Issue 33

Glaucoma: The Silent Thief

Introduction Imagine a silent thief that slowly and methodically robs you of one of your most precious senses: sight. This is glaucoma, a neurodegenerative disease that affects 80 million people

Issue 33

Neurosurgery: Understanding Anatomy & Recovery

Modern day neurosurgery is beautiful yet terrifying. Sterile yet warm and compassionate. We have access to the most precise and accurate diagnostic and imaging technology in the history of mankind.

Issue 33

Alien Hand Syndrome - Neurological Explanation and Medical Cause

A 77-year-old woman is watching TV feeling relaxed after a long day. Suddenly, she is startled by a hand stroking her hair and face. The catch? It was her hand.

Issue 33

Mushrooms for the Mind: Psilocybin’s Potential as an Antidepressant

Introduction Look up at the sky. It’s not the usual color. Instead, the blues and purples swirl together, some pink blurs across, pulsing and shimmering as if it were

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The Different Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinsonian and Essential Tremor

Nearly one million people in the United States alone suffer from Parkinson’s disease (PD), an astounding number and one expected to double by 2040. Being the second most common neurodegenerative disease, understanding Parkinson’s disease and developing new treatments is critical [1].  One

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How Machine Learning Can Improve Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease

You’re sitting in a hospital waiting room. The furniture, the walls, and the air all feel sterile and sanitized. There’s a disproportionate number of tissue boxes for the cramped room, and the doctor informs you that they didn’t identify the disease

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Seeing Faces: Face Pareidolia and its Connection to Parkinson’s

Once you see it, you can’t stop seeing it. A frowny face on your outlet. A look of shock on your bowling ball. Even a colon and the letter D, “:D” – all these things were not designed after human faces, and yet, we

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Whi(te) Does It Matter? Examining the Significance of Altered Diffusion Metrics in Diagnosing Multiple Sclerosis

One of the most prominent neurodegenerative diseases, multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune condition where the immune system attacks the myelin sheath of its own axons. This renders neuronal axons vulnerable and exposed, leaving behind glial lesions/“scars” in brain tissue which are the

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Neuroinflammation after Traumatic Brain Injury Linked to TREM1 and Microglia Activation

Every year, there are over 50 million cases of traumatic brain injury worldwide, making it one of the major causes of death and disability [1]. A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, has two important parts: the primary injury, which happens right as the blow

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Desynchronized brain activity may be the key to Psilocybin-assisted treatment of Depression

In 1957, TIME magazine shocked readers with the cover story “Seeing the Magic Mushroom,” introducing most Americans, for the first time, to psychedelics [1]. The Controlled Substances Act, denoting psilocybin a Schedule 1 drug, halted the first wave of western psychedelic research in 1970,

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New Ginkgo Extract Can Aid Stroke Recovery

An ischemic stroke is a common type of brain injury caused by impaired blood flow to the brain. Currently, the only FDA-approved treatment for strokes is the drug Tissue Plasminogen Activator (TPA), composed of the human TPA protein that breaks down blood clots. However,

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How Astrocytic TDP-43 protein accumulation and dysregulation accelerate neurodegeneration

When most people think of neurodegenerative disease, they probably think of the loss of neurons and corresponding loss of memories or cognitive function. This expected relationship between neurons and neurodegenerative disease makes sense. After all, neurons are the cells that send information throughout the

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Towards the Effective and Safe Treatment of Psychosis and Alzheimer’s Disease

In the U.S. alone, there are 6.2 million people living with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), the most common form of dementia [1]. While this unfortunate reality is generally recognized by the public, a lesser-known fact is that approximately 50% of those suffering

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Improving Sleep Quality in Insomnia with Magnetic Stimulation

Nearly one-third of adults will experience some symptoms of insomnia in their lifetime, whether it be lack of sleep, low sleep quality, or waking up at inappropriately early times [1]. Changes in just sleep quality may not seem like a particularly important issue on

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How Pupillometry Can Help Predict and Detect Mild Alzheimer's Disease

It is commonly said that the “eyes are the windows to the soul.” What if this was actually true for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)?

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Conversations between the lungs and the brain cause COVID headaches

SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19, remains mysterious even in a “post-COVID” era. Researchers have yet to discover the full extent of its expression, especially concerning its neurological effects.

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Mitochondria, The Powerhouse of the Cell? Perhaps Not If You Have ALS

In the United States, baseball plays a large part in sports culture and has captivated families around the nation for decades. In its most popular days, news of baseball greats often overlapped with daily headlines, which is why you’ve probably heard of Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS.

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Probiotics reveal a surprising link between gut microbiota and Alzheimer’s Disease progression

If your doctor told you that eating yogurt every day could reduce your chances of getting Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), how would you react? If you were like me, you’d probably switch to a new doctor.

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Cannabidiol’s Therapeutic Potential for Chronic Pain

Surgery is a powerful tool that enables an abundance of treatments for previously incurable diseases, but it doesn't always lead to a better life for the patient, sometimes due to post-surgical chronic neuropathic pain.

Issue 31

Snoring Is Not That Simple: Snoring And Neurocognition

Understanding Snoring Have you ever shared a dorm room with someone else and been rudely awakened in the wee hours of the morning by your roommate’s snoring? If you've

Issue 31

An Unseen Sickness: Seizures and Brain Cancer

A person can walk around experiencing seizures for months without realizing it. If someone experiencing these odd symptoms...they could risk ignoring what is often the first symptom of a much deadlier disease: brain cancer.

Issue 30

Unraveling the Mysteries of Myasthenia Gravis

Ensor's story reflects the wider reality of myasthenia gravis. In this chronic autoimmune disorder, the body’s immune system mistakenly destroys muscle-nerve communication pathways in the neuromuscular junction, the connection site between a muscle and nerve.

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Angelman syndrome–insights into a rare genetic disorder

In 1965, Dr. Harry Angelman documented cases of three children exhibiting sudden and uncontrollable laughter, intellectual impairment, abnormal facial features, jerky movements, and a protruding tongue, which was then collectively defined as Angelman syndrome (AS) [2].

Issue 28

Antidepressants: The magic pill?

Disclaimer: This is a comprehensive overview of the public’s understanding on the chemical theories of depression, the marketing of antidepressants, and the importance of transparency in the pharmacotherapy and

Issue 28

The Hunt for a Cure: Promising New Developments in Huntington’s Disease Research

When discussing her grandmother’s and father’s diagnoses with Huntington’s Disease (HD), Kimberly Pryce described the testing process as “a flip of a coin. Heads, you’re facing