How Sleep Apnea Can Cause a Stroke
Obstructive sleep apnea decreases blood flow to the brain and causes changes in the brain that increase sufferers' risk of suffering from a stroke or dying in their sleep, according to a study published by The American Physiological Society. The decreased blood flow to the brain causes elevated blood pressure within the brain that eventually harms the brain's ability to modulate these changes and prevent damage to itself.
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Expert Commentary: Steven Park, M.D. 3/9/2010
We know a lot about the molecular and biochemical processes that occur with Alzheimer's Disease. Autopsy studies show amyloid plaque deposition and neurofibrilary tangles. About 5% are hereditary, and the rest are spontaneous. There are different types of dementia, of which vascular dementia is the largest component. We also know that patients with atherosclerotic risk factors and history of stroke have the highest risk for AD.
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Sleep Loss And Alzheimer's Linked
Chronic sleep deprivation demonstrated in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease makes brain plaques appear earlier and more often, according to a Washington University School of Medicine report published in Science Express. The researchers involved also found that orexin, a protein that helps regulate the sleep cycle, appears to be directly involved in the increase.
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Brain Injury Linked to Mercury Vaccine Preservative
Parents and scientists concerned about an increasingly aggressive childhood vaccine schedule haven been given additional credence, according to a study in the journal NeuroToxicology. A team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh found that infant macaque monkeys receiving a single Hepatitis B vaccine containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal experienced delays in developing critical reflexes controlled by the brainstem. The monkeys that did not receive the vaccine developed normally.
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Ice Cream's Effect On The Brain
Your brain may be to blame for interfering with your best efforts to stop indulging in scoop after scoop of ice cream or even that extra burger. Research appearing in The Journal of Clinical Investigation suggests that fat from certain foods we eat goes directly to our brain before it targets our stomach or thighs. These fat molecules cause the brain to send messages to the body's cells, telling them to ignore appetite-suppressing signals from leptin and insulin - hormones responsible for weight regulation.
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Fruits and Vegetables Linked to Positive Cognitive Performance
Researchers in Germany examined the links between fruit and vegetable consumption, plasma micronutrient status and cognitive performance in health subjects aged 45-105 years. Published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the results indicated higher cognitive performance in individuals with a high daily intake of fruits and vegetables.
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Why a Cognitive Workout is Important to Brain Health
According to Shlomo Breznitz, former professor of psychology, and president of University of Haifa, Israel - as we age, the choices we make about diet, exercise, and sleep can impact our brain's health over time. Some of these choices not only keep our brain functioning, but can also reduce the debilitating impact of Alzheimer's.
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Migraines Affect Mostly Women
Headaches affect roughly 45 million people in the United States. Of those people, migraine headaches are the most common type of headache that sends patients to their doctor's office. Migraines occur when constricting blood vessels in the brain cause intense, recurring vascular headaches. Like other forms of headaches, women suffer from migraines more often than men.
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7 Factors That Make Us Eat More Food
The amount we eat every day is a factor not only of our genetics, the strength of our willpower or our metabolic rate. A lot more is at work, such as:
Time of day. Each of us gets into routines that psychologically "tell" our bodies we need food at the same time each day. "Part of the reason you're hungry at noon is because that's the time you've eaten for the last 100 days," said Randy Seeley, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati. Read more about 7 Factors That Make Us Eat More Food
Biomaterial Gel Can Spark Brain Tissue Regeneration
Brain tissue may be able to regenerate at the site of a traumatic brain injury through use of an injectable biomaterial gel, according to research conducted by a Clemson University engineer. Assistant professor of bioengineering, Ning Zhang, has demonstrated that the biomaterial gel composed of both synthetic and natural sources has the potential to spark the growth of an individual's own neural stem cells in the body, allowing recovery of injured brain tissue.
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