ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

A new study has found a direct and sex-specific association between the composition of infant microbiome and early childhood behavioral health.

The drop in estrogen levels that occurs with menopause brings declines in the volumes of 'gray matter,' the cellular matter of the brain, in key brain regions that are also affected in Alzheimer's disease. But a new study suggests that greater cumulative exposure to estrogen in life, for example from having had more children or from having taken menopause hormone therapy, may counter this brain-shrinking effect.

New production or recycling of cholesterol: The duration of the disorder makes all the difference.

A new gene therapy targeting the small brain region where dopamine neurons reside, the substantia nigra, substantially boosts the benefits of the drug levodopa in Parkinson's. The therapy restored the ability of these neurons to convert levodopa to dopamine. Scientists also showed how damage to the powerplants inside dopamine-releasing neurons triggers Parkinson's. The findings may help identify humans in the earliest stages of Parkinson's disease, develop therapies to slow disease progression and treat late-stage disease.

Researchers have identified an important pathway that controls a set of protective genes in Parkinson's disease (PD). They report high levels of a regulatory protein, Bach1, in PD-affected brains and reduced disease symptoms after loss of Bach1 in preclinical models. Furthermore, in collaboration with vTv Therapeutics, they have identified a novel drug that inhibits Bach1 activity, helping to alleviate disease symptoms.