Post-Stroke Aphasia Theory of Mind Performance Tracked Vascular Brain Health

Post-Stroke Aphasia Theory of Mind Performance Tracked Vascular Brain Health

TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint found that nonverbal Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to infer another person’s beliefs or perspective, varied in 44 adults with post-stroke aphasia and was more closely tied to vascular brain-health markers than to aphasia severity. Key Findings Study group: 44 adults with aphasia after mostly left-hemisphere stroke completed 2 …

Read more

Blood Inflammation Linked to Brain White-Matter Microstructure

Blood Inflammation Linked to Brain White-Matter Microstructure

TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint linked higher blood inflammatory markers with diffusion MRI signs of altered white-matter microstructure in 457 dementia-free middle-aged and older adults, especially for a combined cytokine score and orientation dispersion index. Key Findings 457 dementia-free participants: The cross-sectional study examined adults with a mean age of 63.82 years and used blood …

Read more

Depression in PKU Children Linked to Lower Quality of Life

Depression in PKU Children Linked to Lower Quality of Life

TL;DR: A 2026 European Journal of Pediatrics study found that children with phenylketonuria, or PKU, had higher depression scores and lower quality of life than controls, with the worse pattern in children diagnosed later. Key Findings Children studied: The study included 76 children ages 8-15, split into early-diagnosed PKU, late-diagnosed PKU, and healthy control groups. …

Read more

Early Parkinson’s Non-Motor Symptoms Differed by Sex After Levodopa Started

Early Parkinson's Non-Motor Symptoms Differed by Sex After Levodopa Started

TL;DR: A 2026 Neurological Sciences study followed 216 early Parkinson’s patients for 2 years after levodopa started and found that several non-motor symptom differences between men and women persisted or emerged despite adjustment for baseline scores and levodopa dose. Key Findings 216 early Parkinson’s patients completed 24-month follow-up after starting levodopa, including 139 men and …

Read more

MRI Microstructure Predicted Impulse-Control Change After Parkinson’s DBS

MRI Microstructure Predicted Impulse-Control Change After Parkinson's DBS

TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint linked pre-surgery diffusion MRI markers in Parkinson’s disease to 6-month changes in impulsive-compulsive behaviour after subthalamic deep brain stimulation. Key Findings Small DBS cohort: Researchers followed 35 Parkinson’s disease patients from preoperative diffusion MRI to 6-month clinical follow-up after subthalamic deep brain stimulation. Behaviour score: Impulsive-compulsive behaviour was measured with …

Read more

Self-Localized Pencil Beam Improved 3D Multiphoton BBB Imaging

Self-Localized Pencil Beam Improved 3D Multiphoton BBB Imaging

TL;DR: A 2026 Nature Methods paper described a self-localized ultrafast pencil beam that made volumetric multiphoton imaging faster and more stable, including 1-minute 3D scans of transferrin uptake in a live human blood-brain barrier model. Key Findings Optics advance: A standard multimode fiber produced a stable, sidelobe-suppressed Bessel-like pencil beam near critical power. Microscopy fit: …

Read more

Organophosphate Exposure Linked to Delayed Neuropathy in Case Report

Organophosphate Exposure Linked to Delayed Neuropathy in Case Report

TL;DR: A 2026 study in Journal of Medical Case Reports described organophosphate-induced delayed neuropathy (OPIDN), a delayed nerve-injury syndrome, in a 44-year-old pesticide applicator after years of low-level exposure without a typical acute poisoning crisis. Key Findings 9-year exposure history: The patient had worked with chlorpyrifos, malathion, and diazinon for years, often 6-9 hours daily …

Read more

Orbitofrontal PV Interneurons Reduced Social Behavior via DMN Connectivity

Orbitofrontal PV Interneurons Reduced Social Behavior via DMN Connectivity

TL;DR: A 2026 mouse study in Communications Biology found that activating parvalbumin (PV) interneurons, inhibitory nerve cells in the orbitofrontal cortex, reduced default mode network connectivity and decreased normal social approach and sniffing behavior. Key Findings PV interneurons were targeted: Researchers used PV-Cre mice and a chemogenetic DREADD receptor to activate inhibitory PV interneurons in …

Read more

Open ICU Visiting Linked to Lower Delirium and Anxiety Scores

Open ICU Visiting Linked to Lower Delirium and Anxiety Scores

TL;DR: A 2026 retrospective ICU study in the International Journal of General Medicine found that 24-hour open visiting was associated with lower delirium incidence and lower anxiety/depression scores than 1-hour restricted visiting in chronic critically ill patients. Key Findings 264 ICU patients: The retrospective cohort included 132 restricted-visiting patients and 132 open-visiting patients. 24-hour access: …

Read more