NEURO

Once teens get over the intelligence hump that makes eating Tide Pods seem like a good idea, human brains are well equipped to handle the world. Still, one would hope they’d continue to gain intelligence through education and experience over the course of their lives. Unfortunately, a paper published Monday in PNAS indicates that brains as they are in their early 20s might indicate how sharp and dementia-prone they will be as we age. (January 23, 2019) Read the full article here from Brain Health Daily http://bit.ly/2RJ57Z3

Its name means “little brain” in Latin, but the cerebellum is anything but. The fist-sized orb at the back of the brain has an outsized role in social interactions, a study in mice suggests. Once thought to be a relatively simple brain structure that had only one job, coordinating movement, the cerebellum is gaining recognition for being an important mover and shaker in the brain. (January 23, 2019) Read the full article here from Brain Health Daily http://bit.ly/2CGA6um

Diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol are well-known risk factors for cardiovascular disease. But what about just getting sick? Could picking up some type of bug increase your chance of having a stroke or heart attack? A new study suggests it could. (January 23, 2019) Read the full article here from Brain Health Daily http://bit.ly/2RKBZAD

People without heart disease who take a daily aspirin may lower their risk of a heart attack or stroke, but a new study confirms they also have an increased risk of severe internal bleeding. U.S. doctors have long advised adults who haven’t had a heart attack or stroke but are at high risk for these events to take a daily aspirin pill, an approach known as primary prevention. (January 22, 2019) Read the full article here from Brain Health Daily http://bit.ly/2DuT2hu

Prof. Rony Paz of the Weizmann Institute of Science suggests that our brains are like modern washing machines—evolved to have the latest sophisticated programming, but more vulnerable to breakdown and prone to develop costly disorders. He and a group of researchers recently conducted experiments comparing the efficiency of the neural code in non-human and human primates, and found that as the neural code gets more efficient, the robustness that prevents errors is reduced. (January 23, 2019) Read the full article here from Brain Health Daily http://bit.ly/2UebkJw

Researchers have discovered biomarkers that may explain why symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder can be so severe for some people and not for others. The study of combat veterans who have experienced intense events shows that those with severe symptoms of PTSD have distinct patterns of neurological and physiological responses affecting associative learning—the ability to distinguish between harmful and safe stimuli in the environment. (January 22, 2019) Read the full article here from Brain Health Daily http://bit.ly/2Du9vTd

Danny, a 43-year-old store manager, was stopped by the police for doing an illegal U-turn across a busy highway. As he explained, “Our lanes weren’t moving at all and it was going to take forever to get to the next intersection. Then this truck cut in front of me and I got pissed, so I figured I’d just cut across and go back a couple of miles so I could take a different route.” He shrugged and said, “I’m impatient.” (January 23, 2019) Read the full article here from Brain Health Daily http://bit.ly/2Ud8UuB