ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

Approximately 23,700 children in the U.S. undergo invasive mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure annually. Although most survive, little is known if they have worse long-term neurocognitive function than children who do not undergo such procedures. There are concerns about neurotoxic effects of critical illness and its treatment on the developing brain. Therefore, infants and young children may be uniquely susceptible to adverse neurocognitive outcomes after invasive mechanical ventilation.

Researchers have found that developmental delays associated with Leigh syndrome, the most common pediatric mitochondrial disorder, may occur earlier than previously recognized -- even before metabolic stroke and regression -- which could provide clinicians with an opportunity for earlier diagnosis and therapeutic interventions.

To understand how hearing loss impacts people, researchers study people's ability to recognize speech, and hearing aid algorithms are often used to improve human speech recognition. Researchers explore a human speech recognition model based on machine learning and deep neural networks. They calculated how many words per sentence a listener understands using automatic speech recognition. The study consisted of eight normal-hearing and 20 hearing-impaired listeners who were exposed to a variety of complex noises that mask the speech.

Neurons in the brain coexist with and rely on many other cell types to function properly. Astrocytes, which take their name from their star shape, ensure the survival of neurons by feeding and detoxifying them with the help of a multifunctional protein, APOE. One of three forms of this protein, APOE4, significantly increases the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, but the mechanisms at play are unknown.

A ubiquitous protein called sigma 1 receptor, which is known to protect cells from stress, appears key to the function and survival of the neurons most impacted by glaucoma, scientists report.

A clinical trial has shown that the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab increased survival rates for head and neck cancer patients with intermediate risk.

Researchers from two independent research teams have discovered how the mislocalization of a protein, known as TDP-43, alters the genetic instructions for UNC13A, providing a possible therapeutic target that could also have implications in treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and other forms of dementia. ALS and FTD are two neurodegenerative disorders in which many cases are linked by mislocalization of TDP-43, where instead of being primarily located in the nucleus of the cell where genes are activated, it forms aggregates outside the nucleus in multiple neurodegenerative diseases. Rare mutations in the TDP-43 gene are known to cause ALS, but almost all cases of ALS show mislocalization of TDP-43.

People who are more physically fit are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than people who are less physically fit, according to a preliminary study.

Researchers discovered that a brief 15-minute walk in a hot outdoor environment impairs cognitive function. Moreover, this effect was most pronounced in sleep-deprived men and could negatively impact the productivity and learning of workers and students in urban cities in the summer months.

New research has revealed a key neural mechanism underlying the feeling of being unable to stop eating, the most salient aspect of binge episodes in eating disorders like bulimia nervosa.

Whether they're getting a new shirt, a new computer, or taking a trip, people derive less 'purchase happiness' from buying things when they feel financial stress, new research shows.