A study sponsored by the AP-HP has shown for the first time that asymptomatic individuals who carry the c9orf72 mutation, which means they are at risk of developing frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), experience cognitive, anatomical, and structural changes very early on, before age 40. The ability to identify these markers before disease symptoms appear is a major discovery, as such markers are crucial in developing therapeutic...
And what if meditation enhanced the aging process? This is suggested by the results of a pilot study, conducted by Inserm researchers based in Caen and Lyon. 73 individuals, with an average age of 65 years, underwent brain imaging tests. Among these individuals, "meditation experts" (with 15,000 to 30,000 hours of meditation to their name) showed significant differences in certain regions of the brain. By reducing stress, anxiety, negative emotions and sleep...
Our brains are constantly bombarded with sensory information. Far from being overloaded, the brain is an expert in managing this stream of information. Researchers from Neurospin (CEA/Inserm) have discovered how the brain incorporates and filters information.
After 40 years of research, researchers at the CEA, the CNRS, the University of Grenoble-Alps, the University of Montpellier and the Inserm have finally identified the enzyme responsible for the tubulin cycle. Surprisingly, it is not one enzyme but two which control the cycle of this essential component of the cytoskeletal structure. This work opens up new prospects for the improved understanding of the role of tubulin, changes in...
Une équipe de chercheurs français a montré que de multiples variants de prions peuvent coexister et se manifester sous différentes formes cliniques selon les conditions de transmission. Les résultats de cette étude sont publiés dans Nature Communications, le 2 novembre 2017.
How do we know whether a patient is conscious when he or she is unable to communicate? According to an Inserm study conducted in 127 patients aged 17 to 80, changes in heartbeat in response to sound stimulation is a good indicator of state of consciousness. This is what Inserm researcher Jacobo Sitt and his team, based at the Brain & Spine Institute (ICM) at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, demonstrate...
A study, conducted by Coralie Chevallier, Inserm researcher at Unit 960 "Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory" (Inserm/ENS), suggests that an unfavorable childhood environment leads to earlier reproduction and a decreased effort in looking after health during the course of life. These findings have been published in Evolution and Human Behavior.
For the first time, an animal model can express the two biological characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from CEA, Inserm, Paris-Sud and Paris-Descartes Universities, and CNRS have developed an animal model that reproduces the progression of the human disease. These results offer new possibilities for testing drugs and developing a diagnostic method involving a simple blood test. Their findings were published in Cerebral Cortex on October 18, 2017.
Physicians from Inserm Unit 979 “Wave Physics for Medicine” at the ESPCI Paris together with clinician researchers from the neonatal intensive care unit of Robert-Debré AP-HP pediatric hospital and Inserm Unit 1141 have just made a scientific and medical breakthrough: the non-invasive imaging of brain activity in newborns using ultrasound. This will open up new avenues for bedside neurological diagnosis in full-term and premature babies. The details of their...
A research team in psychiatry at CEA-Neurospin, together with the Mondor Institute of Biomedical Research (INSERM) and the Henri-Mondor (AP-HP) university hospitals, has shown that a genetic variant associated with several psychiatric conditions alters a prefrontal-limbic network, which may increase the risk of developing schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The results of this study were published online on October 2, 2017 in Journal of Neuroscience.