Human Brain

Health News

Impact of Brain Tumour on Quality of Life

A brain tumour develops when certain genes in a cell's chromosomes become faulty and cease to function properly. These genes typically regulate the rate at which the cell divides and repair genes that correct deficiencies in other genes, as well as genes that should cause the cell to self-destruct if the damage is irreparable. A person may be born with a partial defect in one or more of these genes. Environmental factors may then cause additional mutilation. In a few other cases, however, environmental damage to the genes can be viewed as the sole factor. Behavioural Changes That Brain Tumours Cause Brain tumours and their treatments, in general, can alter a person's behaviour and ability to think. Patients' communication, concentration, and memory skills may suffer, and their personalities may shift. Brain tumours frequently cause personality changes and mood swings. Although the severity of these mood changes varies from person to person, it is relatively common for someone with a brain tumour to experience increased aggression and agitation. A brain tumour may also cause weakness, dizzy spells, poor balance or lack of coordination, personality or behaviour changes, confusion, speech problems, and fits (seizures). However, it is critical to note that the impact of a brain tumour on quality of life is determined by whether the tumour is benign or malignant in nature. Benign Tumour In the case of benign tumours, there is little variation in the patient's quality of life. There may be neurological deficits that can be corrected with regular physiotherapy and rehabilitation. We can keep a close eye on tumour recurrence using serial imaging. In the event of a relapse, the patient may be subjected to radiation or surgery. To answer an underlying question, a benign tumour does not impair quality of life after the ailment has been contracted. Most tumours do not leave residual deficits, making it simple to return to normalcy with timely rehabilitation and psychotherapy. Malignant Tumour The outcome of a malignant brain tumour is determined by the grade of the tumour itself. If the tumour is of Grade 1, the characteristic features that accompany it behave more or less like a benign tumour. However, chemotherapy and radiation are required for a Grade 4 tumour, which causes skin discoloration, hair loss, fatigue, and other physiological changes. As a result, people's quality of life suffers. Nonetheless, with the proper treatment and time, these changes are completely reversible. One thing to remember, regardless of the nature of the tumour, is to maintain a positive attitude toward the illness itself. A strong mind-set greatly aids the patient in overcoming the trauma of having a cancerous brain tumour. A holistic, positive outlook on life can go a long way toward rehabilitating a post-ailment patient. Needless to say, family support and strength go a long way toward a fruitful and blissful life for the patient. (Dr. Ravi Gopal Varma, Lead Consultant Neurosurgery & Program Director - Global Centre of Excellence in Neurosciences, Aster Hospitals Bangalore) Read More► Signs to Detect Vitiligo
Research

Reducing Air Pollution May Improve Brain Development in Children

Having a portable air cleaner in the home can reduce the negative impacts of air pollution on brain development in children, says a new study. The study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found that the children born to mothers who had used the air cleaners had an average full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) that was 2.8-points higher than the group that did not use an air cleaner during pregnancy. "These results, combined with evidence from previous studies, strongly implicate air pollution as a threat to brain development," said researcher Ryan Allen from Simon Fraser University, in Canada. The team recruited 540 pregnant women in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to participate in the study. Ulaanbaatar has some of the worst air quality in the world, well-exceeding guidelines set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The women were less than 18 weeks into their pregnancies and non-smokers who had not previously used air filtering devices in their homes. They were randomly assigned to either the control or intervention group. The intervention group was provided with one or two HEPA filter air cleaners and encouraged to run the air cleaners continuously for the duration of their pregnancies. The air cleaners were removed from the home once the child was born. The researchers later measured the children's FSIQ at four years of age. Children in the intervention group also had significantly greater average verbal comprehension index scores, which is consistent with results from previous observational studies. The research suggests that a child's verbal skills may be particularly sensitive to air pollution exposure. (Agency) Read More► Diabetes, Heart Disease Increase Dementia Risk: Study
Research

Human Brains are Hotter Than

Average human brain temperature is 38.5 degrees Celsius, with deeper brain regions often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, particularly in women during the daytime, finds a study. Normal human brain temperature varies much more than previously thought, and this could be a sign of healthy brain function, said researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory for Molecular Biology, in the UK who produced the first 4D map of healthy human brain temperature. The map overturns several previous assumptions and shows the remarkable extent to which brain temperature varies by brain region, age, sex, and time of day. Importantly, these findings also challenge a widely held belief that human brain and body temperature are the same. The research, published in the journal Brain, also included analysis of data from patients with traumatic brain injury, showing that the presence of daily brain temperature cycles strongly correlates with survival. These findings could be used to improve understanding, prognosis, and treatment of brain injury. "To me, the most surprising finding from our study is that the healthy human brain can reach temperatures that would be diagnosed as fever anywhere else in the body. Such high temperatures have been measured in people with brain injuries in the past, but had been assumed to result from the injury," said Dr. John O'Neill, Group Leader at the MRC Lab. To study the healthy brain, the researchers recruited 40 volunteers, aged 20-40 years, to be scanned in the morning, afternoon, and late evening over one day. In healthy participants, the average brain temperature was 38.5 degrees Celsius, more than two degrees warmer than that measured under the tongue. The study also found that brain temperature varied depending on: time of day, brain region, sex and menstrual cycle, and age. While the brain surface was generally cooler, deeper brain structures were frequently warmer than 40 degrees Celsius; with the highest observed brain temperature being 40.9 degrees Celsius. Across all individuals, brain temperature showed consistent time-of-day variation by nearly 1 degrees Celsius, with highest brain temperatures observed in the afternoon, and the lowest at night. "We found that brain temperature drops at night before you go to sleep and rises during the day. There is good reason to believe this daily variation is associated with long-term brain health a" something we hope to investigate next," O'Neill said. On average, female brains were around 0.4 degrees Celsius warmer than male brains. This sex difference was most likely driven by the menstrual cycle, since most females were scanned in the post-ovulation phase of their cycle, and their brain temperature was around 0.4 degrees Celsius warmer than that of females scanned in their pre-ovulation phase. The results also showed that brain temperature increased with age over the 20-year range of the participants, most notably in deep brain regions, where the average increase was 0.6 degrees Celsius. The researchers propose that the brain's capacity to cool down may deteriorate with age and further work is needed to investigate whether it is linked with the development of age-related brain disorders. (Agency) Read More► Bad Dreams in Older Adults Could Signal Onset of Parkinson's: Study
Health News

Type 2 Diabetes Accelerates Brain Ageing, Cognitive Decline

New York: Scientists have demonstrated that normal brain ageing is accelerated by approximately 26 per cent in people with progressive Type 2 diabetes compared with individuals without the disease, according to a study. There is already strong evidence linking Type 2 diabetes with cognitive decline, yet few patients currently undergo a comprehensive cognitive assessment as part of their clinical care. The results, published today in eLife, suggest that by the time Type 2 diabetes is formally diagnosed, there may already be significant structural damage to the brain. The findings also suggest that the patterns of Type 2 diabetes-related neurodegeneration strongly overlap with those of normal ageing, but that neurodegeneration is accelerated. Sensitive ways to detect diabetes-associated changes to the brain are therefore urgently needed. "Routine clinical assessments for diagnosing diabetes typically focus on blood glucose, insulin levels and body mass percentage," said Botond Antal, a doctoral student at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, US. "However, the neurological effects of Type 2 diabetes may reveal themselves many years before they can be detected by standard measures, so by the time Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed by conventional tests, patients may have already sustained irreversible brain damage," Antal added. The team evaluated the relationship between typical brain ageing and that seen in Type 2 diabetes from a dataset, which includes brain scans and brain function measurements, of 20,000 people aged 50 to 80 years old. The results were then compared with a meta-analysis of nearly 100 other studies. Their analysis showed that both ageing and Type 2 diabetes cause changes in executive functions such as working memory, learning and flexible thinking, and changes in brain processing speed. However, people with diabetes had a further 13.1 per cent decrease in executive function beyond age-related effects, and their processing speed decreased by a further 6.7 per cent compared to people of the same age without diabetes. Further, MRI scans of people with and without diabetes showed that people with diabetes had even more pronounced decreases in gray matter beyond the typical age-related effects -- a further 6.2 per cent decrease in grey matter in the ventral striatum, but also loss of grey matter in other regions, compared with normal ageing. "Our findings suggest that Type 2 diabetes and its progression may be associated with accelerated brain ageing, potentially due to compromised energy availability causing significant changes to brain structure and function," said Lilianne Mujica-Parodi, at the varsity's Director of the Laboratory for Computational Neurodiagnostics. "By the time diabetes is formally diagnosed, this damage may already have occurred. Our results underscore the need for research into brain-based biomarkers for Type 2 diabetes and treatment strategies that specifically target its neurocognitive effects," Mujica-Parodi noted. (Agency) Read More► Does Vitamin D Affect Fertility?
CoronaVirus Updates

How Covid Directly Infects, Causes Damage to Human Kidney Cells

The SARS-CoV-2 virus can directly infect a specialised type of kidney cell, explaining why acute kidney injury is one of the main complications observed in patients with severe Covid-19, finds a study. Primarily known to infect cells in the respiratory tract, physicians were surprised to see that many patients, especially those with severe Covid, were also developing injuries to their kidneys. "It was shocking to hear doctors describe how patients who were healthy suddenly developed kidney injury and needed to go on dialysis after contracting SARS-CoV-2," said Samira Musah, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and medicine at Duke University. "It was clear that the virus was doing something to the kidneys, but it was so early in the pandemic that nobody was sure what was going on," she added. For the new study, described in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, the team worked worked with a pseudovirus version of SARS-CoV-2 on a previously developed model of podocyte cell, a specific type of kidney cell that helps control the removal of toxins and waste from the blood. When the pseudovirus was introduced to the podocyte cell model, the team discovered that the spike protein of the virus could directly bind to numerous receptors on the surface of podocytes. "We found that the virus was especially adept at binding to two key receptors on the surface of the podocytes, and these receptors are abundant in these kidney cells," explained Titilola Kalejaiye, a postdoctoral fellow at Duke. "There was a strong uptake of the virus initially, and we also found that when you increased the dose of the virus, the uptake would increase even further. The virus seemed to have a strong affinity for these kidney cells." Further, the team tested their podocyte model with the real SARS-CoV-2 virus. Just like with the pseudovirus, the team observed that the live version of the virus had a strong affinity for podocytes. Once the virus infected the cells, it damaged the podocytes, causing their long, finger-like structures, which help filter blood, to retract and shrivel. If the injuries to the cells were too severe, the podocytes would die. "Beyond the structural damage, we saw that the virus could hijack the machinery of the podocytes to produce additional viral particles that could spread to infect additional cells," said Maria Blasi, Assistant Professor of medicine at Duke. Now the team hopes to expand their work to study how the different variants of SARS-CoV-2 behave in kidney cells. Read More► Omicron Ups Risk of Upper Airway Infections, Cardiac Arrest in Small Kids
Health News

Not Just Lungs, Smoking Affects

Not just lungs but also every cells of human body and the hard organs like bones and teeth get adversely affected by smoking, said Professor Uma Kumar, Head of Rheumatology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. Kumar said that the first hand smoke and second hand smoke both are equally harmful for health. Expressing concerns on rising smoking habits among women, she said that it may result into infertility, cases of which is also rising these days. Also, smoking may lead to premature birth. People generally think that smoking affects lungs only, but the case is different, it affects every parts and is one of the important risk factors for growing numbers cases related to autoimmune diseases, Kumar said while speaking on the prevention of deaths caused by tobacco on the occasion of World Health Day. The event was organised by Tobacco Free India. Dr Vishal Rao of HCG, Bangalore said that the reason for the rapidly increasing cases of oral cancer in India is tobacco products. To save the lives of 13 lakh Indians annually, it is need of the hour that the strictness on tobacco products should be increased, said eminent economist and BJP's national spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal. Read More► Lung Diseases Causing Bacteria Thrive on Red Blood Cells