Groundbreaking new study determines the cause of ADHD

According to the World Health Organization, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is estimated to affect approximately 5% of children worldwide and 2.5% of adults. 
This disorder manifests as inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and difficulty focusing, and it can greatly influence a person's academic and social functioning. 

Although ADHD has been recognized to have a genetic basis, the specific genes implicated have been challenging to identify.However, recent advancements have brought us closer to unraveling this mystery.
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Strange Illusion Shows The Human Brain Mess With Time to Maintain Our Expectations

 

'I saw it with my own eyes' is something people often say. The implication is that since we perceived something, it must have happened.

But what we perceive can be influenced by a great many things, and a strange new experiment shows just how easily our perceptions can be manipulated by our own expectations and assumptions.

In a new study, scientists discovered a "novel perceptual illusion" that effectively reorders the perceived temporal order of events in a sequence.

"Is our perception of time and temporal order a faithful reflection of what happens in the world (or at least what arrives at our retina) or can seemingly higher-level expectations, such as [presumed] causality, affect the order in which we experience events occurring?" writes a team of researchers led by first author and experimental psychologist Christos Bechlivanidis from University College London.

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Here's How The Human Brain Reboots Itself After The Deep Sleep of Anesthesia

 

You may well have spent hours wondering what your laptop is up to as it takes its time to boot up. Scientists have asked the same question of the human brain: How exactly does it restart after being anesthetized, in a coma, or in a deep sleep?

Using a group of 30 healthy adults who were anesthetized for three hours, and a group of 30 healthy adults who weren't as a control measure, a 2021 study reveals some insights into how the brain drags itself back into consciousness.

It turns out that the brain switches back on one section at a time, rather than all at once – and abstract problem-solving capabilities, as handled by the prefrontal cortex, are the functions that come back online the quickest. Other brain areas, including those managing reaction time and attention, take longer.

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Meta-analysis suggests psychopathy may be an adaptation, rather than a mental disorder

 

A meta-analysis of 16 studies revealed no differences in the rates of non right-handedness between community individuals who scored high and low in psychopathy, psychopathic and non-psychopathic offenders, and psychopathic and non-psychopathic mental health patients, partially supporting the adaptive strategy model of psychopathy. This research was published in Evolutionary Psychology.

Psychopathy is characterised by “antisocial, impulsive, manipulative, and callous behavior” and was long considered a mental disorder. Today, many of the defining features of psychopathy fall under the diagnostic criteria of Antisocial Personality Disorder in the DSM-5. Despite a widespread belief among the scientific community that psychopathy is a mental disorder, “an alternative, evolution-minded perspective has been proposed: that psychopathy is instead a life history strategy of social exploitation maintained by negative frequency-dependent selection,” write Lesleigh E. Pullman and colleagues.

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DOES COVID-19 CHANGE THE BRAIN? A NEUROSCIENTIST EXPLAINS THE DANGERS

 

RESEARCHERS have been steadily gathering important insights into the effects of Covid-19 on the body and brain. Two years into the pandemic, these findings are raising concerns about the long-term impacts the coronavirus might have on biological processes such as aging.

As a cognitive neuroscientist, I have focused in my past research on understanding how brain changes related to aging affect people’s ability to think and move — particularly in middle age and beyond.

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But as evidence came in showing that Covid-19 could affect the body and brain for months following infection, my research team shifted some of its focus to better understanding how the illness might influence the natural process of aging. This was motivated in large part by compelling new work from the United Kingdom investigating the effect of Covid-19 on the human brain.

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Stress relief: how the “PEACE” method can help manage emotional responses to stressful situations

I have always been a crier. Whether I'm happy or sad, frustrated or shocked, tears have tended to be my go-to emotional response.

But throughout the pandemic, the tears dried up and I found myself turning to other coping mechanisms to deal with the daily stress and anxiety of lockdown.

When put under pressure, we all react in different ways, and some are healthier than others. But according to Amy Saltzman, MD, a holistic physician and mindfulness coach, in times of difficulty, our choices don't always decrease our stress. Sometimes, they actually increase it.

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Our Favorite Neuroscience Stories of 2021

 

From a Nobel prize and photosynthesis-powered brains to neurodegeneration research and controversy over a new Alzheimer’s drug, a look back at some of the biggest brain-related developments of the year.

This year saw innovations in augmenting the brain’s capabilities by plugging it in to advanced computing technology. For example, a biology teacher who lost her vision 16 years ago was able to distinguish shapes and letters with the help of special glasses that interfaced with electrodes implanted in her brain. Along a similar vein, a computer connected to a brain-implant system discerned brain signals for handwriting in a paralyzed man, enabling him to type up to 90 characters per minute with an accuracy above 90 percent. Such studies are a step forward for technologies that marry cutting-edge neuroscience and computational innovation in an attempt to improve people’s lives.

In one of the year’s stranger developments, researchers were able to supply tadpoles with oxygen using photosynthetic microorganisms, allowing for continued brain function even under hypoxic conditions. The team injected photosynthetic algae into tadpoles kept in low-oxygen conditions, and upon exposure to light, the concentration of oxygen in the animals’ ventricles increased and their brain activity resumed. Still, the finding’s applicability to animals where light would not be able to penetrate the skin and reach the brain is limited.

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Exposure to Chemical from Babies Linked to Aggression

Eva Mishor, a study coauthor and neuroscientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel tells New Scientist, “Our study gives more power to the notion that humans communicate from the chemical volatiles they emit, and that we get lots of information from them.”Pheromones famously trigger the olfactory system in animals, and have been linked to mating and aggressive behavior. For example, compounds in mouse urine can induce male mice to fight each other, and a rabbit mother will attack her own offspring if she smells a different female rabbit, according to Science. However, the presence of pheromones in humans has not been confirmed. In a study published in Science Advances on November 19, scientists identified a compound known as hexadecanal that seems to increase aggression in women who smell it but suppress aggression in men.

See “Do Human Pheromones Exist?”

Hexadecanal, abbreviated HEX, is a chemical that humans emit from their skin, saliva, and feces, and is particularly abundant on babies’ heads, reports Science. Previous research found that smelling HEX has a relaxing effect on mice. In the new study, Mishor and her colleagues investigated whether HEX might affect human behavior—and, by extension, what role scent might play in human social interactions

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Science Says Your Brain Isn't Fully Developed Until You're This Age

While the age at which you legally become an adult is 18, your brain isn't fully developed yet. According to Insider, the prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that helps with impulse control and that's still not completely done growing even when 18-year-olds are graduating high school and heading off to college, the military, working full-time, or backpacking across Europe. 

The Society for Neuroscience claims that the white matter in your brain doesn't peak until you are about 40 years of age. White matter is found deeper in the brain, while the gray matter is on the outside. White matter is made up of nerve fibers covered by myelin that serves to protect those neurons (via MedlinePlus). Maturity is connected to the prefrontal cortex, located at the front part of the frontal lobe. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for cognitive abilities and control, decision making, planning, problem-solving, and impulse control.

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Brain Cells that Trigger Sugar Cravings and Consumption Identified

Most people enjoy a sweet treat every now and then. But an unchecked "sweet tooth" can lead to overconsumption of sugary foods and chronic health issues like obesity and type 2 diabetes. Understanding the biological mechanisms that control sugar intake and preference for sweet taste could have important implications for managing and preventing these health problems.

The new study, led by Matthew Potthoff, PhD, associate professor of neuroscience and pharmacology in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, and Matthew Gillum, PhD, at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, focuses on actions of a hormone called fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). This hormone is known to play a role in energy balance, body weight control, and insulin sensitivity.

"This is the first study that's really identified where this hormone is acting in the brain and that has provided some very cool insights to how it's regulating sugar intake," says Potthoff, who also is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center at the UI and the Iowa Neuroscience Institute.

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