Neuroscience News and Research

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New insights into sleep difficulties among older people

A new study of the brain's master circadian clock - known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN - reveals that a key pattern of rhythmic neural activity begins to decline by middle age. The study, whose senior author is UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, may have implications for the large number of older people who have difficulty sleeping and adjusting to time changes.

20 Jul 2011

Investigational compound dapagliflozin receives negative recommendation from FDA Advisory Committee

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and AstraZeneca today reported the outcome of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting on the New Drug Application for the investigational compound dapagliflozin.

20 Jul 2011

People with small hippocampus do not face higher risk of depression

Imaging studies have repeatedly found that people with depression have smaller hippocampal volumes than healthy individuals. The hippocampus is a brain region involved in learning and memory, spatial navigation, and the evaluation of complex life situations or "contexts".

20 Jul 2011

Patients who use anti-depressants more likely to suffer relapses

Patients who use anti-depressants are much more likely to suffer relapses of major depression than those who use no medication at all, concludes a McMaster researcher.

20 Jul 2011

Texas Children's Hospital uses new surgical approach for treating epilepsy

Texas Children's Hospital is the first hospital in the world to use real-time MRI-guided thermal imaging and laser technology to destroy lesions in the brain that cause epilepsy and uncontrollable seizures.

19 Jul 2011

First neurobiological evidence for theory of episodic memory

Almost everyone has experienced one memory triggering another, but explanations for that phenomenon have proved elusive. Now, University of Pennsylvania researchers have provided the first neurobiological evidence that memories formed in the same context become linked, the foundation of the theory of episodic memory.

19 Jul 2011

Convergence initiates CNV1014802 Phase II study in lumbosacral radiculopathy

Convergence Pharmaceuticals Limited, the company focused on the development of novel and high value analgesic medicines, today announces that the Phase II proof of concept study with CNV1014802 for treating pain associated with lumbosacral radiculopathy (LSR) has started.

19 Jul 2011

Exposure to tobacco smoke nearly doubles risk of hearing loss among adolescents

NYU School of Medicine researchers report in a new study that exposure to tobacco smoke nearly doubles the risk of hearing loss among adolescents. The study is published in the July, 2011, issue of Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery.

19 Jul 2011

Researchers identify gene linked to muscle endurance

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a gene for endurance, or more precisely, a negative regulator of it.

19 Jul 2011

Earlier Alzheimer’s disease and dementia diagnosis: New guidelines

It has been the tradition to confirm the presence of Alzheimer's disease during autopsy. However new guidelines proposed on Sunday by the U.S. National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association seek to distinguish between memory changes or dementia diagnosed by doctors when people are alive, and the changes pathologists can see in an autopsy.

18 Jul 2011

Transcept decreases workforce following FDA news on Intermezzo NDA

Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today plans to reduce operating expenses by eliminating approximately 45% of its workforce following notification from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the resubmitted New Drug Application (NDA) for Intermezzo, the company's lead product candidate, cannot be approved in its present form.

16 Jul 2011

Autism Speaks honors Scripps Research scientist with Weatherstone Fellowship

Autism Speaks, the nation's largest autism science and advocacy group, has awarded a two-year Dennis Weatherstone Pre-Doctoral Fellowship to Kristopher Nazor of The Scripps Research Institute.

16 Jul 2011

Study indicates bi-directional relationships between alcohol and stress

Acute stress is thought to precipitate alcohol drinking. Yet the ways that acute stress can increase alcohol consumption are unclear. A new study investigated whether different phases of response to an acute stressor can alter the subjective effects of alcohol. Findings indicate bi-directional relationships between alcohol and stress.

16 Jul 2011

Retinal cells require vitamin C to function properly

Nerve cells in the eye require vitamin C in order to function properly - a surprising discovery that may mean vitamin C is required elsewhere in the brain for its proper functioning, according to a study by scientists at Oregon Health & Science University recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

16 Jul 2011

NSF announces $18.5M grant to establish new engineering research center

The National Science Foundation today announced an $18.5 million grant to establish an Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering based at the University of Washington.

15 Jul 2011

Transcept receives FDA Complete Response Letter for Intermezzo NDA

Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has received a Complete Response Letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the resubmitted New Drug Application (NDA) for Intermezzo.

15 Jul 2011

Novel bionic eyes for the blind in the making

British scientists have developed the first pair of bionic glasses that could help thousands of legally blind people. These glasses using tiny cameras and software technology from video games, alert the wearer to objects in their surroundings using flashing lights.

14 Jul 2011

inVentiv Health announces completion of PharmaNet acquisition

inVentiv Health, offering best-in-class clinical, commercial and consulting services to the healthcare industry, today announced it has completed the acquisition of PharmaNet Development Group, Inc., a recognized leader of global drug development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, generic drug and medical device industries.

14 Jul 2011

BBN to explore how brain processes large amounts of partial information

Raytheon BBN Technologies has been awarded $3 million in government funding to explore new methods of modeling the brain's ability to make sense of large amounts of haphazard, partial information.

14 Jul 2011

Maintaining general health may help reduce risk for dementia

Improving and maintaining health factors not traditionally associated with dementia, such as denture fit, vision and hearing, may lower a person's risk for developing dementia, according to a new study published in the July 13, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

14 Jul 2011