Medical Bulletin 03/ March/ 2025 - Video

A new study led by researchers at Mass General Brigham suggests a nasal spray developed to target neuroinflammation could one day be an effective treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI). By studying the effects of the nasal anti-CD3 in a mouse model of TBI, researchers found the spray could reduce damage to the central nervous system and behavioral deficits, suggesting a potential therapeutic approach for TBI and other acute forms of brain injury. The results are published in Nature Neuroscience.

“Traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of death and disability — including cognitive decline — and chronic inflammation is one of the key reasons,” said lead author Saef Izzy, MD, FNCS, FAAN, a neurologist and head of the Immunology of Brain Injury Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. “Currently, there is no treatment to prevent the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury.”

The study examines the monoclonal antibody Foralumab, made by Tiziana, which has been tested in clinical trials for patients with multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and other conditions.

Multiple experiments were done in mouse models with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury to explore the communication between regulatory cells induced by the nasal treatment and the microglial immune cells in the brain. Over time, researchers were able to identify how they modulate immune response.

In addition to assessing the effects of the treatment, the research team was able to learn about immune response over time and compare the immune responses and effects of TBI in the mice.

Ref: Izzy, S., et al. “Nasal anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody ameliorates traumatic brain injury, enhances microglial phagocytosis and reduces neuroinflammation via IL-10-dependent Treg–microglia crosstalk” Nature Neuroscience. DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-01877-7

A new study, led by experts at the University of Nottingham, has found that patients who need treatment for neurological and mental health disorders, would favour non-invasive neuromodulation interventions over current interventions such as pharmaceutical drugs.

Neuromodulation is the alteration of nerve activity in the brain through targeted delivery of different stimulus such as electrical stimulation of chemical agents. Researchers are currently developing new brain interventions using neuromodulation, for neurological and mental health disorders – such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia as well as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

The new study, which is published in Scientific Reports, looked at the public perception of neuromodulation. In an online survey with almost 800 participants, novel neuromodulation interventions were viewed positively, often more highly ranked than current interventions.

The research was led by Dr Marcus Kaiser from the School of Medicine at the University. He said: “Providing accurate information to patients significantly improved positive perception of neuromodulation. This emphasises the importance of education and awareness, in understanding new medical interventions, to foster informed decision making, positive perception of new neuromodulation techniques, and increase adherence to treatment.”

Participants were provided with details, including advantages and disadvantages, of five different technologies inducing change in brain function. These were pharmaceutical drugs or brain implants as well as non-invasive ultrasound, magnetic, and electrical stimulations. Participants were also asked to rank these in order of preference.

The results showed that ultrasound stimulation was the highest rated option, regarded the safest and effective. Pharmaceutical drugs were viewed as a middle-choice option, largely due to feelings of insecurity around their safety, effectiveness and side effects.

The team found before participants were given information, 81% expressed interest in neuromodulation, and 48% confusion. After reading the information, they found there was a significant increase, with 70% of participants expressing optimism, 62% excitement, and although confusion reduced, some worry remained.

Hence, it was concluded that the study provides valuable insights into the priorities and preferences of current and potential future treatments, finding a preference for non-invasive neuromodulation.

Ref: Atkinson-Clement, C., Junor, A. & Kaiser, M. Neuromodulation perception by the general public. Sci Rep 15, 5584 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-89437-8

A new AI-based system for analyzing images taken over time can accurately detect changes and predict outcomes, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell’s Ithaca campus and Cornell Tech. The system’s sensitivity and flexibility could make it useful across a wide range of medical and scientific applications.

The new system, termed LILAC (Learning-based Inference of Longitudinal imAge Changes), is based on an AI approach called machine learning

In the study, the researchers developed the system and demonstrated it on diverse time-series of images—also called “longitudinal” image series—covering developing IVF embryos, healing tissue after wounds and aging brains. The researchers showed that LILAC has a broad ability to identify even very subtle differences between images taken at different times, and to predict related outcome measures such as cognitive scores from brain scans.

This new tool will allow us to detect and quantify clinically relevant changes over time in ways that weren't possible before, and its flexibility means that it can be applied off-the-shelf to virtually any longitudinal imaging dataset,” said study senior author Dr. Mert Sabuncu, vice chair of research and a professor of electrical engineering in radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine and professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University’s Ithaca campus and Cornell Tech.

LILAC also was highly accurate in ordering pairs of images of healing tissue from the same sequences, and in detecting group-level differences in healing rates between untreated tissue and tissue that received an experimental treatment.

The researchers showed in all these cases that LILAC can be adapted easily to highlight the image features that are most relevant for detecting changes in individuals or differences between groups—which could provide new clinical and even scientific insights.

Ref: H. Kim, B.K. Karaman, Q. Zhao, A.Q. Wang, M.R. Sabuncu, & for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Learning-based inference of longitudinal image changes: Applications in embryo development, wound healing, and aging brain, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (8) e2411492122, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2411492122 (2025).

People who get moderate to vigorous physical activity may be less likely to develop dementia, stroke, anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders, according to a recent preliminary study that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 77th Annual Meeting .

The study also found that the more time people spent sitting, the more likely they were to develop one of these diseases.

“This research highlights the role of physical activity and sedentary behavior as modifiable factors that may enhance brain health and reduce the incidence of these diseases,” said study author Jia-Yi Wu, MD, of Fudan University in Shanghai, China. “It is promising to think that encouraging people to make these lifestyle changes could potentially lessen the burden of these diseases in the future.”

Researchers looked at data from 73,411 people with an average age of 56 who wore accelerometer devices continuously for seven days to measure their physical activity, how much energy they used on their activities and how much time they spent sitting each day.

The study results showed that people who had moderate to vigorous physical activity energy expenditure were 14% to 40% less likely to develop the five diseases than those who had lower energy expenditure, depending on how active they were.

The people who did not develop any of the diseases had an average daily moderate to vigorous physical activity energy expenditure of 1.22 kilojoules per kilogram, compared to 0.85 for the people who developed dementia, 0.95 for those who developed sleep disorders, 1.02 for stroke, 1.08 for depression and 1.10 for anxiety.

The more time people spent sitting, the higher their risk of developing one of the diseases, with the increase ranging from 5% to 54% higher than those who spent the least amount of time sitting.

A limitation of the study was that 96% of the participants were white people, so the results may not apply to other groups.

Ref: American Academy of Neurology’s 77th Annual Meeting