Summary: Researchers have discovered a previously unrecognized neurotransmitter pathway in the brain. Signals carrying innate olfactory information reach emotion-related regions through the trace amine-associated receptor TAAR5. These findings point to new directions for treating mood disorders and psychosis by targeting TAAR5 and related receptors. Source: St. Petersburg State University Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that relay … Read more

New therapy shows promise in protecting the brain from stroke-related damage Researchers at the University of Missouri report promising results for a new experimental therapy designed to protect the brain after stroke. Published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration, the study evaluates a novel compound that targets a specific enzymatic pathway implicated in post-stroke injury. The … Read more

Singing in a choir can ease social isolation and lift the mood of stroke survivors with aphasia, according to new research led by the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) in collaboration with the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Published in the journal Disability and Rehabilitation, the study reports that people living with … Read more

Summary: New research shows that brain-to-brain coupling during natural conversation is driven primarily by the context in which words are used, not by raw linguistic features alone. Combining high-resolution electrocorticography recordings from conversational pairs with contextual embeddings extracted from the GPT-2 language model, researchers traced how context-specific word meanings appear in the speaker’s brain before … Read more

Summary: Brain folds formed during late fetal development may influence the age when symptoms of frontotemporal dementia appear. Source: Lund University Frontotemporal dementia typically begins earlier than many other dementias. While its causes remain incompletely understood, new research from Lund University indicates that cortical folding patterns established before birth may affect the age at which … Read more

Key Questions Answered Q: How common are murder-suicide events in the U.S.?A: Recent research identifies an average of 820 deaths per year linked to murder-suicide incidents in the United States—substantially higher than many earlier estimates. Q: Who are most often the victims and perpetrators?A: Perpetrators are most often white men, and a majority of homicide … Read more

Summary: A recent study found that frequent cannabis use among women was linked to a lower likelihood of being diagnosed with diabetes. Source: Texas A&M A study published in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research reports that women who used cannabis frequently had a lower incidence of diabetes, a chronic disease in which the body either does … Read more

Summary: Adolescents and adults whose mothers experienced depression during pregnancy or in the first year after birth face about a 70% higher chance of being diagnosed with depression. Source: UT Health New research from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) finds that maternal depression during the perinatal period is linked to … Read more

Summary: Middle-aged adults who carry the APOE ε4 genetic variant and report depressive symptoms may be at increased risk for developing tau protein deposits in brain regions involved in emotion and memory. Source: UT Austin Researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) and collaborating institutions report … Read more

Summary: Researchers have identified a previously unknown, direct pathway between the cerebellum and the basal ganglia, reshaping our understanding of motor learning, habit formation, and how the brain coordinates movement and reward. This discovery indicates the cerebellum can influence dopamine release in the basal ganglia, with consequences for movement initiation, the vigor of actions, and … Read more