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Computational model representing brain activity in cocaine users

About 2 million Americans currently use cocaine for its temporary side-effects of euphoria, which have contributed to making it one of the most dangerous and addictive drugs in the country. Cocaine addiction, which can cause severe biological and behavioral problems, is very difficult to overcome. Now, University of Missouri researchers Ashwin Mohan and Sandeep Pendyam, doctoral students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, are utilizing computational models to study how the brain's chemicals and synaptic mechanisms, or connections between neurons, react to cocaine addiction and what this could mean for future therapies.

23 Sep 2009

UAB's researchers find early indicators for Alzheimer's disease

Inability to handle financial transactions or manage money may be an early indicator that a person with mild memory problems soon is likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Alzheimer's Disease Center, part of the Department of Neurology.

22 Sep 2009

Integration of local motion signals allows for a larger global pattern motion

Researchers have long known of the brain's ability to learn based on visual motion input, and a recent study has uncovered more insight into where the learning occurs. The brain first perceives changes in visual input (local motion) in the primary visual cortex. The local motion signals are then integrated in the later visual processing stages and interpreted as global motion in the higher-level processes.

22 Sep 2009

Poor money management: A sign of developing Alzheimer's disease

New research finds poor money management skills may indicate that a person with mild memory problems will soon develop Alzheimer's disease. The study is published in the September 22, 2009, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

22 Sep 2009

Matching parent-child pairs not dependent on race or culture

Scientists have ample evidence that individuals use a variety of cues to identify their own kin. People can also detect resemblances in families other than their own. A new study shows that their success in doing so is the same, whether or not those families are the same race as themselves.

22 Sep 2009

G proteins could help fight cardiovascular, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer

New data on signalling proteins, called G proteins, may prove important in fighting diseases such as cardiovascular, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. For many decades scientists have puzzled on "How signalling proteins transport and organize in specific areas of the cell?" Researchers from Nano-Science Center and Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology at the University of Copenhagen provide yet unrecognized clues to solve this mystery.

21 Sep 2009

FDA approves Neuralstem's IND for commencing a stem cell trial to treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE Amex: CUR) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its Investigational New Drug (IND) application to commence a Phase I trial to treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) with its spinal cord stem cells.

21 Sep 2009

King Pharmaceuticals achieves milestone: Announces commercial availability of EMBEDA

King Pharmaceuticals(R), Inc. (NYSE: KG) today announced a true milestone as it marks the first commercial availability for EMBEDA(TM) (morphine sulfate and naltrexone hydrochloride) Extended Release Capsules, a long-acting Schedule II opioid analgesic for the management of moderate to severe pain when a continuous, around-the-clock opioid analgesic is needed for an extended period of time.

21 Sep 2009

AstraZeneca and Nektar Therapeutics enter worldwide license agreement for two drug development programmes

AstraZeneca and Nektar Therapeutics announced today that they have entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement for two drug development programmes: NKTR-118, a late stage investigational product being evaluated for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation, and the NKTR-119 programme, an early stage programme that is intended to deliver products for the treatment of pain without constipation side effects.

21 Sep 2009

Paralyzed rats can walk and run: UCLA scientists

UCLA researchers have discovered that a combination of drugs, electrical stimulation and regular exercise can enable paralyzed rats to walk and even run again while supporting their full weight on a treadmill.

21 Sep 2009

Study reveals that KCNE2 and KCNQ1 mutations can results in thyroid dysfunction

Genes previously known to be essential to the coordinated, rhythmic electrical activity of cardiac muscle -- a healthy heartbeat -- have now also been found to play a key role in thyroid hormone (TH) biosynthesis, according to Weill Cornell Medical College researchers.

21 Sep 2009

New head appointed at NeuroFocus' neurological testing laboratory facility

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19 Sep 2009

JANSSEN Alzheimer Immunotherapy acquires Elan

Johnson & Johnson and Elan Corporation plc today announced that JANSSEN Alzheimer Immunotherapy, a newly formed subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets and rights of Elan related to its Alzheimer's Immunotherapy Program (AIP).

18 Sep 2009

Researchers study the role of stem cells in development of liver cancer

Penn State College of Medicine researchers, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Southern California, have taken an important step in understanding the role of stem cells in development of liver cancer.

18 Sep 2009

AstraZeneca US President Rich Fante accepts Freedom Award

AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) accepted the 2009 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award on Thursday at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. This award is the highest recognition given by the U.S. government to employers for their outstanding support of employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve.

18 Sep 2009

Researchers to focus on abnormal fetal growth and chronic kidney disease

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University two grants totaling $3.5 million to study epigenetic changes - chemical modifications of genes caused by stress, diet or other environmental influences - and how they contribute to human diseases and biological processes.

18 Sep 2009

Findings may lead to drugs that destroy TB in dormant stage of lifecycle

Attempts to eradicate tuberculosis (TB) are stymied by the fact that the disease-causing bacteria have a sophisticated mechanism for surviving dormant in infected cells. Now, a team of scientists led by researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College has identified compounds that inhibit that mechanism -- without damaging human cells.

17 Sep 2009

Adolescents are less susceptible to drug withdrawal than adults

As part of efforts to understand drug abuse, Georgia State University researchers are finding that adolescent rats appear to be less vulnerable to the long-term effects of withdrawal and relapse in certain types of drug use than rats that take the drugs in adulthood.

17 Sep 2009

NIMH awards Genomas an SBIR Grant to develop MRI DNA biomarkers for neuropsychiatric disease

Genomas(R), a biomedical company advancing DNA-Guided medicine, today announced the award of a 3-year Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant totaling $1.4 Million. The grant, entitled MRI DNA Biomarkers for Neuropsychiatric Disease, was awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

16 Sep 2009

Mechanism during sleep responsible for memory formation identified

A Rutgers University, Newark and Coll-ge de France, Paris research team has pinpointed for the first time the mechanism that takes place during sleep that causes learning and memory formation to occur.

16 Sep 2009