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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.

Stem cells delivered intranasally improve motor function in Parkinson's disease

Stem cells, delivered intranasally, were found to substantially improve motor function in Parkinson's disease in a study co-authored by William H. Frey II, Ph.D, Director of the Alzheimer's Research Center, part of HealthPartners Research Foundation. Frey collaborated with Lusine Danielyan, MD, of University Hospital of Tubingen in Germany.

4 Feb 2011

Mountain bike-related injuries decrease to 56%: New study

A new study conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital found the number of mountain bike-related injuries decreased 56 percent over the 14-year study period - going from a high of more than 23,000 injuries in 1995 to just over 10,000 injuries in 2007.

4 Feb 2011

More careful regulation of FDA's Humanitarian Device Exemption in psychiatric patients needed

Warning that patients could be at risk, an interdisciplinary group of multinational investigators is calling on the U.S. Congress and federal regulators to tighten a law that permits use of brain devices to treat rare neuropsychiatric disorders without supporting clinical trials or stringent patient oversight.

4 Feb 2011

Scientists unravel mystery about how new tumors in individuals with breast cancer take root

In a discovery that may lead to a new treatment for breast cancer that has spread to the bone, a Princeton University research team has unraveled a mystery about how these tumors take root.

4 Feb 2011

Ceregene initiates enrollment and dosing in CERE-120 Phase 2b trial for Parkinson's disease

Ceregene, a biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it is progressing with enrollment and dosing in its CERE-120 Phase 2b multi-center, sham-surgery, double-blinded controlled trial in Parkinson's disease.

3 Feb 2011

Genetic component to Parkinson’s disease discovered

Parkinson’s disease, a severely degenerative disease of the brain leading to tremors, muscle rigidity and finally immobility was until the 1990’s believed to be due to environmental factors, lifestyle and a person’s age. However, now scientists have discovered five more genes that influence its development.

3 Feb 2011

Neurons activated by learning show extensive expansion of structure

When a laboratory rat learns how to reach for and grab a food pellet - a pretty complex and unnatural act for a rodent - the acquired knowledge significantly alters the structure of the specific brain cells involved, which sprout a whopping 22 percent more dendritic spines connecting them to other motor neurons.

3 Feb 2011

Chances of surviving cardiac arrests high in large public venues having AEDs

A study of more than 14,000 men and women whose hearts stopped suddenly suggests that the chances of survival are very high if such cardiac arrests are witnessed in large public venues, including airports, sports arenas or malls. The reasons, researchers say, are that almost four out of five such cases appear to be due to a survivable type of heart rhythm disruption and that big places with lots of people are more likely to have an automated external defibrillator, or AED device, handy, along with those who can apply it as well as CPR.

3 Feb 2011

New device to treat heart hiccups

"It took off to about 160 beats per minute and then dropped to 50. It seemed confused. Then it went back to normal," recalled Tsuji, 47, an avid cyclist, of that day in 2003. "I didn't notice any symptoms at that point, so I blew it off. I figured there was something wrong with it."

3 Feb 2011

Coordinated behavior occurs whether or not neurons are actually connected via synapses

The brain-awake and sleeping-is awash in electrical activity, and not just from the individual pings of single neurons communicating with each other. In fact, the brain is enveloped in countless overlapping electric fields, generated by the neural circuits of scores of communicating neurons.

3 Feb 2011

UT Southwestern leads national effort to find effective treatments for drug addiction

UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatry researchers are leading the Texas arm of a national network that conducts clinical trials aimed at finding effective treatments for drug addiction.

3 Feb 2011

Study reveals how MMSET gene enables disease-causing mutations to occur

For several decades, researchers have been linking genetic mutations to diseases ranging from cancer to developmental abnormalities. What hasn't been clear, however, is how the body's genome sustains such destructive glitches in the first place.

3 Feb 2011

Concert and WRAIR enter CRADA to evaluate novel compound for seizure protection associated with TBI

Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. The CRADA will allow the WRAIR to conduct preclinical testing on a novel compound derived from Concert's DCE Platform™ (deuterated chemical entity platform) for seizure protection associated with traumatic brain injury, a major public health concern.

3 Feb 2011

Merck announces publication of GARDASIL pivotal Phase III study data in NEJM

Merck announced today that data from the pivotal Phase III study with GARDASIL in males were published in the February 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

3 Feb 2011

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics initiates enrollment in ICT-107 Phase II trial for GBM

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd., a biotechnology company that is developing immune-based therapies for the treatment of various forms of cancer, announced today that the first patient has been enrolled in its Phase II trial of ICT-107 at the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute at JFK Medical Center. ICT-107 is the company's dendritic cell based cancer vaccine candidate for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

3 Feb 2011

Ritalin may help improve brain function in children with iron deficiency

Ritalin may help improve brain function in adolescent rats that were iron deficient during infancy, according to a team of Penn State neuroscientists. This may have implications for iron-deficient human infants as well.

3 Feb 2011

International scientist team identifies gene mutation strongly linked to schizophrenia

In a major advance for schizophrenia research, an international team of scientists, led by Jonathan Sebat, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has identified a gene mutation strongly linked to the brain disorder - and a signaling pathway that may be treatable with existing compounds.

3 Feb 2011

Cedars-Sinai receives California Institute grant to develop new technique for specific diseases

A team of scientists from the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute has been awarded a $1.9 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to fund development of a new technique to aid pharmaceutical discoveries for specific diseases.

3 Feb 2011

Mothers who lose body fat before pregnancy improve health of children

Obesity among women of childbearing age is increasing worldwide. Because babies of obese mothers are themselves predisposed to obesity, society can reasonably expect the epidemic of obese and overweight people to continue through future generations.

3 Feb 2011

Malarial drugs may help treat specific form of frontotemporal dementia

Frontotemporal dementia is caused by a breakdown of nerve cells in the frontal and temporal region of the brain, which leads to, among other symptoms, a change in personality and behavior. The cause of some forms of frontotemporal dementia is a genetically determined reduction of a hormone-like growth factor, progranulin.

3 Feb 2011

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

Stem cells delivered intranasally improve motor function in Parkinson's disease

Mountain bike-related injuries decrease to 56%: New study

More careful regulation of FDA's Humanitarian Device Exemption in psychiatric patients needed

Scientists unravel mystery about how new tumors in individuals with breast cancer take root

Ceregene initiates enrollment and dosing in CERE-120 Phase 2b trial for Parkinson's disease

Genetic component to Parkinson’s disease discovered

Neurons activated by learning show extensive expansion of structure

Chances of surviving cardiac arrests high in large public venues having AEDs

New device to treat heart hiccups

Coordinated behavior occurs whether or not neurons are actually connected via synapses

UT Southwestern leads national effort to find effective treatments for drug addiction

Study reveals how MMSET gene enables disease-causing mutations to occur

Concert and WRAIR enter CRADA to evaluate novel compound for seizure protection associated with TBI

Merck announces publication of GARDASIL pivotal Phase III study data in NEJM

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics initiates enrollment in ICT-107 Phase II trial for GBM

Ritalin may help improve brain function in children with iron deficiency

International scientist team identifies gene mutation strongly linked to schizophrenia

Cedars-Sinai receives California Institute grant to develop new technique for specific diseases

Mothers who lose body fat before pregnancy improve health of children

Malarial drugs may help treat specific form of frontotemporal dementia

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

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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