Summary: A large longitudinal study of more than one million fathers in Sweden reveals an unexpected pattern in paternal mental health: diagnoses decline during partner pregnancy and the early months after birth, then rise markedly about one year after delivery. Clinical diagnoses of depression and stress-related disorders increased by roughly 30 percent at the end … Read more

Summary: New research strengthens evidence that higher levels of physical activity lower the risk of developing depression. The study found objectively measured activity reduced depression risk even in people with genetic vulnerability to depressive disorders. Source: Mass General Background Many observational studies report an association between greater physical activity and lower rates of depression, but … Read more

Summary: A new silicon probe will give researchers a clearer, large-scale view of how neurons and brain regions coordinate to process information. Source: HHMI. Neuroscientists seeking to follow cellular conversations across the brain will soon have practical access to a powerful, easy-to-use tool that records neural activity from hundreds of sites at once. Developed through … Read more

Summary: Maternal stress during pregnancy increases the likelihood that female offspring will develop binge-eating-like behavior, but a methyl-balanced diet during adolescence can prevent this predisposition, new mouse research shows. Source: Cell Press. Stress alters eating behavior, and new preclinical research in mice indicates that the cause may involve biological programming as well as psychology. A … Read more

Study first to link maternal chemical exposure with changes in fetal motor activity and heart rate Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health report the first evidence that higher maternal exposure to certain persistent environmental contaminants is associated with measurable differences in fetal behavior. In an exploratory study of 50 pregnant women, … Read more

Summary: Researchers used induced pluripotent stem cells reprogrammed from the skin of people with Tourette syndrome to grow three-dimensional basal ganglia organoids. These patient-derived models reproduce developmental differences in the basal ganglia, reveal a deficit of inhibitory interneurons and disrupted patterning, and point to a potential developmental mechanism involving altered Sonic Hedgehog signaling. Source: Yale … Read more

Summary: A new study finds that, unlike bacteria, fungi in the gut do not appear to be associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The findings argue against using intestinal anti-fungal therapies to treat PD symptoms. Source: IOS Press Researchers at the University of British Columbia evaluated whether the fungal component of the gut microbiome—the mycobiome—is linked … Read more

Summary: New research links ancient viral DNA embedded in the human genome—known as human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs)—to genetic risk for two major neurodegenerative disorders: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS). By analysing hundreds of brain samples with advanced genomic methods, researchers identified specific HERV expression signatures associated with disease susceptibility, revealing potential genetic … Read more

Summary: A new UCLA-led study shows that repetitive practice not only sharpens skills but also drives lasting changes in the brain’s working memory circuits. By training mice to remember sequences of odors and tracking brain activity over days, researchers observed that initially unstable memory patterns gradually stabilize into persistent representations in the secondary motor cortex. … Read more

Summary: Variants in the inflammatory gene RIPK1 have been identified in people with obesity. These variants increase RIPK1 expression in adipose tissue, which is linked to a higher risk of obesity. Source: University of Queensland Researchers at The University of Queensland have found that a gene that controls inflammation can increase the risk of obesity … Read more