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The effects of rapid exposure to alcohol in early pregnancy - when a woman consumes as many as six drinks in an hour - can be detected in the placenta, an UdeM study on mice suggests. The effects of alcohol exposure on an embryo prior to implantation in the uterus can be detected in the late-gestation placenta, according to new research by Université de Montréal scientists.

To help clinical staff choose the right drug against a fungal infection, researchers have classified the protective effects of around 4,000 mutations of a pathogenic fungus. Only four classes of antifungal drugs currently exist, and pathogen resistance to these drugs complicates treatment. A research team has identified resistance mutations in the fungus Candida albicans , the most common cause of fungal infections, for six widely used clinical drugs belonging to the azole class.

A discovery by scientists at the IRCM and the University of Pennsylvania leads to a better understanding of the role of the cytoskeleton in the neurological disorder of mirror movements. A team of Canadian and American scientists has made a promising breakthrough in understanding the origins of a mysterious neurological disorder known as mirror movements.

A new study by researchers in Canada and France provides insight into how a particularly severe form of epilepsy - as well as autism spectrum disorder - develops. What are the molecular and cellular mechanisms whereby some babies develop epileptic encephalopathies and autism spectrum disorder? That's what researchers in Canada and France set out to uncover - and they think they've found and answer.

A new study by UdeM neuroscientist Guillaume Dumas sheds new light on the behaviour and brain activity of people with autism in social situations. The behavioural and inter-brain dynamics between a person with autism and a neurotypical person are different than those between two neurotypical people. That's the conclusion of a new study by Guillaume Dumas , a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Addiction at Université de Montréal and principal investigator at the Precision Psychiatry and Social Physiology Laboratory at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre.

Scientists at UdeM knit little wool caps to contain electrodes that cats normally shake off and chew to buts when being tested for chronic pain. In a world first, veterinary scientists at Université de Montréal have found a way to scan the brains of cats while they're awake, using electrodes concealed under specially knitted wool caps.

A new Canadian study highlights the neurochemical consequences of head impacts that don't lead to a concussion but can still damage the brain. In a football game, an athlete takes a bad hit to the head. He doesn't feel dazed or confused: he seems to have escaped a concussion. However, despite the lack of concussive symptoms, the impact has disrupted the chemical balance in his brain, and this imbalance has consequences.

Discovery highlights importance of including both male and female subjects in neuroscience research and considering sex in determining treatment approaches A new study has uncovered significant differences in how male and female mice process threats, even as they exhibit similar behavioural responses.

Participating in a series of cognitive training sessions has helped Quebec seniors cope with memory loss - even five years later, an UdeM study finds. Can training your brain to remember things help you ward off the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease? A new Canadian study suggests that yes, it can - even five years after you got the training.

A study by UdeM professor Claude Perreault's team at IRIC proposes three potential functions for so-called parasite DNA sequences in T cell development. "Parasite" DNA sequences have three potential functions in the development of T (for thymus) lymphocytes, researchers led by Université de Montréal medical professor Claude Perreault show in a recent study.

Western researchers have discovered a protein with the never-before-seen ability to stop DNA damage in its tracks. The finding could provide the foundation for developing everything from vaccines against cancer to crops that can withstand the increasingly harsh growing conditions brought on by climate change.

Northern elephant seals were repeatedly captured on camera in the deep Pacific Ocean using sonar from an Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) observatory as a dinner bell to forage for their next fish feast, according to a new study led by University of Victoria researchers. The research study published in the peer-reviewed PLOS ONE journal provides a unique, first-ever visual glimpse into the elusive mammal's deep-sea behaviours, with a focus on their sophisticated feeding strategies, prey preferences as well as resting habits.

Scientists have uncovered how space travel profoundly alters the gut microbiome, yielding insights that could shape future space missions. The groundbreaking study, led by a McGill University researcher in collaboration with University College Dublin (UCD), NASA's GeneLab and an international consortium, offers the most detailed profile to date of how space travel affects gut microbes.

A finding by a McGill-led team of neuroscientists could open doors to new treatments for a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders attributed to dysfunctions in specific dopamine pathways. For those struggling with a psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia, addiction or ADHD, or with neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's, there might be good news ahead.

A new study analyzing over 230 fisheries has found that their sustainability is likely overstated world-wide. Previous estimates of the number of fish in the ocean globally may have been too optimistic; two-thirds of fisheries in the study had over-estimated the number of fish available when making earlier management decisions.

A new study on songbirds sheds light on the power of social interaction to facilitate learning, insights that potentially apply to human development. McGill researchers discovered that zebra finches deprived of early social experiences could still form strong bonds with a partner later in life. Once placed into cohabitation with a male, females that had never heard a mating song before could quickly develop a preference for his melody.

  A discovery by McGill-affiliated researchers could lead to more effective treatment of malaria and other parasitic diseases. When mice are infected in the middle of the night with the parasites causing cerebral malaria, the symptoms of the disease are less severe than for those inflected during the day, and the spread of the parasites within the hosts is more limited, research teams from McGill University, the Douglas Research Centre and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre have discovered.

A new technique developed by McGill researchers for mechanically manipulating stem cells could lead to new stem cell treatments, which have yet to fulfill their therapeutic potential. Stem cell therapy has been heralded as a new way to treat many diseases, ranging from multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's and glaucoma to Type 1 diabetes.

Researchers at the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine have made a significant breakthrough in the field of microbiology and phage therapy to treat a difficult-to-detect, debilitating, and untreatable and fatal disease in dairy cows. Johne's disease (paratuberculosis) affects ruminants like cattle, sheep, and goats.

New research from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre could lead to better treatment of sleep disorders and neurological conditions A significant breakthrough in the understanding of sleep mechanism opens new promise for treating sleep disorders and associated neuropsychiatric conditions: Scientists have pinpointed the melatonin receptor MT1 as a crucial regulator of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep.