Brain News and Research

RSS

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.

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics completes humanization of its ICT-37 and ICT-109 antibody candidates

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (OTCBB: IMUC), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is developing immune based therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers, announced today that it has completed humanization of ICT-37 and ICT-109.

23 Sep 2009

Oxygen Biotherapeutics to commence Phase II-b trial of Oxycyte in treating traumatic brain injury

Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: OXBO) today announced that the company has received approval from Israel's Ministry of Health to begin a Phase II-b, dose escalation, clinical trial in that country for use of Oxycyte(R) in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Oxycyte is the Company's perfluorocarbon (PFC) therapeutic oxygen carrier.

23 Sep 2009

Online Investor Fact Sheet available: XerTech

XerTech Inc. (OTCBB:XTCH) a leading manufacturer, seller, and distributor of cutting-edge, interactive fitness systems for the commercial fitness, sporting goods, education, and healthcare industries, announces the availability of a new online Investor Fact Sheet.

23 Sep 2009

Researching the causes of Alzheimer's disease

The standard explanation for what causes Alzheimer's is known as the amyloid hypothesis, which posits that the disease results from of an accumulation of the peptide amyloid beta, the toxic protein fragments that deposit in the brain and become the sticky plaques that have defined Alzheimer's for more than 100 years.

23 Sep 2009

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

Women have higher incidence of stroke and mortality than men

Even though the incidence of atrial fibrillation is higher in men than women, a review of past studies and medical literature completed by cardiac experts at Rush University Medical Center shows that women are more likely than men to experience symptomatic attacks, a higher frequency of recurrences, and significantly higher heart rates during atrial fibrillation, which increases the risk of stroke.

23 Sep 2009

CERE-110 trial to stop the progression of Alzheimer's disease

Researchers in the Memory Disorders Program at Georgetown University Medical Center are now recruiting volunteers for a national gene therapy trial - the first study of its kind for the treatment of patients with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.

23 Sep 2009

Depression, obesity and alcoholism interrelated in young women

There is new evidence that depression, obesity and alcohol abuse or dependency are interrelated conditions among young adult women but not men. Usinng data collected when young adults were 24, 27 and 30 years of age, a team of University of Washington researchers found that nearly half the sample of 776 young adults tracked during the study met the criteria for one of these conditions at each of these time points.

23 Sep 2009

Transoma Medical commences enrollment in its COMPLIANCE atrial fibrillation clinical trial

Transoma Medical, Inc., manufacturer of Sleuth AT™, the only wireless, automated implantable cardiac monitoring system with programmable and frequent electrocardiogram (ECG) sampling, announced today the first enrollment and implant in the COMPLIANCE trial, a long-term study to compare external event recorders with implantable monitors in patients who have been prescribed catheter ablation therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF) at risk of post-procedure AF recurrence.

23 Sep 2009

Abbott, Coherex Medical sign multi-year distribution agreement

Salt Lake City-based Coherex Medical, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a multi-year distribution agreement with global health care company Abbott for the Coherex FlatStent™ EF PFO Closure System.

23 Sep 2009

$1.2 million grant to study centrosomes and cilia and their connections to human disease

If you don't know how a human cell is supposed to work, it's hard to offer a good explanation when the cell goes haywire -- as it does in cancer. That's why a Florida State University College of Medicine researcher has been awarded a $1.2 million grant to explore the role of centrosomes and cilia in cell division and development and their connections to human disease.

22 Sep 2009

BRAIN and Südzucker join forces to improve sustainable production of functional carbohydrates

BRAIN AG a leading European White Biotechnology company and the food company and largest sugar producer within the EU, the Südzucker AG, further intensify their long-term research co-operation. The joint research program aims at optimizing the production processes of functional carbohydrates in terms of product yield and energy efficiency.

22 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

Amorfix announces 100% specificity upon testing 10,000 blood donations for vCJD

Amorfix Life Sciences, a company focused on treatments and diagnostics for brain wasting diseases, today announced it has achieved 100% specificity (no reproducible false positive results) upon testing 10,000 blood donations for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease ("vCJD"). with the EP-vCJD(TM) Blood Screening Assay at l'Etablissement Français du Sang de Pyrénées Méditerrannée ("EFS-PM") in Montpellier, France.

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

IRSF announces funding of new clinical study with disease-modifying therapy treatment for Rett syndrome

Today, the International Rett Syndrome Foundation announced that it will provide $200,000 in 2009 to support a newly proposed clinical trial with a growth-factor based treatment for Rett Syndrome. The study will be carried out by a team of clinical trials specialists at the Boston Children's Hospital, led by Dr. Omar Khwaja MD, PhD and will be the first potentially disease modifying therapy ever to be tested in Rett syndrome patients.

22 Sep 2009

Technique to reduce stroke in cardiac surgery patients

Sequoia Hospital announced today that they are one of only two hospital participant abstracts selected for oral presentation at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Advances in Outcomes and Quality national conference held this week in San Diego, California. "Separated Cerebral and Corporeal Perfusion Reduces Stroke Risk in Cardiac Surgery Patients with Mobile Aortic Atheromata" will be presented by Audrey Fisher, MPH, Sequoia Hospital Manager of Cardiovascular Quality & Outcomes. This new technique was developed to reduce strokes in cardiac surgery patients by isolating blood flow to the brain during cardiopulmonary bypass.

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

Molecule responsible for neuronal branches identifed

The human brain consists of about 100 billion (1011) neurons, which altogether form about 100 trillion (1014) synaptic connections with each other. A crucial mechanism for the generation of this complex wiring pattern is the formation of neuronal branches. The neurobiologists Dr. Hannes Schmidt and Professor Fritz G. Rathjen at the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have now discovered a molecule that regulates this vital process. At the same time they have succeeded in elucidating the signaling cascade induced by this molecule (PNAS, Early Edition, 2009, doi:10.1073).

22 Sep 2009

Moses Cone Health System installs TomoTherapy cancer treatment system

TomoTherapy Incorporated announced today that Moses Cone Health System has installed North Carolina's first TomoTherapy® cancer treatment system at the Moses Cone Regional Cancer Center in Greensboro, N.C.

22 Sep 2009