Nerve News and Research

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Maturation disorders of nerve terminals may trigger autism

For brain cells to communicate, the contacts to each other must function. The protein molecule neuroligin-1 plays an important role in this as it stimulates the necessary maturation processes at the contact sites (synapses) of the nerves.

21 Jan 2010

Taking opioids long term could hold small risk of addition

Coping with chronic non-cancer pain is a way of life for millions of Americans. Unfortunately, many older adults, in particular, hesitate to take opioids — a kind of narcotic — for fear of addiction. However, a new review finds that taking opioids long term is associated with clinically significant pain relief in some patients with a very small risk of addition.

20 Jan 2010

New method for diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder

Researchers at the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis VA Medical Center have identified a biological marker in the brains of those exhibiting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

20 Jan 2010

Use of braces in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is still an area of controversy

The use of braces to correct excessive curvature of the spine, or scoliosis, in adolescents is still an area of controversy — and is likely to remain that way until there is better evidence, concludes a new review of published research. Although some evidence points toward a benefit from using braces, research has failed to prove definitively that they work.

20 Jan 2010

Diamyd Medical executes share split

Diamyd Medical announces today that the company executes a 2:1 division of shares (i.e. a split), meaning that each share is divided into two shares of the same class.

20 Jan 2010

HSF1A stimulates more protein chaperones and reduces protein misfolding

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have found some compounds that improve a cell's ability to properly "fold" proteins and could lead to promising drugs for degenerative nerve diseases, including Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

20 Jan 2010

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals presents data on multiple therapeutic programs at RNAi Symposium

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced that it presented data from multiple pre-clinical and clinical programs at the “RNA Silencing: Mechanism, Biology, and Application” Keystone Symposium held January 14-19, 2010 in Keystone, Colorado. Alnylam and its collaborators presented data from Alnylam’s therapeutic programs including transthyretin (TTR)-mediated amyloidosis and Huntington’s disease, as well as new data on delivery approaches for the systemic delivery of RNAi therapeutics.

20 Jan 2010

The Methodist Hospital initiates program on nanotechnology in orthopedics and spine surgery

A new research program at The Methodist Hospital in Houston is the nation's first dedicated solely to advancing nanotechnology in orthopedics and spine surgery.

19 Jan 2010

Voice abnormalities in cochlear implants will improve over time, says study

Children with cochlear implants in both ears appear to have difficulty controlling the loudness and pitch of their voices, but these measures improve over time, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

19 Jan 2010

Smoking diabetics more likely to have a heart attack

The Canadian Diabetes Association encourages all Canadians living with diabetes who smoke to take action to quit smoking in the next seven days, during National Non-Smoking Week.

19 Jan 2010

Auditory feedback pathway in the brain linked to learned vocal control identified

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have identified neurons in the songbird brain that convey the auditory feedback needed to learn a song.

18 Jan 2010

NIH awards IU School of Optometry $2.35M for glaucoma research

An Indiana University School of Optometry researcher's ongoing work to improve testing for and treatment of one of the world's leading causes of blindness will advance with support from a $2.35 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

18 Jan 2010

Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease are the same

Nearly 20 years ago Huntington Potter kicked up a storm of controversy with the idea that Down syndrome and Alzheimer's were the same disease. Now the evidence is in: He was right.

18 Jan 2010

UCL scientists: Simple eye test can help detect and diagnose major neurological diseases

A simple and inexpensive eye test could aid detection and diagnosis of major neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's at an earlier stage than is currently possible, according to new research by UCL scientists.

18 Jan 2010

Portugal life scientist awarded ERC's Advanced Investigator Grant

Zachary Mainen, coordinator of the Champalimaud Foundation Neuroscience Programme at the IGC, has become one of the most recent winners of the prestigious and highly competitive European Research Council grants, to the value of 2.3 million euro, for a period of five years. This grant, which recognises Mainen's contribution to the Neuroscience field, will be used to elucidate the biological role of the neurotransmitter serotonin.

18 Jan 2010

New technique can restore facial movements in paralytic patients

Surgeons from UC Davis Medical Center have demonstrated that artificial muscles can restore the ability of patients with facial paralysis to blink, a development that could benefit the thousands of people each year who no longer are able to close their eyelids due to combat-related injuries, stroke, nerve injury or facial surgery.

18 Jan 2010

Findings could pave way for new therapeutic approaches for Friedreich's ataxia

Elevated levels of DNA damage have for the first time been found in the cellular mitochondria and nuclei of patients with the inherited, progressive nervous system disease called Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA), says a multicenter research team led by an expert from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI).

18 Jan 2010

IGC scientist wins ERC grant for neuroscience research

18 Jan 2010

Scientists discover new links between inherited blindness and AHI1 gene

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered new links between a common form of inherited blindness affecting children and a gene known as Abelson helper integration site-1 (AHI1).

18 Jan 2010

Findings may pave way for significant advancements in cochlear implant technology for hearing loss

Loss of spiral ganglion neurons or hair cells in the inner ear is the leading cause of congenital and acquired hearing impairment. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health found that Sox2, a protein that regulates stem cell formation, is involved in spiral ganglion neuron development. The study was published in the January 13 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

13 Jan 2010