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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.

FDA approves fingolimod drug for multiple sclerosis

The first oral medication for multiple sclerosis was approved today by the Food & Drug Administration. Physicians praised the decision to approve the drug, called fingolimod, saying it would give multiple sclerosis patients new options for treatment.

23 Sep 2010

Nerve inflammation may cause postsurgical neuropathies: Study

A new Mayo Clinic study found that nerve inflammation may cause the pain, numbness and weakness following surgical procedures that is known as postsurgical neuropathy. The development of postsurgical neuropathies is typically attributed to compression or stretching of nerves during surgery. This new research shows that, in some cases, the neuropathy is actually caused by the immune system attacking the nerves and is potentially treatable with immunosuppressive drugs.

23 Sep 2010

Biogen Idec concurs with FDA on safety monitoring for Gilenya through REMS

Biogen Idec is committed to improving the lives of people with multiple sclerosis (MS), and no company is doing more for these patients. There has been a desire within the MS community for an oral treatment for a long time, and the approval of Gilenya has made this a reality.

23 Sep 2010

DSMB authorizes Oxygen Biotherapeutics' next cohort of Oxycyte emulsion study in severe non-penetrating TBI

Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Inc. reported today that the Data Safety Monitoring Board overseeing the company's ongoing Phase II-b trial has, based on the results of the first cohort of patients, authorized the company to move forward with the next cohort of the study. This trial is a randomized, single-dose, placebo-controlled, double-blind, dose-escalation study to evaluate the safety and tolerability of our Oxycyte® emulsion in patients with severe non-penetrating traumatic brain injury.

23 Sep 2010

FDA approves Gilenya capsules for reducing MS relapses

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Gilenya capsules (fingolimod) to reduce relapses and delay disability progression in patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

22 Sep 2010

Vascular Disease Foundation honors UCSD professor with President's Award for Vision

The Vascular Disease Foundation has awarded Michael Criqui, MD, MPH, professor and chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, one of its highest honors, the President's Award for Vision. The award was presented at the VDF's annual meeting in Alexandria, Virginia on September 20.

22 Sep 2010

Feeding Your Kids challenges families to take 42-day program to combat childhood obesity

Feeding Your Kids is proud to announce its participation in the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting taking place from September 20-23 in New York City, and bringing together Initiative members from around the world to address a variety of global problems through tangible Commitments to Action. In honor of the annual meeting and Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, Feeding Your Kids is challenging families nationwide to take its 42-day program and change the way they feed their families.

22 Sep 2010

Smoking during pregnancy adversely affects children's coordination and physical control

Women who smoke during pregnancy run the risk of adversely affecting their children's coordination and physical control according to a new study from örebro University, Sweden, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

22 Sep 2010

Researchers receive $634,000 grant to study environmental factors, MS progression

A $634,000 grant from the Department of Defense is allowing researchers at the University at Buffalo to investigate a trio of environmental factors and their influence on the progression of multiple sclerosis.

22 Sep 2010

UC researcher receives NIDA’s Avant-Garde Award for cocaine addiction research

A University of Cincinnati (UC) researcher will receive $2.5 million over five years from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to support his work on a potential immunotherapy for cocaine addiction.

22 Sep 2010

NIDA's Avant-Garde Awards support novel approaches for treating tobacco and cocaine addiction

A potential immunotherapy, a new gene therapy, an enzyme inhibitor, and a compound originally isolated from a Chinese herb are among the latest approaches scientists are proposing to treat addiction.

22 Sep 2010

Dr. Shlomo Melmed awarded 9th Endocrine Regulation Prize of the Fondation Ipsen

The international jury under the presidency of Professor Iain Robinson (National Institute for Medical Research, London, UK) awarded today the 9th Endocrine Regulation Prize of the Fondation Ipsen (20.000€) to Dr. Shlomo Melmed (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, USA) during the annual congress of the ENEA (European NeuroEndocrine Association) in Liège (Belgium), for his translational approach to endocrinology. Shlomo Melmed is an internationally recognized endocrinologist and an authority on pituitary medicine.

22 Sep 2010

New findings could impact diagnosis and treatment of ADHD and alcoholism

Impulsive behaviour can be improved with training and the improvement is marked by specific brain changes, according to a new Queen's University study.

22 Sep 2010

Catheter ablation benefits atrial fibrillation patients younger than 45

Patients under age 45 had fewer major complications than older patients and comparable improvement after a medical procedure to treat irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia, in a study reported in Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, an American Heart Association journal.

22 Sep 2010

Specific orofacial characteristics can lead to accurate diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is an umbrella term that describes the range of effects that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol while pregnant. Each year, FASD affect an estimated 40,000 infants in the United States—more than spina bifida, Down syndrome, and muscular dystrophy combined.

22 Sep 2010

Researchers explain how nerve cells transmit electrical signals

Billions of brain cells are communicating at any given moment. Like an organic supercomputer they keep everything going, from breathing to solving riddles, and "programming errors" can lead to serious conditions such as schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

22 Sep 2010

Deep brain stimulation improves OCD symptoms, promotes smoking cessation and weight loss

Electrical stimulation of the brain in a patient with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) led to some unanticipated benefits—"effortless" smoking cessation and weight loss, according to a case report in the September issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

22 Sep 2010

Rush University researchers identify potential new way to prevent Alzheimer's disease progression

Neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found a new therapeutic target that can potentially lead to a new way to prevent the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The target called neutral sphingomyelinase (N-SMase) is a protein that when activated, can cause a chain of reactions in the cell leading to neuronal death and memory loss.

22 Sep 2010

QR Pharma and MUSC receive $220,000 SBIR grant to study Posiphen in AD transgenic mice

QR Pharma, Inc., a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company committed to developing therapeutics with novel approaches for the treatment of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) announced today that they received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) phase I grant in the amount of $220,000 to study Posiphen® and its metabolites in cell culture and in transgenic Alzheimer mice.

22 Sep 2010

Brown grants exclusive intellectual property license to Tivorsan Pharmaceuticals

Development of a potential treatment for the most common form of muscular dystrophy is moving into a new phase at Brown University. Brown has granted an exclusive license for the intellectual property to Tivorsan Pharmaceuticals, a startup firm that will strive to see it through human trials.

22 Sep 2010

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

FDA approves fingolimod drug for multiple sclerosis

Nerve inflammation may cause postsurgical neuropathies: Study

Biogen Idec concurs with FDA on safety monitoring for Gilenya through REMS

DSMB authorizes Oxygen Biotherapeutics' next cohort of Oxycyte emulsion study in severe non-penetrating TBI

FDA approves Gilenya capsules for reducing MS relapses

Vascular Disease Foundation honors UCSD professor with President's Award for Vision

Feeding Your Kids challenges families to take 42-day program to combat childhood obesity

Smoking during pregnancy adversely affects children's coordination and physical control

Researchers receive $634,000 grant to study environmental factors, MS progression

UC researcher receives NIDA’s Avant-Garde Award for cocaine addiction research

NIDA's Avant-Garde Awards support novel approaches for treating tobacco and cocaine addiction

Dr. Shlomo Melmed awarded 9th Endocrine Regulation Prize of the Fondation Ipsen

New findings could impact diagnosis and treatment of ADHD and alcoholism

Catheter ablation benefits atrial fibrillation patients younger than 45

Specific orofacial characteristics can lead to accurate diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Researchers explain how nerve cells transmit electrical signals

Deep brain stimulation improves OCD symptoms, promotes smoking cessation and weight loss

Rush University researchers identify potential new way to prevent Alzheimer's disease progression

QR Pharma and MUSC receive $220,000 SBIR grant to study Posiphen in AD transgenic mice

Brown grants exclusive intellectual property license to Tivorsan Pharmaceuticals

Industry Focus eBook - Neurology/Neuroscience - 2nd 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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