Study: Psychedelics can promote neural plasticity in the prefrontal cortex and expand pathways for mental health

Psy­che­delics in Neu­rol­o­gy: Poten­tial for Improv­ing Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty (Neu­rol­o­gy­Times): “Back in the 1950s, research was prov­ing that psy­che­del­ic agents could be effec­tive in the treat­ment of var­i­ous neu­ropsy­chi­atric dis­or­ders. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, just as sci­ence was explor­ing their ben­e­fi­cial effects, the coun­ter­cul­ture was explor­ing and embrac­ing their effects. Slow­ly but sure­ly, psy­che­delics were asso­ci­at­ed with rebel­lious youth and…

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Update: 200 common prescription medications increase depression risk

___ Dear read­er, Time for Sharp­Brains e‑newsletter. It’s been a busy month, once again bring­ing to the fore­front the lim­i­ta­tions of our cur­rent health­care sys­tem and, on the pos­i­tive side, the grow­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to improve Brain Health and Men­tal Health for all, if we pay atten­tion to (and act on) lat­est research, think­ing and tools. New…

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Study finds training-induced neuroplasticity even in patients with chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI)

_____ Cog­ni­tive train­ing reduces depres­sion, rebuilds injured brain struc­ture & con­nec­tiv­i­ty after trau­mat­ic brain injury (UT-Dal­las release): “New research from the Cen­ter for Brain­Health at The Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Dal­las shows that cer­tain cog­ni­tive train­ing exer­cis­es can help reduce depres­sion and improve brain health in indi­vid­u­als years after they have suf­fered a trau­mat­ic brain…

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Let’s improve Brain Health Literacy during Brain Awareness Week 2018

___ Please join us in get­ting ready to cel­e­brate Brain Aware­ness Week 2018 (March 12–18th), the annu­al glob­al cam­paign orga­nized by the Dana Foun­da­tion to increase pub­lic aware­ness about the progress and ben­e­fits of brain research. To learn about activ­i­ties in your area, please vis­it BAW’s Inter­na­tion­al Cal­en­dar of events. And remem­ber you don’t need to trav­el any­where to…

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What a brain, what a life: Marian Diamond, neuroplasticity pioneer, dies at 90

___ Mar­i­an Dia­mond, neu­ro­sci­en­tist who gave new mean­ing to ‘use it or lose it,’ dies at 90 (The Wash­ing­ton Post): “Mar­i­an Dia­mond, a path­break­ing neu­ro­sci­en­tist whose research — includ­ing a study of Albert Einstein’s pre­served brain — showed that the body’s three-pound seat of con­scious­ness was a dynam­ic struc­ture of beau­ti­ful com­plex­i­ty, capa­ble of devel­op­ment even…

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E‑Newsletter: Neuroimaging + machine learning can predict, with 96% accuracy, whether high-risk 6‑month-old babies will develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by age 2

_____ Time for Sharp­Brains’ June e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing fas­ci­nat­ing sci­en­tif­ic find­ings, promis­ing assess­ments, ther­a­pies and brain health mon­i­tor­ing tools…and some fun opti­cal illu­sions :-) New research Study com­bines neu­roimag­ing with machine learn­ing to pre­dict, with 96% accu­ra­cy, whether high-risk 6‑month-old babies will devel­op autism spec­trum dis­or­der (ASD) by age 2 Cog­ni­tive Train­ing or Gingko Bilo­ba to pre­vent cog­ni­tive decline and…

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