Scientists have identified the specific neural circuitry that triggers anxiety in individuals when confronted with critical decisions. Our brains can actually gauge how critical a decision is and trigger anxiety in us accordingly! Do you freak out when you have to decide if you want to order pizza or a tub of fried chicken for […]
Mary Ann Liebert, publisher of the newly launched peer-reviewed open access journalCannabis and Cannabinoid Research, strongly supports President Obama’s statement that “…carefully prescribed medical use of marijuana may in fact be appropriate and we should follow the science as opposed to ideology on this issue,” when asked about a pending Senate bill seeking to change […]
A new drug may treat epilepsy and prevent tinnitus by selectively affecting potassium channels in the brain, UConn neurophysiologist Anastasios Tzingounis and colleagues report in the 10 June Journal of Neuroscience.d Epilepsy and tinnitus are both caused by overly excitable nerve cells. Healthy nerves have a built-in system that slams on the brakes when they […]
A new study offers fresh insights. It turns out that using newer anti-epilepsy drugs, providing specialist care and switching medications following epilepsy-related hospital admissions are associated with better outcomes for people living with epilepsy. The findings are contained in a new US study1 which looked back at the health insurance records of 17,743 people with […]
One of the deep problems in understanding the brain is to understand how relatively simple computing units (the neurons), collectively perform extremely complex operations (thinking). In 1999 Danish scientist Per Bak made the startling proposal that the brain worked in much the same way as a sand pile. As more sand is added to the pile, […]
“Despite the advent of new pharmacological treatments and the high success rate of many surgical treatments for epilepsy, a substantial number of patients do not become seizure-free or experience major adverse events. This fact is an important motivation to investigate and develop novel therapeutic approaches,” said Prof Paul Boon from Ghent University Hospital (Belgium), Chairperson […]
