neuroscience

Findings from the UCLA study could lead to new treatments for patients.

The findings open the door to future study about whether specific interventions, such as changes to diet, could affect brain function and thus affect the desire to overeat or to eat when not hungry.

Dr. Daniel Lu, the study’s lead author, said the benefit lasted for two to four weeks, suggesting that the spinal cord’s neural circuitry retains a ‘memory’ of the treatment.

The findings may eventually lead to researchers discovering a new way to control the proteins found at synapses and, in turn, treat diseases characterized by synaptic dysfunction.

The finding in animals could support the first blood test to speed diagnosis and improve treatment in humans.

Neurophysicist Mayank Mehta’s work has implications for diagnosing and treating neurological diseases.

UCLA researchers studied FDDNP, a molecular tracer that binds with proteins called tau and amyloid, and which indicates the location and extent of abnormal proteins in the brain.

Two discoveries — one in the brains of people with heroin addiction and the other in the brains of sleepy mice — shed light on chemical messengers that regulate sleep and addiction, UCLA researchers say.

The research “may reassure some people that despite testing positive on screening tests, their chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease dementia is low,” said UCLA’s Ron Brookmeyer.

Researchers engineered a hydrogel that, when injected into the brain, thickens to create a scaffolding into which blood vessels and neurons can grow.

The award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute will be used to compare care delivered through a health system with care that occurs in a community-based setting.

UCLA research provides critical knowledge for medicinal chemists to begin designing new drugs based on cambinol that are more potent than the molecule itself.

“This new tool makes possible experiments that we have been wanting to perform for many years,” said UCLA professor Baljit Khakh.

UCLA neuroscientist encourages the use of exercises to challenge people with obsessive compulsive disorder to confront what bothers them most.

If the findings are replicated, measuring levels of interleukin 6 could help doctors decide which patients with depression would be best suited for treatment with ECT.

If replicated in larger studies, the findings could lead to new types of programs to improve mental agility in older adults by combining mental training with physical fitness.

“If the results ... are replicated in future studies, the methods we used could potentially give clinicians a new predictive tool,” said UCLA doctoral student Nicco Reggente.

A ‘buffering effect’ of two key regions shielded some study participants from the symptoms of depression, a new study by UCLA psychologists has found.

The substance’s beneficial properties might be due to its ability to reduce inflammation, which has been linked to both Alzheimer’s disease and major depression, according to Dr. Gary Small.

The scientists identified factors that can set the stage for disorders like schizophrenia, depression and ADHD that appear later in life.

The study shows that treatments tailored for different disabilities caused by MS could be more effective than treatments intended to target multiple different disabilities.

The research confirms that genuine concern for others’ pain plays a causal role in how people make decisions when they face moral dilemmas.

Protein-imaging method developed by new UCLA researcher overcomes challenges of current techniques, offering untold potential in the exploration of disease and treatment.

The five-year award will support work to identify the “missing pieces of the puzzle” behind the disorder.

The study sheds light on the relationship of theta oscillations to human learning and exploration — and it could help inform future research on therapies for patients with memory disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.