Most folks think of blinking as the eyes’ version of windshield wipers, clearing the eye of debris and maybe lubricating it, too. But blinking is much more than that, researchers report: It also helps the brain process what it’s seeing. That’s perhaps counterintuitive: Wouldn’t it make sense to not blink, so eyes are receiving an uninterrupted stream of information? Already, scientists have long known that people blink far more often than is needed just to moisten the eye. Investigating further, a team led by Michele Rucci, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, tracked the eye movements of folks looking at different types of stimuli. They combined that data with computer modeling and found that blinking enhances a person’s ability to track “big, gradually changing patterns” in a visual field, according to a university news release. Blinking does so by altering light patterns as they strike and stimulate the eye’s retina. It creates a different kind of ‘visual signaling’ than would occur if eyes simply remained open at all times, the researchers explained. So, “contrary to common assumption, blinks improve — rather than disrupt– visual processing, amply compensating for the loss in stimulus exposure,” said study first author Bin Yang, a graduate student working in Rucci’s lab. The findings, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science,…  read on >  read on >

Tapping the power of the small brain region called the cerebellum could improve patients’ ability to move cutting-edge robotic limbs, a new study suggests. The cerebellum is an ancient structure located under the brain, just above where the spinal cord connects to the brain. This structure has largely been overlooked by prosthetics researchers in favor of the cerebral cortex, which is the outermost layer of tissue covering the brain, researchers noted. But lab studies with rats show that the cerebellum can play a key role in controlling the movement of objects using brain waves. “The cerebellum has a well-known role in movement but has been ignored in neuroprosthetic research,” said researcher Tanuj Gulati, an assistant professor of biomedical sciences and neurology at the Cedars-Sinai Center for Neural Science and Medicine, in Los Angeles. “We are the first to record what is happening in the cerebellum as the brain learns to manipulate these devices, and we found that its involvement is essential for device use,” Gulati added in a Cedars-Sinai news release. Currently, experimental robot devices are controlled with brain waves through electrodes permanently implanted in regions of the cerebral cortex known to help manage movement of the human body. This technique has allowed patients to control robot limbs, motorized wheelchairs and computer keyboards, researchers noted. To see how the cerebellum contributes to motor control, researchers…  read on >  read on >

Doctors sometimes prescribe antibiotics to help treat a cough, but a new study shows the drugs won’t help reduce the severity or duration of coughing — even if a bacterial infection is the culprit. Lower respiratory tract infections that cause coughing have the potential to become more dangerous, with 3% to 5% of these patients suffering from pneumonia, said lead researcher Dr. Dan Merenstein, a professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine, in Washington, D.C. “But not everyone has easy access at an initial visit to an X-ray, which may be the reason clinicians still give antibiotics without any other evidence of a bacterial infection,” Merenstein said in a Georgetown news release. This has led some patients to expect antibiotics for a cough, Merenstein said. To see if antibiotics make any difference, researchers tracked their use in people presenting with lower respiratory tract infections. About 29% of people were prescribed an antibiotic during their initial medical visit, but the drugs had no effect on their cough compared to those who didn’t get a prescription. It also took the same amount of time for people to get over their infection, whether or not they got an antibiotic — about 17 days. The new study was published April 15 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Overuse of antibiotics is increasing the risk that…  read on >  read on >

Among U.S. women with migraine, a third say the attacks tend to coincide with their periods, a new survey finds. Migraines that occur during menstruation are often frequent and severe, but only about one in five respondents said they used medications aimed at preventing the headaches. “If you have migraines related to your menstrual cycle, discuss this with your gynecologist or neurologist. There are treatments that can help and if the first treatment tried does not work, do not give up,” said study lead author Dr. Jessica Ailani. She’s professor of clinical neurology at Georgetown University School of Medicine. The new study was funded by Pfizer, which makes a migraine medication. The findings are slated to be presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, in Denver. Ailani and her colleagues looked at data collected from adult women with migraine as part of the  2021 U.S. National Health and Wellness Survey. They found that a third of the women said their migraines often occurred during their periods. In more than half of these cases (52.5%), the women were premenopausal. Migraines occurred frequently during menstrual periods — an average of 8.4 headache days per month — and they were often severe, with just over 56% of women ranking their severity as moderate-to–severe on a standard scale. Many women attempted to treat the…  read on >  read on >

Lucid episodes are an unexpected occurrence among people with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. But these spontaneous events — in which a person temporarily regains an ability to communicate that appeared to be permanently lost — are not always a sign of impending death, a recent study argues. Half the time, people live more than six months following their lucid episode, results show. Another third of the time, the person lives a week to six months after a lucid episode. This runs contrary to prior research that indicated these episodes might signal imminent death, said lead researcher Joan Griffin, with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “It’s important for people to know that these are not necessarily harbingers for death,” Griffin said in a Mayo news release.  “I think people can get anxious when they happen, so it’s good to know that there are different kinds of episodes that don’t necessarily mean death is imminent.” The new study is also the first to identify four different types of lucid episode that can occur. The most common is preceded by a visit with family or friends, and occurs among people who continued to live longer than six months after the episode, researchers said. About 33% of patients experienced this type of lucid episode. The least common occurs within a week of death, but also coincides with…  read on >  read on >