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The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. Enclosed in the cranium, it has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times as large as the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size.

FTY720 improves locomotor recovery in mice with SCI

A new study suggests that administering FTY720, an oral drug that has shown promise in trials for human multiple sclerosis, significantly improves locomotor recovery in mice with spinal cord injury.

13 Mar 2012

Recent studies aim to find better treatment for children with speech problems

Recent studies by a UT Dallas researcher aim at finding better ways to diagnose young children with language impairments.

13 Mar 2012

JAK-STAT inhibitors reverse MS-like disease in mice

A new class of drugs completing clinical trials soon for rheumatoid arthritis should be examined as a treatment for multiple sclerosis, according to the authors of a University of Alabama at Birmingham study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

13 Mar 2012

Parental exposure to solvents may increase risk of ASD in children

Could parental exposure to solvents at work be linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in their children? According to an exploratory study by Erin McCanlies, a research epidemiologist from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and colleagues, such exposures could play a role, but more research would be needed to confirm an association.

13 Mar 2012

DNDi commences Oxaborole SCYX-7158 Phase I clinical trial for sleeping sickness

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) has commenced a Phase I clinical trial in healthy adults in Paris, France, to determine the safety and tolerability of a promising oral drug candidate Oxaborole SCYX-7158, to treat human African trypanosomiasis (HAT, or sleeping sickness) for stage 1 and stage 2 of the disease.

12 Mar 2012

Elsevier releases NeuroApps: MRI Atlas of Human White Matter

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the release of NeuroApps: MRI Atlas of Human White Matter, the first in a new series of apps created for the iPad.

12 Mar 2012

Human diseases with Drosophila counterparts discussed at annual conference

More than two-thirds of human genes have counterparts in the well-studied fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, so although it may seem that humans don't have much in common with flies, the correspondence of our genetic instructions is astonishing. In fact, there are hundreds of inherited diseases in humans that have Drosophila counterparts.

12 Mar 2012

Masimo announces acquisition of Spire Semiconductor

Masimo, the inventor of Masimo Rainbow Pulse CO-Oximetry, Masimo Rainbow Acoustic Monitoring, and Masimo SET Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, today announced it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Spire Semiconductor, LLC, maker of advanced light emitting diode and other advanced component-level technologies.

12 Mar 2012

HemaQuest closes $13 million extension of Series B financing

HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing small molecule therapeutics to treat hemoglobin disorders, announced today that it has closed a $13 million extension of their Series B financing.

12 Mar 2012

Pfizer’s Prevnar 13 Phase 3 study for pneumococcal disease meets all study endpoints

Pfizer Inc. announced today that data from a Phase 3 study of Prevnar 13 (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine [Diphtheria CRM197 Protein]) met all study endpoints, showing immunogenicity and establishing a safety profile in children and adolescents aged 5 through 17 years.

12 Mar 2012

OPKO Health, Scripps Research partner to commercialize Parkinson's disease compound, SR 3306

The Scripps Research Institute and OPKO Health, Inc. today announced a global agreement for the development and commercialization of SR 3306, a novel compound discovered by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute that blocks the destruction of brains cells in animal models of Parkinson's disease.

12 Mar 2012

Insulin and nutrition keep blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells

UCLA stem cell researchers have shown that insulin and nutrition keep blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells in Drosophila, the common fruit fly, a finding that has implications for studying inflammatory response and blood development in response to dietary changes in humans.

12 Mar 2012

Allon advances into second phase of work in preclinical PD model

Allon Therapeutics Inc. announced today the completion of its first phase of work in a preclinical Parkinson's disease model and advancement into the second phase of work. Both phases are funded by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and carried out by Prof. Marie-Francoise Chesselet's lab at the University of California Los Angeles.

12 Mar 2012

Connect during MS Awareness Week

Multiple sclerosis is a life altering disease that affects each person in a unique and different way. MS destroys connections, divides minds from bodies, pulls people from their lives and away from one another. Therefore, it's only fitting that connections would be its greatest enemy.

12 Mar 2012

Two scientists receive The Brain Prize 2012 for pioneering work on hearing and deafness

The Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Foundation announced today that The Brain Prize 2012 is jointly awarded to Christine Petit and Karen Steel.

12 Mar 2012

Interventional Spine's PerX360 System to be presented at ISASS annual meeting

Interventional Spine, Inc. today announced that Dr. Rudolf Morgenstern, Director and Chief Surgeon of the Morgenstern Institute for Endoscopic Spine Surgery at Centro Medico Teknon in Barcelona, and Dr. David Greenwald from Flagler Brain and Spine Institute of St. Augustine, Florida will present the PerX360 System at the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) Annual Meeting in Barcelona, Spain.

12 Mar 2012

DeSyRe develops new design techniques for future Systems-on-Chips

For pacemakers and other implantable medical devices there are three key factors: extreme reliability, small size, and long longevity. In the EU project DeSyRe, researchers tackle these issues with a new approach: building a reliable system on unreliable components. Ioannis Sourdis, project leader, today explains the DeSyRe's approach in a tutorial on "Hardware and software design and verification for safety critical electronic systems" during the DATE 2012 conference in Dresden.

12 Mar 2012

TSRI, OPKO Health to develop and commercialize SR 3306 for Parkinson's

OPKO Health, Inc. and The Scripps Research Institute today announced a global agreement for the development and commercialization of SR 3306, a novel compound discovered by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute that blocks the destruction of brains cells in animal models of Parkinson's disease.

12 Mar 2012

LSD for alcohol addiction: Study

Hallucinogenic drug LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) could help alcoholics give up drinking, according to an analysis of studies performed in the 1960s. A study, presented in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, looked at data from six trials and more than 500 patients. It said there was a “significant beneficial effect” on alcohol abuse, which lasted several months after the drug was taken.

12 Mar 2012

Conference highlights studies on metabolism, aging and monarch butterfly migration

The Genetics Society of America's 53rd Annual Drosophila Research Conference, March 7-11 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, will showcase diverse efforts to understand basic biological processes through the easy-to-study fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, and other insects.

12 Mar 2012