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Reversing protein deficiency through gene therapy can improve SMA

Reversing a protein deficiency through gene therapy can correct motor function, restore nerve signals and improve survival in mice that serve as a model for the lethal childhood disorder spinal muscular atrophy, new research shows.

1 Mar 2010

Schizophrenia: Insight into late development of symptoms

In reports of two new studies, researchers led by Johns Hopkins say they have identified the mechanisms rooted in two anatomical brain abnormalities that may explain the onset of schizophrenia and the reason symptoms don't develop until young adulthood. Both types of anatomical glitches are influenced by a gene known as DISC1, whose mutant form was first identified in a Scottish family with a strong history of schizophrenia and related mental disorders. The findings could lead to new ways to treat, prevent or modify the disorder or its symptoms.

26 Feb 2010

Brain implant helps scientists in determining link between brainwave patterns and attention

A paralyzed patient implanted with a brain-computer interface device has allowed scientists to determine the relationship between brain waves and attention.

25 Feb 2010

Tel Aviv University unveils new synthetic supplement to stall age-related memory loss

Those who live in industrialized countries have easy access to healthy food and nutritional supplements, but magnesium deficiencies are still common. That's a problem because new research from Tel Aviv University suggests that magnesium, a key nutrient for the functioning of memory, may be even more critical than previously thought for the neurons of children and healthy brain cells in adults.

23 Feb 2010

Neuroimaging study may lead to new therapeutic treatments for stroke and hearing loss

Duke University Medical Center scientists crowded around a laser-powered microscope in a darkened room to peer into the brain of an anesthetized juvenile songbird right after he heard an adult tutors' song for the first time.

18 Feb 2010

Researchers find new risk factor for early-onset dementia

Examining brain tissue from over 500 individuals in 11 countries, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues found a new risk factor for the second-most-common cause of early-onset dementia after Alzheimer's disease.

16 Feb 2010

New research finds sensory cortex develops late in fragile X syndrome defect

Why do people with fragile X syndrome, a genetic defect that is the best-known cause of autism and inherited mental retardation, recoil from hugs and physical touch - even from their parents?

12 Feb 2010

Critical phases of brain development may be mistimed in autistic patients, says study

Research into Fragile X Syndrome - a genetic condition that is the leading known cause of autism - has discovered that critical phases in the brain's development may be mistimed in people with the condition.

11 Feb 2010

Neurotoxin study may help find new therapies to block hyperactive ion channels

There are approximately 500 species of cone snails, each producing 50 - 200 different conotoxins. A similar number of peptide toxins are produced by snakes, spiders, sea anemones, scorpions and other venomous animals. The animals use the neurotoxins to paralyze their prey.

11 Feb 2010

Findings could lead to new targeted therapies for speech and learning disabilities

A team of University of Oregon researchers have isolated an independent processing channel of synapses inside the brain's auditory cortex that deals specifically with shutting off sound processing at appropriate times.

11 Feb 2010

Study could lead to new therapeutic strategies for Parkinson's disease

A new study from The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro - at McGill University is the first to discover a molecular link between Parkinson's disease and defects in the ability of nerve cells to communicate.

10 Feb 2010

PLX cell therapy may be an effective treatment for ischemic stroke disorder

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. today announced that the results of a pre-clinical study in an animal model of ischemic stroke demonstrated that its PLacental eXpanded (PLX) cell therapy may be an effective treatment for this disorder.

4 Feb 2010

New 3D scaffold for stem cell renewal

Medical researchers were shocked to discover that virtually all human embryonic stem cell lines being used in 2005 were contaminated. Animal byproducts used to line Petri dishes had left traces on the human cells. If those cells had been implanted in a human body they likely would have been rejected by the patient's immune system.

3 Feb 2010

Researchers find three different degenerative brain disorders linked by toxic form of Elk-1 protein

For the first time, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that three different degenerative brain disorders are linked by a toxic form of the same protein. The protein, called Elk-1, was found in clumps of misshaped proteins that are the hallmarks of Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Huntington's disease.

3 Feb 2010

CSC, ALS TDI extend collaboration in advancing potential stem cell therapy for ALS

California Stem Cell, Inc. (CSC) and ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) are pleased to announce an extension and expansion of their collaboration aimed at advancing a potential stem cell therapy for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). This effort will build on work that has already been completed as part of this on-going partnership to understand how stem cells, and their derivatives, may be applied to treatment of this fatal neurodegenerative disease.

3 Feb 2010

Researchers explore how brain circuitry and learning changes over time

New research shows our brains are a lot more chaotic than previously thought, and that this might be a good thing. Neurobiologists at the University of Maryland have discovered information about how the brain processes sound that challenges previous understandings of the auditory cortex, which had suggested an organization based on precise neuronal maps.

2 Feb 2010

Unusual molecule in brain and retina can trigger vision loss

Scientists have identified a double agent in the eye that, once triggered, can morph from neuron protector to neuron killer. The discovery has significant health implications since the neurons killed through this process results in vision loss and blindness.

2 Feb 2010

Mouse model demonstrates cell-to-cell connections between implanted stem cells and diseased cells

Investigators at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham, formerly Burnham Institute for Medical Research), the Karolinska Institutet, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Harvard Medical School and Universit- Libre de Bruxelles have demonstrated in mouse models that transplanted stems cells, when in direct contact with diseased neurons, send signals through specialized channels that rescue the neurons from death.

2 Feb 2010

Study: Schizophrenia patients may experience beneficial brain changes in response to exercise

Potentially beneficial brain changes (an increase in the volume of an area known as the hippocampus) occur in response to exercise both in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

1 Feb 2010

Project A.L.S. and Robert Packard Center for ALS Research partner in $15M research initiative

Project A.L.S. (New York, NY) and the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD) announced that they will partner on P2 ALS, a $15 million initiative designed to advance ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) research exponentially over the next three years.

30 Jan 2010

Neuron News and Research

Reversing protein deficiency through gene therapy can improve SMA

Schizophrenia: Insight into late development of symptoms

Brain implant helps scientists in determining link between brainwave patterns and attention

Tel Aviv University unveils new synthetic supplement to stall age-related memory loss

Neuroimaging study may lead to new therapeutic treatments for stroke and hearing loss

Researchers find new risk factor for early-onset dementia

New research finds sensory cortex develops late in fragile X syndrome defect

Critical phases of brain development may be mistimed in autistic patients, says study

Neurotoxin study may help find new therapies to block hyperactive ion channels

Findings could lead to new targeted therapies for speech and learning disabilities

Study could lead to new therapeutic strategies for Parkinson's disease

PLX cell therapy may be an effective treatment for ischemic stroke disorder

New 3D scaffold for stem cell renewal

Researchers find three different degenerative brain disorders linked by toxic form of Elk-1 protein

CSC, ALS TDI extend collaboration in advancing potential stem cell therapy for ALS

Researchers explore how brain circuitry and learning changes over time

Unusual molecule in brain and retina can trigger vision loss

Mouse model demonstrates cell-to-cell connections between implanted stem cells and diseased cells

Study: Schizophrenia patients may experience beneficial brain changes in response to exercise

Project A.L.S. and Robert Packard Center for ALS Research partner in $15M research initiative

Neuroscience - Second Edition eBook

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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