In mammals, light is essential in order for the body to function properly. This response to light is controlled in our bodies by a biological clock. Like well-oiled clockwork, the central clock located in a small structure of the brain known as the hypothalamus in turn synchronises numerous secondary clocks present in other areas of […]
Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is one of the most frequent causes of sudden non-accidental death in young adults. The origin of SUDEP remains unknown, since it generally occurs at night, unwitnessed. SUDEP sometimes occurs in hospital, while the vital functions are being monitored and recorded. These are the data that Prof. Philippe Ryvlin, […]
A team of researchers led by Brahim Nait Oumesmar, Inserm Research Director at the PITIE-SALPETRIERE NEUROSCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER (CRICM) in collaboration with the University of Luxembourg, has just discovered a new molecule capable of stimulating the repair of the myelin destroyed in experimental models of multiple sclerosis. This advance will be published in The Journal […]
An international consortium has just revealed five new genetic regions associated with migraine in a study published on 23 June 2013 in the journal Nature Genetics, bringing the total number identified in recent years to 12. Researchers from Inserm Unit 708 “Neuroepidemiology” in Bordeaux participated in the vast research by comparing nearly 118,000 items of […]
A gene involved in so-called “focal” epilepsy, the most frequent form of the condition, has been discovered by the research team directed by Eric Leguern and Stéphanie Baulac of Inserm unit 975 “Genetics and physiopathology of family epilepsy” at the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle (ICM) of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. The researchers studied […]
Depression is a common multifactorial condition in which the appearance of symptoms is often linked to patients’ lifestyle. Of these factors, nutrition appears to play a significant role. Studies performed in a collaborative project between INSERM researchers in Montpellier and at University College London suggest than an improvement in the quality of nutrition is associated […]
To test this hypothesis, the researchers developed a test in which 39 participants were invited to squeeze their fists tightly in exchange for a payment proportional to the length of time during which they were able to perform this feat. The researchers used two brain imaging techniques to record the participants’ brain activity during the […]
It is currently impossible, using the resources available to researchers, to make this distinction. Yet the INSERM researchers of Unit 1028 “Centre de recherche en neuroscience de Lyon) have succeeded in developing a test that makes it possible to analyse brain activity in small and big dreamers and to draw a few conclusions. Their work […]
As part of the European AlcoBinge Project, coordinated by Mickaël Naassila’s team (INSERM Unit ERi 24), researchers used rats to explore the long-term effect of repeated intoxication during adolescence (the rat is considered to be an adolescent at 30 to 40 days from birth) and whether a predisposition and motivation to consume alcohol could lead […]
Although they did not answer this question directly, the INSERM researchers under Mathias Pessiglione at the Neuroscience Research Centre of the Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital recently showed that very specific regions are activated in the brain when faced with either situation. Certain regions of the brain (the anterior insula and the dorsal striatum) constitute a system […]
