Central Nervous System News and Research

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Researchers describe factors that reduce placenta's capacity to protect fetus from zika virus

Genetic factors that reduce the placenta's capacity to protect the fetus from the zika virus are described by Brazilian researchers in an article published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

28 Oct 2020

New technique can detect TDP-43 protein in patients with ALS and frontotemporal dementia

A test to diagnose two very serious diseases such as ALS and FTD when the pathologies have not yet appeared, thereby providing doctors and patients with essential information tools to tackle them early and develop new treatments.

27 Oct 2020

COVID-19 patient's immune response may underlie the effects on the nervous system

It is probably the immune response to, rather than the virus in itself, that causes sudden confusion and other symptoms from the nervous system in some patients with COVID-19. This is shown by a study of cases involving six Swedish patients, now published in the journal Neurology.

22 Oct 2020

Mayo clinic researchers develop a potential test for Machado-Joseph disease

Mayo Clinic researchers, along with national and global collaborators, have developed a potential test for Machado-Joseph disease, or spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) ? a disease that has no cure.

22 Oct 2020

Brain metabolic changes associated with loss of smell in COVID-19

A recent study detailed in a preprint paper published in medRxiv, researchers from Belgium, discuss how they investigated possible central nervous system (CNS) involvement in COVID-19 patients with a sudden loss of smell using a hybrid positron emission tomography (PET)-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system (PET-MR).

21 Oct 2020

Scientists develop a way to accurately detect and monitor common pediatric brain cancer

A team of scientists at Texas A&M University, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital have developed a way to more accurately both detect and monitor a common type of pediatric brain cancer, setting the stage for giving clinicians a real-time view into how the cancer responds to treatment.

21 Oct 2020

New vaccine targeting toxic Aβ may offer clinical benefit in treating Alzheimer's disease

Our immune system's capacity to mount a well-regulated defense against foreign substances, including toxins, weakens with age and makes vaccines less effective in people over age 65.

20 Oct 2020

Scientists discover key enzyme involved in the development of autoimmune diseases

Scientists affiliated with the Center for Research on Inflammatory Diseases (CRID http://crid.fmrp.usp.br), hosted by the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, have discovered that an enzyme involved in key metabolic processes also plays a role in immune cell differentiation and hence in the development of autoimmune diseases.

19 Oct 2020

Study provides possible explanation for progressive course of multiple sclerosis in mice

People with multiple sclerosis gradually develop increasing functional impairment. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now found a possible explanation for the progressive course of the disease in mice and how it can be reversed.

16 Oct 2020

Study: E-cigarettes may not be a safer alternative to smoking during pregnancy

E-cigarettes might not be a safer alternative to smoking during pregnancy, according to the first known study into the effects of prenatal nicotine exposure on babies.

16 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 can infect brain cells and damage neurons

Researchers have found that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can infect the brain cells, mainly the astrocytes, and negatively affects cognition and neuronal cells.

15 Oct 2020

Fecal transplants: The secret to eternal youth

In this interview, News-Medical speaks to researchers about their latest research which could reveal the secret to eternal youth, fecal transplants.

14 Oct 2020

New therapy may help treat or prevent multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that affects millions worldwide, can cause debilitating symptoms for those who suffer from it.

13 Oct 2020

miR-29 is an age-dependent regulator of developmental plasticity in the visual cortex

Postnatal development of the brain after birth is characterized by temporary, function-specific windows of high plasticity (critical or sensitive periods).

9 Oct 2020

Simple sugar in human breast milk can promote myelin repair in multiple sclerosis patients

N-acetylglucosamine, a simple sugar found in human breast milk and sold as an over-the-counter dietary supplement in the United States, promotes myelin repair in mouse models and correlates with myelination levels in multiple sclerosis patients according to a new University of California, Irvine-led study.

8 Oct 2020

Air pollution can cause neurological damage

Researchers looking at the brainstems of children and young adults exposed lifelong to air pollution in Mexico City have discovered disturbing evidence of harm.

7 Oct 2020

Researchers develop new tools to assess care provided for patients with brain metastasis

Ambitious efforts at UVA Cancer Center to improve care delivered to patients with cancer that has spread to the brain have yielded important insights and tools that can benefit other hospitals, a new publication reports.

7 Oct 2020

New clinical report on brain changes in deceased COVID-19 patients

German researchers published a report on a series of cases on post mortem findings of COVID-19 patients who succumbed to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection along with neurological complications. Their study titled “Neuropathology of patients with COVID-19 in Germany: a post-mortem case series” is published in the latest issue of The Lancet Neurology.

6 Oct 2020

IL-21 protein is a major part of immune response to chronic infections in the central nervous system

Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine now better understand the role of a protein, interleukin-21 (IL-21), in the immune system response to infections in the nervous system.