The scientists report these findings in the current online edition of "The Lancet Neurology". This pan-European study could open up new possibilities of early diagnosis and smooth the way for treatments which tackle diseases before the patient's nervous system is irreparably damaged.
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Omeros Corporation today announced that its Investigational New Drug Application to evaluate OMS824 in Huntington's disease has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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Researchers at Emory University have identified a protein that stimulates a pair of "orphan receptors" found in the brain, solving a long-standing biological puzzle and possibly leading to future treatments for neurological diseases.
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While Huntington's disease (HD) is currently incurable, the HD research community anticipates that new disease-modifying therapies in development may slow or minimize disease progression. The success of HD research depends upon the identification of reliable and sensitive biomarkers to track disease and evaluate therapies, and these biomarkers may eventually be used as outcome measures in clinical trials. Biomarkers could be especially helpful to monitor changes during the time prior to diagnosis and appearance of overt symptomatology.
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The hardening of arteries is a hallmark of atherosclerosis, an often deadly disease in which plaques, excessive connective tissue, and other changes build up inside vessel walls and squeeze off the flow of oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
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Children born with rare, inherited conditions known as Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation, or CDG, have mutations in one of the many enzymes the body uses to decorate its proteins and cells with sugars.
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Researchers discovered that small pieces of genetic material called microRNAs link the two defining characteristics of fit muscles: the ability to burn sugar and fat and the ability to switch between slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers.
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The Scripps Research Institute today announced a five-year agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to collaborate on focused research projects in the infectious disease area, with the initial project targeting the influenza virus.
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The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) today announced a five-year agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Janssen) to collaborate on focused research projects in the infectious disease area, with the initial project targeting the influenza virus.
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Kinase inhibitors are molecules that block the activity of kinases. Kinases are a specific class of enzymes. They are extremely important in signal transduction processes in the human body meaning that they actually regulate most of the physiological processes that take place in the body.
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Proteins, unlike diamonds, aren't forever. And when they wear out, they need to be degraded in the cell back into amino acids, where they will be recycled into new proteins.
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Researchers at the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome and the University of Colorado School of Medicine have found that a single mechanism may underlie the damaging effect of cholesterol on the brain and on blood vessels.
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How do nerve cells -- which can each be up to three feet long in humans -- keep from rupturing or falling apart?
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We're all fatheads. That is, our brain cells are packed with fat molecules, more of them than almost any other cell type. Still, if the brain cells' fat content gets too high, they'll be in trouble. In a recent study in mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins pinpointed an enzyme that keeps neurons' fat levels under control, and may be implicated in human neurological diseases.
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As the body ages, the physical effects are notable; wrinkles in the skin appear, physical exertion becomes harder. But there are also less visible processes going on. Inside aging brains there is another phenomenon at work, which may contribute to age-related brain defects.
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One of the most controversial topics in neurology today is the prevalence of serious permanent brain damage after traumatic brain injury. Long-term studies and a search for genetic risk factors are required in order to predict an individual's risk for serious permanent brain damage, according to a review article published by Sam Gandy, MD, PhD, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in a special issue of Nature Reviews Neurology dedicated to TBI.
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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a new set of genetic markers for Alzheimer's that point to a second pathway through which the disease develops.
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Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute at Lake Nona announced the selection of the first five research organizations that will participate in the Florida Translational Research Program to advance drug discovery in the state.
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Many recent studies have suggested that obesity is associated with chronic inflammation in fat tissues. Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have discovered that an imbalance between an enzyme called neutrophil elastase and its inhibitor causes inflammation, obesity, insulin resistance, and fatty liver disease.
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Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is playing a leading role in one of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) first clinical trials to improve treatments for rare and neglected diseases.
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