TL;DR: People with a common type of heart failure scored lower on thinking tests than healthy people of similar age, and an MRI sign of the brain’s fluid-clearing system was lower on the left side of their brains. Lower values of that sign went with lower thinking scores. Key Findings Lower thinking scores: Average MoCA …
TL;DR: Teenage girls on a national youth soccer team who swapped two practices a week for weight training got stronger and did better on a classic focus test than teammates who kept their usual practice. Blood markers often linked to brain growth did not change. Key Findings 22 players, 12 weeks: Weight training plus soccer …
TL;DR: Among Hispanic and Latino adults in the U.S., people with one particular DNA pattern around the APOE gene were more likely to show steep thinking decline over about 7 years. The well-known APOE4 risk version had a weaker link in the same group. Key Findings 3 DNA profiles: Short DNA sequences near APOE sorted …
TL;DR: People recovering from stress-related exhaustion who did 12 weeks of computer brain training showed larger gains in thinking scores over 4.5 years than people who got rehab alone. Indoor cycling did not show the same lasting edge, but only 56 of 132 people came back. Key Findings Brain training held up: Bigger gains than …
TL;DR: When a piece of music ended differently than people expected, they were a bit more likely to remember pictures they saw around that moment a day later. The effect was small and showed up in trial-by-trial analyses, not in simple group averages. Key Findings 60 young adults: Listened to Bach chorales while viewing neutral …
TL;DR: Tiny brain samples taken during routine shunt surgery let researchers study Alzheimer’s changes in living people. Half the samples had amyloid plaques, tau clustered around them, and brain tau had a half-life of about five weeks. Key Findings 18 living patients: Rice-grain-sized samples taken during shunt surgery for suspected hydrocephalus. Plaques in 9 of …
TL;DR: In rats given the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin, which caused memory problems, adding the antipsychotic lurasidone protected memory on maze and object tests. This was a prevention study in male rats, not a treatment for people with “chemo brain.” Key Findings 48 male rats, 4 groups of 12: No drugs, lurasidone only, chemo only, or …
TL;DR: Seizures can sometimes steal a person’s ability to speak or understand language for hours or days without causing convulsions, and they can look just like a stroke. A review of 87 reported patients found that 1 in 5 attacks left lasting language problems, often after treatment was delayed. Key Findings 87 patients, 92 attacks: …
TL;DR: In 149 people with memory problems or dementia, blood levels of some brain markers tracked spinal fluid levels well, but others did not match at all. Two common measures of a leaky blood-brain barrier also did not agree with each other. Key Findings Blood vs spinal fluid varied by marker: NfL matched well (r …
TL;DR: A 35-year-old woman with 20 years of seizures that medicines could not control became seizure-free after surgery removed a small fluid-filled cyst and the nearby part of her brain where seizures started. It is one case, so it cannot prove the cyst caused her epilepsy. Key Findings Seizures since age 15: Up to 2 …
