Brain Cell News and Research

RSS

Preliminary findings show RA drug reduces brain damage in stroke patients

A drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis also reduces the damage a stroke inflicts on the brain according to lab research and preliminary findings from a clinical trial of stroke patients. The results open the door for a larger clinical study to refine the drug anakinra's use as an effective therapy for victims of stroke.

From The University of Manchester 30 Jun 2010

Researchers study mechanism of human brain

Because of its intricate organization, figuring out the wiring diagram that explains how the billions of neurons in the brain are connected, and determining how they work together, remains a formidable task.

29 Jun 2010

New findings could lead to simple dietary solutions, possible therapeutics for gestational diabetes

The cause of diabetes during pregnancy is directly controlled by serotonin, a chemical produced by the body and normally known as a neurotransmitter, and is influenced by the amount of protein in the mother's diet early in pregnancy, according to new findings of an international team led by researchers at UCSF.

28 Jun 2010

UH researchers analyze 'wireless connections' in brain to prevent neurological diseases

Many diseases of brain function, such as epilepsy and schizophrenia, are caused by problems in how neurons communicate with each other. A University of Houston researcher and his team are analyzing these commands and connections in an attempt to prevent those diseases.

25 Jun 2010

Ingredients for an "anti-aging potion"

Aging without getting old? It's largely possible, according to the June issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter.

24 Jun 2010

Resveratrol found in red wine neutralizes toxicity of proteins related to Alzheimer's disease: Research

An organic compound found in red wine - resveratrol - has the ability to neutralize the toxic effects of proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease, according to research led by Rensselaer Professor Peter M. Tessier. The findings, published in the May 28 edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, are a step toward understanding the large-scale death of brain cells seen in certain neurodegenerative diseases.

23 Jun 2010

Neurologix announces positive results from Phase 2 trial of NLX-P101 for advanced PD

Neurologix, Inc., today announced positive results in a Phase 2 trial of its investigational gene therapy for advanced Parkinson's disease, NLX-P101. Study participants who received NLX-P101 experienced statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in off-medication motor scores compared to control subjects who received sham surgery.

22 Jun 2010

Chocolate bar with resveratrol may help improve memory, learning skills

Wondering where you put the car keys? Can't remember what day of the week it is? Perhaps you need to eat a new kind of chocolate bar.

22 Jun 2010

UCLA research sheds light on how brain tells time

The ability to tell time is fundamental to how humans interact with each other and the world. Timing plays an important role, for example, in our ability to recognize speech patterns and to create music. Patterns are an essential part of timing. The human brain easily learns patterns, allowing us to recognize familiar patterns of shapes, like faces, and timed patterns, like the rhythm of a song. But exactly how the brain keeps time and learns patterns remains a mystery.

21 Jun 2010

Alzheimer's disease may damage brain

Alzheimer's disease has long been studied primarily as a disease of neurons. But researchers have now shown how the disease may be damaging the brain by choking off blood flow. In experiments published June 10 in Neuron, scientists at Rockefeller University reveal that amyloid-β, which builds up around brain cells in Alzheimer's patients, interacts with a common blood clotting agent to increase clotting in the arteries that feed the brain.

17 Jun 2010

Stress-related psychiatric disorders more common among women: Study

There may be a biological reason why depression and other stress-related psychiatric disorders are more common among women compared to men. Studying stress signaling systems in animal brains, neuroscience researchers found that females are more sensitive to low levels of an important stress hormone and less able to adapt to high levels than males.

16 Jun 2010

Researchers study how APOE4 becomes a potent risk factor for Alzheimer's disease

A molecule implicated in Alzheimer's disease interferes with brain cells by making them unable to "recycle" the surface receptors that respond to incoming signals, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

15 Jun 2010

Depression and other stress-related psychiatric disorders in women may have biological basis: Research

15 Jun 2010

Researchers show how tiny insect brain uses multiple brain pathways to judge motion

Insects may have tiny brains the size of a pinhead, but the latest research from the University of Adelaide shows just how clever they really are. For the first time, researchers from the University's Discipline of Physiology have worked out how insects judge the speed of moving objects.

14 Jun 2010

Ginkgo extract EGb 761 promotes formation of new nerve cells, cell connections in brain's memory center

US scientists have shown that the Ginkgo extract EGb 761® promotes the formation of new nerve cells and new cell connections in the hippocampus, the brain's memory center. According to Professor Yuan Luo from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, the Ginkgo constituents responsible for these effects are quercetin and bilobalide.

11 Jun 2010

World's largest DNA scan reveals new genetic changes in autistic children

The world's largest DNA scan for familial autism has uncovered new genetic changes in autistic children that are often not present in their parents. Identified in less than 1 percent of the population, these rare variants occur nearly 20 percent more in autistic children.

10 Jun 2010

Researchers develop new tool for removing blood clots in brain

When someone suffers a stroke, time is critical--more than a million brain cells die each minute, starved of nourishment due to critical damage in a cerebral blood vessel.

10 Jun 2010

CXCR4 protein restores brain damage in multiple sclerosis patients

A protein that helps build the brain in infants and children may aid efforts to restore damage from multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative diseases, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.

9 Jun 2010

Promising technique to curb devastating effects of strokes

A clot vacuum cleaner that sucks out stroke-producing blockages from blood vessels in the brain sounds like science fiction. But 27 Calgary patients who were rescued from massive strokes know the endovascular procedure is for real, Dr. Mayank Goyal told the Canadian Stroke Congress today.