Category Health/Medical

How the Brain Remembers Right Place, Right Time

Hippocampal neurons create spatial and temporal “maps” of our world. Brain waves called “theta rhythms” help organize the activity of these neurons. A study by Bradley Lega, M.D., and colleagues determined how a group of neurons known as time cells allow the brain to correctly mark the order of events and assist in memory.
Illustration by Melissa Logies

Two studies led by UT Southwestern researchers shed new light on how the brain encodes time and place into memories. The findings, published recently in PNAS and Science, not only add to the body of fundamental research on memory, but could eventually provide the basis for new treatments to combat memory loss from conditions such as traumatic brain injury, TBI, or Alzheimer’s disease.

About a decade ago, a group of neurons kno...

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Tomatoes offer Affordable Source of Parkinson’s disease Drug

Metabolic engineering of tomato fruit enriched in L-DOPA
Author links open overlay panelDarioBreitelacPaulBrettaSalehAlseekhbAlisdair R.FerniebEugenioButelliaCathieMartina

Scientists have produced a tomato enriched in the Parkinson’s disease drug L-DOPA in what could become a new, affordable source of one of the world’s essential medicines.

The development of the genetically modified (GM) tomato has implications for developing nations where access to pharmaceutical drugs is restricted.

This novel use of tomato plants as a natural source of L-DOPA also offers benefits for people who suffer adverse effects — including nausea and behavioral complications — of chemically synthesised L-DOPA .

Tomato — was chosen as a widely cultivated crop that can be used for scaled up production a...

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Stretchable Micro-Supercapacitors to Self-power Wearable devices

A team of international researchers, led by Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Professor in Penn State’s Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, has developed a self-powered, stretchable system that will be used in wearable health-monitoring and diagnostic devices.
 IMAGE: PENN STATE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

A stretchable system that can harvest energy from human breathing and motion for use in wearable health-monitoring devices may be possible, according to an international team of researchers, led by Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Professor in Penn State’s Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics.

The research team, with members from Penn State and Minjiang University and Nanjing University, both in China, recently p...

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Hydrogel could open new path for Glaucoma Treatment without Drugs or Surgery

A microneedle less than a millimeter in length is used to inject a natural and biodegradable polymer material into a structure in the eye. The material forms a hydrogel that holds open a pathway to release pressure from the eye. (Credit: Gary Meek, Georgia Tech)

Researchers have developed a potential new treatment for the eye disease glaucoma that could replace daily eye drops and surgery with a twice-a-year injection to control the buildup of pressure in the eye. The researchers envision the injection being done as an office procedure that could be part of regular patient visits.

The possible treatment, which could become the first non-drug, non-surgical, long-acting therapy for glaucoma, uses the injection of a natural and biodegradable material to create a viscous hydrogel — a wa...

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