Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found unusually high levels of glutamate – an arousal-related neurotransmitter – in individuals with restless leg syndrome. RLS, as it is known, is a condition in which sufferers have an unyielding urge to move their legs, even as they sleep.

“We may have solved the mystery of why getting rid of patients’ urge to move their legs doesn’t improve their sleep,” a researcher says. “We may have been looking at the wrong thing all along, or we may find that both dopamine and glutamate pathways play a role in RLS.” Click here to read the full story.

As reported in the journal Neurology, African-Americans may be at higher risk than Caucasians of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), contrary to popular belief. In a study, researchers found that African-Americans  had a 47 percent increased risk of MS when compared with Caucasians. Hispanics and Asians had a 58 and 80 percent risk respectively. For more information, click here to read the full article.

What Aundrea Aragon thought was a sinus infection was really a sign of a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak in her brain. After using neuronavigation to find the crack in her skull, doctors were able to seal the link with tissue from Aragon’s nose. Without treatment, the CSF leak could have caused a deadly brain infection. Click here to read the full article.

Researchers at the NYU Langone Medical Center have unearthed a link between the number of cannabinoid receptors in the human brain and post-traumatic stress disorder. The findings, reported in Molecular Psychiatry, are said to highlight the need for a pharmacological treatment specifically for PTSD. “In fact, we know very well that people with PTSD who use marijuana—a potent cannabinoid—often experience more relief from their symptoms than they do from antidepressants and other psychiatric medications. Clearly, there’s a very urgent need to develop novel evidence-based treatments for PTSD,” said one researcher on the study.

New research suggests that Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans who have experienced a blast concussion may have irregular hormone levels linked to hypopituitarism. Studies have recognized that traumatic brain injuries can trigger hypotpituitarismm, which is a decrease in concentrations of the hormone produced at the base of the brain in the pituitary gland. The condition is said to mimic other common post-war ailments, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Click here to read the full story.

Drug-resistant epilepsy can be stopped in mice by transplanting a type of cell into the brain, per a recent study. The one-time transplantation of medial ganglonic eminence (MGE) cells into the hippocampus (the part of the brain associated with seizures) was able to contol seizures in epileptic mice. Researchers conducting the study, a team at the University of California, San Francisco, hope that similar treatment may work in curbing serious forms of epilepsy in humans. Click here for the complete article.

Researchers at the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine have discovered that a protein linked to Parkinson’s disease has the ability to enter and hurt cells the way that viruses do. Known as alpha-synuclein, the protein breaks out of the digestive compartments of the cell once it enters the neuron. This process is similar to that of how a cold virus enters a cell during an infection. The findings could lead to new Parkinson’s treatments, a means to delay its onset or to halt its progression altogether. Click here to read the full story.

Scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have found an unusual mutation that occurs in children with a lethal low-grade brain tumor. The discovery may help classify, diagnose and guide future tumor treatment. Click here to read the full article.

Despite the widespread use of medications to quell bipolar disorder, the way these drugs work is a still a bit of a mystery. But a new study from the University of Michigan Medical School has revealed just what might be happening in brain tissue, suggesting that certain medications help “normalize” genes involved in helping brain cells communicate with each other. For more information, click here to read the full article.

A study, conducted by a 14-year-old investigator, has found that magnetic interference from devices like iPads can change the settings and even deactivate the technology of implantable cardiac devices. The findings, reported in Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics,  were noted after a 4-month old with hydrocephalus developed a shunt malformation when the iPad her mother was holding changed the magnetically programmable settings in a valve meant to control the flow of fluid in her brain. Click here to read the full story.