Researchers at Brown University and the University of Georgia have developed and tested an approach for diagnosing autism in Tanzania, where such clinical assessment and intervention services are rare. The assessment battery combines several existing but culturally adapted techniques into a protocol that the researchers tested with 41 children at two Tanzanian sites.
Autism is no stranger to the children of Tanzania. What is rare in the East African nation is access to clinical services, including reliable diagnosis and evidence-based treatments. There is no autism diagnostic measure, for example, validated for use in Swahili, a major language of the region. In a small new study, however, researchers at Brown University and the University of Georgia (UGA) describe a culturally compatible diagnostic approach that they implemented at two sites in the country and found to be effective for making diagnoses.
The potential for doctors to measure damaging “brain tsunamis” in injured patients without opening the skull has moved a step closer to reality, thanks to pioneering research at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Neuroscience Institute.
Results could help improve treatment for patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders
Over the past several decades, brain stimulation has become an increasingly important treatment option for a number of psychiatric and neurological conditions.
Additional neurons make the part of the sparrow’s brain that produces its song about twice as large during the breeding season, compared to its size the rest of the year.
Brain cells that multiply to help birds sing their best during breeding season are known to die back naturally later in the year. For the first time researchers have described the series of events that cues new neuron growth each spring, and it all appears to start with a signal from the expiring cells the previous fall that primes the brain to start producing stem cells.
“With this information we hope to better understand the earliest stages in the development of this disease and gain information to guide prevention and treatment efforts.” -Sigan Hartley
The link between a protein typically associated with Alzheimer’s disease and its impact on memory and cognition may not be as clear as once thought, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Waisman Center. The findings are revealing more information about the earliest stages of the neurodegenerative disease.