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Patients with Down syndrome face additional challenge of early-onset dementia

Individuals with Down syndrome who survive into adulthood face the additional challenge of early-onset dementia, in which toxic amyloid plaques build up in the brain. The condition is strikingly similar to Alzheimer's disease, and as new work led by researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University shows, dementia in Down syndrome involves defects in a regulatory enzyme known as γ-secretase activating protein (GSAP), which also happens to malfunction in Alzheimer's disease.

3 Nov 2015

Salk scientists uncover enzyme responsible for suppressing deadly lung cancer

Scientists at the Salk Institute have uncovered a molecule whose mutation leads to the aggressive growth of a common and deadly type of lung cancer in humans.

3 Nov 2015

Discovery offers promising alternative to current therapies for AMD and ROP

A research team led by scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the University of New Mexico School of Medicine has identified a small molecule that treats animal models of aged macular degeneration (AMD) and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) by preventing the overgrowth of blood vessels that are characteristic of these two retinal diseases.

3 Nov 2015

Violence and conflict in war-affected areas can have devastating effect on children's mental health

Violence and conflict in areas affected by war, such as Gaza, can have a devastating effect on the mental health of the children exposed to it, according to research at the University of Leicester.

3 Nov 2015

Stanford bioethicist wins 2015 MacLean Center Prize in Clinical Ethics and Health Outcomes

The 2015 MacLean Center Prize in Clinical Ethics and Health Outcomes, a $50,000 award, will be presented to Laura Roberts, MD, MA, a graduate of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, who is chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine and an internationally recognized scholar in bioethics, psychiatry, medicine and medical education.

3 Nov 2015

Charles Bonnet syndrome: an interview with Dr. Dominic ffytche

Charles Bonnet syndrome is the name we give to the visual hallucinations associated with eye disease. There are lots of different causes of visual hallucinations. Many different medical problems and medications can cause them, but, when the cause is eye disease, it's referred to as Charles Bonnet Syndrome after Charles Bonnet, who was a natural philosopher in the 18th century.

2 Nov 2015

Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital offers Halloween safety tips

Each year Halloween provides an opportunity for families to get together, get creative with costumes, get outside and, most importantly, have fun.

31 Oct 2015

Underlying processes of working memory more complex than previously thought, say researchers

In order to retain a piece of information for a short time, working memory is required. The underlying processes are considerably more complex than hitherto assumed, as researchers from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and Bonn University report in the journal "Cell Reports". Two brain states must alternate rhythmically in order for a piece of information to be successfully maintained.

31 Oct 2015

Interrupted sleep affects people's positive moods

A study led by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers suggests that awakening several times throughout the night is more detrimental to people's positive moods than getting the same shortened amount of sleep without interruption.

31 Oct 2015

Stem cell transplantation may offer viable treatment for Alzheimer's disease patients

Alzheimer's disease (AD), affecting millions worldwide, is the leading cause of dementia. The prevalence of AD is rapidly increasing, and will possibly affect over 100 million people by 2050, yet there are no effective therapies for the disease.

31 Oct 2015

Routine clinical features may aid BVFTD diagnostic accuracy

Researchers have identified clinical features that can help determine which patients assessed for behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia are most likely to actually have the condition.

30 Oct 2015

Study sheds light on mechanism of neuronal activity

Neurons communicate by passing electrical messages, known as action potentials, between each other. Each neuron has a highly specialized structural region, the axon initial segment (AIS), whose primary role is in the generation and sending of these messages.

30 Oct 2015

Study suggests a neural pathway through which early life stress may contribute to depression

Early life stress is a major risk factor for later episodes of depression. In fact, adults who are abused or neglected as children are almost twice as likely to experience depression.

30 Oct 2015

Study finds no major difference in hippocampal size between men and women

A research study at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science has debunked the widely-held belief that the hippocampus, a crucial part of the brain that consolidates new memories and helps connect emotions to the senses, is larger in females than in males.

30 Oct 2015

New magnetic field delivery method could help treat traumatic brain injury

Treating traumatic brain injury (TBI) using stem cell therapy is an important area of current research. However, injecting stem cells into the central nervous system has serious drawbacks, including intracranial hemorrhage and cells failing to reach TBI-affected areas of the brain.

30 Oct 2015

FAU, Max Planck ink new agreement to recruit and retain promising scientists

Florida Atlantic University, the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and the Max Planck Society based in Germany, have signed an innovative agreement to facilitate a research and education program that will recruit promising scientists to MPFI and FAU.

30 Oct 2015

University of Leicester hosts sports event to raise awareness of Nystagmus

The University of Leicester will be hosting an event to introduce sports for people with reduced vision and to raise awareness of the eye condition Nystagmus on Sunday 1 November.

29 Oct 2015

Older women who complain of memory problems may experience thinking impairment decades later

New research suggests that older women who complain of memory problems may be at higher risk for experiencing diagnosed memory and thinking impairment decades later. The study is published in the October 28, 2015, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

29 Oct 2015

GDF10 molecule identified as a key player in repair mechanisms after stroke

Looking at brain tissue from mice, monkeys and humans, scientists have found that a molecule known as growth and differentiation factor 10 (GDF10) is a key player in repair mechanisms following stroke. The findings suggest that GDF10 may be a potential therapy for recovery after stroke.

29 Oct 2015

Specific brain patterns can help predict success of public health campaigns

It's a frustrating fact that most people would live longer if only they could make small changes: stop smoking, eat better, exercise more, practice safe sex. Health messaging is one important way to change behavior on a large scale, but while a successful campaign can improve millions of lives, a failed one can be an enormous waste of resources.

29 Oct 2015