research topics for neurology

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Collection  10 March 2022

Top 100 in Neuroscience

This collection highlights our most downloaded* neuroscience papers published in 2021. Featuring authors from around the world, these papers showcase valuable research from an international community.

*Data obtained from SN Inights, which is based on Digital Science's Dimensions.

Musical components important for the Mozart K448 effect in epilepsy

• Robert J. Quon
• Michael A. Casey
• Barbara C. Jobst

Brain structure changes associated with sexual orientation

• Mikhail Votinov
• Katharina S. Goerlich

Selective time-dependent changes in activity and cell-specific gene expression in human postmortem brain

• Fabien Dachet
• James B. Brown
• Jeffrey A. Loeb

Menopause impacts human brain structure, connectivity, energy metabolism, and amyloid-beta deposition

• Lisa Mosconi
• Valentina Berti
• Roberta Diaz Brinton

Multimodal deep learning models for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease stage

• Janani Venugopalan
• May D. Wang

Brain tumor segmentation based on deep learning and an attention mechanism using MRI multi-modalities brain images

• Ramin Ranjbarzadeh
• Abbas Bagherian Kasgari
• Malika Bendechache

Splitting sleep between the night and a daytime nap reduces homeostatic sleep pressure and enhances long-term memory

• James N. Cousins
• Ruth L. F. Leong
• Michael W. L. Chee

Listening to speech with a guinea pig-to-human brain-to-brain interface

• Claus-Peter Richter
• Petrina La Faire
• Alan G. Micco

Benefit of human moderate running boosting mood and executive function coinciding with bilateral prefrontal activation

• Chorphaka Damrongthai
• Ryuta Kuwamizu
• Hideaki Soya

Enhanced activations in syntax-related regions for multilinguals while acquiring a new language

• Keita Umejima
• Suzanne Flynn
• Kuniyoshi L. Sakai

Brain-inspired spiking neural networks for decoding and understanding muscle activity and kinematics from electroencephalography signals during hand movements

• Kaushalya Kumarasinghe
• Nikola Kasabov
• Denise Taylor

Longitudinal effects of meditation on brain resting-state functional connectivity

• Zongpai Zhang
• Wen-Ming Luh
• Weiying Dai

Evidence of a new hidden neural network into deep fasciae

• Caterina Fede
• Lucia Petrelli
• Carla Stecco

Cross-sex hormone treatment and own-body perception: behavioral and brain connectivity profiles

• Behzad S. Khorashad
• Amirhossein Manzouri
• Ivanka Savic

A directional 3D neurite outgrowth model for studying motor axon biology and disease

• Xandor M. Spijkers
• Svetlana Pasteuning-Vuhman
• R. Jeroen Pasterkamp

The role of dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the processing of emotional dimensions

• Vahid Nejati
• Reyhaneh Majdi
• Michael A. Nitsche

How neurons exploit fractal geometry to optimize their network connectivity

• Julian H. Smith
• Conor Rowland
• R. P. Taylor

Defining early changes in Alzheimer’s disease from RNA sequencing of brain regions differentially affected by pathology

• Boris Guennewig
• Greg T. Sutherland

Narcissistic personality traits and prefrontal brain structure

• Igor Nenadić
• Carsten Lorenz
• Christian Gaser

EEG-based diagnostics of the auditory system using cochlear implant electrodes as sensors

• Christopher J. Long
• Tom Francart

Investigating real-life emotions in romantic couples: a mobile EEG study

• Julian Packheiser
• Gesa Berretz
• Sebastian Ocklenburg

Sex-dependent alterations in behavior, drug responses and dopamine transporter expression in heterozygous DAT-Cre mice

• Kauê Machado Costa
• Daniela Schenkel
• Jochen Roeper

Functional network connectivity during Jazz improvisation

• Victor M. Vergara
• Martin Norgaard
• Vince D. Calhoun

Buspirone alleviates anxiety, depression, and colitis; and modulates gut microbiota in mice

• Jeon-Kyung Kim
• Sang-Kap Han
• Dong-Hyun Kim

Human cerebral organoids as a therapeutic drug screening model for Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease

• Bradley R. Groveman
• Natalia C. Ferreira
• Cathryn L. Haigh

Thioflavin-positive tau aggregates complicating quantification of amyloid plaques in the brain of 5XFAD transgenic mouse model

• YoungSoo Kim

Ambulatory seizure forecasting with a wrist-worn device using long-short term memory deep learning

• Mona Nasseri
• Tal Pal Attia
• Benjamin H. Brinkmann

Post-traumatic seizures and antiepileptic therapy as predictors of the functional outcome in patients with traumatic brain injury

• Valeria Pingue
• Chiara Mele
• Antonio Nardone

Human α-synuclein overexpression in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease leads to vascular pathology, blood brain barrier leakage and pericyte activation

• Osama Elabi
• Abderahim Gaceb
• Gesine Paul

Neuropsychiatric profiles and conversion to dementia in mild cognitive impairment, a latent class analysis

• Natalia Roberto
• Maria J. Portella
• Sergi Valero

Comparative neuroanatomy of the lumbosacral spinal cord of the rat, cat, pig, monkey, and human

• Amirali Toossi
• Bradley Bergin
• Vivian K. Mushahwar

A personalized and evolutionary algorithm for interpretable EEG epilepsy seizure prediction

• Mauro. F. Pinto
• Adriana Leal
• César A. Teixeira

The effects of positive or negative self-talk on the alteration of brain functional connectivity by performing cognitive tasks

• Junhyung Kim
• Joon Hee Kwon
• Jae-Jin Kim

Deep learning-Based 3D inpainting of brain MR images

• Seung Kwan Kang
• Seong A. Shin
• Jae Sung Lee

Both high fat and high carbohydrate diets impair vagus nerve signaling of satiety

• Hailley Loper
• Monique Leinen
• Matthew A. Schiefer

PINK1 deficiency impairs adult neurogenesis of dopaminergic neurons

• Sarah J. Brown
• Ibrahim Boussaad
• Oliver Bandmann

Altered spontaneous activity in the frontal gyrus in dry eye: a resting-state functional MRI study

Online and offline effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation of the primary motor cortex

• Ivan Pozdniakov
• Alicia Nunez Vorobiova
• Matteo Feurra

Cell type-specific changes in transcriptomic profiles of endothelial cells, iPSC-derived neurons and astrocytes cultured on microfluidic chips

• H. H. T. Middelkamp
• A. H. A. Verboven
• A. D. van der Meer

Brain MRI in SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia patients with newly developed neurological manifestations suggestive of brain involvement

• Batil Alonazi
• Ahmed M. Farghaly
• Mustafa Z. Mahmoud

Diazepam causes sedative rather than anxiolytic effects in C57BL/6J mice

• Marina Pádua-Reis
• Diana Aline Nôga
• Martina Blunder

Photons detected in the active nerve by photographic technique

• Andrea Zangari
• Davide Micheli
• Maria Emiliana Caristo

Cannabidiol induces autophagy via ERK1/2 activation in neural cells

• Talita A. M. Vrechi
• Anderson H. F. F. Leão
• Gustavo J. S. Pereira

Deep learning-based pupil model predicts time and spectral dependent light responses

• Babak Zandi
• Tran Quoc Khanh

ATP signaling in the integrative neural center of Aplysia californica

• János Györi
• Andrea B. Kohn
• Leonid L. Moroz

EEG signals respond differently to idea generation, idea evolution and evaluation in a loosely controlled creativity experiment

Cognitive and MRI trajectories for prediction of Alzheimer’s disease

• Samaneh A. Mofrad
• Astri J. Lundervold
• Alexander S. Lundervold

Characterization of mitochondrial health from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells to cerebral organoids derived from induced pluripotent stem cells

• Angela Duong
• Alesya Evstratova
• Ana C. Andreazza

Astrocytic expression of the Alzheimer’s disease risk allele, ApoEε4, potentiates neuronal tau pathology in multiple preclinical models

• Angela Marie Jablonski
• Bhavya Voleti

Effects of the sigma-1 receptor agonist blarcamesine in a murine model of fragile X syndrome: neurobehavioral phenotypes and receptor occupancy

• Samantha T. Reyes
• Robert M. J. Deacon
• Frederick T. Chin

Magnetic domains oscillation in the brain with neurodegenerative disease

• Gunther Kletetschka
• Robert Bazala
• Eva Svecova

Right frontal anxiolytic-sensitive EEG ‘theta’ rhythm in the stop-signal task is a theory-based anxiety disorder biomarker

• Shabah M. Shadli
• Lynne C. Ando
• Neil McNaughton

Role of miRNAs shuttled by mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles in modulating neuroinflammation

• Debora Giunti
• Chiara Marini
• Antonio Uccelli

Position sensitive measurement of trace lithium in the brain with NIK (neutron-induced coincidence method) in suicide

• J. Schoepfer
• R. Gernhäuser

Major oscillations in spontaneous home-cage activity in C57BL/6 mice housed under constant conditions

• Karin Pernold
• Eric Rullman
• Brun Ulfhake

Involvement of the dopaminergic system in the reward-related behavior of pregabalin

• Yusuf S. Althobaiti
• Farooq M. Almutairi
• Zahoor A. Shah

A high-density electroencephalography study reveals abnormal sleep homeostasis in patients with rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder

• Amandine Valomon
• Brady A. Riedner
• Melanie Boly

MEG signatures of long-term effects of agreement and disagreement with the majority

• V. Klucharev
• A. Shestakova

Stroke prediction in patients presenting with isolated dizziness in the emergency department

• June-sung Kim
• Hong Jun Bae
• Won Young Kim

Age-dependent and region-specific alteration of parvalbumin neurons, perineuronal nets and microglia in the mouse prefrontal cortex and hippocampus following obesogenic diet consumption

• Amy C. Reichelt
• Claire A. Lemieux
• Lisa M. Saksida

Recording site placement on planar silicon-based probes affects signal quality in acute neuronal recordings

• Richárd Fiáth
• Domokos Meszéna
• István Ulbert

Amplification of potential thermogenetic mechanisms in cetacean brains compared to artiodactyl brains

• Paul R. Manger
• Nina Patzke

Maternal stress during pregnancy alters fetal cortico-cerebellar connectivity in utero and increases child sleep problems after birth

• Marion I. van den Heuvel
• Jasmine L. Hect
• Moriah E. Thomason

An anomaly detection approach to identify chronic brain infarcts on MRI

• Kees M. van Hespen
• Jaco J. M. Zwanenburg
• Hugo J. Kuijf

The neurodynamic treatment induces biological changes in sensory and motor neurons in vitro

• Giacomo Carta
• Giovanna Gambarotta
• Federica Fregnan

Optimal flickering light stimulation for entraining gamma waves in the human brain

• Kanghee Lee
• Yeseung Park
• Ki Woong Kim

Two-photon GCaMP6f imaging of infrared neural stimulation evoked calcium signals in mouse cortical neurons in vivo

• Attila Kaszas
• Gergely Szalay
• David Moreau

The Aβ(1–38) peptide is a negative regulator of the Aβ(1–42) peptide implicated in Alzheimer disease progression

• Maa O. Quartey
• Jennifer N. K. Nyarko
• Darrell D. Mousseau

Drinking coffee enhances neurocognitive function by reorganizing brain functional connectivity

• Sung Hoon Kang
• Jung Bin Kim

The impact of multisensory integration and perceptual load in virtual reality settings on performance, workload and presence

• Matteo Marucci
• Gianluca Di Flumeri
• Pietro Aricò

CuATSM improves motor function and extends survival but is not tolerated at a high dose in SOD1 G93A mice with a C57BL/6 background

• Jeremy S. Lum
• Mikayla L. Brown
• Justin J. Yerbury

Underlying neurological mechanisms associated with symptomatic convergence insufficiency

• Tara L. Alvarez
• Mitchell Scheiman
• Bharat B. Biswal

Paternal exposure to a common pharmaceutical (Ritalin) has transgenerational effects on the behaviour of Trinidadian guppies

• Alex R. De Serrano
• Kimberly A. Hughes
• F. Helen Rodd

Behavioral arrest and a characteristic slow waveform are hallmark responses to selective 5-HT 2A receptor activation

• April Contreras
• Matthew Khumnark
• Dustin J. Hines

Focused ultrasound mediated blood–brain barrier opening is safe and feasible in a murine pontine glioma model

• Zachary K. Englander
• Hong-Jian Wei
• Cheng-Chia Wu

Basmisanil, a highly selective GABA A -α5 negative allosteric modulator: preclinical pharmacology and demonstration of functional target engagement in man

• Joerg F. Hipp
• Frederic Knoflach
• Maria-Clemencia Hernandez

Spatial memory deficiency early in 6xTg Alzheimer’s disease mouse model

• Shinwoo Kang
• Keun-A Chang

The gut microbiome is associated with brain structure and function in schizophrenia

Static and dynamic functional connectivity supports the configuration of brain networks associated with creative cognition

• Abhishek Uday Patil
• Sejal Ghate
• Chih-Mao Huang

Digital signatures for early traumatic brain injury outcome prediction in the intensive care unit

• Anil K. Palepu
• Aditya Murali
• Robert D. Stevens

LSD-stimulated behaviors in mice require β-arrestin 2 but not β-arrestin 1

• Ramona M. Rodriguiz
• Vineet Nadkarni
• William C. Wetsel

Modified wavelet analysis of ECoG-pattern as promising tool for detection of the blood–brain barrier leakage

• Anastasiya Runnova
• Maksim Zhuravlev
• Jurgen Kurths

Adrenergic inhibition facilitates normalization of extracellular potassium after cortical spreading depolarization

• Hiromu Monai
• Shinnosuke Koketsu
• Hajime Hirase

An atlas for human brain myelin content throughout the adult life span

• Adam V. Dvorak
• Taylor Swift-LaPointe
• Shannon H. Kolind

Immediate and after effects of transcranial direct-current stimulation in the mouse primary somatosensory cortex

• Carlos A. Sánchez-León
• Isabel Cordones
• Javier Márquez-Ruiz

Human brain dynamics in active spatial navigation

• Tien-Thong Nguyen Do
• Chin-Teng Lin
• Klaus Gramann

Reading without phonology: ERP evidence from skilled deaf readers of Spanish

• Brendan Costello
• Sendy Caffarra
• Manuel Carreiras

Alterations in reward network functional connectivity are associated with increased food addiction in obese individuals

• Soumya Ravichandran
• Ravi R. Bhatt
• Arpana Gupta

Disease progression modelling from preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to AD dementia

• Soo Hyun Cho
• Sookyoung Woo
• Sang Won Seo

The structure dilemma in biological and artificial neural networks

• Thomas Pircher
• Bianca Pircher
• Andreas Feigenspan

Voluntary intake of psychoactive substances is regulated by the dopamine receptor Dop1R1 in Drosophila

• Shun Hiramatsu
• Toshiharu Ichinose

The contribution of platelets to peripheral BDNF elevation in children with autism spectrum disorder

• Cristan A. Farmer
• Audrey E. Thurm
• Joan C. Han

Dopamine-loaded nanoparticle systems circumvent the blood–brain barrier restoring motor function in mouse model for Parkinson’s Disease

• Victoria Monge-Fuentes
• Andréia Biolchi Mayer
• Márcia Renata Mortari

NK1 antagonists attenuate tau phosphorylation after blast and repeated concussive injury

• Frances Corrigan
• Ibolja Cernak
• Robert Vink

Nicotine suppresses Parkinson’s disease like phenotypes induced by Synphilin-1 overexpression in Drosophila melanogaster by increasing tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine levels

• Angel Carvajal-Oliveros
• Carmen Domínguez-Baleón
• Enrique Reynaud

Free-water diffusion tensor imaging improves the accuracy and sensitivity of white matter analysis in Alzheimer’s disease

• Maurizio Bergamino
• Ryan R. Walsh
• Ashley M. Stokes

A functional spiking neuronal network for tactile sensing pathway to process edge orientation

• Adel Parvizi-Fard
• Mahmood Amiri
• Nitish V. Thakor

The difficulty to model Huntington’s disease in vitro using striatal medium spiny neurons differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells

• Kim Le Cann
• Alec Foerster
• Angelika Lampert

Hippocampus-retrosplenial cortex interaction is increased during phasic REM and contributes to memory consolidation

• Daniel Gomes de Almeida-Filho
• Bruna Del Vechio Koike
• Claudio Marcos Queiroz

Machine learning-based classification of mitochondrial morphology in primary neurons and brain

• Garrett M. Fogo
• Anthony R. Anzell
• Thomas H. Sanderson

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Specialized clinician researchers in the Department of Neurology at Mayo Clinic collaborate to carry therapeutic concepts from inception as ideas, through safety and efficacy testing, to development as effective treatments for epilepsy, movement disorders, dementias, stroke, neuro-oncology, multiple sclerosis and other conditions.

The Department of Neurology at Mayo Clinic is engaged in basic and clinical research to understand the underlying cause of complex neurological diseases and conditions and translate research discoveries into new treatments. As research, education and practice intersects, Mayo Clinic is redefining the future of patient care by developing more-effective, less-invasive and cost-effective treatments.

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Highly collaborative research efforts span Mayo Clinic's campuses in Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona; Jacksonville, Florida; Rochester, Minnesota; and dozens of collaborating institutions throughout the world. Collectively, this work enables the neurology researchers to apply the latest in research to treat epilepsy, stroke, chronic pain and migraine; neuromuscular diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease; and studies of cancers of the brain and nervous system (neuro-oncology).

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Editorial: Insights in pediatric neurology: 2021

1 Division of Brain Science, Institute of Pediatric Research, Children's Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China

Pasquale Striano

2 IRCCS “Giannina Gaslini”, Genova, Italy

3 Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genova, Genova, Italy

Jo M. Wilmshurst

4 Paediatric Neurology Division, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

Over the past few years, scientists have made exceptional achievements, resulting in major advancements in the rapidly evolving field of pediatric neurology. This Research Topic contains 19 articles (including 15 original research articles, one brief research report, two case reports, and one review), with contributions from 209 authors from 13 countries. The theme focuses on the most recent discoveries, latest advances, ongoing challenges, and future perspectives in the field of pediatric neurology. Diverse topics are covered inclusive of the international consensus recommendations for CDKL5 deficiency disorder, and the neurological and psychological presentation in children, and young populations with COVID Infection. The collection includes new findings and scales in pediatric psychiatry and psychotherapy and the diagnosis and intervention of different pediatric neurological disorders.

Multinational and multi-center cooperative research is the highlight of this topic. The CDKL5 kinase gene encoding mutations rank amongst the most common genetic childhood epilepsies and can manifest as the severe neurodevelopmental condition CDD ( CDKL5 deficiency disorder) ( 1 ). One contribution to this Research Topic by Amin et al. involved 18 pediatric medical and research institutions from the United Kingdom, Spain, France, the United States of America, Australia, and Italy, aiming to provide international expert consensus on recommendations for CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder that will aid approaches to standardize and improve care for individuals with CDD. As a rare subacute complication of intrathecal or high-dose Methotrexate (MTX) administration stroke-like syndrome (SLS) can occur. Santangelo et al. from 12 Italian clinical and research institutes retrospectively described patients diagnosed with SLS at four major referral centers for Pediatric Hematology-Oncology. The results supported previous findings but in addition, found a linear correlation between age and disease severity.

Epilepsy is one of the most common pediatric neurological disorders. The antiseizure effect of the ketogenic diet (KD) is the focus of recent pediatric neuroclinical and basic fields ( 2 – 7 ), but there is still a need for multicenter studies in other pediatric neurological diseases.

Fang et al. reported on children with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) and cognitive impairment, from 10 major city hospitals in China, for the efficacy and safety of KD to manage these co-morbidities. They found that KD could reduce seizure frequency and potentially improve cognition and behavior for this group. Yuan et al. analyzed the interictal discharges (IID) from pre-operative surface-electrode electroencephalograms (EEG) and compared the IID pattern changes post surgical excision of epileptogenic tubers in preschool children with TSC-related epilepsy. Those with post-operative seizure freedom were more likely to have non-IIDs vs. those with new focal IIDs were less likely to have seizure freedom at 3-year follow-up. Baker et al. investigated patients with infantile spasms (IS) for their longitudinal health outcomes post prednisolone (PRED) compared to Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH) treatment characterized using a phenome-wide association study. The findings were similar, across neurological and non-neurological outcomes. In addition, Makridis et al. retrospectively evaluated the outcome of 16 children with epilepsy who were treated with cenobamate, a drug for the treatment of adults with focal-onset epilepsy. The agent was effective and well-tolerated, suggesting that it could be a novel treatment for pediatric patients.

Yu et al. presented a Chinese patient with mild developmental delay who was found to have a de novo truncating variation in SATB1 . Their study enhances the knowledge gap on the prognosis and treatment of rare neurological developmental disorders caused by gene mutations.

The current series on the neurological impact of COVID-19 on children has focused on severe multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) with neurologic symptoms or other rare neurologic sequelae. Riva et al. describe a large group of children who had been infected by COVID-19, discussing their neurological complications and investigating these findings in relation to disease severity and population demographics. Except for headaches, the group found that neurological manifestations are an unusual presenting feature, and disease severity was not related to the pre-existing medical state. Guido et al. assessed the long-term outcome psychological consequences of COVID-19 infection on children and found that some symptoms were still present 3–5 months after infection. The data demonstrate that long-COVID presents psychological and ongoing cognitive issues, requiring intervention to avoid compromise on the quality of life of children and adolescents.

Learning and memory impairments have been the focus of pediatric neuropsychiatry and psychology due to the association between reading achievement and socioeconomic status ( 8 , 9 ). An exploration of brain volume in patients with dyslexia by Ligges et al. found that reading deficits in those affected have gray matter volume variances in the reading network compared to unaffected readers. Behavioral improvement in reading skills was identified in different brain anatomical patterns, supporting the notion that dyslexia has lifelong consequences requiring consistent support in educational and professional career pathways. Stubberud et al. demonstrated that following pediatric acquired brain injury (pABI), diverse medical factors are associated with functional school outcomes. The study supported reintroduction to school with personalized programs tailored to the child's specific needs. Early identification and intervention of children at risk of learning disorders (LD) may improve outcomes. This tool is lacking in mainland China. The Preschool Learning Skills Scale was adapted by Yao et al. , who created a Chinese version. This adapted version was then investigated for its validity and reliability and found to have good reliability and validity. In addition, a review by Melillo et al. explores the debate on whether Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may be related to interregional brain functional disconnectivity as part of maturational delays in brain networks, in particular, the role of the inhibition of retained primitive reflexes (RPRs).

The early predictive value of novel parameters and markers in the diagnosis and prognosis of childhood neurological diseases has also been a key area of research in recent years ( 10 ). In pediatric Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) Jin et al. explored cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament light chain (CSF-NfL) levels as a potential prognostic biomarker and found that high CSF-NfL levels predict worse motor function and poor short-term prognosis of pediatric GBS. Pizzo et al. evaluated the incidence and prognostic value of brain MRI lesions and increased cerebrospinal fluid protein in children with Guillain-Barré syndrome. The results suggest a correlation between the MRI score, CSF protein, and prognosis. Du et al. retrospectively analyzed manifestations of cerebral paragonimiasis in children through neuroimaging. They found that lesions were mostly located in the cerebral parenchyma plus involved adjacent meninges, which could be of diagnostic value. Ma et al. found that independent ambulation as a milestone combined with the reading-frame rule significantly improved the early diagnosis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

The application of new technologies and methods in clinical diagnosis and treatment is also reflected in this special topic. Liu et al. investigated novel biomarkers and mechanisms related to Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) progression. The results demonstrated that CD28, FAS , and IFIT5 downregulation may be associated with disease progression. For patients with FRDA, pathogenesis may be related to the RNA regulatory pathway driven by NEAT1-hsa-miR-24-3p-CD28. Vališ et al. using the Czech National Registry for multiple sclerosis reported on affected children treated with disease-modifying drugs in 2013–2020.

In conclusion, the present clinical studies shed light on progress in Pediatric Neurology and its future challenges. We hope that the information gathered from this Research Topic will inspire, update and provide guidance to researchers in the field.

Author contributions

JW is the leader of the Research Topic. HN wrote the draft. JW and PS reviewed the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Growth Hormone Injections May Have ‘Seeded’ Alzheimer’s in Some People, Study Suggests

Injections of no-longer-used growth hormone derived from cadavers may have “seeded” Alzheimer’s in some people, small study suggests

Carissa Wong, Nature magazine

Elon Musk’s Neuralink Has Implanted Its First Chip in a Human Brain. What’s Next?

The wealthiest person on Earth has taken the next step toward a commercial brain interface

Ben Guarino

Zapping the Vagus Nerve Could Relieve Some Long COVID Symptoms

Ongoing research shows electrical vagus nerve stimulators could relieve some long COVID symptoms. But are the expensive devices worth the price?

A Rare Visual Disorder Twists Faces Out of Shape

New studies unlock the mysteries of prosopometamorphopsia, a disorder that distorts faces. One woman’s condition improves when she wears orange-tinted glasses

Jaimie Seaton

Could Blood Transfusions and Tissue Transplants Spread Certain Dementias?

Scattered evidence suggests that aberrant proteins act as “seeds” to transmit neurodegenerative disease, but the jury is still out

Esther Landhuis

Transgender People’s Neurological Needs Are Being Overlooked

Migraine, stroke and epilepsy disproportionately affect members of the transgender community—but neurologists are often unprepared to respond

Z Paige L'Erario

How Does Your Brain Remember and Retrieve Words?

Here's a look at how the brain uses its mental dictionary to remember and retrieve language

Nichol Castro, The Conversation

Man with Parkinson’s Walks Smoothly thanks to an Experimental Spinal Implant

Electrical stimulation to the lower spine has improved the mobility of a man with Parkinson’s disease for the past two years, but researchers say larger clinical trials are needed to assess the device  

Emily Waltz, Nature magazine

Scientists Tickle Rats and Discover Brain’s ‘Play Spot’

By inhibiting part of rats’ brain stem, scientists may have found the play center of the brain

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How Dangerous Are Soccer Concussions? They May Cause Lasting Damage

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Cutting-edge therapy shrinks tumors in early glioblastoma trial

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A collaborative project to bring the promise of cell therapy to patients with a deadly form of brain cancer has shown dramatic results among the first patients to receive the novel treatment.

In a paper published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Mass General Cancer Center shared the results for the first three patient cases from a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating a new approach to CAR-T  therapy for glioblastoma.

Just days after a single treatment, patients experienced dramatic reductions in their tumors, with one patient achieving near-complete tumor regression. In time, the researchers observed tumor progression in these patients, but given the strategy’s promising preliminary results, the team will pursue strategies to extend the durability of response.

Left: MRI in Participant 3 before infusion. Right: After infusion on day five.

Image courtesy of The New England Journal of Medicine

“This is a story of bench-to-bedside therapy, with a novel cell therapy designed in the laboratories of Massachusetts General Hospital and translated for patient use within five years, to meet an urgent need,” said co-author Bryan Choi , a neurosurgeon at Harvard-affiliated Mass General and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. “The CAR-T platform has revolutionized how we think about treating patients with cancer, but solid tumors like glioblastoma have remained challenging to treat because not all cancer cells are exactly alike and cells within the tumor vary. Our approach combines two forms of therapy, allowing us to treat glioblastoma in a broader, potentially more effective way.”

The new approach is a result of years of collaboration and innovation springing from the lab of Marcela Maus , director of the Cellular Immunotherapy Program and an associate professor at the Medical School. Maus’ lab has set up a team of collaborating scientists and expert personnel to rapidly bring next-generation genetically modified T cells from the bench to clinical trials in patients with cancer.

“We’ve made an investment in developing the team to enable translation of our innovations in immunotherapy from our lab to the clinic, to transform care for patients with cancer,” said Maus. “These results are exciting, but they are also just the beginning — they tell us that we are on the right track in pursuing a therapy that has the potential to change the outlook for this intractable disease. We haven’t cured patients yet, but that is our audacious goal.”

CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) therapy works by using a patient’s own cells to fight cancer — it is known as the most personalized way to treat the disease. A patient’s cells are extracted, modified to produce proteins on their surface called chimeric antigen receptors, and then injected back into the body to target the tumor directly. Cells used in this study were manufactured by the Connell and O’Reilly Families Cell Manipulation Core Facility of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.

CAR-T therapies have been approved for the treatment of blood cancers, but the therapy’s use for solid tumors is limited. Solid tumors contain mixed populations of cells, allowing some malignant cells to continue to evade the immune system’s detection even after treatment with CAR-T. Maus’ team is working to overcome this challenge by combining two previously separate strategies: CAR-T and bispecific antibodies, known as T-cell engaging antibody molecules. The version of CAR-TEAM for glioblastoma is designed to be directly injected into a patient’s brain.

In the new study, the three patients’ T cells were collected and transformed into the new version of CAR-TEAM cells, which were then infused back into each patient. Patients were monitored for toxicity throughout the duration of the study. All patients had been treated with standard-of-care radiation and temozolomide chemotherapy and were enrolled in the trial after disease recurrence.

• A 74-year-old man had his tumor regress rapidly but transiently after a single infusion of the new CAR-TEAM cells.
• A 72-year-old man was treated with a single infusion of CAR-TEAM cells. Two days after receiving the cells, an MRI showed a decrease in the tumor’s size by 18 percent. By day 69, the tumor had decreased by 60 percent, and the response was sustained for more than six months.
• A 57-year-old woman was treated with CAR-TEAM cells. An MRI five days after the infusion showed near-complete tumor regression.

The authors note that despite the remarkable responses among the first three patients, they observed eventual tumor progression in all the cases, though in one case, there was no progression for over six months. Progression corresponded in part with the limited persistence of the CAR-TEAM cells over the weeks following infusion. As a next step, the team is considering serial infusions or preconditioning with chemotherapy to prolong the response.

“We report a dramatic and rapid response in these three patients. Our work to date shows signs that we are making progress, but there is more to do,” said co-author Elizabeth Gerstner, a Mass General neuro-oncologist.

In addition to Choi, Maus, and Gerstner, other authors are Matthew J. Frigault, Mark B. Leick. Christopher W. Mount, Leonora Balaj, Sarah Nikiforow, Bob S. Carter, William T. Curry, and Kathleen Gallagher.

The study was supported in part by the National Gene Vector Biorepository at Indiana University, which is funded under a National Cancer Institute contract.

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121 Original Neuroscience Research Topics

Now, wouldn’t it be great if you had a list of awesome neuroscience research topics to choose from? Our PhD dissertation help would definitely make writing a thesis or dissertation a lot easier. Well, the good news is that we have a long list of neuroscience paper topics for you right here.

The list of topics is updated periodically, so you will surely be able to find a unique topic; something that nobody has though of yet. And yes, you can use any of our topics for free.

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To write a good dissertation, you need more than just our interesting neuroscience topics. Your supervisor expects you to make some progress pretty quickly, so you really need all the help you can get. You can get all the assistance you need to get started quickly from our dissertation experts and you’ll also find the following guide useful:

Set up your project and conduct the necessary research and data analysis. Don’t forget to think about an interesting, captivating thesis statement. Start by writing the first chapter of the dissertation, the introduction. This will provide your readers with comprehensive background information about your study. Write the Literature Review chapter. This will take some time, especially if you are dealing with a popular subject. Write the Methodology chapter. This is basically an iteration and in-depth description of each and every method you have used to collect the data. Write the Results chapter. In this chapter, you will present your readers the results of your research. You don’t need to provide your own take on the data yet. Next comes the Discussion (or Analysis) chapter. This is where you are free to discuss your results and show your readers how they support your thesis. Finally, the Conclusion chapter wraps everything up. You can summarize your methods, results and analysis and make it clear that your paper has answered all the relevant research questions. Write the References section and the Appendices section. Edit and proofread your work thoroughly to make sure you don’t lose points over some minor mistakes – or have our expert proofreaders and editors do it for you.

This step-by-step guide applies to any thesis or dissertation. However, before you even get this far, you need a great topic to start with. Fortunately, we have 121 brand new topics for you right here on this page.

Interesting Neuroscience Topics

If you are looking for some of the most interesting neuroscience topics, you have definitely arrived at the right place. Our experts have put together the best list of ideas for you:

• Research the occurrence of cerebrovascular disease in the United States
• What causes a headache?
• An in-depth look at muscular dystrophy
• The causes of multiple sclerosis
• Talk about neuroregeneration
• Define cognitive neuroscience
• Everything about dementia
• Study brain development from birth to age 2
• What causes Parkinson’s disease?
• The function of peripheral nerves
• What are vestibular disorders?
• Pain and the science behind it
• An in-depth analysis of stem cells

Engaging Topics in Neuroscience

Are you looking for some engaging topics in neuroscience? If you want the best ideas, all you have to do is take a look at the following list and take your pick:

• Research the Down syndrome
• A closer look at ADHD
• What causes brain tumors?
• What causes epilepsy episodes?
• Research the occurrence of schizophrenia in the UK
• An in-depth look at brain stimulation
• Treating severe depression in young adults
• Improving memory in the adult population
• The importance of sleep for brain health
• Mapping the human brain

Comprehensive Neuroscience Topic for Every Student

The nice thing about our blog is that we have a comprehensive neuroscience topic for every student. Even better, all our topics are relatively simple, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time doing research:

• The future of brain implants
• The processes behind depression
• The role of dopamine
• How are emotions created?
• Love starts in your brain, not your heart
• ADHD behavior and brain activity
• Effects of illegal drugs on dopamine production
• How does dyslexia manifest itself?
• Early stages of Schizophrenia
• The link between gut bacteria and the brain
• Studying the brains of people with a high IQ

Neuroscience Research Questions

The best way to get ideas for your next paper is to take a look at some original neuroscience research questions. Here are some that should get you started right away:

• How do brain tumors cause damage?
• What causes substance addiction?
• What role does the brain play in autistic spectrum disorders?
• Does being a vegetarian influence your brain?
• What causes chronic migraines?
• Why is Pierre Paul Broca’s work important?
• Why is stress so dangerous for the brain?
• How do genes influence the onset of Alzheimer’s disease?
• What can cause a brain tumor?
• Does music affect the human brain?
• Can repeated head injuries damage the brain? (think about modern sports)
• What does being Bipolar I mean?

Easy Neuroscience Paper Topics

Our experts have created a list of easy neuroscience paper topics for you. You could start writing your thesis in no time if you choose one of these great ideas:

• What causes epilepsy?
• A closer look at Alzheimer’s disease
• What can cause a loss of feeling?
• The effects of dementia on the brain
• The symptoms of Parkinson’s disease
• What can cause memory loss?
• Mitigating headaches without medication
• The effects of a mild stroke
• Talk about Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
• What can cause a lack of coordination?

Neuroscience Research Topics for College Students

We have a list of awesome neuroscience research topics for college students and you can use any one of them for free. Take a look at our best ideas yet:

• Can the brain be linked to substance abuse?
• How does the brain recognize people?
• Latest development in brain surgery
• An in-depth look at neuroplasticity
• Innovative medication for treating brain disorders
• Treating Alzheimer’s in 2023
• How damaging is Cannabis for the brain?

Cognitive Neuroscience Research Topics

If you want to talk about something in cognitive neuroscience, we have put together the best and most interesting cognitive neuroscience research topics:

• The role played by neurons in our body
• What is Magnetoencephalography?
• How difficult is it to map the entire brain?
• Define consciousness from a neurological POV
• How does our brain affect our perception?
• Discuss Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation procedures
• Latest advancements in Functional magnetic resonance imaging

Brain Research Topics

Brain research is a very interesting thing to talk about, especially since we are still struggling to understand how certain things work. Take a look at some amazing brain research topics:

• Study the brain development of an infant
• Brain tumor stages
• The effect of social media on the human brain
• Multiple sclerosis treatment options
• What can cause muscular dystrophy?
• Discuss 3 cerebrovascular diseases
• Interesting breakthroughs in cellular neuroscience
• Talk about our brain’s problem-solving abilities
• The effects of sugar on brain chemistry

Neurobiology Topics

We agree, researching a topic in neurobiology is not easy. However, with the right neurobiology topics, you could write an awesome thesis without spending years working on it:

• Research the role of the amygdala
• What are brain neurotransmitters?
• The causes of posttraumatic stress disorder
• How do we recognize a bipolar disorder?
• The importance of hormones
• Talk about experimental psychology

Behavioral Neuroscience Research Topics

Do you want to write your dissertation on a behavioral neuroscience topic? Our experts have compiled a list of the most interesting behavioral neuroscience research topics for you:

• The processes behind sensation
• How does the brain control our movement?
• An in-depth look at motivated behavior
• Best way to diagnose a sleep disorder
• Improving success at academic activities
• How does your brain perceive the environment?

Cool Neuroscience Topics

We have some very cool neuroscience topics right here and the good news is that they’re all relatively easy. The list has been updated recently and new topics have been added:

• Effects of plant-based diets
• The life and work of Cornelia Bargmann
• Discuss a breakthrough in neurotech
• 3D brain function mapping
• Discuss the importance of brain implants
• The life and work of Róbert Bárány

Controversial Topics in Neuroscience

Just like any other field, neuroscience has its controversies. And what better way to start a dissertation than finding the most controversial topics in neuroscience:

• Discuss the Bayesian brain theory
• Ethics behind wearable brain gadgets
• Discuss postnatal neurogenesis
• Can our brain “deep learn”?
• Invasive brain imaging procedures
• How do we differentiate between good and bad?

Hot Topics in Neuroscience

Did you know that getting hot topics in neuroscience is not overly difficult? This section of our list of topics is updated periodically, so you can definitely find an original idea right here:

• Electrical brain stimulation methods
• Define the concept of Free Will
• Talk about hereditary brain disorders
• How is speech formed?
• Can our brain hibernate?
• What causes aggressive behavior?

Current Topics in Neuroscience

The best way to make your thesis interesting is to write about something that is of great interest. This means you need to choose one of our current topics in neuroscience:

• Cerebellar Neurons that can help you lose weight
• Effects of a meat-based diet
• Latest brain mapping technology
• CT scans in 2023
• Brain implants that can control a computer
• An in-depth look at super-agers

Complex Neurological Research Topics

Are you looking for some complex neurological research topics? If you want to give a difficult topic a try, don’t hesitate to choose one of these excellent ideas:

• An in-depth look at the Demyelinating disease
• The effects of a cerebrovascular stroke
• Bioterrorism in 2023
• Legal issues in neurology
• Dopamine’s link to aggressiveness
• Brain changes that lead to alcohol addiction

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So, can you help me with my thesis? Of course, we can help you with much more than some interesting neuroscience research paper topics. Our experienced professionals are ready to give you the best dissertation assistance on the Internet and make sure you get a top score on your paper. All our university educated ENL writers have extensive experience writing dissertations on any subject and topic you can imagine. These cheap dissertation writing services can deliver a final paper in no time, so don’t hesitate to get in touch with us even if you are on a tight deadline.

Our PhD-holding writers and editors are ready to spring into action right now. We can help you with the research, as well as with thesis writing, editing and proofreading. Moreover, we can write a high quality research paper for any high school, college or university student. Your professor will love our work – guaranteed. Our company has 24/7 customer support, so you can order custom academic content online at any time of day or night. What are you waiting for? Give us a try and get a discount!

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Potential Research Project Topics

To help choose a research mentor with like-minded interests, explore the broad range of neurological investigations our innovative physician-scientists are pursuing.

Topics for research projects, and faculty experts in these areas, include:

• Alzheimer’s disease and memory disorders ( Kinga Szigeti ; Ralph Benedict )
• ATP1A3 gene variation movement disorders ( Allison Brashear )
• Autoimmune Diseases ( Bianca Weinstock-Guttman )
• Botulinum toxin ( Allison Brashear )
• Cerebrovascular Disease ( Robert Sawyer, Jr. ; Marilou Ching ; Linda Harris ; Aaron Taylor )
• Cerebrovascular disease ( Robert Sawyer, Jr. ; Marilou Ching ; Linda Harris ; Aaron Taylor )
• Cholinergic anti-inflammatory system ( Kinga Szigeti )
• Cognitive and behavioral neurosciences ( David Shucard )
• Cognitive disturbances in Multiple Sclerosis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, and PTSD ( David Shucard )
• Cognitive impairment ( Thomas Covey )
• Cognitive processes ( David Shucard ; Thomas Covey )
• Cognitive training ( Thomas Covey )
• Computational Imaging ( Ferdinand Schweser )
• Dystonia ( Allison Brashear )
• EEG ( David Shucard )
• Electroencephalography (EEG) ( Ping Li ; Osman Farooq )
• Electroencephalography (EEG) and Event-Related Potential (ERP) methods ( Thomas Covey )
• Electromyography ( Nicholas Silvestri )
• Electromyography (EMG) ( Gil Wolfe ; Osman Farooq )
• Electrophysiological, behavioral, neuropsychological, immunological, biochemical, and neuroimaging ( David Shucard )
• Epilepsy ( Ping Li ; Joy Parrish ; Jonathan Lopez ; Arie Weinstock ; Osman Farooq ; Sarah Finnegan ; Robert Glover ; Michelle Hartley-McAndrew ; Modhi Alkhaldi )
• Headache Medicine ( Melissa Rayhill ; Ashley Alex )
• Hereditary neuropathy ( Thomas Langan )
• Inverse Problems ( Ferdinand Schweser )
• Leukodystrophy ( Thomas Langan ; Lawrence Wrabetz )
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) ( Ferdinand Schweser )
• Metabolic disorders of childhood ( khalid kakish )
• Movement disorders ( David Lichter ; Thomas Guttuso, Jr. )
• Multiple sclerosis ( David Hojnacki ; Channa Kolb ; Joy Parrish ; Bianca Weinstock-Guttman ; Ralph Benedict )
• Multiple Sclerosis and other neurologic autoimmune diseases. ( Svetlana Primma Eckert )
• Nervous system of both animals and humans ( David Shucard )
• Neuro-obstetrics and gynecology ( Thomas Guttuso, Jr. )
• Neuro-ophthalmology ( Norah Lincoff )
• Neuroimaging ( David Hojnacki ; Ferdinand Schweser ; Robert Zivadinov ; Michael Dwyer, III )
• Neurologic complications of H1N1 in pediatric patients ( Osman Farooq )
• Neurology ( Amit Kandel )
• Neuromuscular disease ( Nicholas Silvestri ; Gil Wolfe ; Edward Fine )
• Neuromuscular outcome measures ( Gil Wolfe )
• Neuromyelitis optica (Devic's Disease) ( David Hojnacki )
• Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder ( Bianca Weinstock-Guttman )
• Neuropsychological Testing ( Ralph Benedict )
• Neuropsychology ( Joy Parrish ; David Shucard )
• Pediatric Concussion ( Osman Farooq )
• Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis and Demyelinating Disorders ( Osman Farooq )
• Pediatric neurology ( Joy Parrish )
• Polysomnography (Sleep Medicine) ( David Shucard )
• Rapid-onset Dystonia-Parkinsonism (RDP) ( Allison Brashear )
• Spasticity after stroke ( Allison Brashear )
• Stroke ( Robert Sawyer, Jr. ; Marilou Ching ; Osman Farooq )
• Vascular Neurology ( Amit Kandel )

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Neurological conditions now leading cause of ill health and disability globally, new analysis finds

Globally, the number of people living with, or dying from, neurological conditions such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, and meningitis has risen substantially over the past 30 years due to the growth and aging of the global population as well as increased exposure to environmental, metabolic, and lifestyle risk factors. In 2021, 3.4 billion people experienced a nervous system condition, according to a major new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021, published in The Lancet Neurology .

The analysis suggests that worldwide, the overall amount of disability, illness, and premature death —a measurement known as disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)—caused by neurological conditions increased by 18% over the past 31 years, rising from around 375 million years of healthy life lost in 1990 to 443 million years in 2021.

The absolute number of DALYs is increasing in large part due to aging and growing populations worldwide.

However, if the impact of demographics is removed through age-standardization, rates of DALYs and deaths caused by neurological conditions have declined by around a third (27% and 34% respectively) worldwide since 1990—largely due to better awareness, vaccination, and global prevention efforts for some conditions such as tetanus (93% decrease in age-standardized rates of DALYs), meningitis (62% decrease), and stroke (39% decrease).

The top 10 contributors to neurological health loss in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy ( brain injury ), migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage), meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications from preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder , and nervous system cancers. Neurological consequences of COVID-19 (cognitive impairment and Guillain-Barré syndrome) ranked 20th, accounting for 2.48 million years of healthy life lost in 2021.

The most prevalent neurological disorders in 2021 were tension-type headaches (around 2 billion cases) and migraines (about 1.1 billion cases). Diabetic neuropathy is the fastest-growing of all neurological conditions.

"The number of people with diabetic neuropathy has more than tripled globally since 1990, rising to 206 million in 2021," said co-senior author Dr. Liane Ong from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington. "This is in line with the increase in the global prevalence of diabetes."

The current study builds on previous GBD analyses to provide the largest and most comprehensive analysis to compare the prevalence and burden (illness and death) of nervous system disorders between countries on a global scale between 1990 and 2021—expanding the number of studied neurological conditions from 15 to 37 that span from birth to later life.

To better reflect that neurological disorders can occur at any stage of life, for the first time, the GBD 2021 Nervous System Disorders Collaborators studied neurodevelopmental disorders and neurological conditions in children and found that they were responsible for almost a fifth (18%) of all DALYs in 2021, accounting for 80 million years of healthy life lost worldwide.

"Every country now has estimates of their neurological burden based on the best available evidence," said lead author Dr. Jaimie Steinmetz from IHME. "As the world's leading cause of overall disease burden, and with case numbers rising 59% globally since 1990, nervous system conditions must be addressed through effective, culturally acceptable, and affordable prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and long-term care strategies."

The study, conducted to inform ongoing advocacy and awareness efforts, will support the WHO's Intersectoral Global Action Plan on Epilepsy and Other Neurological Disorders 2022–2031 (IGAP) that aims to reduce the impact and burden of neurological disorders and improve the quality of life of people with neurological disorders as well as their caregivers and families.

Over 80% of neurological deaths and health loss occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)

Overall, estimates reveal striking differences in nervous system burden between world regions and national income levels. In high-income Asia Pacific and Australasia—regions with the best neurological health—the rate of DALYs and deaths were under 3,000 and 65 per 100,000 people, respectively, in 2021. In these regions, stroke, migraine, dementia, diabetic neuropathy, and autism spectrum disorders accounted for most health loss.

In contrast, in the worst-off regions of western and central sub-Saharan Africa, the rate of DALYs and deaths were up to five times higher (over 7,000 and 198 per 100,000 people, respectively) in 2021, with stroke, neonatal encephalopathy (brain injury), dementia, and meningitis the biggest contributors to years of healthy life lost.

"Nervous system health loss disproportionately impacts many of the poorest countries partly due to the higher prevalence of conditions affecting neonates and children under 5, especially birth-related complications and infections," said Dr. Tarun Dua, Unit Head of WHO's Brain Health unit and one of the co-senior authors of the study.

"Improved infant survival has led to an increase in long-term disability, while limited access to treatment and rehabilitation services is contributing to the much higher proportion of deaths in these countries."

The authors highlight that, as of 2017, only a quarter of countries globally had a separate budget for neurological conditions, and only around half had clinical guidelines. What's more, the medical personnel who care for people with neurological conditions are unevenly distributed around the world, with high-income countries having 70 times more neurological professionals per 100,000 individuals than LMICs.

Prevention needs to be a top priority

"Because many neurological conditions lack cures and access to medical care is often limited, understanding modifiable risk factors and the potentially avoidable neurological condition burden is essential to help curb this global health crisis," said co-lead author Dr. Katrin Seeher, Mental Health Specialist at WHO's Brain Health Unit.

The study quantified the proportion of nervous system burden that was potentially preventable by eliminating known risk factors for stroke, dementia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, encephalitis, meningitis, and intellectual disability.

The analysis suggests that modifying 18 risk factors over a person's lifetime—most importantly, high systolic blood pressure (57% of DALYs)—could prevent 84% of global DALYs from stroke.

Additionally, estimates suggest that controlling lead exposure could reduce the burden of intellectual disability by 63% while reducing high fasting plasma glucose to normal levels could reduce the burden of dementia by around 15%.

"The worldwide neurological burden is growing very fast and will put even more pressure on health systems in the coming decades," said co-senior author Dr. Valery Feigin, Director of Auckland University's National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neuroscience in New Zealand.

"Yet many current strategies for reducing neurological conditions have low effectiveness or are not sufficiently deployed, as is the case with some of the fastest-growing but largely preventable conditions like diabetic neuropathy and neonatal disorders. For many other conditions, there is no cure, underscoring the importance of greater investment and research into novel interventions and potentially modifiable risk factors."

"Nervous system conditions include infectious and vector-borne diseases and injuries as well as non-communicable diseases and injuries, demanding different strategies for prevention and treatment throughout life," said Steinmetz

"We hope that our findings can help policymakers more comprehensively understand the impact of neurological conditions on both adults and children to inform more targeted interventions in individual countries, as well as guide ongoing awareness and advocacy efforts around the world."

Despite these important findings, the authors note several limitations, including that, while they have done their best to capture all nervous system health loss, some conditions were left out because they could not isolate the neurological component, including infections such as HIV, which has a large impact in many parts of the world. While the study uses the best available evidence, estimates are constrained by the quantity and quality of data, especially in LMICs.

Writing in a linked Comment, Professor Wolfgang Grisold, President of the World Federation of Neurology, London, UK (who was not involved in the study), says, "This important new GBD report highlights that the burden of neurological conditions is greater than previously thought. In the next iteration, more attention should be given to neuromuscular diseases, the effects of cancer in the nervous system, and neuropathic pain."

"Comparing the disability caused by conditions with episodic occurrence versus those that cause permanent and progressive disease will remain challenging, because the effects on the individuals vary substantially."

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It’s Time to Reconceptualize What “Imposter Syndrome” Means for People of Color

• Kevin Cokley

How racism, bias, and imposter feelings are intertwined.

The recent pushback against the imposter phenomenon in the media has largely focused on how and why it’s inappropriate for people of color. In this article, the author argues that, while there is merit to these arguments, getting rid of the idea entirely for Black students and workers is a disservice. Instead, he recommends reconceptualizing the term to include new research on how imposterism affects people of color, and urges organizations to better understand how racism, bias, and imposter feelings are intertwined.

Over the past few years, there has been increased attention paid to the imposter phenomenon (a.k.a., imposter syndrome) in the media. Its popularity is understandable given that it’s an intuitive, common-sense concept about a tremendously relatable topic: feeling like a phony on the job. It’s also, at least according to recent review of the literature , fairly common: up to 80% of people have experienced imposter feelings.

• Kevin Cokley is the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor and Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan where he serves as Associate Chair of Diversity Initiatives. He is editor of the forthcoming book The Impostor Phenomenon: Psychological Theory, Research, and Interventions . His Hidden Brain podcast “Success 2.0: The Psychology of Self-Doubt” addresses the corrosive effects of self-doubt and how we can turn that negative voice in our heads into an ally.

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How the Design of Hospitals Impacts Patient Treatment and Recovery

Diana C. Anderson, a BU expert on hospital design, says her patients and clinical work help inform her research and design solutions. Sketch courtesy of Anderson

BU’s Diana C. Anderson is a “dochitect”—a medical doctor and an architect—who says everything in a hospital’s design, from the location of a room to the patterns on the floor, can shape how patients heal

Andrew thurston.

If you’re going into hospital for treatment, you want the best: the finest doctors, the latest medicines, the most-advanced surgical techniques. But the success of your care could also come down to something much more mundane than medical or technical wizardry: the location of your room. Land in an out-of-sight intensive care room and your chances of bouncing back tumble versus getting placed opposite the nursing station—you might even be more likely to die . Other aspects of your hospital room’s design—the position of the bed, the location of the sink, whether there’s a window—may also shape your recovery.

Poor hospital architecture and design could be keeping you laid up, but it doesn’t have to be that way, says Diana C. Anderson , a Boston University geriatrician who is also an expert on hospital design. She studies healthcare facilities with the goal of raising awareness of the potential for the built space to influence care and recovery.

Anderson isn’t just a medical doctor and researcher with a side interest in hospital design. She’s a licensed architect who helps plan hospitals and clinics. In a paper for the independent bioethics think tank, the Hastings Center, Anderson has argued that healthcare architecture is so impactful it should be held to the same standard as medications and surgical procedures. Design, she and her coauthors wrote, can alter behavior, shape patient-clinician interactions, and sway treatment outcomes. A building’s ability to influence—or harm—us must, they argued, be disclosed.

“The built environment should be considered a medical intervention,” says Anderson, a BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine assistant professor of neurology. “We think a lot about the social determinants of health now: loneliness, isolation, socioeconomic status, diet. But the physical determinants of health—the built space around us, and our understanding of how that affects our health on an individual and public health level—is very poorly understood.”

That’s something Anderson is trying to change through her research, and her practice. She calls herself a “dochitect”—a combo that’s so rare, she trademarked the word. Last year, she was selected by the American College of Healthcare Architects to serve on its Council of Fellows .

In recent papers, Anderson has looked at the layout of intensive care units and residential care homes, studied the importance of design that fosters social connections, and examined the health effects of older adults’ access to transitional spaces—like windows, yards, and porches.

“As architects, we have a responsibility to do no harm through our designs,” she says. “What we’re building touches thousands of lives over many years. If data exists that suggests certain design techniques might be harmful, we have a responsibility to harness that research and utilize it in our building codes and guidelines.”

Understanding Good Design and Good Health

Doctor was never part of Anderson’s plan growing up in Montreal, Canada. She calls architecture “a sort of family business.” Her parents were both architects—they ran their own firm together and her dad led McGill University’s architecture school. But as an architecture student, Anderson started getting interested in the design of healthcare facilities. As part of her studies, she took a trip to a renowned tuberculosis clinic turned rehabilitation center in Finland, the Paimio Sanatorium.

“It was a wonderful place—I’d expected a horrible smell and dismal atmosphere,” says Anderson, who instead walked into a building surrounded by trees and suffused with light. “I wanted to understand the research behind that: Why did I have that [positive] reaction? What about the space triggered that response?”

As she toured more healthcare centers, she became fascinated not just by their design, but by the work happening in them.

“It spawned an idea to go and do medicine, partly because I also felt I wanted more contact with people than architecture could bring me. I made the shift over to medical studies, but I could never take off that design hat.”

Like when she took on a residency in a New York City hospital and found many patient beds were in the wrong place.

Architects have the best of intentions when designing spaces, but if they don’t have the clinical knowledge…issues are going to come up. Diana C. Anderson

“I was trained in medical school to always examine a patient from the right-hand side as medical convention, but I would walk into a patient room in New York and the clinical exam table would be pushed up against the wall, so it took me longer to do the exam,” she says. “That’s what the dochitect idea is supposed to bridge: architects have the best of intentions when designing spaces, but if they don’t have the clinical knowledge, those issues are going to come up.”

Next time you’re in a hospital, look down. Are there stripes on the floor? The direction of those lines might seem innocuous, but could have a big influence on the mobility of some people with dementia.

During a clinical fellowship at a San Francisco geriatric facility, Anderson says she and her colleagues found many patients would spend too much time in their rooms. They weren’t getting out and walking, which would slow their recovery: “One day of strict bed rest as an older adult, it’ll take you a week to get that deconditioning reversed—we want people to move.”

One possible reason they were so sedentary, says Anderson: the stripes on the floor all went in the wrong direction.

“If you paint stripes on the floor in front of an exit door, people with certain types of dementias and cognitive impairments will not approach it,” says Anderson, who published a paper in 2022 on the topic and last year completed a review of 20 years of research on long-term residential care environments for Health Environments Research & Design . “If you turn those stripes 90 degrees, people will go out the door.” Among other findings she highlighted in that latest paper: how kitchen-dining areas promote social interaction, outdoor gardens reduce depression, and higher ambient temperatures increase agitation among people with dementia.

“It’s an example of how we might be able to utilize certain design techniques that may cause less harm than others,” says Anderson. She’s the cofounder of a health design lab at Mass General Brigham, which is pursuing funding and conducting a pilot study on how to use technology to reduce delirium in patients in intensive care unit rooms; previous research has shown windowless rooms are associated with an increased risk of acute confusion .

Designing Better Well-Being for Older Adults

Her scrutiny of the health benefits—and potential detriments—of design doesn’t just apply to hospitals and care homes. Anderson is heading an Alzheimer’s Association–funded project to review environmental design and health outcomes related to older adults living in their communities.

“Most older adults are not living in nursing homes, fancy dementia villages, or specialized memory care units; they are in the community, being cared for by their family and friends,” says Anderson, who just wrapped up a three-year fellowship with the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, where she studied cognitive neurology. One particular focus of the new multiyear project is transitional spaces, areas that bridge the inside and the outside. “Do these spaces have an importance for older adults in terms of their social health, their isolation, their loneliness, which we know is a huge risk factor for health issues?”

In a recent study published in the Journal of Aging and Environment , for example, Anderson looked at how the use of transitional spaces changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her colleagues compared older adults’ use of these areas in Boston and Chieti, Italy, finding the Italians were more likely to use these spaces in community with others, while their American peers spent more time in them alone.

Anderson’s latest article, in the AMA Journal of Ethics , argues that designers have a moral obligation to foster social interactions through their work, so crucial is it to our well-being. “Designers of community policies, programs, structures, and spaces should be accountable for promoting social connection,” she and her coauthors write, “to help generate measurable health outcomes, such as longevity.”

Given her unusual dual careers, Anderson is often asked to mentor others interested in healthcare architecture; mostly, she says, new doctors who want to shape the design of the spaces they interact with every day. One question she gets a lot: How do you combine two demanding jobs—architect, doctor—into one?

“I could leave clinical medicine and still have that knowledge and bring that to architecture,” says Anderson, who splits her workweek between the two fields, seeing patients a couple of days a week. “But it’s really through the patient encounters where ideas come up for research studies, for design work. It’s the users of the space that will drive the change we need in health systems.”

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Andrew Thurston is originally from England, but has grown to appreciate the serial comma and the Red Sox, while keeping his accent (mostly) and love of West Ham United. He joined BU in 2007, and is the editor of the University’s research news site, The Brink ; he was formerly director of alumni publications. Before joining BU, he edited consumer and business magazines, including for corporations, nonprofits, and the UK government. His work has won awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the In-House Agency Forum, Folio: , and the British Association of Communicators in Business. Andrew has a bachelor’s degree in English and related literature from the University of York. Profile

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Appendix b: survey methodology, about pew research center’s spring 2023 global attitudes survey.

Results for the survey are based on telephone, face-to-face and online interviews conducted under the direction of Gallup, Kantar Public, Langer Research Associates and Social Research Centre. The results are based on national samples, unless otherwise noted. More details about our international survey methodology and country-specific sample designs are available here . Results for the U.S. survey are based on data from the American Trends Panel.

The American Trends Panel survey methodology

The American Trends Panel (ATP), created by Pew Research Center, is a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. Panelists participate via self-administered web surveys. Panelists who do not have internet access at home are provided with a tablet and wireless internet connection. Interviews are conducted in both English and Spanish. The panel is being managed by Ipsos.

Data in this report is drawn from ATP Wave 124, conducted from March 20 to March 26, 2023, and includes an oversample of Hispanic men, non-Hispanic Black men and non-Hispanic Asian adults to provide more precise estimates of the opinions and experiences of these smaller demographic subgroups. These oversampled groups are weighted back to reflect their correct proportions in the population. A total of 3,576 panelists responded out of 4,058 who were sampled, for a response rate of 88%. The cumulative response rate accounting for nonresponse to the recruitment surveys and attrition is 4%. The break-off rate among panelists who logged on to the survey and completed at least one item is 1%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 3,576 respondents is plus or minus 2.0 percentage points.

Panel recruitment

The ATP was created in 2014, with the first cohort of panelists invited to join the panel at the end of a large, national, landline and cellphone random-digit-dial survey that was conducted in both English and Spanish. Two additional recruitments were conducted using the same method in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Across these three surveys, a total of 19,718 adults were invited to join the ATP, of whom 9,942 (50%) agreed to participate.

In August 2018, the ATP switched from telephone to address-based recruitment. Invitations were sent to a stratified, random sample of households selected from the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File. Sampled households receive mailings asking a randomly selected adult to complete a survey online. A question at the end of the survey asks if the respondent is willing to join the ATP. In 2020 and 2021 another stage was added to the recruitment. Households that did not respond to the online survey were sent a paper version of the questionnaire, $5 and a postage-paid return envelope. A subset of the adults who returned the paper version of the survey were invited to join the ATP. This subset of adults received a follow-up mailing with a $10 pre-incentive and invitation to join the ATP.

Across the five address-based recruitments, a total of 23,176 adults were invited to join the ATP, of whom 20,341 agreed to join the panel and completed an initial profile survey. In each household, one adult was selected and asked to go online to complete a survey, at the end of which they were invited to join the panel. Of the 30,283 individuals who have ever joined the ATP, 12,432 remained active panelists and continued to receive survey invitations at the time this survey was conducted.

The U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File has been estimated to cover as much as 98% of the population, although some studies suggest that the coverage could be in the low 90% range. 2 The American Trends Panel never uses breakout routers or chains that direct respondents to additional surveys.

Sample design

The overall target population for this survey was non-institutionalized persons ages 18 and older living in the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii. It featured a stratified random sample from the ATP in which Hispanic men, non-Hispanic Black men and non-Hispanic Asian adults were selected with certainty. The remaining panelists were sampled at rates designed to ensure that the share of respondents in each stratum is proportional to its share of the U.S. adult population to the greatest extent possible. Respondent weights are adjusted to account for differential probabilities of selection as described in the Weighting section below.

Questionnaire development and testing

The questionnaire was developed by Pew Research Center in consultation with Ipsos. The web program was rigorously tested on both PC and mobile devices by the Ipsos project management team and Pew Research Center researchers. The Ipsos project management team also populated test data that was analyzed in SPSS to ensure the logic and randomizations were working as intended before launching the survey.

All respondents were offered a post-paid incentive for their participation. Respondents could choose to receive the post-paid incentive in the form of a check or a gift code to Amazon.com or could choose to decline the incentive. Incentive amounts ranged from $5 to $20 depending on whether the respondent belongs to a part of the population that is harder or easier to reach. Differential incentive amounts were designed to increase panel survey participation among groups that traditionally have low survey response propensities.

Data collection protocol

The data collection field period for this survey was March 20 to March 26, 2023. Postcard notifications were mailed to all ATP panelists with a known residential address on March 20.

Invitations were sent out in two separate launches: soft launch and full launch. Sixty panelists were included in the soft launch, which began with an initial invitation sent on March 20. The ATP panelists chosen for the initial soft launch were known responders who had completed previous ATP surveys within one day of receiving their invitation. All remaining English- and Spanish-speaking sampled panelists were included in the full launch and were sent an invitation on March 21.

All panelists with an email address received an email invitation and up to two email reminders if they did not respond to the survey. All ATP panelists who consented to SMS messages received an SMS invitation and up to two SMS reminders.

Data quality checks

To ensure high-quality data, the Center’s researchers performed data quality checks to identify any respondents showing clear patterns of satisficing. This includes checking for very high rates of leaving questions blank, as well as always selecting the first or last answer presented. As a result of this checking, eight ATP respondents were removed from the survey dataset prior to weighting and analysis.

The ATP data is weighted in a multistep process that accounts for multiple stages of sampling and nonresponse that occur at different points in the survey process. First, each panelist begins with a base weight that reflects their probability of selection for their initial recruitment survey. These weights are then rescaled and adjusted to account for changes in the design of ATP recruitment surveys from year to year. Finally, the weights are calibrated to align with the population benchmarks in the accompanying table to correct for nonresponse to recruitment surveys and panel attrition. If only a subsample of panelists are invited to participate in the wave, this weight is adjusted to account for any differential probabilities of selection.

Among the panelists who completed the survey, this weight is then calibrated again to align with the population benchmarks identified in the accompanying table and trimmed at the 1st and 99th percentiles to reduce the loss in precision stemming from variance in the weights. Sampling errors and tests of statistical significance take into account the effect of weighting.

The following table shows the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey.

Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request. In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

Dispositions and response rates

© Pew Research Center, 2024

• AAPOR Task Force on Address-based Sampling. 2016. “AAPOR Report: Address-based Sampling.” ↩

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Table of contents, freedom, elections, voice: how people in australia and the uk define democracy, global public opinion in an era of democratic anxiety, most people in advanced economies think their own government respects personal freedoms, more people globally see racial, ethnic discrimination as a serious problem in the u.s. than in their own society, citizens in advanced economies want significant changes to their political systems, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .