Tinnitus | Biofeedback Hastings

 In the brain, not the ears

Although tinnitus may begin as an injury to ear cells, it’s accepted science now that the condition has implications beyond the ears to the brain. Josef Rauschecker and his colleagues in the Department of Neuroscience, the Division of Audiology, and the Department of Otolaryngology at Georgetown University have used brain imaging studies to reveal some other scary results: they observed a significant loss of volume in an area located in the frontal lobe of the brain in people with tinnitus.

Researchers at the University of Illinois found that chronic tinnitus is also linked to changes in a region of the brain called the precuneus, part of the parietal lobes that sit near the top of the skull. The precuneus is connected to two inversely related networks in the brain: the “dorsal attention network,” activated by stimulation from incoming sensory information like touch and noise, and the “default mode network,” which operates when the brain is at rest and not occupied by anything in particular.

“When the default mode network is on, the dorsal attention network is off, and vice versa. We found that the precuneus in tinnitus patients seems to be playing a role in that relationship,” said tinnitus researcher Sara Schmidt.

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Brains may have a playfulness switch

Blocking the activity of certain cells reduces play behavior in rats.

Rats are extremely playful creatures.They love playing chase and they literally jump for joy when tickled. Central to this play- fulness, a new study finds, are nerve cells in a specific region of the brain.

Neurons in the periaqueductal gray, or PAG, are active in rats during different kinds of play, scientists report July 28 in Neuron. Blocking the activity of those neurons makes the rodents much less playful.

The results give insight into a poorly understood behavior, particularly in terms of how play is controlled in the brain.

When scientists tickled lab rats (one shown) and played a game with them, nerve cells in a brain region called the PAG became active. The team suspects that this region controls playfulness.“There are prejudices that it’s childish and not important, but play is an underrated behavior,” says Michael Brecht, a neuro- scientist at Humboldt University of Berlin.

Scientists think play helps animals develop resilience. Some researchers even relate the behavior to optimal functioning, For people, “when you’re playing, you’re being your most creative, thoughtful, interactive self)” says Jeffrey Burgdorf, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., who was not involved in the study. This is the opposite of some depressive states, and Burgdorf’s own research aims to turn understanding of the neuroscience of play into new therapies for mood disorders. In the study, Brecht and colleagues got lab rats used to being tickled and played with in a game of chase-the-hand.

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Your Weight and Your Brain

Your Weight and Your Brain When it comes to brain health, keeping your weight stable may be the most important task of all.

Obesity, particularly when there’s lots of visceral fat present, is a risk factor for faster brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease, says Howard Fillit, M.D., co-founder and chief science officer at the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. Belly fat has been shown to:

• Reduce blood flow to your brain, according to a 2020 study involving brain scans of more than 17,000 people. Researchers found that as weight went up, blood flow in the brain went down, including to areas vulnerable to developing Alzheimer’s.
• Shrink your brain. Using MR1s, researchers from UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh who were obese had 8 percent less brain volume and brains that appeared 16 years older.
• Reduce your cognitive abilities. An elevated body mass index (BMI) is directly associated with decreased attention, processing speed, and fine motor speed, according to a 2013 study. And in a 2016 study of 171 people with severe obesity, more than half met the criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), even though their median age was only 43. At a follow-up 12 months later, the prevalence of MCI was reduced by nearly 49 percent in those who had undergone weight-loss surgery in the previous year.

Protecting your brain means getting your weight under control. The MIND Diet, a mash-up of the heart-healthy Mediterranean and DASH diets, features lots of fruits and vegetables, plus lean protein and good fats like olive oil.

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