Check out some of the papers that were recently published by DMCBH members:
Martin McKeown: Rapid Profiling of EEG Responses to Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease: A Biomarker-Driven Screening Framework
Journal: Biomedicines
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with changes in the brain’s resting electrical activity, measurable via EEG. This study developed a framework for rapidly screening the effects of Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation — mild electrical currents delivered near the ear — on these EEG patterns in PD patients. Testing over 300 different waveforms, the researchers found that certain stimulation patterns, particularly those in the beta frequency range, produced the most consistent changes in their composite EEG biomarker score, with no lingering after-effects detected. While preliminary, the framework offers a structured approach to identifying candidate stimulation protocols for future personalized neuromodulation research.
Teresa Liu-Ambrose: Reference Values of Quadriceps Muscle Thickness Measured by Point-of-Care Ultrasound by Sex and Age Groups in Older Adults
Journal: Canadian Geriatrics Journal
Sarcopenia is an age-related condition involving the loss of muscle mass, strength, and function in older adults. Ultrasound has emerged as a practical bedside tool for measuring muscle thickness, but reference values have been lacking. This study pooled data from 389 older adults across three cohorts to establish age- and sex-specific reference values for quadriceps muscle thickness measured by point-of-care ultrasound. Average quadriceps thickness was 2.0 cm, declining modestly with age at approximately 0.1 cm per decade after 65, with the lowest values in those over 85. These findings support the potential of bedside ultrasound as a feasible muscle assessment tool in older adults.
Teresa Liu-Ambrose: Walking to protect against cognitive decline: the role of APOE genotype and sex
Journal: Biology of sex differences
The APOE ε4 gene variant is a well-known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, but how lifestyle factors like physical activity interact with genetic risk is not fully understood. This study followed nearly 3,000 older Black and white adults over 10 years, examining how walking habits and APOE genotype together influence cognitive decline. APOE ε4 carriers showed steeper cognitive decline overall, while the ε2 variant was protective in females only. Notably, regular walking had the strongest protective effect against cognitive decline in ε4 carriers, regardless of sex. These findings highlight the particular importance of physical activity for individuals at heightened genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
Journal: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene
Cerebral malaria leaves lasting neurological effects in half of child survivors, yet cognitive rehabilitation options in affected regions are scarce. This study tested two interventions in children aged 3-12 who had survived cerebral malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a tablet-based home rehabilitation program called Dino Island, and an objective brain health monitoring tool using brainwave measurements. Both programs proved feasible and well-accepted, with very low dropout rates and positive family feedback. Parents also reported behavioral improvements in their children. The findings support further development of accessible, home-based cognitive rehabilitation and brain monitoring tools for child cerebral malaria survivors in low-resource settings.
Journal: Biological psychiatry
Childhood maltreatment is a major risk factor for depression and PTSD, but its specific effects on brain structure are not well understood. This large study analyzed brain MRI data from over 3,700 participants across multiple sites, examining how abuse and neglect relate to brain structure across age groups and sexes. Effects were most pronounced in young adults, with few significant findings in children. In young adult females, both abuse and neglect were associated with changes in several brain regions involved in memory and emotion. In males, abuse showed widespread effects on brain structure while neglect had minimal impact. These findings highlight that the neurological effects of childhood maltreatment vary meaningfully by age and sex.
Luke Clark: Does the Habit Theory of Addictions Extend to Disordered Gambling?
Journal: Current addiction reports
Habit theory proposes that addiction involves a shift from deliberate, goal-directed behavior to automatic habitual responses, driven by changes in brain circuitry. This review evaluates how well that framework applies to gambling disorder. While some studies using behavioral tasks found limited direct support for habit formation in people with gambling problems, research in real-world gambling settings has found behavioral patterns consistent with habit formation, particularly in slot machine play. The authors conclude that modern gambling products may be especially conducive to habit formation, but better research tools are needed to properly test this in gambling contexts.
Teresa Liu-Ambrose, Roger Tam, Robin Hsiung, Thalia Field: Resistance training and subcortical vascular cognitive impairment: A 12-month randomized trial
Journal: Alzheimer’s & Dementia
Subcortical vascular cognitive impairment is a form of mild cognitive impairment linked to small vessel disease in the brain. This 12-month randomized trial investigated whether progressive resistance training could improve cognitive function in adults with this condition, compared to balance and tone exercises. Resistance training produced a small but significant improvement in cognitive scores overall, with the effect driven primarily by females. It also reduced C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation. The authors conclude that resistance training may offer a modest cognitive benefit in this population, though the effect size was small, and further research is needed.
Ryan Hoiland, Mypinder Sekhon: 3-Dimensional quantification of ischemic brain injury in post-cardiac arrest patients with hypoxic-ischemic brain injury
Journal: Resuscitation
Hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, which occurs when the brain is deprived of oxygen and blood flow, is a serious consequence of cardiac arrest. MRI can detect ischemic brain tissue, but analysis is often limited to simple summary measures. This study developed a semi-automated pipeline to precisely map and quantify brain injury in three dimensions using MRI data from ten post-cardiac arrest patients. Injury was spatially variable across patients but consistently affected regions including the putamen, thalamus, and posterior cortex, with greater involvement in white matter than gray matter. This tool offers a more detailed and reproducible approach to characterizing the pattern and extent of brain injury after cardiac arrest.
Journal: Neurobiology of aging
Dementia research has historically focused on genetics and biological biomarkers, often overlooking the social and lifestyle factors that shape brain aging. The Brain Resilience Study aims to address this gap by recruiting over 1,000 adults aged 50 and older from a large existing British Columbia cohort, collecting a broad range of biological, cognitive, psychosocial, and lifestyle measures alongside pre-existing sociodemographic data. Subsets of participants will also undergo neuroimaging and circadian rhythm assessments. By integrating these diverse data sources, the study aims to create an open research resource for understanding how biological and social factors together contribute to resilience against dementia, with the goal of informing personalized and equitable interventions.
Helen Tremlett: Sex-related and age-related differences in healthcare use before multiple sclerosis symptom onset: a matched cohort study
Journal: Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
People with multiple sclerosis often seek medical care more frequently than average in the years before their diagnosis, but how this varies by sex and age is poorly understood. This study examined physician visit patterns up to 15 years before MS symptom onset in over 2,000 British Columbia residents with MS, compared to a matched non-MS group. Females with MS showed earlier and more sustained increases in healthcare visits across a range of specialties and conditions, including psychiatry and ophthalmology, while males showed more sporadic increases. Those aged 30-49 also showed particularly consistent elevations. These findings suggest that MS has a prolonged prodromal period, with sex- and age-specific patterns that could help inform earlier detection.
Journal: Journal of Neuroinflammation
Autism spectrum disorder is associated with immune dysregulation, including reduced levels of regulatory T cells, which help control inflammation. This study used an animal model to investigate whether transferring healthy regulatory T cells into offspring could reduce immune activation and improve autism-related behaviors. The effects were strongly sex dependent. In males, the transfer reduced inflammatory immune markers and led to improvements in repetitive behaviors, while in females, different cytokine changes were observed alongside improvements in social behavior. Brain gene expression changes were also more pronounced in males. These findings suggest that regulatory T cell therapy may be a promising avenue for addressing immune-related aspects of autism, with important sex-specific considerations.
Journal: Behavioural Brain Research
The hippocampus continuously generates new neurons throughout life, but whether these adult-born neurons or those generated during early development are more important for memory remains unclear. This study used two rat models to separately manipulate each neuronal population and test their roles in working memory. Eliminating adult-born neurons had no effect on working memory performance, while inhibiting neurons born in early postnatal development significantly impaired it. These findings suggest that developmentally-born neurons, rather than adult-born neurons, play a critical role in hippocampal working memory in rats, highlighting important functional differences between neurons depending on when they were generated.
Kiran Soma: Neonatal lipopolysaccharide has long-term effects on steroids and gene expression in the adult mouse brain
Journal: Hormones and Behaviour
Early-life infections can have lasting effects on brain development, potentially by altering stress hormone signaling. This study examined whether immune challenges in newborn mice affected brain steroid levels and gene expression in adulthood. Mice exposed to a bacterial toxin shortly after birth showed elevated levels of several stress-related steroids across multiple brain regions in adulthood, particularly when also exposed to an immune challenge as adults. Gene expression analysis in the hippocampus further revealed lasting effects of early-life immune exposure, including interactions with adult immune challenges and sex-specific patterns. These findings suggest that early-life infections can durably reshape the brain’s hormonal and molecular environment, with potential implications for long-term brain function and behavior.
Luke Clark: Open science practices in behavioral addictions: An exploratory survey
Journal: Journal of behavioural addictions
Open science practices, such as pre-registering studies and publicly sharing data, are important for ensuring research is transparent and reproducible. This survey explored how researchers in the behavioral addictions field currently engage with these practices. Among 83 respondents, attitudes were generally positive, with preregistration and data sharing being the most commonly adopted practices. Early career researchers tended to place greater importance on open science than more established colleagues, suggesting a potential generational shift. Key barriers included insufficient knowledge and fear of errors among early career researchers, and workload and lack of incentives among established researchers. The authors call for greater institutional support and training to promote wider adoption.
Michael Gordon: Modulation of attractive salt taste in Drosophila
Journal: iScience
Animals must carefully regulate salt intake to maintain proper fluid and ionic balance, but the mechanisms by which prior salt consumption influences future salt appetite are not well understood. This study investigated this process in fruit flies, focusing on specialized taste neurons that detect low levels of sodium. Using brain imaging in live flies, the researchers found that a salt-enriched diet specifically suppressed the activity of these neurons in response to salt, but not to sugar, suggesting a sodium-specific regulatory mechanism. This suppression was driven by internal physiological signals rather than simple sensory fatigue. These findings provide insight into how the nervous system adapts taste responses to maintain salt balance.
Luke Clark: Effects of sensory feedback on simulated online slot machine gambling
Journal: Psychology of addictive behaviors: journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors
Slot machines use audiovisual effects accompanying wins as a key design feature, but whether these effects influence gambling behavior in realistic settings is unclear. This preregistered online study assigned participants, including both active gamblers and non-gamblers, to play a realistic slot machine simulator with either enhanced or reduced sensory feedback. Enhanced sensory feedback led to faster play, which could increase losses over time, but did not affect bet size or subjective experience. Game immersion and positive affect were instead predicted by monetary outcomes and individual characteristics such as problem gambling severity, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms, and depression. These findings suggest that both product design and personal vulnerability contribute to gambling-related harm.
Mahmoud Pouladi: High-affinity, structure-validated and selective macrocyclic peptide tools for chemical biology studies of Huntingtin
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Huntington’s disease is a fatal inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by a genetic mutation, with no disease-modifying treatments currently available. A key obstacle to developing therapies has been the limited understanding of the huntingtin protein’s normal function, partly due to a lack of precise chemical tools to study it. This study identified and characterized specialized peptide molecules that bind to the huntingtin protein with high selectivity and precision, confirmed using several advanced structural and chemical techniques. The researchers also found that a partner protein called HAP40 consistently associates with huntingtin regardless of mutation status, shedding light on the protein’s molecular environment. These tools represent a valuable resource for future studies aimed at understanding and targeting huntingtin in disease.
Journal: Journal of neurotrauma
Traumatic brain injury is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, and sleep disturbances and abnormal electrical brain activity following injury may contribute to neurodegeneration. This study examined the effects of repeated mild traumatic brain injury in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, assessing sleep, brain electrical activity, and markers of neural injury one month after injury. While overall sleep patterns were largely unchanged, subtle shifts in brain wave frequencies during sleep were observed in injured mice. Injured mice also showed elevated blood levels of a marker of nerve damage, but no increase in amyloid pathology. These findings suggest that repeated mild brain injury can cause lasting neural injury without necessarily disrupting sleep, triggering seizures, or worsening amyloid accumulation.
Mark Cembrowski: The subiculum: cell-type-specific composition, computation, and function
Journal: Trends in Neurosciences
The hippocampus is a brain region critical for learning and memory, and understanding how information flows out of it is key to understanding these processes. This review focuses on the subiculum, the primary output region of the hippocampus, summarizing recent rodent research on its excitatory neurons across multiple levels of analysis. The authors find that distinct subtypes of excitatory neurons occupy specific spatial zones within the subiculum, suggesting that hippocampal output may be organized into parallel, spatially segregated pathways. This framework helps make sense of existing findings on hippocampal function and provides a foundation for future research into the mechanisms of learning and memory.
Cheryl Wellington: Vascular contribution to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID): proceedings of 2025 workshop of the Jackson Laboratory
Journal: Mammalian genome : official journal of the International Mammalian Genome Society
The first Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Workshop, held in May 2025, brought together researchers to share the latest developments in vascular contributions to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The workshop emphasized neurovascular pathology and its role in dementia, with a focus on understanding underlying mechanisms through experimental models and translating findings toward interventions. It also prioritized career development and fostering diversity in the field. A second workshop is planned for April 2026 at Washington University in St. Louis.
Helen Tremlett: Bridging perspectives on comorbidities in multiple sclerosis: A pilot study with individuals with lived experience and healthcare professionals
Journal: Multiple sclerosis and related disorders
Managing multiple sclerosis becomes significantly more complex when patients have additional health conditions. This qualitative study gathered perspectives from both people living with multiple sclerosis and clinicians through in-depth interviews, exploring how comorbidities affect disease management and daily life. Both groups highlighted that coexisting conditions complicate symptom management and treatment decisions, and emphasized the need for better coordination across healthcare providers. Participants also identified gaps in research on how specific comorbidities, such as insomnia and substance use, affect multiple sclerosis outcomes. The findings call for more integrated, interdisciplinary care models to better support individuals managing multiple sclerosis alongside other health conditions.
