Neuroscience

Schizophrenia Insight Linked to fMRI Flexibility and Receptor Maps

May 25, 2026May 11, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint on schizophrenia reported that illness insight tracked with resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) flexibility, a measure of how dynamically brain regions reconfigure their connectivity, and that these brain-dynamics patterns aligned with dopamine D2 and serotonin 5-HT2A receptor maps after accounting for antipsychotic receptor occupancy. Key Findings Two insight subtypes: Clinical clustering …

Plasma p-tau217 Blood Test Identified Alzheimer’s Pathology in Meta-Analysis

May 11, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis in Molecular Neurobiology found that plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217), a blood marker of Alzheimer-linked tau pathology, identified biomarker-defined Alzheimer’s disease with pooled sensitivity of 85.4% and specificity of 88.0% across 27 studies. Key Findings 27-study evidence base: Researchers analyzed 19,652 participants from studies that compared plasma p-tau217 …

Nighttime Heat During Pregnancy Linked to Autism Risk

May 11, 2026May 11, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 study in Science of the Total Environment followed nearly 295,000 Southern California births and linked extreme nighttime heat in early and late pregnancy to higher autism diagnosis by age 5, while daytime heat was not associated. Key Findings A large Southern California cohort anchored the estimate: The retrospective Kaiser Permanente Southern California …

SimulAD Modeled Amyloid Clearance in Alzheimer’s Trials

May 11, 2026May 11, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint tested SimulAD, an Alzheimer’s disease progression simulator, and reported that it reproduced mean amyloid-clearance results within 5% error across six major phase III anti-amyloid trials while also separating positive trials from null trials in retrospective power analyses. Key Findings Six phase III trials: Researchers retrospectively simulated TRAILBLAZER-ALZ2, CLARITY AD, EMERGE, …

Childhood Psychological Abuse Predicted Lower Adult Relationship Satisfaction Through Reduced Belongingness

May 25, 2026May 10, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 longitudinal study in Personality and Individual Differences followed 346 Turkish young adults across two survey waves three months apart and found that childhood psychological abuse predicted lower adult relationship satisfaction, with a reduced sense of belonging acting as the statistical mediator linking the early adversity to the later romantic outcome. Key Findings …

First 25 mg Psilocybin Dose Increased EEG Entropy and Predicted Well-Being

May 25, 2026May 10, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 exploratory study in Nature Communications found that a first 25 mg psilocybin dose in 28 psychedelic-naive adults increased electroencephalography (EEG), a scalp recording of brain electrical activity, entropy during the acute session and that entropy predicted one-month well-being change. Key Findings 28 psychedelic-naive adults: Participants received 1 mg psilocybin as a low-dose …

Inflammation Markers Did Not Track Depression or Alcohol Use

May 10, 2026May 10, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 study in Brain, Behavior, & Immunity – Health found that depression symptoms, alcohol use, and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms were not associated with C-reactive protein (CRP), a blood inflammation marker, or a pro-inflammatory cytokine index in 972 community adults, and twin analyses suggested familial confounding explained several cytokine-AUD links. Key Findings …

Each Extra Hour of Daytime Napping Linked to ~13% Higher Mortality in 19-Year Wrist-Actigraphy Study of Older Adults

May 25, 2026May 10, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 study in JAMA Network Open tracked 1,338 older adults from the Rush Memory and Aging Project for up to 19 years using objective wrist-actigraphy and found that each additional hour of daytime napping per day was linked to ~13% higher mortality, each extra nap per day to ~7% higher mortality, and morning …

Boosting Astrocyte Sox9 Improved Amyloid Plaque Clearance and Preserved Cognition in Alzheimer’s Mouse Models

May 15, 2026May 10, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 study in Nature Neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine showed that boosting Sox9, a transcription factor that regulates aging astrocytes, improved astrocytes’ ability to clear amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s mouse models and preserved cognitive function — pointing to a treatment strategy that targets the brain’s own support cells rather than directly attacking …

Monocyte Epigenetic Aging Tracked Non-Somatic Depression in Women With and Without HIV

May 15, 2026May 10, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 study in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences measured a monocyte-specific DNA methylation clock (MonoDNAmAge) in 440 women with and without HIV, and found that accelerated monocyte epigenetic aging was specifically linked to non-somatic depressive symptoms (anhedonia, hopelessness, cognitive impacts) but not to broader depression severity, supporting …

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