brain's waste clearance may increase risk of dementia: Study

An impaired movement of the brain's cerebrospinal fluid, which helps remove waste, could explain how poor sleep and heart conditions can increase one's risk of dementia, according to a study. Other functions of the cerebrospinal fluid include cushioning the central nervous system from shocks and delivering nutrients. The colourless fluid is part of the glymphatic system. Researchers led by those at the UK's University of Cambridge said the glymphatic system is considered important for protecting one against varied common forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease in which proteins called amyloid clump up and form toxic 'plaques'. Dementia is a neurodegenerative disorder in which memory, speech and thought processes are steadily affected with age, and can eventually disrupt daily activities. The study, published in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, looked at whether a disorder of the brain's small blood vessels -- which affects .

This Indian discovery may replace brain surgery for neuro disorders

From boosting dopamine to reducing toxic proteins, a new Indian nanomaterial may help treat neurodegenerative diseases without surgery or invasive devices

ADHD medication linked to lower risk of substance abuse, crime

New research suggests stimulant treatments may protect people with ADHD from serious harms such as drug abuse, suicidal behaviour, road accidents and criminal convictions

Musk's Neuralink chip enables paralysed woman to write, draw using her mind

Neuralink is a brain-computer interface company founded by Elon Musk in 2016 that uses a tiny chip implant in the brain to enable it to send neural signals to some external device

Delhi opens first brain health clinic in Dwarka, 10 more to follow

Delhi's first brain health clinic at Indira Gandhi Hospital in Dwarka will offer diagnosis and care for neurological and mental health conditions with 10 more clinics planned

Use of laughing gas linked to brain damage, yet sold across US: Report

Deaths in the US attributed to abuse of nitrous oxide jumped more than 100% between 2019 and 2023; over a five-year period, emergency department visits rose 32%

Damage to brain's self-control region may fuel political passions: Study

A study has found that damage to the prefrontal cortex in the brain that helps with self-control and reasoning could intensify one's political feelings, while damage to brain structure 'amygdala', which is involved in emotional processing, could bring them down. Conducted on Vietnam War veterans, the study compared people who had very localised brain lesions (abnormal change or injury) with those who did not. Researchers have thus identified for the first time which brain networks regulate political passion. "While most people have not sustained brain injuries akin to those experienced by the veterans in the study, our findings tell us what neural circuits are at play for the population at large," senior author Jordan Grafman, a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Northwestern University, US, said. For the study, published in the journal Brain, the researchers analysed the behaviour of 124 male US military veterans with penetrating head trauma and 35 ...

SC verdict asks filmmakers not to stereotype or lampoon differently abled

Differently abled and derision have often gone hand in hand in mainstream Hindi cinema with numerous instances of impairments, visual, speech, physical and others, being used to get laughs mostly unkind. A trend activists and lawyers hope will end with the Supreme Court's recent game changing verdict. Stereotyping differently abled persons in cinema perpetuates discrimination and inequality, the apex court said last week while asking filmmakers to refrain from misleading portrayals and laying down terms such as crippled and spastic that should not be used. Humour can be an important element because it sometimes spreads the message about disability and acts as a tool for awareness, said Nipun Malhotra, who filed the petition that led to the Supreme Court verdict. "But there is a subtle difference between humour that is creating awareness and laughing at situations with people in disability space and humour that laughs at the disability itself. The Supreme Court, in its judgement, ha

Climate change may impact people with brain conditions: Lancet study

Climate change is likely to negatively affect the health of people suffering from brain conditions such as migraine and Alzheimer's, new research published in The Lancet Neurology journal has found. Extreme temperatures, both low and high, and greater changes over the course of the day -- driven by climate change -- were shown to have an impact on brain diseases, explained lead researcher Sanjay Sisodiya from the University of College London's Institute of Neurology, UK. "Night-time temperatures may be particularly important as higher temperatures through the night can disrupt sleep. Poor sleep is known to aggravate a number of brain conditions," he said. The study, reviewing 332 papers published from around the world between 1968 and 2023, looked at 19 different nervous system conditions, including stroke, migraine, Alzheimer's, meningitis, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. The researchers found an increased number of admissions, disabilities or deaths resulting from a stroke due t

International Epilepsy Day 2024: Check date, theme, symptoms and prevention

International Epilepsy Day 2024 is marked every year on February 12 to make masses aware of the disease. Over 50 million people in the world are living with epilepsy

AI model could predict onset of psychosis using brain scans, finds research

Researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that can predict the onset of psychosis in people using brain scans. They said that the model, trained on brain scans from people globally, could be helpful in clinical settings, as earlier intervention typically leads to better outcomes with less negative impact on people's lives, even as most experiencing psychosis recover fully. Psychosis is a mental state characterised by being out of touch with reality and symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations or radical changes in behaviour and thinking. The condition has no single cause, but can be triggered by trauma, drug or alcohol use, or a genetic predisposition. "At most only 30 per cent of clinical high-risk individuals later have overt psychotic symptoms, while the remaining 70 per cent do not," said associate professor Shinsuke Koike from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tokyo, Japan, and the corresponding author of the study ...

What is Brain Fog? What are its causes, symptoms precautions, and more

Stress, less sleep, mood swings, or headaches are the possible symptoms of Brain Fog. Read to know more about Brain Fog symptoms, causes, precautions, treatment and more

Evidence of brain injury present months after acute Covid infection: Study

Markers of brain injury developed due to COVID-19 were found in patients even months after the infection and despite blood tests measuring inflammation returning normal results, according to a new research. Researchers from universities in the UK explained that during the acute phase of the viral infection, when symptoms develop quickly, key inflammatory proteins and brain injury markers are produced. They analysed over 800 hospitalised patients' samples from across England and Wales. Surprisingly, even months after being discharged from the hospital, there is on-going robust biomarker evidence of brain injury developed due to COVID-19, the researchers said in their study published in a journal, Nature Communications. The biomarker evidence was more prominently seen in patients experiencing neurological dysfunction during the acute illness, and continued in the recovery phase in patients suffering acute neurological complications, the researchers said. "While some neurological ...

World Brain Tumor Day 2023: Theme, Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

World brain tumour day is marked on 8 June yearly and it is a significant occasion to make individuals aware of the dangerous illness. An abnormal growth around the brain is called a brain tumour

Covid-19 infection increases risk of long-term brain problems: Study

People infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus are at increased risk of developing a range of neurological conditions in the first year after the infection, according to a large study conducted in the US. Such complications include strokes, cognitive and memory problems, depression, anxiety and migraine headaches, the researchers said. The researchers at Washington University School of Medicine also found that the post-COVID brain is associated with movement disorders, from tremors and involuntary muscle contractions to epileptic seizures, hearing and vision abnormalities. The infection is also associated with balance and coordination difficulties as well as other symptoms similar to what is experienced with Parkinson's disease, they said. "Our study provides a comprehensive assessment of the long-term neurologic consequences of COVID-19," said Ziyad Al-Aly from Washington University. "The results show the devastating long-term effects of COVID-19. These are part and parcel of long COV

Satya Nadella's son, Zain, passes away at age 26: Microsoft

Zain Nadella had been born with cerebral palsy

Covid infection can cause debilitating brain condition in elderly people

Being infected with Covid could cause more damage to the brain of an elderly person than developing Alzheimer's, a new study revealed.

'I feel like I have dementia': Brain fog plagues Covid-19 survivors

It's becoming known as Covid brain fog: troubling cognitive symptoms that can include memory loss, confusion, difficulty focusing, dizziness and grasping for everyday words

How scientists are treating brain disabilities with electrical stimulation

Deep brain stimulation, or DBS, has been used to manage conditions such as Parkinson's disease and epilepsy