clinical-neuroscience

If a small stroke in one corner of the brain can tip a previously healthy person into mania or set off obsessions and compulsions where none existed before, then the circuit connected to that lesion is telling us something rare in psychiatry.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the effect of high-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) targeting multiple brain regions on the recovery of consciousness in patients with minimally conscious state (MCS).MethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted on MCS patients between August 2022 and March 2024. Some patients received only conventional rehabilitation treatment, while oth…

IntroductionMusic-induced analgesia (MIA) has significant clinical value for patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and serves as a key model for understanding the complex neural mechanisms underlying the effects of music on physical and mental states. However, previous research offers limited interpretation of the broader neural network characteristics underlying pain regulation through music, particul…

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02286-0 Liu et al. show in mice that microglia are recruited to the soma and dendritic processes of fear engram neurons during extinction learning and that they weaken fear memories by temporarily silencing and remodeling the engram neurons.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02278-0 Stereotyped dendritic arbors arise from stochastic growth and selective stabilization of dendritic branches. Two pools of guidance receptor are required. Ligand-free receptors drive stochastic growth while ligand-bound receptors stabilize branches.

Scientists have identified a protective brain pathway that may help slow the progression of Parkinson's disease by strengthening the brain's own dopamine‑producing neurons, but the positive effect was only observed in females.

A new study has found evidence of a brain link that could explain why Tourette...

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effects of various transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) parameters—including stimulation duration, intensity, pulse number, frequency, and target region—on pain scores in patients with neuropathic pain (NP).MethodsRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effects of TMS on NP were identified through searches of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane L…

Whether addicted to alcohol, cocaine, or nicotine, people with substance use disorder share identical "short circuits" in their brain's reward networks. A massive new meta-analysis maps these specific neural disruptions, offering a potential blueprint for future treatments.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being explored as a tool to support clinical decision-making, yet its real-world performance in pediatric diagnosis remains unclear.

Background and purposeRadiotherapy (RT) often causes delayed radiation-induced brain injury (RBI) with unclear pathophysiology; emerging evidence links this to glymphatic dysfunction, but radiation effects on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics and interstitial fluid-CSF exchange are unstudied. Thus, we used choroid plexus (CP) volume and free-water fraction (FWF) imaging to assess glymphatic chan…

IntroductionThe immune system is recognized as participating in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disease and there is renewed interest in identifying biomarkers of this immune activation. MethodsWe measured serum and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) autoantibodies with other routine and novel markers of neuroinflammation, including CSF cytokines in patients with atypical psychiatric presentations of…

BackgroundParkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of dopamine-producing neurons, which results in motor issues such as tremors, stiffness, and slowness of movement. In addition to experiencing non-motor symptoms like psychosis. Catatonia, a psychomotor syndrome that is resulted from dopamine and cerebral cortical dysfunction, is considered a rare manifes…

IntroductionLate-life difficult-to-treat depression (LL-DTD) and dementia frequently coexist in later life, but it remains unclear whether clinical and sociodemographic characteristics, as well as medication exposure patterns, differ across dementia subtypes among older adults with both conditions.MethodsWe analysed anonymised electronic health records from a south London catchment area. We inclu…

Blood tests measuring the aging of certain white blood cells can predict cognitive and mood-related symptoms of depression, rather than physical symptoms.

A large-scale brain imaging study of over 800 incarcerated men reveals that highly psychopathic individuals possess an expanded cortical surface area and a compressed physical brain organization, offering new clues into the biology of empathy and antisocial behavior.

Gait impairments such as freezing, weakness and imbalance remain resistant to standard therapies across neurological disorders. This Review examines advances in neuromodulation, from refining deep brain stimulation to integrating spinal and distributed strategies. It discusses adaptive neurotechnologies, mechanistic insights and a framework for tailoring spatiotemporally precise interventions to …

A large-scale brain imaging study of over 800 incarcerated men reveals that highly psychopathic individuals possess an expanded cortical surface area and a compressed physical brain organization, offering new clues into the biology of empathy and antisocial behavior.

The neuroscience of dying has documented a striking phenomenon: structured electrical activity in the human brain persists, in some cases, beyond the clinical moment of death. Brain fingerprinting research has independently established that individual cognitive signatures measurable, stable, and person-specific patterns in cortical activity can reliably identify a person from their neural signal …

Alzheimer’s disease causes a slow loss of memory and thinking skills. Over time, it can affect a person’s ability to live independently. For many years, scientists have focused on a protein called amyloid-beta, which builds up in the brain and forms plaques. These plaques are believed to damage brain cells. fileciteturn1file0 But scientists are now […] The post Why the brain fails to clean its…