Is Your Brain Leaking?
Razi Berry As people age, changes in the tiniest blood vessels in the brain, a condition called cerebral small vessel disease, can lead to thinking and memory problems and stroke. These changes can also affect the blood-brain barrier, a layer of cells that protect the brain from toxins circulating in the blood. Now a new […]
Changes in Brain Activity While Studying a New Language
Razi Berry A study with first-time learners of Japanese has measured how brain activity changes after just a few months of studying a new language. The results show that acquiring a new language initially boosts brain activity, which then reduces as language skills improve. “In the first few months, you can quantitatively measure language-skill improvement […]
MRI May Be Able to Confirm PTSD Following Traumatic Event
Razi Berry Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex psychiatric disorder brought on by physical and/or psychological trauma. How its symptoms, including anxiety, depression and cognitive disturbances arise remains incompletely understood and unpredictable. Treatments and outcomes could potentially be improved if doctors could better predict who would develop PTSD. Now, researchers using magnetic resonance imaging […]
Smoking, Hypertension, Obesity and Diabetes: Bad for the Brain
Razi Berry Many people consider the health of their physical body to be separate from the health of their mind, which is to say their brain. However, it is vitally important to remember that anything that affects the blood vessels affects our brain. A few of these are smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. […]