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Prozac helps learning and memory in people with Huntington's disease

People with Huntington's disease have progressive motor problems, cognitive deficits (dementia) and psychiatric symptoms (the most common is depression) that usually start to appear in mid-life. There is no cure and death usually results within 10 to 20 years of symptom onset, or faster in the childhood-onset form of the disease.

9 Oct 2005

New information regarding the genetic, cellular and neurological bases of susceptibility to autism and schizophrenia

Two New Jersey research teams are reporting discoveries about the biological nature of psychiatric disorders that may bring them closer to the ultimate goal of finding cures for complex diseases, such as autism and schizophrenia.

9 Oct 2005

Brain needs the middle ear to track depth

When you jaywalk, your ability to keep track of that oncoming truck despite your constantly changing position can be a lifesaver. But scientists do not understand how such constant updating of depth and distance takes place

5 Oct 2005

The cocktail party problem

Known as "the cocktail party problem," the ability of the brain's auditory processing centers to sort a babble of different sounds, like cocktail party chatter, into identifiable individual voices has long been a mystery.

5 Oct 2005

Math1 gene plays a pivotal role in the formation of many of the neurons important in hearing and balance

Close your eyes and imagine you are in a darkened Carnegie Hall. Although it's pitch black, you know you are getting closer to the stage as the music gets louder. If you have been there before, you have a sense of the location of the seats and aisles.

5 Oct 2005

Immature stem cells that proliferate to form brain tissues in mice can function for at least a year

New studies in mice have shown that immature stem cells that proliferate to form brain tissues can function for at least a year -- most of the life span of a mouse -- and give rise to multiple types of neural cells, not just neurons.

5 Oct 2005

Discovery has implications for research on restoring mobility to people who have lost motor functions due to spinal cord injury

Yale School of Medicine researchers report in Science this week genetic evidence for the hypothesis that myelination, or formation of a protective sheath around a nerve fiber, consolidates neural circuitry by suppressing plasticity in the mature brain.

3 Oct 2005

Potential beneficial effect of copper orotate

As one of the services for patients with Alzheimer's disease, the Department of Psychiatry at the Saarland University Medical Center offers participation in a clinical phase II trial. This clinical trial aims to elucidate a potential beneficial effect of copper orotate (an organic copper salt), which is given together with a standard cholinesterase inhibitor.

3 Oct 2005

Ubiquitin ligase Rnf6 may be involved in oncogenesis

In a recent study, Dr. Ingolf Bach and colleagues from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester and the University of Hamburg describe a novel role for the ubiquitin/proteosome protein degradation pathway in the regulation of local actin dynamics in neurons.

3 Oct 2005

First step towards effective drug-addiction therapies

A novel chemical compound that blocks memory-related drug cravings has the potential to be the basis of new therapies to aid drug-addiction recovery efforts, UC Irvine neurobiologists have found.

26 Sep 2005

Scientists identifiy new type of pain-sensing neuron in rats

We all know that if you put your hand over an open flame it's very painful. What you may not know is that, for some people, just lying under a blanket is painful as well. They have neuropathic pain--annoying, chronic pain that comes from a diseased nerve cell rather than a specific stimulus. Feeling phantom pain in a missing limb is another, more famous, example.

26 Sep 2005

Extreme gene pin-pointed

One teenager likes to snowboard off a cliff. Another prefers to read a book and wouldn't think of trading places. Why these differences exist is a mystery, but for the first time researchers have identified a possible genetic explanation behind risk-seeking behavior.

26 Sep 2005

Surprising immune system cells discovery

Immune system cells are connected to each other by an extensive network of tiny tunnels that, like a building's hidden pneumatic tube system, are used to shoot signals to distant cells.

26 Sep 2005

Neurologix announces positive interim results of gene therapy clinical trial for patients with Parkinson's disease

Neurologix has announced positive interim results of its landmark gene therapy clinical trial for patients with Parkinson's disease. Neurologix's 12-patient, dose-escalating Phase I trial is the world's first study to use a viral vector (the non-pathogenic adeno-associated virus, or AAV) for the treatment of an adult neurological disease.

26 Sep 2005

New information about how the brain directs the body to make movements

A University of California - San Francisco (UCSF) study has revealed new information about how the brain directs the body to make movements. The key factor is "noise" in the brain's signaling, and it helps explain why all movement is not carried out with the same level of precision.

26 Sep 2005

Adult human neural stem cells used to successfully regenerate spinal cord tissue

Researchers at the UC Irvine Reeve-Irvine Research Center have used adult human neural stem cells to successfully regenerate damaged spinal cord tissue and improve mobility in mice.

26 Sep 2005

Key neural system at risk from prenatal exposure to alcohol

In a study of adult monkeys who were exposed to moderate amounts of alcohol in utero, scientists have found that prenatal exposure to alcohol - even in small doses - has pronounced effects on the development and function later in life of the brain's dopamine system, a critical component of the central nervous system that regulates many regions of the brain.

21 Sep 2005

Phantom pain following spinal cord injury is the result of hypersensitive neurons in the thalamic region of brain

Yale researchers report the first evidence that phantom pain following spinal cord injury is the result of hypersensitive neurons in the thalamic region of the brain that can be suppressed with specially designed molecular agents.

20 Sep 2005

First large-scale whole genome map of genetic variability associated with Parkinson's disease

Mayo Clinic researchers in collaboration with scientists at Perlegen Sciences, Inc. and funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research have produced the first large-scale whole genome map of genetic variability associated with Parkinson's disease.

19 Sep 2005

Researchers selectively knock out memory associations connected with receiving cocaine

Addicts crave drugs and suffer relapse not just because of the alluring high of drugs, but also because they are compelled by the powerful, haunting memory associations with the environment surrounding their drug taking. Thus, treatments that could eliminate those memory associations could prove effective in treating addiction, researchers believe.

19 Sep 2005

Neuron News and Research

Prozac helps learning and memory in people with Huntington's disease

New information regarding the genetic, cellular and neurological bases of susceptibility to autism and schizophrenia

Brain needs the middle ear to track depth

The cocktail party problem

Math1 gene plays a pivotal role in the formation of many of the neurons important in hearing and balance

Immature stem cells that proliferate to form brain tissues in mice can function for at least a year

Discovery has implications for research on restoring mobility to people who have lost motor functions due to spinal cord injury

Potential beneficial effect of copper orotate

Ubiquitin ligase Rnf6 may be involved in oncogenesis

First step towards effective drug-addiction therapies

Scientists identifiy new type of pain-sensing neuron in rats

Extreme gene pin-pointed

Surprising immune system cells discovery

Neurologix announces positive interim results of gene therapy clinical trial for patients with Parkinson's disease

New information about how the brain directs the body to make movements

Adult human neural stem cells used to successfully regenerate spinal cord tissue

Key neural system at risk from prenatal exposure to alcohol

Phantom pain following spinal cord injury is the result of hypersensitive neurons in the thalamic region of brain

First large-scale whole genome map of genetic variability associated with Parkinson's disease

Researchers selectively knock out memory associations connected with receiving cocaine

eBook: Advancing neurodegenerative research with iPSC-derived microglia models eBook

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

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