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Exposure to pesticides near any workplace increases risk of Parkinson's disease

In April 2009, researchers at UCLA announced they had discovered a link between Parkinson's disease and two chemicals commonly sprayed on crops to fight pests.

27 May 2011

Cognitive decline incidence higher in southern ‘stroke belt’

New research shows that residents of the Stroke Belt—a southern portion of the U.S. with significantly elevated stroke morality rate—also have a greater incidence of cognitive decline than other regions of the country. Researchers believe shared risk factors among members of this population are to blame. Results of this study, funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), are published in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association.

26 May 2011

Gestational high-fat diet programs woman's baby for future diabetes

A high-fat diet during pregnancy may program a woman's baby for future diabetes, even if she herself is not obese or diabetic, says a new University of Illinois study published in the Journal of Physiology.

26 May 2011

New insight into how genes and proteins go awry in autism to alter the mind

For decades, autism researchers have faced a baffling riddle: how to unravel a disorder that leaves no known physical trace as it develops in the brain.

26 May 2011

Comprehensive insight into current neural stem cell research and therapies

A new article published by Cell Press in the May 26 issue of the journal Neuron provides comprehensive insight into the current status of neural stem cell research and the sometimes labyrinthine pathways leading to stem cell-based therapies.

26 May 2011

Discovery of possible new strategy for treating neurologic disorders

Johns Hopkins scientists say that a newly discovered "survival protein" protects the brain against the effects of stroke in rodent brain tissue by interfering with a particular kind of cell death that's also implicated in complications from diabetes and heart attack.

23 May 2011

Electrical disturbances in injured brain lead to poor recovery

Electrical disturbances that spread through an injured brain like tsunamis have a direct link to poor recovery and can last far longer than previously realized, researchers at the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute have found.

20 May 2011

Repligen receives approval from FDA to commence RG3039 Phase 1 trial in Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Repligen Corporation announced today that it has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial of RG3039, a potential treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

19 May 2011

Synthetic nanopatch helps regenerate natural heart tissue cells

When you suffer a heart attack, a part of your heart dies. Nerve cells in the heart's wall and a special class of cells that spontaneously expand and contract - keeping the heart beating in perfect synchronicity - are lost forever. Surgeons can't repair the affected area. It's as if when confronted with a road riddled with potholes, you abandon what's there and build a new road instead.

19 May 2011

Scientists discover single neuron that enables adaptive regulation of sparseness in olfactory codes

The brain is a coding machine: it translates physical inputs from the world into visual, olfactory, auditory, tactile perceptions via the mysterious language of its nerve cells and the networks which they form. Neural codes could in principle take many forms, but in regions forming bottlenecks for information flow or in areas important for memory, sparse codes are highly desirable.

16 May 2011

Midbrain habenula region plays a key role in nicotine dependence

A person's vulnerability to nicotine addiction appears to have a genetic basis, at least in part. A region in the midbrain called the habenula plays a key role in this process, as Dr. In-s Iba-ez-Tallon and her team from the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have now shown.

13 May 2011

New research sheds light on common pathogenic mechanisms underlying Huntington's disease

New research sheds light on common pathogenic mechanisms shared by Huntington's disease (HD) and HD-like disorders. The study, published by Cell Press in the May 12, 2011, issue of the journal Neuron, uses a new transgenic mouse model for an HD-like disorder to unravel complex molecular events that drive disease pathology.

12 May 2011

Long ring finger linked to Lou Gehrig’s disease

In some of the latest studies it has been found that finger length could be linked to various traits in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. These people tend to have longer ring fingers, compared with their index fingers, than do people without the disease.

11 May 2011

Scientists reveal nerve cells' navigation system

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered how two closely related proteins guide projections from nerve cells with exquisite accuracy, alternately attracting and repelling these axons as they navigate the most miniscule and frenetic niches of the nervous system to make remarkably precise connections.

9 May 2011

Mirror neuron system in individuals with autism is not actually broken, but simply delayed

Developmental abnormalities in the mirror neuron system may contribute to social deficits in autism. The mirror neuron system is a brain circuit that enables us to better understand and anticipate the actions of others. These circuits activate in similar ways when we perform actions or watch other people perform the same actions.

3 May 2011

Beta amyloid may inhibit specific cell motors and contribute to memory loss

A protein associated with Alzheimer's disease clogs several motors of the cell transport machinery critical for normal cell division, leading to defective neurons that may contribute to the memory-robbing disease, University of South Florida researchers report.

3 May 2011

Lithium shows hope for Alzheimer’s disease

According to scientists Alzheimer’s disease, a progressively damaging motor neuron condition, could be treated by lithium, a naturally occurring element that is extremely inexpensive and already in use for other psychiatric disorders.

29 Apr 2011

Scientists weaken long-term memory

Could veterans of war, rape victims and other people who have seen horrific crimes someday have the traumatic memories that haunt them weakened in their brains? In a new study, UCLA life scientists report a discovery that may make the reduction of such memories a reality.

28 Apr 2011

Scientists identify new risk gene variant for depression

Max Planck scientists uncover surprising genetic links. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Munich have compared the genomes of a total of 4,088 patients and 11,001 healthy control subjects from all over the world and identified a new risk gene variant for depression.

28 Apr 2011

New study reveals a novel gene linked with major depression

A new study reveals a novel gene associated with major depression. The research, published by Cell Press in the April 28 issue of the journal Neuron, suggests a previously unrecognized mechanism for major depression and may guide future therapeutic strategies for this debilitating mood disorder.

28 Apr 2011