A 2026 ALZAN memory-clinic cohort found that cerebrospinal-fluid alpha-synuclein seed amplification assay detected 19 of 20 Lewy body dementia cases, with 95% sensitivity and 93.5% specificity against non-Lewy-body, non-Alzheimer’s controls.1 The same assay was positive in 32 of 203 Alzheimer’s disease patients, which makes the result a co-pathology warning as much as a diagnostic win. …
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been pitched as a scalable cognitive-enhancement tool for schizophrenia, where roughly 98% of patients show working-memory deficits, but a 2026 sham-controlled crossover trial from Ke et al. delivered the standard 1.5 mA anodal protocol over the right DLPFC to 27 stable patients and found no detectable benefit over sham.1 …
The depression-inflammation literature has firmly established that elevated inflammatory markers track with mood symptoms, but a 2026 study of 14,419 postpartum women from Xie et al. found the opposite pattern for postpartum anxiety: women with higher second-trimester platelet-neutrophil products and related immune-inflammation indices had substantially lower postpartum anxiety risk.1 Research Highlights Higher second-trimester PPN was …
Schizophrenia’s genetic architecture sits awkwardly between neurons and the immune system. A 2026 CRISPR screen of 30 schizophrenia-associated genes in human microglia-like cells found that several risk genes meaningfully alter how microglia engulf synaptic material, supporting the synaptic-pruning model at the functional gene level.1 Research Highlights 30 schizophrenia risk genes were knocked out one by …
In 433 non-demented amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, clinically significant anxiety was present in 18.2% for state anxiety and 13.9% for trait anxiety. The strongest predictor was not motor severity, cognition, or caregiver-rated behavior; it was depression, especially cognitive-affective depression symptoms.1 Research Highlights ALS anxiety was measurable but not universal: Aiello et al. found clinically …
The link between psychological stress and chronic inflammation is well-documented — what’s been less clear is which specific inflammatory proteins move with anxiety in real-world community samples. A 2026 analysis from Loomans-Kropp et al. measured a 33-marker panel in 190 minoritized and medically underserved adults from the Cancer Disparities Research Network and identified three biomarkers …
Chronic stress is a candidate mechanism for both depression and addiction risk. A 2026 mouse study found that 28 days of unpredictable chronic mild stress increased striatal dopamine D1 receptor binding by 22–48% across nearly every region examined, plus more selective D2 receptor increases — pointing to a stress-driven shift in reward signaling that may …