brain

On June 19, an 18-year-old teen from Ohio died after contracting an infection caused by a rare brain-eating amoeba.
Local, state, and national officials are investigating the death, which occurred after the young woman, Lauren Seitz, visited the U.S. National Whitewater Center (USNWC) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Though Seitz lives in Ohio, she was visiting some southern states on a youth mission music tour with her church, Church of the Messiah United Methodist Church. The church is located in Westerville, Ohio.

The odds were stacked against a little boy who was born with his brain outside his skull, but he is defying all of them, thanks to a groundbreaking procedure performed at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Sierra Yoder and her husband, Dustin, were sent to a neurologist after Sierra’s 22-week ultrasound. She was soon shocked to learn that the child growing inside her had encephalocele, which causes all or part of the brain to form outside the skull, usually in a “sac-like protrusion.” Encephalocele affects 1 in every 10,000 babies.

A very small study, with only 10 subjects, is showing promising results in the treatment of Alzheimer’s. While it was previously thought that memory loss was permanent with this degenerative disease, research is showing that reversal of the symptoms can actually occur if patients follow a specific protocol.

There is already a bevy of studies that prove spending time in nature has amazing health benefits. Spending micro-breaks outdoors can rejuvenate the brain. Kids who spend more time in green spaces have elevated cognitive functioning on tests and also enjoy lower stress levels. The list of ways that Mother Nature nurtures our minds is growing, with a study from last year addeing to the multitude of positive benefits we get from spending time outdoors.

In the U.S., 77,500 people are on the organ transplant waiting list. Every 10 minutes, someone is added to that list. On average, 22 people die each day awaiting a transplant. The numbers certainly are discouraging. To try and tackle the problem, scientists at UC Davis have developed embryos that are part human and part pig, and are implanting them in sows. [1] [2]

For the first time ever, scientists may have solidified a link between memory formation and REM sleep. We know that a bad night’s sleep can leave our heads in a fog and may even cause irritability, but it turns out a bad night’s sleep could also rob us of our memories. [1]

Concerns over the potential cancer risk associated with cell phones is nothing new. Scientists and health experts have been trying to figure out just how worried we should be about the possible link since cell phones first took off in the U.S. in the 1990’s.

Clinical psychologist Julie Rucklidge explores how important nutrition is for mental health in an important TedX talk. She says ‘nutrition matters,’ and that poor nutrition is a ‘significant and modifiable risk factor for the development of mental illness.’

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said this week that the Zika virus is “scarier than we initially thought.” The agency made a connection between Zika and microcephaly, a horrible birth defect that causes babies to be born with small heads and brains, in pregnant women. It also suspected that Zika causes Guillain-Barré, a nervous system disorder that can temporarily paralyze people and cause permanent brain damage.

Researchers have found a common denominator in the brains of people with schizophrenia and autism: low levels of vitamin B12.
For the study, researchers examined the brains of those who have already passed away, with age ranging from the beginning of birth to 80 years old. Researchers found that vitamin B12 levels were 10 times lower in the oldest people compared with the youngest, indicating that levels decline consistently over the course of many years.