Motor Neuron Disease News and Research

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Brain trauma in sports associated with motor neuron disease, researchers find

The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine and Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that they have provided the first pathological evidence that repetitive head trauma experienced in collision sports is associated with motor neuron disease, a neurological condition that affects voluntary muscle movements.

18 Aug 2010

Specific brain abnormalities linked to motor neuron disease in athletes with head trauma

Professional athletes with repetitive head trauma and possibly others with a history of head injuries many years previously may be prone the development of a motor neuron disease similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or "Lou Gehrig's disease"), reports a study in the September Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology, official journal of the American Association of Neuropathologists, Inc.

18 Aug 2010

CSHL scientists reverse symptoms of Type III SMA using ASOs

The devastating, currently incurable motor-neuron disease spinal muscular atrophy might soon be treated with tiny, chemically modified pieces of RNA called antisense oligonucleotides.

13 Jul 2010

University of Utah makes progress against SMA with support of Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

18 Jun 2010

Researchers make significant headway in fight against SMA

Researchers at the University of Utah are making strides in understanding and combating a motor neuron disease known as Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The spinal muscular atrophies are a group of inherited diseases that cause progressive degeneration of motor nerves resulting in muscle weakness. The most common form of the disorder, due to the deletion of a critical gene on chromosome 5, is currently the leading cause of inherited infant and child mortality.

18 Jun 2010

Novel gene replacement therapy holds promise for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Children who suffer from the devastating disease Spinal Muscular Atrophy are set to benefit from a new breakthrough in therapy developments by researchers at the University of Sheffield.

10 Jun 2010

Stem cell research could lead to new treatment strategies for motor neuron disease

The Motor Neurone Disease Association is funding its first ever stem cell research programme to help unlock the secrets of this fatal, neurological condition.

24 May 2010

MU researcher develops test to pinpoint neurological origins of dysphagia

Muscle degeneration and confinement to a wheelchair are the hallmarks of Lou Gehrig's disease, Parkinson's, muscular dystrophy and other neurodegenerative diseases. One of the silent, and most serious, symptoms of these diseases is losing the ability to swallow.

29 Apr 2010

AAN awards Cedars-Sinai researcher 2010 Sheila Essey Award for ALS research

The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is awarding the 2010 Sheila Essey Award-An Award for ALS Research to Clive Svendsen, PhD, with the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute in Los Angeles, CA. Svendsen will receive the award during the AAN's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, held April 10 through April 17, 2010.

31 Mar 2010

Findings provide new insight into factors causing neurodegenerative diseases

Scientists at the Babraham Institute have discovered a novel survival factor whose rapid transport along nerve cells is crucial for keeping them alive. The same factor seems likely to be needed to keep our nerves healthy as we age.

27 Jan 2010

Neurodegenerative disorders are the second-leading cause of early-onset dementia, says report

Neurodegenerative disorders called frontotemporal dementias (FTD) are the second-leading cause of early-onset dementia in persons under age 65 and can emerge sometimes as early as age 20.

21 Sep 2009

Experimental Parkinson's therapy may have robust weight-loss effect

A growth factor used in clinical experiments to rescue dying brain cells in Parkinson patients may cause unwanted weight loss if delivered to specific areas of the brain, according to University of Florida researchers in the March online edition of Molecular Therapy.

24 Mar 2009

Deciphering motor neuron disease

Dr Ian Blair and Professor Garth Nicholson from the University of Sydney's ANZAC Research Institute have identified a new gene abnormality that causes the fatal paralysis, motor neuron disease (MND) in families with multiple members affected by the disease.

1 Mar 2009

A second MND gene mutation in one year signifies rapid research progress

A collaborative research project involving Professor Christopher Shaw of the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London (KCL), Dr Tom Kwiatkowski at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Professor Robert H Brown at University of Massachusetts, has revealed that mutations in a gene called FUS (fused in sarcoma) cause familial Motor Neuron Disease (also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).

26 Feb 2009