BRAIN

Jan 07 2025ENVIRONMENT

Protecting Our Brains: The Unseen Threat of Microplastics in Lab Work

You might not think about it when you're looking at a microscope slide, but making histology slides can release tiny plastic particles into the environment. These microplastics (MPs) are showing up in every corner of the earth, from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains. And guess what? They'r

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Jan 07 2025HEALTH

PET Imaging Goes Brain-Deep: New Insights into Cancer Spread

Brain metastases, the most common malignant tumors in the brain, pose a challenge for doctors trying to differentiate between recurring cancer and changes due to treatment. To address this, several prominent medical organizations have teamed up to create a new guideline. This guideline revolves arou

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Jan 06 2025HEALTH

The Glasgow Coma Scale: 50 Years of Simplifying Brain Injury Assessment

Half a century ago, the medical community got a game-changer. Sir Graham Teasdale and Bryan Jennett introduced the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) in The Lancet. They wanted a clear, easy-to-use tool to rate coma levels. Back then, doctors used different words for consciousness. It was confusing. The GCS c

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Jan 05 2025SCIENCE

How Humans Use Shortcuts in Their Brains to Make Decisions

Ever wondered how people make decisions? It turns out, our brains use a clever trick called the Successor Representation (SR). This trick helps us avoid the hassle of imagining every little step into the future. Instead, our brains group future states together and make predictions over multiple step

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Jan 04 2025HEALTH

Pooping Before Tests? Study Says It Might Help

A new study shows that triathletes did better on a quick decision-making test when they used the bathroom beforehand. The study was small, with only 13 participants. They took the Stroop test three times over a week, once without going to the bathroom, once after going naturally, and once after taki

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Jan 04 2025HEALTH

Brain and Belief: How Spirituality Affects Mental Health

Neurotheology is a new area of study that looks at the connection between the brain and spiritual or religious experiences. In the world of psychiatry, this field is like a bridge that helps us understand how spirituality and religion can change how our brains work and how that might affect our ment

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Jan 04 2025HEALTH

A War Hero's Unspoken Struggle: From Afghanistan to Suicide

War hero Matthew Livelsberger, 37, ended his life in an intentional explosion. He was a respected Special Forces soldier who served in Afghanistan and helped save lives. But after witnessing death up close, he struggled with mental and physical pain. He even reached out to an ex-girlfriend, an Army

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Jan 04 2025HEALTH

Brain Surgery vs. Usual Care: A Cost-Effective Battle for Treatment-Resistant OCD

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical treatment that's been helping people with treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Even though it's pricier than other similar treatments, it's gained popularity due to its adjustable nature. This study takes a fresh look at the cost-effecti

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Jan 04 2025HEALTH

Brain Stimulation: A New Path to Post-Stroke Pain Relief

Imagine having a stroke and then living with unbearable pain for the rest of your life. This is the reality for many people who suffer from central poststroke pain syndrome (CPSP). One method that doctors use to manage this severe pain is deep brain stimulation (DBS). But how effective is it, and wh

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Jan 03 2025HEALTH

Wireless EEG Headsets: Redefining Brain Monitoring?

Brain monitoring devices have been revolutionizing the medical field, particularly with the advent of wireless gadgets. One such innovation is the Zeto WR19 wireless dry electrode EEG system. When compared to the conventional EEGs used in clinics, how does it stack up? Researchers put the Zeto syste

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