Neuroadvocates Participate in SfN’s 13th Annual Hill Day
Policy
On March 7, 2019, 48 neuroadvocates from 24 states around the U.S. and five other nations participated in SfN’s 13th Annual Hill Day. In total, those participating covered 400 miles in walking distance while engaging in 83 Congressional office meetings. SfN members included in this count encompass the Government and Public Affairs Committee, Global Membership Committee, Early Career Policy Ambassadors (ECPAs), and advocacy key contacts. Members were also joined with other coalition partners from the Coalition for Life Sciences (CLS), the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), the American Neurological Association (ANA), and the Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN). We appreciate the continued dialogue from the neuroscience community with policymakers to strive for an enhanced understanding of the brain and nervous system. We also encourage you all to connect with your policymakers to bolster the fields continued support locally, statewide, nationally, and abroad.
Health-Care Providers Say CDC’s Opioid Guidelines are Harming Pain Patients
March 6, 2019 | Washington Post
More than 300 health-care experts told the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday that the agency’s landmark guidelines for the use of opioids against chronic pain are harming patients who suffer from long-term pain and benefit from the prescription narcotics.
F.D.A. Commissioner Scott Gottlieb Resigns
March 5, 2019 | New York Times
Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, known for his aggressive efforts to regulate the tobacco and e-cigarette industries, said on Tuesday that he would resign at the end of the month.
Science in the News
LabRoots Produces 7th Annual Neuroscience Virtual Conference, Centrally Themed: The Biological Basis of Behavior
March 8, 2019 | Cision PRWeb
LabRoots will be hosting its 7th Annual Neuroscience Virtual Event on March 13-14, 2019, highlighting the latest research and updates from over 25 world neuroscience experts. There will be three sessions including, Pioneering Our Understanding of the Human Brain, Perspectives on Neuropsychiatric Disorders, and Emerging Roles of the Immune System in Brain Function and Behavioral Processes. Get more information or register for the event.
Music Captivates Listeners and Synchronizes Their Brainwaves
March 8, 2019 | The City College of New York
Music has the ability to captivate us; when listeners engage with music, they follow its sounds closely, connecting to what they hear in an affective and invested way. But what is it about music that keeps the audience engaged? A study by researchers from The City College of New York and the University of Arkansas charts new ground in understanding the neural responses to music.
An Ancient Pathway that Relays Visual Information in the Mammalian Brain
March 7, 2019 | Allen Institute
Have you ever jumped in fear, and then a split second later realized that a spider (or a spider-shaped shadow) was at the edge of your vision? Your brain enables different kinds of responses to visual information. There’s the conscious response to what you see, which is what allows you to read and understand words, check the weather through a window, follow a complicated movie. But you can also respond subconsciously to the visual world through instinctive reactions like jumping away from something scary.
Genetically Engineered Immune Cells Wipe Out Lupus in Mice
March 6, 2019 | Science
Lupus can be a stubborn disease to treat. Although many struck by the autoimmune condition live relatively normal lives, some suffer from kidney failure, blood clots, and other complications that can be deadly. Now, scientists have found that a novel treatment that wipes out the immune system’s B cells cures mice of the condition. Though the work is preliminary, it has excited researchers because it uses a therapy already approved for people with blood cancer.
Neurodegenerative Diseases Identified Using Artificial Intelligence
March 4, 2019 | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence platform to detect a range of neurodegenerative disease in human brain tissue samples, including Alzheimer’s disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published in the Nature medical journal Laboratory Investigation.
