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Optic nerve assessment predicts retinoblastoma outcomes

Magnetic resonance imaging scans taken pre- and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy for International Retinoblastoma Staging System stage III retinoblastoma can indicate a patient's likely event-free and overall survival, indicate study results.

22 Dec 2012

Researchers demonstrate significance of two proteins in nerve cell development

The study conducted by Prof. Frank Bradke's team provides indications on brain development and about the causes of diseases of the nervous system. The results have now been published in "Neuron".

21 Dec 2012

Protein complex plays critical role in development of Alzheimer's disease

The Bonn site of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the University of Bonn are leading contributors.

21 Dec 2012

Molecule imitating a virus may trigger inappropriate immune response

Why would our immune system turn against our own cells? This is the question that the combined Inserm/CNRS/ Pierre and Marie Curie University/Association Institut de Myologie have strived to answer in their "Therapies for diseases of striated muscle", concentrating in particular on the auto-immune disease known as myasthenia gravis.

21 Dec 2012

Novel virus-based gene therapy holds promise for Canavan disease

Research led by Paola Leone, PhD, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Osteopathic Medicine (UMDNJ-SOM), demonstrates the long term safety and benefit of a virus-based gene therapy that has been applied for the first time in a clinical setting.

21 Dec 2012

Study finds new signaling pathway involved in development of chronic inflammation of brain cells

The number of Alzheimer's patients will continue to dramatically increase in the next several decades. Various teams of researchers worldwide are feverishly investigating precisely how the illness develops. A

20 Dec 2012

FUS RNA binding ability essential for development of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Research led by Dr. Udai Pandey, Assistant Professor of Genetics at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has found that the ability of a protein made by a gene called FUS to bind to RNA is essential to the development of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). This discovery identifies a possible therapeutic target for the fatal neurological disease.

20 Dec 2012

Scientists uncover TDP-43 protein as possible target for treatment of ALS, FTD

Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center say they have new evidence that challenges scientific dogma involving two fatal neurodegenerative diseases - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) - and, in the process, have uncovered a possible therapeutic target as a novel strategy to treat both disorders.

20 Dec 2012

New therapeutic ultrasound approach could lead to an invisible knife for noninvasive surgery

A carbon-nanotube-coated lens that converts light to sound can focus high-pressure sound waves to finer points than ever before. The University of Michigan engineering researchers who developed the new therapeutic ultrasound approach say it could lead to an invisible knife for noninvasive surgery.

20 Dec 2012

Scientists map sensory nerves in mouse skin

Johns Hopkins scientists have created stunning images of the branching patterns of individual sensory nerve cells. Their report, published online in the journal eLife on Dec. 18, details the arrangement of these branches in skin from the backs of mice.

20 Dec 2012

Link made between muscular dystrophy and defective nerve wiring

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a particular protein helps nerve cells extend themselves along the spinal cord during mammalian development. Their results shed light on the subset of muscular dystrophies that result from mutations in the gene that holds the code for the protein, called dystroglycan, and also show how the nerve and muscle failings of the degenerative diseases are related.

20 Dec 2012

AAV-based gene therapy cocktail may help extend lives of children with Canavan disease

Results of a clinical trial that began in 2001 show that a gene therapy cocktail conveyed into the brain by a molecular special delivery vehicle may help extend the lives of children with Canavan disease, a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disorder.

20 Dec 2012

Lou Gehrig's disease may be treatable using neural stem cells

Promising new research provides evidence that ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, may be treatable using neural stem cells.

20 Dec 2012

People with chronic shortness of breath may soon have new way to help alleviate their discomfort

People experiencing chronic shortness of breath may soon have a new way to help alleviate their discomfort, according to a Penn State College of Medicine pulmonology researcher.

20 Dec 2012

‘Sensory’ block promise for postop knee pain

Using adductor canal block rather than femoral nerve block for analgesia after knee surgery could minimize muscle weakness and risk for falls, a study in Anesthesiology suggests.

19 Dec 2012

Biologic changes after delivery may prevent development of chronic pain

Chronic pain from childbirth is remarkably rare, according to a study from the January issue of Anesthesiology. Additionally, in a second study, researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C., found the biologic changes after delivery may prevent the development of pain.

19 Dec 2012

Ion channel acts as powerful ‘brake’ after epileptic seizures

Given that epilepsy impacts more than 2 million Americans, there is a pressing need for new therapies to prevent this disabling neurological disorder. New findings from the neuroscience laboratory of Mark S. Shapiro, Ph.D., at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, published Dec. 20 in the high-impact scientific journal, Neuron, may provide hope.

19 Dec 2012

Kids misuse holiday baking ingredients for drug-like effect

Watch your kitchen cupboards this season as thrillseekers look to common holiday baking ingredients for a rise - cinnamon, nutmeg and even marshmallows are the primary ingredient in trendy risky behavior.

19 Dec 2012

High AngII levels put stress on the ER and cause hypertension

When the heart works too hard, the brain may be to blame, says new Cornell University research that is changing how scientists look at high blood pressure (hypertension). The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in November, traces hypertension to a newfound cellular source in the brain and shows that treatments targeting this area can reverse the disease.

18 Dec 2012

University of North Carolina awards 13th Perl prize to two NTNU-Trondheim scientists

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has awarded the 13th Perl-UNC Neuroscience prize jointly to Edvard and May-Britt Moser at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU-Trondheim) in Trondheim, Norway.

17 Dec 2012