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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.

Sanfilippo syndrome compromises blood-brain barrier, leads to brain damage

A study into the effects of Sanfilippo Syndrome type B (MPS III B) has found that the barrier responsible for protecting the brain from the entry of harmful blood-borne substances is structurally and functionally damaged by the devastating disease. University of South Florida researchers identified damage in specific brain structures involved in the pathology of MPS III B, one of four Sanfilippo syndromes, all of which are inherited diseases of metabolism.

9 Mar 2011

Parkinson's disease medication turns on critical gene, protects brain cells

In a major breakthrough in the battle against Parkinson's disease, researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have discovered a drug that stops the progression of the degenerative illness in mice and is now being tested in humans.

9 Mar 2011

Therapeutic potential of iPS cells may be limited by reprogramming errors and genomic instability

In the past few months, a slew of papers have indicated that the therapeutic potential of a promising type of stem cell, called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, might be limited by reprogramming errors and genomic instability. iPS cells are engineered by reprogramming fully differentiated adult cells, often skin cells, back to a primitive, embryonic-like state.

9 Mar 2011

Brain implant surgery can improve life for people with cervical dystonia

Implanting electrodes into a pea-sized part of the brain can dramatically improve life for people with severe cervical dystonia - a rare but extremely debilitating condition that causes painful, twisting neck muscle spasms - according to the results of a pilot study led by Jill Ostrem, MD and Philip Starr, MD PhD at the University of California, San Francisco.

9 Mar 2011

Brain's learning capacity recharges during light, dreamless slumber

Scientists have long puzzled over the many hours we spend in light, dreamless slumber. But a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests we're busy recharging our brain's learning capacity during this traditionally undervalued phase of sleep, which can take up half the night.

9 Mar 2011

USPTO grants new patent to Intellect's Alzheimer's vaccine

Intellect Neurosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company with an internal preclinical and clinical-stage pipeline and licenses with major pharmaceutical companies covering products in late-stage clinical trials, announced today that it has received a new patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office in relation to the Company's RECALL-VAXTM technology platform.

9 Mar 2011

ITMNs can reduce Japanese Encephalitis transmission to humans

A new study revealed that using treated mosquito nets could drastically reduce the transmission of Japanese Encephalitis to humans.

9 Mar 2011

Unique gene therapy to combat Parkinson's disease

Physicians at Rush University Medical Center are testing a unique gene therapy product called CERE-120 to evaluate if its use can improve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Rush is one of 11 sites in the U.S. and the only site in Illinois enrolling patients into the new, double-blinded trial.

9 Mar 2011

Patients with epilepsy-linked memory loss worry more than their physicians

Patients with epilepsy worry more than their physicians do about the patients' potential memory loss accompanying their seizure disorder, according to a recent study.

9 Mar 2011

Text messaging effectively intervenes during smoking urges

A pair of related studies on smoking cessation by researchers at the University of Oregon and other institutions have isolated the brain regions most active in controlling urges to smoke and demonstrated the effectiveness of text-messaging to measure and intervene in those urges.

9 Mar 2011

Smart technology for healthy longevity

A national policy is required for the research, demonstration, commercialisation and wide-scale deployment of smart technology for ageing-in-place to ensure: a healthy, safe, secure and fulfilling future for the increasing aged population in Australia by enabling them to remain at home longer, by easing the strain on the national healthcare system and providing cost effective solutions to meet the needs of the growing number of elderly Australians.

9 Mar 2011

Grey matter volume in cerebellum predicts general intelligence

Research suggests that intelligence in humans is controlled by the part of the brain known as the 'cortex', and most theories of age-related cognitive decline focus on cortical dysfunction.

9 Mar 2011

Plexxikon commences PLX3397 Phase 2 trial in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma

Plexxikon today announced that it has treated the first patient in a Phase 2 clinical trial in Hodgkin lymphoma with PLX3397. This novel agent is an oral, selective inhibitor that down-modulates two key cell types that are thought to mediate the progression of Hodgkin lymphoma tumors — macrophages and mast cells.

8 Mar 2011

$100 million in grants for medical research announced

More than $100 million in grants was announced this Tuesday for an ambitious research project that will try to find what makes cancer so hard to beat. This project received $21.3 million from the National Health and Medical Research Council grants.

8 Mar 2011

Conflicts in medical management of hemophilia

Hemophilia is a medical disorder that is part of our genetic load as humans. It will never disappear. Therefore, the only way to live with it is to receive adequate medical management. Its effects on those males who have inherited the disorder that affects their blood clotting without treatment includes recurrent hemorrhages (bleeds) into joints as well as internal bleeding. The bleeds are painful, resulting in disuse, disability and crippling. The first signs usually appear in early childhood. A child who suffers a mouth bleed can slowly lose enough blood to result in death.

8 Mar 2011

BrainScope announces launch of Ahead EU-100 to help in head injury assessment

BrainScope Company, Inc. announced today that it is preparing for the introduction of the Ahead™ EU-100, a product in development to aid in the assessment of head injury, in the United Kingdom.

8 Mar 2011

Researchers elucidate how sensory, motor fibers interact at molecular level to form nerves

During embryonic development, sensory and motor fibers interact to form nerves in the limbs. The research team led by Dr. Andrea Huber Br-samle of the Institute of Developmental Genetics of Helmholtz Zentrum M-nchen has now elucidated how this interaction functions at the molecular level: The cell surface receptor neuropilin-1 is present in both sensory and motor nerve fibers and controls their interaction in order to correctly regulate growth.

8 Mar 2011

Discovery of potent class of anti-cancer compounds by Scripps Research and MIT scientists

Working as part of a public program to screen compounds to find potential medicines and other biologically useful molecules, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered an extremely potent class of potential anti-cancer and anti-neurodegenerative disorder compounds.

8 Mar 2011

Stroke survivors with atrial fibrillation may be at greater risk of developing Dementia

Stroke survivors who have an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation may be at higher risk of developing dementia than stroke survivors who do not have the heart condition, according to research published in the March 8, 2011, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

8 Mar 2011