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New technique may find 'hidden' receptors in nerve cells

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and University of Pennsylvania have found a way to uncover potential drug targets that have so far remained hidden from researchers' view.

11 Mar 2011

Organ removal surgery through body's orifices, without any visible incisions

The Chicago Park District physical instructor needed a way to get the surgery performed without being laid up for weeks so she opted for an innovative minimally invasive procedure called Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) that would allow surgeons to perform organ removal surgery without any visible incisions and have her back on her feet the same day.

11 Mar 2011

GSK announces new NovaMin-containing dental formulation for sensitive teeth

This year, for the first time, millions of Americans will be protecting their sensitive teeth with NovaMin in everyday dental products. Co-inventor Gary Hack, DDS, couldn't be happier.

11 Mar 2011

Novartis new MS treatment receives Notice of Compliance in Canada

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. announced today that its new MS treatment, Gilenya, has received Notice of Compliance in Canada.

10 Mar 2011

Medtronic launches VERTEX SELECT CHROMALOY Plus Rods in the U.S.

Continuing its leadership in cervical spine medical device therapies, Medtronic, Inc. today announced the U.S. launch of VERTEX SELECT CHROMALOY Plus Rods.

10 Mar 2011

Professor utilizes $300,000 N.Y. grant to study adult neural stem cells

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering Deanna Thompson is utilizing more than $300,000 in New York state funding as part of the state stem cell research program, NYSTEM, to study adult neural stem cells.

10 Mar 2011

Caspase inhibition can prevent brain inflammation in neurological diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are partly attributable to brain inflammation. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now demonstrate in a paper published in Nature that a well-known family of enzymes can prevent the inflammation and thus constitute a potential target for drugs.

10 Mar 2011

Study: High volume music players can cause neurophysiological changes

Growing numbers of people enjoy listening to music on portable music players or cell phones, and many tend to turn up the volume, especially in noisy surroundings. In a study published March 2, 2011 in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, researchers explore the potential effects of this behavior on hearing.

10 Mar 2011

Batman puts some POW! into physiology studies

What do you have when you line up a martial artist, acrobatic gymnast, police officer, firefighter, NASCAR driver, and NFL running back? "Watson," the IBM super-computer that recently routed humanity's best on Jeopardy might have guessed the answer was "the Village People," to which host Alex Trebek could have replied, "Sorry. The answer we were looking for is 'Batman'." At least that is the correct answer for physiologist E. Paul Zehr.

9 Mar 2011

UH conducts first ever pilot study to test heat therapy for treatment of PE

University Hospitals Case Medical Center is conducting the first ever pilot study to test a new procedure using "heat therapy" or local radiofrequency energy to treat premature ejaculation.

9 Mar 2011

Patients with epilepsy-linked memory loss worry more than their physicians

Patients with epilepsy worry more than their physicians do about the patients' potential memory loss accompanying their seizure disorder, according to a recent study.

9 Mar 2011

First hand transplant recipient on the way to recovery

A 26 year old mother has received the world’s first hand transplant. The 17 member surgical team from the Hand Transplant Program at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center has performed the operation over 14 hours. They painstakingly attached tendons, blood vessels and nerves. The patient had lost her hand in a traffic accident 5 years ago. The patient is currently recovering.

8 Mar 2011

Researchers elucidate how sensory, motor fibers interact at molecular level to form nerves

During embryonic development, sensory and motor fibers interact to form nerves in the limbs. The research team led by Dr. Andrea Huber Br-samle of the Institute of Developmental Genetics of Helmholtz Zentrum M-nchen has now elucidated how this interaction functions at the molecular level: The cell surface receptor neuropilin-1 is present in both sensory and motor nerve fibers and controls their interaction in order to correctly regulate growth.

8 Mar 2011

New insight into multiple sclerosis

Scientists have blocked harmful immune cells from entering the brain in mice with a condition similar to multiple sclerosis.

8 Mar 2011

Fumaric acid salts may protect against Multiple Sclerosis

Fumaric acid salts have been in use against severe psoriasis for a long time. About ten years ago, researchers in Bochum speculated that they may also have a favourable effect on Multiple Sclerosis as a result of their TH2 polarizing mechanisms.

8 Mar 2011

First western U.S. hand transplant surgery performed at UCLA Medical Center

Surgeons at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center performed the first hand transplant in the western United States in an operation that began one minute before midnight on Friday, March 4, and was completed 14-and-a-half hours later, on Saturday, March 5.

8 Mar 2011

Electrical stimulation may help bring back the voice of stroke patients

A Virginia Tech College of Engineering researcher is seeking a new way to help those who are unable to speak to find their voice. But this isn't "The King's Speech," the Academy Award-winning film about a British royal undergoing speech therapy to battle a stammer. Instead, Alexander Leonessa wants to help bring back the voice of stroke patients and others who have suffered paralysis of the vocal folds, through electrical stimulation.

4 Mar 2011

Efficiency of brain function depends on family's genetic makeup

How well our brain functions is largely based on our family's genetic makeup, according to a University of Melbourne led study.

4 Mar 2011

Neuropathologist receives AAN Potamkin Prize for Alzheimer's disease research

The American Academy of Neurology has awarded the 2011 Potamkin Prize to Dennis Dickson, M.D., a neuropathologist at Mayo Clinic in Florida and the Robert E. Jacoby Professor for Alzheimer's Disease Research.

3 Mar 2011

Feet first? Old mitochondria might be responsible for neuropathy in the extremities

The burning, tingling pain of neuropathy may affect feet and hands before other body parts because the powerhouses of nerve cells that supply the extremities age and become dysfunctional as they complete the long journey to these areas, Johns Hopkins scientists suggest in a new study. The finding may eventually lead to new ways to fight neuropathy, a condition that often accompanies other diseases including HIV/AIDS, diabetes and circulatory disorders.

3 Mar 2011