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Study: Fluorescent probe may serve as useful tool in future surgeries to repair injured nerves

Accidental damage to thin or buried nerves during surgery can have severe consequences, from chronic pain to permanent paralysis. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine may have found a remedy: injectable fluorescent peptides that cause hard-to-see peripheral nerves to glow, alerting surgeons to their location even before the nerves are encountered.

6 Feb 2011

NeuroMetrix fourth quarter total revenues decrease to $3.1 million

NeuroMetrix, Inc., a science-based health care company transforming patient care through neurotechnology, today reported business and financial highlights for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2010.

3 Feb 2011

Coordinated behavior occurs whether or not neurons are actually connected via synapses

The brain-awake and sleeping-is awash in electrical activity, and not just from the individual pings of single neurons communicating with each other. In fact, the brain is enveloped in countless overlapping electric fields, generated by the neural circuits of scores of communicating neurons.

3 Feb 2011

Physicians suggest new target structure for deep brain stimulation

Nearly ten percent of all cases of depression are so severe that the patients do not respond to any established treatment method. Targeted stimulation of areas in the brain using a type of "brain pacemaker" has recently raised hopes: According to initial studies, half of patients with the most severe depression treated in this manner see a significant improvement in mood.

31 Jan 2011

Inovio announces regulatory approval for Phase 2 trial to treat leukemia using new vaccine delivery device

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today the regulatory approval of a Phase 2 clinical trial to treat leukemia utilizing Inovio's new ELGEN 1000 automated vaccine delivery device.

31 Jan 2011

Boston Scientific reports first U.S. use of Blazer Open-Irrigated Catheter in BLOCk-CTI clinical trial

Boston Scientific Corporation today announced the first use of the Blazer® Open-Irrigated Catheter in the U.S. as part of the BLOCk-CTI clinical trial. BLOCk-CTI is a prospective, randomized trial evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the Blazer Open-Irrigated Catheter in patients with sustained or recurrent Type 1 atrial flutter.

28 Jan 2011

As recording technology rapidly improves, neurons give up their secrets cell by cell

Scientists at The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), designated the "#1 Rehabilitation Hospital in America" by U.S. News & World Report since 1991, report that, thanks to improvements in technology and data analysis, our understanding of the functional principles that guide the development and operation of the brain could improve drastically in the next few years.

27 Jan 2011

Teen brains react with erratic excitement during reward-driven tasks

University of Pittsburgh researchers have recorded neuron activity in adolescent rat brains that could reveal the biological root of the teenage propensity to consider rewards over consequences and explain why adolescents are more vulnerable to drug addiction, behavioral disorders, and other psychological ills.

27 Jan 2011

California jury awards $2.2 million in defective laparoscopic device case

Encision Inc. – A California jury awarded $2.2 million to a patient in a personal injury, product liability, defective laparoscopic device case against a competing medical device company; as reported in the Daily Journal.

25 Jan 2011

New investigative tool may explore intracellular processes with unprecedented clarity

Nongjian Tao and his colleagues at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University have pioneered a new technique capable of peering into single cells and even intracellular processes with unprecedented clarity.

25 Jan 2011

Aβ, tau and Fyn protein interactions may lead to brain dysfunction and AD

Though the cause of Alzheimer's disease still is unknown, recent studies have implicated three proteins strongly in its onset. New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Gladstone Institutes and the Baylor College of Medicine indicates that interactions between those three proteins might lead to brain dysfunction and AD in a mouse model of the disease.

13 Jan 2011

Hybrid cochlear implant may benefit patients with profound hearing loss

Northwestern Memorial Hospital is one of nine centers in the U.S., and the only in Illinois, that is participating in a study investigating the effectiveness of a new cochlear implant device that aims to restore hearing for individuals with high-frequency hearing loss and functional low-frequency hearing.

12 Jan 2011

Radiosurgery may bring improvement for patients with extremely severe -compulsive disorder

For patients with extremely severe -compulsive disorder (OCD), a procedure called radiosurgery may bring improvement when other treatments have failed, according to a study in the January issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

7 Jan 2011

Researchers develop breath-analysis technology for rapid detection of biomarkers

Researchers have overcome a fundamental obstacle in developing breath-analysis technology to rapidly diagnose patients by detecting chemical compounds called "biomarkers" in a person's respiration in real time.

29 Dec 2010

DNA tunneling detector embedded in a ‘Nanopore’

Scientists from Imperial College London are developing technology that could ultimately sequence a person's genome in mere minutes, at a fraction of the cost of current commercial techniques.

20 Dec 2010

Improved brain-machine technologies

A new study published in the Dec 15 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience found that monkeys were able to move thought-controlled computer cursors more quickly and accurately when provided with additional sensory feedback.

19 Dec 2010

Researchers discover newborn's brain respond strongly to mother's voice

A mother's voice will preferentially activate the parts of the brain responsible for language learning, say researchers from the University of Montreal and the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Centre.

16 Dec 2010

DBS targets same class of neuronal cells that respond to physical exercise and drug Prozac

Shooting steady pulses of electricity through slender electrodes into a brain area that controls complex behaviors has proven to be effective against several therapeutically stubborn neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Now, a new study has found that this technique, called deep brain stimulation (DBS), targets the same class of neuronal cells that are known to respond to physical exercise and drugs such as Prozac.

15 Dec 2010

National Institutes of Health honors Nevada nursing professor with $377,000 for ischemia study

University of Nevada, Reno Orvis School of Nursing researcher Michele Pelter has been awarded $377,000 from the National Institutes of Health to study detection of ischemia, a condition that can lead to heart attacks.

14 Dec 2010

New finding could help identify individuals with abnormal brain function

Mayo Clinic researchers found that the part of the brain generating seizures in individuals with epilepsy is functionally isolated from surrounding brain regions. The researchers hope this finding could be a clinical biomarker to help identify individuals with abnormal brain function.

9 Dec 2010