A new class of compounds has now been shown to protect brain cells from the type of damage caused by blast-mediated traumatic brain injury (TBI). Mice that were treated with these compounds 24-36 hours after experiencing TBI from a blast injury were protected from the harmful effects of TBI, including problems with learning, memory, and movement.

University of Iowa researchers have discovered a new form of neurotransmission that influences the long-lasting memory created by addictive drugs, like cocaine and opioids, and the subsequent craving for these drugs of abuse. Loss of this type of neurotransmission creates changes in brains cells that resemble the changes caused by drug addiction.

A University of Iowa study confirms that pathological gambling runs in families and shows that first-degree relatives of pathological gamblers are eight times more likely to develop this problem in their lifetime than relatives of people without pathological gambling.

Internationally recognized UI Health Care schizophrenia expert, Nancy Andreasen, MD, PhD, recently published important new findings in the American Journal of Psychiatry in an article titled Relapse duration, treatment intensity, and brain tissue loss in schizophrenia: a prospective longitudinal MRI study. This study confirmed serious implications for antipsychotic dosing in the treatment of schizophrenia, and also warns of potential repercussions of antipsychotic use in treatment of other psychiatric disorders.

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a slow-progressing neurological illness for which there is currently no treatment or cure. HD is one of few heritable diseases that inevitably follow a very basic, autosomal-dominant genetic pattern.