ADHD tagged posts

Studies of children and adolescents have associated excess manganese in the diet with attention deficits, but confounding factors in those studies have made it impossible to show a cause and effect relationship. The new study is the first to establish a causal link between exposure to elevated manganese in the diet and attentional dysfunction in an animal model.

Manganese is an essential element, required by the body in trace amounts. High levels of exposure can have neurotoxic effects, however, leading to a condition called “manganism” in adults exposed to manganese dust or fumes in mining, welding, and other industrial occupations...

The Neuropsychiatric Disease-Associated Gene cacna1c Mediates Survival of Young Hippocampal Neurons

A new study shows the death of newborn brain cells may be linked to a genetic risk factor for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, ADHD, and depression, and at the same time shows a compound currently being developed for use in humans may have therapeutic value for these diseases by preventing the cells from dying.

In 2013, the largest genetic study of psychiatric illness to date implicated mutations in the gene called CACNA1C as a risk factor in 5 major forms of neuropsychiatric disease. All the conditions also share the common clinical feature of high anxiety...

This is an image of a human brain, courtesy of Michael Halassa.The thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) surrounds the thalamus (pictured in red, with a switchboard in the background).

Findings help explain how the brain pays attention to what’s important and how neural circuits may be ‘broken’ in attention-deficit disorders. Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center say they have added to evidence that the thalamic reticular nucleus or TRN in the central brain, is likely responsible for the ability to routinely and seamlessly multitask.

The process, they suggest, is done by individual TRN neurons that act like a “switchboard,” continuously filtering sensory information and shifting more or less attention onto one sense – like sight – while relatively blocking out distracting information from o...