Summary: A study of over 1,000 young adults reveals that both recent and heavy lifetime cannabis use reduce brain activity in regions critical for working memory, including the prefrontal cortex…
Tag: neurobiology
Opioid Dysregulation in the Brain Tied to Eating Disorders
Summary: Elevated opioid neurotransmission in the brain may underlie appetite loss and emotional symptoms in anorexia nervosa. Compared to healthy controls, patients with anorexia had increased opioidergic tone, which regulates…
Dopamine Clock May Drive Bipolar Mood Swings
Summary: New research suggests that mood swings in bipolar disorder are regulated by two clocks: the body’s 24-hour circadian rhythm and a dopamine-based clock that influences alertness. When these clocks…
AI Mimics Toddler-Like Learning to Unlock Human Cognition
Summary: A new AI model, based on the PV-RNN framework, learns to generalize language and actions in a manner similar to toddlers by integrating vision, proprioception, and language instructions. Unlike…
Long COVID Impairs Exercise Capacity and Cognition for Years
Summary: A study of nearly 1,000 people with post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) revealed that two-thirds still experienced significant symptoms, including reduced exercise capacity and cognitive performance, two years after infection. Persistent…
Targeting Reward Pathways to Treat Depression
Summary: New research highlights how the brain’s reward-learning system can guide personalized treatments for depression. By studying two brain signals, expected value and prediction error, researchers identified markers that predict…
Microglia Act Differently in Male and Female Brains
Summary: Microglia, the brain’s immune cells, play vital roles in clearing toxins and maintaining neuronal health but can also contribute to neurodegenerative diseases if overactive. New research reveals sex-based differences…
GLP-1 Drugs Offer Brain Benefits but May Pose Other Health Risks
Summary: A study analyzing data from over 2 million veterans found that GLP-1 receptor agonists, popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, provide significant neurological and behavioral health benefits, including…
