Delirium is common after older patients have surgery and can cause serious complications and distress, but its cause has been a mystery.

New research has found that patients who develop postoperative delirium have increased openings in the blood-brain barrier, the layer of cells that prevent substances from entering the brain.

“These findings are significant because we now have a ...

Being exposed to more estrogen throughout life -- or a longer reproductive life span -- may be good for the brain, according to new research that found a lower risk of cerebral small vessel disease in women who had more cumulative exposure.

Cerebral small vessel disease happens from damage to small blood vessels in the brain. It can increase the risk of thinking impairments and dementia....

A new study is strengthening the evidence that stem cell transplants can be highly effective for some people with multiple sclerosis -- sending the disease into remission for years, and sometimes reversing disability.

Researchers found that of 174 MS patients who underwent stem cell transplants -- with cells from their own blood -- two-thirds had no evidence of "disease activity" over 10 ...

Everyone’s seen a movie or TV show featuring someone sleepwalking -- eyes half-lidded, bumbling around, tripping over furniture.

But sleepwalkers are actually capable of much more complex behaviors during their restless slumber, a new paper says.

During sleep some people can engage in sex ('sexsomnia'), pig out on junk food, try to cook, have a lively conversation or even hop in t...

People have long talked about having near-death experiences in which they felt they were looking down on themselves while others tried to save them.

Now, researchers have documented some of those experiences. In a study published online recently in the journal Resuscitation,...

Many Medicare patients can’t get help close to home for brain and nervous system issues.

Nearly 1 in 5 Medicare recipients in the United States live at least 50 miles from their neurologist.

“Our study found a substantial travel burden exists for some people with neurologic conditions, including people living in areas with fewer neurologists and rural areas,” said study author...

Any head injury — even a mild one — raises a person’s risk of later having an ischemic stroke.

Having multiple injuries increases that risk, even more so than the severity of a single traumatic brain injury (TBI), researchers report.

"Our study found that those who experience two or more head injuries, including even mild head injuries, are at higher risk of subsequent ischem...

A large number of drugs used to treat everything from multiple sclerosis to blood cancers to rheumatoid arthritis may cause a rare but often-fatal condition called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).

But a simple genetic test can determine who has a 10-fold higher risk for developing this condition, which means those patients could discuss safer treatment options with their ...

Bolstering the notion that a strong body equals a strong mind, new research indicates that the more inactive seniors are, the higher their risk for dementia.

The finding stems from a look at the onset of dementia among nearly 50,000 Brits.

All were at least 60 years old when information about typical daily activity routines was entered into the UK Biobank database at some point betw...

Therapies based on a hormone people make while exercising may be the next frontier in treating Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study.

Researchers have found that the exercise-induced hormone irisin may reduce both the plaque and the tau tangles characteristic of the disease.

Before this, this same team developed the first 3D human cell culture models of Alzheimer’s disea...

Your thinking and memory skills may take a hit decades after recovering from a concussion, a new study indicates.

Scientists who studied male twins, from an average age of 67, found that earlier concussions were tied to lower scores on tests of thinking and memory. These men also had a more rapid decline in their cognitive skills — skills needed for reasoning and the acquisition o...

The two "freezing" episodes that Sen. Mitch McConnell experienced recently weren't strokes or seizures, the Capitol physician said in a new letter released Tuesday.

“My examination of you following your August 30, 2023, brief episode included several medical evaluations: brain MRI imaging, EEG study and consultations...

As it stands, no one blood test or brain scan can definitively diagnose Parkinson's disease.

But researchers report this may soon change if a new blood test continues to show promise.

The test measures DNA damage in the mitochondria of cells, which is known to be higher in people with Parkinson’s disease. Earlier research from the same group also showed there is an accumulation of...

Taking cholesterol-lowering statin medication after a bleeding stroke, or intracerebral hemorrhage, may lower the risk of a subsequent stroke caused by a blood clot, according to new research.

“Previous research has had mixed results on the risk of stroke in people who are taking statins and have already had a bleeding stroke, so we evaluated this further,” said study a...

Doctors plucked a wriggling roundworm from the brain of an Australian woman in the world's first-known case of human infection with a parasite common in some pythons.

The woman, who had been experiencing worsening symptoms for at least a year, is believed to have gotten the infection from foraging and eating grasses where a snake had defecated.

"This is the first-ever human case of ...

The degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) may be striking some at much younger ages than thought possible: New research has uncovered early signs of the condition in amateur athletes who died young after playing contact sports.

The troubling finding was discovered during the brain autopsies of 152 athletes. All had engaged in the type of sports, such a...

Older people who take adult education classes may lower their risk for dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, Japanese research suggests.

Middle-aged folks and older people in adult education classes had a 19% lower risk of developing dementia within five years, the researchers found.

"We also found that nonverbal reasoning performance was well preserved in the adults taking edu...

It might not seem like constipation or difficulty swallowing could signal a neurological problem, but new research suggests that these gut conditions could be an early indicator of Parkinson’s disease.

Gastrointestinal symptoms are also thought to precede the development of cerebrovascular disease, including stroke, brain aneurysm or Alzheimer’s disease. It has previously been suggest...

With 2023 predicted to be the hottest year on record, a new study is pointing to another potential consequence of heat waves: faster declines in older adults' memory and thinking skills.

The study, of nearly 9,500 older U.S. adults, found that those with greater exposure to heat waves over 12 year...

Anyone who has quickly slurped up a milkshake or chomped on a snow cone knows the sharp, brief pain of "brain freeze."

Its cause is a mystery, but it’s not harmful, according to experts at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

“It is very common and happens more frequently in children,” said