Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis News and Research

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Report on effects of extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields on human health

A response to the Stakeholder Advisory Group's report on the effects of extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields, by a member of SAGE.

30 Apr 2007

New direction for therapies to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Researchers from The Ludwig Institute and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have discovered that when motor neurons damaged by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig?s disease, inappropriately send the wrong signal, immune cells react by killing the messenger.

24 Apr 2007

Avicena files composition of matter patent application for treatment of Lou Gehrig's disease

Avicena Group has announced that it has filed a composition of matter patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), a severe neurodegenerative disease.

24 Apr 2007

Intrathecal Baclofen for spasticity-related pain in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

An estimated 5,600 people in the United States are diagnosed every year with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and as many as 30,000 Americans have the disease at any given time.

17 Apr 2007

Astrocytes may contribute to Lou Gehrig's disease

Two papers by Columbia and Harvard researchers report for the first time that astrocytes (the most abundant non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system), which carry a mutated gene known to cause some cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease), induce motor neuron death.

16 Apr 2007

Stem cells delay neurodegeneration in the brain

Sufferers from devastating neurodegenerative diseases have been given some hope by the results of recent research.

12 Mar 2007

Scientists find new genes linked to Lou Gehrig's disease

In the first genome-wide search for the genetic roots of the most common form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Johns Hopkins scientists have newly identified 34 unique variations in the human genetic code among 276 unrelated subjects with ALS.

21 Feb 2007

Effective test for screening Huntington's disease drugs

A test using cultured cells provides an effective way to screen drugs against Huntington's disease and shows that two compounds - memantine and riluzole - are most effective at keeping cells alive under conditions that mimic the disorder, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

30 Oct 2006

Promising therapy for Lou Gehrig's disease delivers antisense drug directly to nervous system

Researchers have designed and tested a molecular therapy in animals that they hope will be a major development in the fight to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease.

27 Jul 2006

Search for gene search for sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Though it's the more common form of the disease, sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), which affects roughly 90 percent of those living with the fatal neurodegenerative illness, has been the one less studied, simply because, unlike familial ALS, no genes have turned up.

17 May 2006

Polyunsaturated fat and vitamin E halves risk of developing motor neurone disease

A high dietary intake of polyunsaturated fat and vitamin E seems to halve the risk of developing motor neurone disease, suggests research published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

3 May 2006

Ketogenic diet may prevent the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

A recent study directed by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggests a ketogenic- high caloric diet may prevent the progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

18 Apr 2006

Cognitive impairment appears to be common in Lou Gehrig disease

In a study of 40 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), about one-third showed evidence of cognitive impairment, but these deficits did not appear to be related to survival, according to a study in the March issue of Archives of Neurology.

15 Mar 2006

Valproic acid may help slow the progression of dementia

Researchers have found that a common anticonvulsant drug improved cognitive function and appeared to restore nerve cells in the brains of patients with HIV-related dementia. The results of the Phase I clinical trial are published in the March issue of the scientific journal Neurology.

14 Mar 2006

Thalidomide, Lenalidomide show promise against Lou Gehrig's disease

New animal research suggests that two well-studied drugs, thalidomide and its derivative, lenalidomide, might extend the survival of patients with the neurological disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

9 Mar 2006

Research suggests that a common mechanism may underlie a variety of protein folding diseases

Misfolded and damaged proteins are common to all human neurodegenerative diseases. Clumps of these aggregated proteins destroy neurons within the brain and cause disease.

16 Feb 2006

Abraham Lincoln may have suffered from movement disorder

Researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Minnesota have discovered a gene mutation in the descendants of Abraham Lincoln's grandparents that suggests the Civil War president himself might have also suffered from a disease that destroys nerve cells in the cerebellum-- the part of the brain that controls movement.

7 Feb 2006