BRAIN HEALTH 2030 MEDICAL NEWS

A new study out of Warwick University has revealed tantalizingly promising results that not only may be useful in the diagnosis of autism, but that hopefully point to specific mechanisms and causes of the neurodevelopmental disorder. The study, published in Molecular Autism, shows that evidence of numerous types of unfinished protein production are in abundance in blood and urine proteins. These deranged proteins can arise due to problems with protein production by cells, in

The use of psychotropic medication in the pediatric population has increased over the past three decades. There are real concerns about over-prescribing and potential adverse events from psychotropic medicines in this vulnerable population in the United States. Children are prescribed psychiatric drugs for a myriad of symptoms, including depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Psychotropic prescriptions are often the first line of treatment a

Convulsive seizures in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) are serious and can be debilitating and life-threatening. A new study has found that the loss of a group of cells in the brain can contribute no only to seizures in TLE, but also to memory problems that accompany the seizures in the people with the disorder. These cells, called mossy cells for the appearance of moss-like protrusions that cover their cell surface, are found in the hippocampus, a brain area that is known to p

Anxiety is on the rise in children overall, including children with autism. The estimated rate of anxiety in autism is as high as 40%. There are reports of dynamic changes in brain function among children diagnosed with autism, particularly between two to six years of age. The complexity and timing of these changes have left a number of open questions and inconsistent findings in unrelated studies. Studies of emotional differences have led to interest in the amygdala, a pa

Researchers at the University of Strasbourg, France have found that exposure of human cells to the male hormone testosterone alters the gene expression of some of the genes that contribute to the risk of autism. The findings provide key insight into why autism risk is higher for males than females, at a ratio of 4:1. It has long been known that during development, exposure to testosterone and other male hormones (androgens) impacts development. The new study shows that gene