Despite the dramatic rise in prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) among children and adolescents, and that MetS is associated with cognitive and brain impairments among adults, no data on the impact of MetS on the brain exist in children.

It provides the first data on the impact of MetS on brain in adolescence. We show reductions in cognitive function and brain structural integrity in nondiabetic adolescents with MetS, thus suggesting that even pre-clinical metabolic illness may give rise to brain complications. (Read the full article)

Retinal hemorrhages occur in accidental and inflicted traumatic brain injury (ITBI) and some medical encephalopathies. Large numbers and peripherally located retinal hemorrhages are frequently cited as distinguishing features of ITBI in infants, but the predictive value has not been established.

This prospective retinal imaging study found that a diagnosis of ITBI in infants and children can be distinguished from other traumatic and nontraumatic causes by the presence of >25 dot-blot (intraretinal layer) hemorrhages (positive predictive value = 93%). (Read the full article)

Brain maturation processes of very premature children are adversely affected by serious neonatal infections. Differences in brain development persist into childhood and adolescence, and underpin widespread neurocognitive and behavioral deficits in very preterm children.

We present evidence for long-term beneficial effects of early nutritional intervention with glutamine in very preterm infants on brain development at 8 years of age, mediated by a decrease in the number of serious neonatal infections. (Read the full article)

Previous studies report Hispanic adults have lower access to rehabilitation services, especially among those who only speak Spanish, and higher disability after traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared with non-Hispanic white subjects. No studies have examined disparities in disability after TBI for Hispanic children.

Hispanic children experience disparities in long-term disability after TBI. Compared with non-Hispanic white children, Hispanic children report significantly larger reductions in health-related quality of life, participation in activities, and ability to communicate and care for themselves 3 years after injury. (Read the full article)

Cognitive and behavioral problems after pediatric traumatic brain injury lead to poor functioning across multiple settings and can persist long-term after injury. Executive dysfunction is particularly common; however, there is a paucity of evidence-based interventions to guide treatment.

This study is among the largest randomized controlled trials performed in pediatric traumatic brain injury. It demonstrates the ability to use an online problem-solving-based intervention to improve caregiver ratings of executive dysfunction within 12 months after injury. (Read the full article)

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children causes significant morbidity and mortality. Parental and coach awareness about brain injury due to sports has recently increased. Since 2001, pediatric emergency departments have seen a significant increase in sports-related TBI.

Pediatric, sports-related TBIs cared for in the emergency department and admitted to the hospital have both increased, resulting in no change in the percentage being admitted. However, patients admitted have had a significant reduction in injury severity. (Read the full article)

Certain characteristics of the sleep environment increase the risk for sleep-related, sudden, and unexplained infant death. These characteristics have the potential to generate asphyxia. The relationship between the deaths occurring in these environments and neurochemical abnormalities in the brainstem that may impair protective responses to asphyxia is unknown.

We report neurochemical brainstem abnormalities underlying cases of sudden infant death that are associated with and without potential asphyxial situations in the sleep environment at death. The means to detect and treat these abnormalities in infants at risk are needed. (Read the full article)

Greater numbers of invasive procedures from birth to term-equivalent age, adjusted for clinical confounders, are associated with altered brain microstructure during neonatal care and poorer cognitive outcome at 18 months’ corrected age in children born very preterm.

Altered myelination at school age is associated with greater numbers of invasive procedures during hospitalization in very preterm children without severe brain injury or neurosensory impairment. Greater numbers of invasive procedures and altered brain microstructure interact to predict lower IQ. (Read the full article)

After mild traumatic brain injury, most youth recover well. A minority of patients report persistent symptoms, which relate to both injury and noninjury factors. In adult studies, validity test performance is 1 noninjury factor that relates to persistent symptoms.

This is the first pediatric study to demonstrate that validity test failure is associated with increased symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury. The findings suggest that some symptoms conceptualized as injury-related "postconcussive" problems are better explained by exaggeration or feigning. (Read the full article)

Preterm birth is strongly associated with alterations in brain development and long-term neurocognitive impairment that are not fully explained by environmental factors.

Common genetic variation in genes associated with schizophrenia and lipid metabolism modulates the risk for preterm brain injury; known susceptibilities to neurologic disease in later life may be exposed by the stress of preterm birth. (Read the full article)

Term MRI can assist in identifying the nature and extent of brain injury in preterm infants. However, brain injury detected by MRI does not fully account for neurodevelopmental impairments, particularly cognitive and behavioral impairments, common in preterm survivors.

In addition to brain injury, an assessment of brain growth by using one-dimensional measurements on MRI is helpful for predicting neurodevelopment. Two different patterns of impaired brain growth are observed that relate independently to early cognitive development in preterm infants. (Read the full article)

The fetal origins of adult disease hypothesis proposes that suboptimal fetal development may condition the later risk of disease, particularly cardiovascular disease. However, this hypothesis has never been tested for diseases of the aging brain.

This first study of its kind provides clinical measures suggesting that small birth size, as an indicator of an adverse intrauterine environment, has lifelong consequences for brain tissue volume and cognitive function. In addition, it shows that the effects of a suboptimal intrauterine environment on late-life cognitive function were particularly present in those with lower educational levels. (Read the full article)

Physical activity programs have been shown to have positive implications for children’s cognitive performance and brain structure and function. However, additional randomized controlled trials are needed to determine whether daily physical activity influences executive control and its neural underpinnings.

The randomized controlled trial, designed to meet daily physical activity recommendations, used behavioral and electrophysiological measures of brain function to demonstrate enhanced attentional inhibition and cognitive flexibility among prepubertal children. (Read the full article)

Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) contributes to impairments in functioning across multiple settings. Online family problem-solving therapy may be effective in reducing adolescent behavioral morbidity after TBI. However, less is known regarding maintenance of effects over time.

This large randomized clinical trial in adolescents with TBI is the only study to examine maintenance of treatment effects. Findings reveal that brief, online treatment may result in long-term improvements in child functioning, particularly among families of lower socioeconomic status. (Read the full article)

Although headache is a common symptom after minor blunt head trauma in children, controversy exists whether the presence of headache increases the risk of traumatic brain injury.

Clinically important traumatic brain injuries are rare, and traumatic brain injuries on computed tomography are very uncommon in children with minor blunt head trauma when headaches are their only sign or symptom. (Read the full article)

Permanent neuronal deletion and neurocognitive impairment after anesthetic exposure in animals raised substantial concern that similar effects occur in children. Human studies were equivocal but have not combined structural and intelligence tests in otherwise healthy children after childhood anesthesia.

Anesthetic exposure for surgery did not lead to measurable neuronal elimination in brain regions previously identified in animals. However, language comprehension and performance IQ were decreased in exposed children and associated with decreased gray matter, primarily in posterior brain regions. (Read the full article)

Attention is a prerequisite for neurocognitive and behavioral functioning, having a crucial role in academic and social child development. Children with traumatic brain injury have pronounced deficits in attention, but the nature and consequences of these deficits remain unclear.

Lapses of attention represent a core attention deficit after pediatric mild traumatic brain injury with risk factors for complicated traumatic brain injury, or moderate/severe traumatic brain injury. Importantly, lapses of attention explain the relation between intelligence and parent-rated attention problems. (Read the full article)

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parent-child reading from infancy through at least kindergarten, the span of maximal brain growth. Home literacy environment, including reading behaviors and access to books, has been shown to promote oral language and print concepts.

Home reading environment is positively associated with activation of brain areas supporting narrative comprehension and mental imagery in preschool children. This offers novel insight into the neurobiological foundations of emergent literacy and potential effect of shared reading during early childhood. (Read the full article)

Adding second-stage automated auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing for infants who failed the initial OAE test in a two-stage neonatal hearing screening has been shown to reduce false referrals to the hearing clinic.

Infants with hearing loss may be missed by a 2-stage hearing screening because they pass the automated ABR test. In our study, a significant number of infants with hearing loss >45 decibel hearing level passed screening with automated ABR. (Read the full article)

Boys and girls start out on the same biological footing when it comes to math, finds the first neuroimaging study of math gender differences in children, published this month in the journal Science of Learning.

Boys and girls start out on the same biological footing when it comes to math, according to the first neuroimaging study of math gender differences in children.

Boys and girls start out on the same biological footing when it comes to math, finds the first neuroimaging study of math gender differences in children, published this month in the journal Science of Learning.

Conditions that severely damage the respiratory system, such as Covid-19, can also cause inflammation to the part of the brain that controls breathing, US researchers have revealed.
Read Full Article at RT.com

After three years of painstaking work, neuroscientists have successfully produced a high-resolution 3D atlas of a mouse brain, which may set the standard for both veterinary and human medicine for decades to come.
Read Full Article at RT.com

  Last year this month Intel's CEO Brian Krzanich introduced the world to the Intel Edison chip. This year he is introducing to us the Intel Curie, a button sized module using the Intel Quark SE SoC...

A group of business stalwarts, top academics and senior bureaucrats will invest Rs 300 crore to build the Masters’ Union School of Business, a business school in Gurgaon, near Delhi. It’s a B-school where classes will be taken by CXOs; campus in Cyber City, Gurgaon

Iran's OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempur Ardebili, is in a coma after suffering a ";severe"; brain hemorrhage. In a tweet on May 3, the country's Oil Ministry said Ardebili was hospitalized on May 1. It did not provide further details. Ardebili is a key figure in Iran's energy industry and served as the deputy foreign minister and deputy oil minister in the 1980s.

Here’s why the perception that skilled migration damages the source country is wrong.

A tax on migrating workers compensates the exporting country for loss of the human capital created by its education and skills development programs.

Watching brain activity in fish as they try to “swim” in virtual reality helps us understand their perception abilities and how they interact with other animals

An 18-year-old who was born without the left half of her brain scores well on IQ tests and plans to attend university, revealing our brain's incredible adaptability

Our ape cousins have asymmetrical brains just like we do, which might require us to rethink ideas on the evolution of brain specialism in our hominin ancestors

This week, watch Netflix's I Am Not Okay With This, catch up with positive stories about how our brains age, and listen as a podcast reveals the built world

Thinking of the brain as a machine may be hampering our progress in understanding how it works, says The Idea of the Brain: A history by Matthew Cobb

Our brains influence all aspects of our lives, including our sexual desires. This means brain injuries can have some surprising effects, says Amee Baird

Our conceptions of alien life are based on a sample of one: Earth’s life. That means even our wildest imaginings are likely to be completely off beam

A brain-computer interface has helped a man with a severe spinal cord injury move and feel using a hand again, letting him carefully lift light objects such as a paper cup

In a small trial, implanting electrodes into the brain helped women with severe anorexia gain weight and feel less anxious and depressed

It can be difficult for doctors to assess the level of consciousness in people who have had serious brain injuries, but observing their reaction to strong odours may help

A study of brain cells in a dish adds to growing evidence that Alzheimer’s disease can be caused by herpes viruses, but antiviral treatment may help stop it

Mouse neurons trapped inside cages grow long appendages to connect to each other. Trapping the cells allows us to precisely control their growth

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