Spatafora et al. provided first evidence of a significant association between increased CSF levels of soluble AXL (sAXL) at diagnosis and disease progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience #braincommunications

Hunter et al. show that irisin (an exercise-induced hormone with neuroprotective effects) is reduced in the peripheral extracellular vesicles (EV) of older adults compared to young, suggesting that EV-irisin may be a novel blood biomarker for ageing and brain resilience. 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Wynen, Vanden Bulcke et al. report that machine learning models using advanced imaging biomarkers improve multiple sclerosis MRI diagnostic accuracy, with simplified biomarker assessment enhancing robustness. They also developed an online tool for model interaction. 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Küchlin et al. report that high-dose erythropoietin had no statistically significant effect on the evolution of MRI optic nerve lesions, cerebral white matter lesions or optic nerve atrophy when given as an adjunct to methylprednisolone for acute optic neuritis. 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Meet Dr Rakez Kayed, the John Sealy Distinguished Chair in Parkinson Disease Research and Professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch 👋 His research investigates toxic tau and amyloid oligomers involved in neurodegenerative disorders. #meetheteam

Forrest et al. report that rare haplotypes of human leukocyte antigen associate with distinct clinical and neuropathological profiles of tau & immune cell markers. Machine learning revealed specific ratios of neuroinflammatory markers reliably distinguished haplotypes. 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Kinge-Rasmussen et al. found that children of women with epilepsy have a modestly increased genetic risk for ADHD, but not for autism spectrum disorder, compared with the general population. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience #braincommunications

Giudicessi et al. report that females with inherited early-onset Alzheimer’s disease carrying the presenilin-1 mutation show preserved brain connections and slower decline with tau accumulation, whereas males rely more on these connections to support memory. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Wang et al. demonstrate that ertugliflozin ameliorates core autism-like behaviour in BTBR T + Itpr3tf/J mice, improving social interaction while reducing repetitive behaviours and anxiety. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Xu et al. report that cerebral small vessel disease burden and plasma p-tau181 synergistically affect white matter microstructure and cognition in a Chinese cohort. The findings highlight a synergistic interaction between vascular and tau pathologies. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Timmsen et al. use functional brain imaging to show that stroke survivors can still acquire new motor skills, but the supporting brain activity differs from healthy individuals, suggesting alternative neural mechanisms compensate after stroke. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience

Meet Dr Susan Jones, an Associate Professor at the University of Cambridge 👋 Her research explores how neurons communicate through electrical and chemical signals, and how these change during brain plasticity, development, and neuropsychiatric disorder models. #meettheteam

Sastre-Bataller et al. reported that high-intensity focused ultrasound thalamotomy provides sustained tremor control across essential tremor (ET) phenotypes with minimal impact on gait and balance. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience #braincommunications

Kassinopoulos et al. show that amyloid-β pathology in cognitively unimpaired individuals is associated with regional grey matter volume increases, with diffusion MRI implicating neuroinflammation-related cellular complexity or glial remodelling. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience

Koenig et al. report that p-tau217 and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) levels in plasma are linked to hypometabolism on [18F]Fluorodeoxyglucose PET and brain atrophy in neocortical association regions affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience

McGinnis et al. show that ex vivo human brain organotypic slice cultures preserve major cell-type transcriptional identities for two weeks, providing a robust human CNS model for mechanistic studies and therapeutic screening. 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience

Kim et al. report early (<1 month) functional disconnection between the default mode network and attention-related networks in mild traumatic brain injury, despite relatively stable structural connectivity. 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience #braincommunications

📢 Attending FENS Forum 2026? Want to learn more about Brain Communications? 🧠 Don't miss the chance to meet our new Editor-in-Chief, Professor David Belin, as well as our former Editor-in-Chief, Tara Spires-Jones, and some of our Associate Editors! Let us know if you'll be there below👇 #FENS2026

Meet Dr Tristan Hynes, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University in Canada 👋 His work examines the neurobiological mechanisms underlying addiction and maladaptive reward-seeking behaviour. #neuroscience #braincommunications #meettheteam

📣 Welcome to Volume 8, Issue 4 of Brain Communications! We are delighted to share that our latest issue is now live! 🧠 Explore the latest issue here: academic.oup.com/braincomms/i... Cover image courtesy of Chloe Chernoff and David Belin, University of Cambridge. #neuroscience

Alyahya et al. provided empirical validation for a time-efficient and clinically applicable approach to measuring content word fluency (CWF). Lesion correlates in left frontal and parietal regions related to impaired CWF during spoken discourse in aphasia. Read it here 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Lora et al. reported that repeated low-intensity blast exposure in Special Operations Forces was linked to increased frontal-predominant tau deposition using PET and elevations in plasma biomarkers of astroglial and neuronal injury. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience

Chai et al. report that higher serum inflammasome adaptor protein ASC were associated with vascular cognitive impairment and dementia, which may be largely mediated by concomitant cerebrovascular disease, specifically white matter hyperintensities. Read 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience

Huang et al. report that by integrating prenatal and postnatal data, they identified significant genetic heterogeneity, phenotypic complexity and challenges in prenatal diagnosis for lissencephaly. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience #braincommunications

Lu et al. thoroughly described EEG features in people with new-onset epilepsy in elderly ages, using EEG from 24-h monitoring. They found special slowing and epileptiform patterns in temporal regions, which were associated with cognitive impairment. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Meet Professor Jean-Luc Houeto, Coordinator of the Parkinson’s Centre at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Limoges in France 👋 His research focuses on movement disorders, including efficacy of treatments such as deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. #meettheteam #neuroscience

Hosseini et al. report that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) clearance measures, including ventricular and choroid plexus changes, are linked to early amyloid-beta accumulation in Alzheimer’s disease, which in turn drives tau pathology. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai... #neuroscience

Bechkos et al. reported that direct current stimulation (DCS) applied to primary neurons disrupted the aggregation of the Parkinson’s-linked, misfolded α-synuclein protein. DCS promoted intracellular α-synuclein clearance & increased neuronal survival. 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Whitehouse et al. report elevations in brain-injury & Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers in patients with suspected sepsis. This exploratory secondary analysis of the ABC-Sepsis study indicates that acute infection and/or physiological stress may elevate biomarker levels. 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Wu et al. developed a spatio-temporal graph convolutional network using resting-state functional MRI data to classify irritable bowel syndrome. Their model achieved 83.5% accuracy and identified key brain regions linked to irritable bowel syndrome. Read it at 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...