News

Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Pitt study casts new light on neurodevelopment of schizophrenia

Kenneth Fish, PhD, says that normal pruning of a special class of inhibitory nerve cells in the prefrontal cortex may be blunted in schizophrenia. Learn More

Monday, June 12, 2017
WESA: Why white-noise therapy may prevent tinnitus

Exposure to moderate-level noise soon after you experience loud, potentially damaging sounds seems to be much better than silence for averting development of ringing in the ears, says Karl Kandler. Learn More

Thursday, June 8, 2017
Brain Institute associate director appointed to new posts in provost's office

Nathan Urban, PhD, leaves his special projects position, to become vice provost for graduate studies and strategic initiatives. Urban will also lead development efforts. Learn More

Monday, June 5, 2017
New Pittwire features mathematician Brent Doiron

Doiron has received a $2.2M Vannevar Bush fellowship. He and his colleagues have created a mathematical model that can predict the actions of many neurons. Learn More

Monday, June 5, 2017
Research funds available for Parkinson's disease projects

Deadline for proposals requesting up to $40,000 is Monday, July 3.   Learn More

Thursday, June 1, 2017
PBS NOVA Next: The man who warned the world about lead

PBS chronicles the decades of groundbreaking work by Herbert Needleman, who showed that chronic, low-level lead poisoning can cause devastating neurological impairment in children. Learn More

Thursday, June 1, 2017
Pitt neuroscientists call for cautious optimism about anti-acne drug for treating MS

In an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, Zongqi Xia, MD, PhD,  and Robert Friedlander, MD, urge more study of the effect of minocycline in the earliest stage of multiple sclerosis. Learn More

Tuesday, May 30, 2017
More than a third of teen girls suffer a first bout of depression

The study in Translational Psychiatry found more depression in adolescents than previously thought, and far more girls than boys are affected. Learn More

Saturday, May 27, 2017
PittMed tells the story behind Gladwin's hunt for an antidote to carbon monoxide poisoning

Pure happenstance prompted Mark Gladwin, MD, to try a genetically engineered version of a molecule called neuroglobin, which the brain produces naturally. Learn More

Wednesday, May 24, 2017
How a baffling case of suicidal depression opened up a whole new set of treatment options

PittMed features physician-scientist Lisa Pan, MD, who discovered unexpected metabolic deficiencies in some of her depressed patients, for whom no previous treatments had worked. Learn More

Monday, May 22, 2017
Philadelphia Inquirer: How neurofeedback can help you think yourself out of depression

After success with fMRI, Kymberly Young, PhD, is studying whether comparable results are possible with electroencephalograms, which would be more affordable for broad use. Learn More

Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Clot-clearing treatment after stroke can be beneficial beyond traditional '6-hour window'

Tudor Jovin, MD, and colleagues found that neurological deficits were reduced in patients who got endovascular procedures up to 24 hours after a stroke. Learn More

Monday, May 15, 2017
13 reasons to be concerned about the TV series '13 Reasons Why'

Adolescent expert Sansea L. Jacobson, MD, writes in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about serious shortcomings of the Netflix series that dramatizes teen suicide. Learn More

Wednesday, May 10, 2017
MSN Video: Childhood bullying can lead to poor health in adulthood

Lead researcher Karen Matthews, PhD, found long-term consequences for physical and mental health, both in those who were picked on, and in the bullies. Learn More

Monday, May 8, 2017
Many women at risk for pre-term birth are unaware of steps to prolong pregnancy

Women who have had a baby before the third trimester can minimize risk of severe neurodevelopmental complications in the next child, if told to delay pregnancy and get timely shots of progesterone. Learn More

Sunday, May 7, 2017
New York Times: Polio vaccine pioneer Julius Youngner dies at 96

The inventive virologist was the last surviving member of the original research team that developed the Salk polio vaccine. Learn More

Friday, May 5, 2017
Can watching your own brain activity alleviate depression?

Kymberly Young, PhD, saw promising results when depressed adults tried fMRI neurofeedback.  Subjects learned to regulate signals from the amygdala, a part of the brain involved in processing emotion. Learn More

Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Post-Gazette: Rising suicide rate draws international researchers to Pitt

Pitt's Services for Teens At Risk, or STAR, Center marks 30 years as one of the nation's first youth suicide prevention centers at a two-day conference with 27 researchers from six countries. Learn More

Monday, May 1, 2017
Post-Gazette op ed about lead: Old, chipping paint and stigma are the real dangers

Bernard Goldstein, MD, past dean of the Graduate School of Public Health, says tainted water may be less harmful to the developing brain than other factors related to lead poisoning. Learn More

Thursday, April 27, 2017
Pittsburgh Magazine: The story of Bill Klunk, Chet Mathis, and a family with Alzheimer's

Author Niki Kapsambelis chronicles the quest of Pitt researchers to see into the brains of patients as Alzheimer's disease develops over time. Lives became entwined in the process.   Learn More

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