Brain News and Research

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The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. Enclosed in the cranium, it has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times as large as the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size.

Scientists reveal underlying mechanisms that lead to more difficult-to-treat symptoms of schizophrenia

Scientists at Columbia University's Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University Medical Center, and the Université Paris Descartes have found that deficits in social memory--a crucial yet poorly understood feature of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia--may be due to a decrease in the number of a particular class of brain cells, called inhibitory neurons, in a little-explored region within the brain's memory center.

7 Jan 2016

Insulin-producing cells' mitochondria may represent useful therapeutic target in type 2 diabetes

Factors in the blood from calorie-restricted rats can modify energy-producing mitochondria within the insulin-producing cells that regulate blood sugar levels, new research shows. This has a positive impact on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and protects cells from fatty acid and glucose toxicity.

7 Jan 2016

Vtesse receives FDA's Breakthrough Therapy designation for VTS-270

Vtesse, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted its drug candidate, VTS-270 for treatment of Niemann-Pick Type C1 Disease (NPC), Breakthrough Therapy designation status. Both the FDA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had previously granted Orphan Drug status to VTS-270, which is currently in a pivotal Phase 2b/3 clinical trial.

6 Jan 2016

Scientists successfully create fully-functional pancreatic cells from human skin cells

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco have successfully converted human skin cells into fully-functional pancreatic cells. The new cells produced insulin in response to changes in glucose levels, and, when transplanted into mice, the cells protected the animals from developing diabetes in a mouse model of the disease.

6 Jan 2016

UNC researchers uncover new potential strategy to kill cancerous cells in the brain

Rapidly dividing cells rely on an enzyme called Dicer to help them repair the DNA damage that occurs as they make mistakes in copying their genetic material over and over for new cells. UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have built on the discovery of Dicer's role in fixing DNA damage to uncover a new potential strategy to kill rapidly dividing, cancerous cells in the brain.

6 Jan 2016

Naturally occurring changes in brain wiring can help patients avert onset of bipolar disorder

Naturally occurring changes in brain wiring can help patients at high genetic risk of developing bipolar disorder avert the onset of the illness, according to a new study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published online today in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

6 Jan 2016

Easy-to-follow MIND diet helps lower Alzheimer's risk

A diet created, studied and reported on by researchers at Rush University Medical Center has been ranked the easiest diet to follow and the second best overall diet (tying in both categories) for 2016 by U.S. News & World Report.

6 Jan 2016

Scientists demonstrate workings of CCL2 mechanism that stimulates nerve regeneration

The peripheral nervous system is a vast network of nerves that exists primarily outside of brain and spinal cord and connects to the far reaches of the body. The very expanse of peripheral nerves makes them highly vulnerable to injuries such as blunt-force blows, cuts, and leg and arm fractures, as well as diseases that attack peripheral nerves such as diabetes, Charcot-Marie-Tooth, and Guillain-Barre syndrome.

6 Jan 2016

CAMH researchers identify 428 distinct disease conditions that co-occur in people with FASD

Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health have identified 428 distinct disease conditions that co-occur in people with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), in the most comprehensive review of its kind.

6 Jan 2016

Alpha-synuclein protein involved in Parkinson's disease pathology does not behave like a 'prion'

In Parkinson's disease, the protein "alpha-synuclein" aggregates within neurons of patients and appears to propagate across interconnected areas of the brain. How this happens remains largely unknown.

6 Jan 2016

Simple, computer-training task can alter the brain's wiring to regulate emotional reactions

A simple, computer-training task can change the brain's wiring to regulate emotional reactions, according to a recent study published in NeuroImage by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers.

6 Jan 2016

Purified cannabinoid reduces seizures in children and young adults with treatment-resistant epilepsy

Children and young adults with severe forms of epilepsy that does not respond to standard antiepileptic drugs have fewer seizures when treated with purified cannabinoid, according to a multi-center study led by researchers from UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco.

6 Jan 2016

Nearly 7 in 10 middle and high school students exposed to e-cigarette ads

About 7 in 10 middle and high school students – more than 18 million young people – see e-cigarette advertising in stores, online, in newspapers and magazines, or on television and in movies, according to a new CDC Vital Signs report.

6 Jan 2016

FDA grants Orphan Drug Designation to Ionis Pharmaceuticals' IONIS-HTT Rx for treatment of HD patients

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Orphan Drug Designation to IONIS-HTTRx for the treatment of patients with Huntington's disease (HD).

5 Jan 2016

New tests could improve diagnosis of two rare childhood diseases

For the first time, researchers have developed tests that could improve the diagnosis of two rare childhood diseases known as congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDGs) and metachromatic leukodystrophy, and that could even lead to new treatments for CDGs.

5 Jan 2016

Using stem cells to tackle CNS disorders: an interview with Dr Stefano Pluchino

My laboratory’s long standing interest is the study of the signaling capabilities of stem cells, both under homeostatic conditions

From Beckman Coulter Life Sciences - Flow Cytometry 5 Jan 2016

Researchers identify factors that may predict outcomes in pediatric patients with intracranial GSWs

Researchers from Memphis, Tennessee, have examined intracranial gunshot wounds (GSWs) in children and adolescents, and identified nine clinical, laboratory, and radiological factors that were predictive of these patients' outcomes.

5 Jan 2016

Emotions affect brain's creative network, new study finds

The workings of neural circuits associated with creativity are significantly altered when artists are actively attempting to convey emotions, according to a new brain-scanning study of jazz pianists.

5 Jan 2016

Hydroxyurea could be a viable option for children with sickle cell disease

A national sickle cell disease study involving Medical University of South Carolina researchers found that for some children with sickle cell disease, the drug hydroxyurea is as effective as blood transfusions to reduce blood flow speeds in the brain. Increased blood flows are a major risk factor for stroke in these children.

5 Jan 2016

Understanding the brain's cellular building blocks

Understanding the cellular building blocks of the brain, including the number and diversity of cell types, is a fundamental step toward understanding brain function. Researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have created a detailed taxonomy of cells in the mouse visual cortex based on single-cell gene expression, identifying 49 distinct cell types in the largest collection of individual adult cortical neurons characterized by gene expression published to date.

5 Jan 2016

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

Scientists reveal underlying mechanisms that lead to more difficult-to-treat symptoms of schizophrenia

Insulin-producing cells' mitochondria may represent useful therapeutic target in type 2 diabetes

Vtesse receives FDA's Breakthrough Therapy designation for VTS-270

Scientists successfully create fully-functional pancreatic cells from human skin cells

UNC researchers uncover new potential strategy to kill cancerous cells in the brain

Naturally occurring changes in brain wiring can help patients avert onset of bipolar disorder

Easy-to-follow MIND diet helps lower Alzheimer's risk

Scientists demonstrate workings of CCL2 mechanism that stimulates nerve regeneration

CAMH researchers identify 428 distinct disease conditions that co-occur in people with FASD

Alpha-synuclein protein involved in Parkinson's disease pathology does not behave like a 'prion'

Simple, computer-training task can alter the brain's wiring to regulate emotional reactions

Purified cannabinoid reduces seizures in children and young adults with treatment-resistant epilepsy

Nearly 7 in 10 middle and high school students exposed to e-cigarette ads

FDA grants Orphan Drug Designation to Ionis Pharmaceuticals' IONIS-HTT Rx for treatment of HD patients

New tests could improve diagnosis of two rare childhood diseases

Using stem cells to tackle CNS disorders: an interview with Dr Stefano Pluchino

Researchers identify factors that may predict outcomes in pediatric patients with intracranial GSWs

Emotions affect brain's creative network, new study finds

Hydroxyurea could be a viable option for children with sickle cell disease

Understanding the brain's cellular building blocks

Industry Focus eBook - Cell & Gene Therapy (1st Edition) eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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