Degenerative Disease News and Research

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Mexican study shows mobility can be restored in patients with Parkinson's disease

Mexican scientists demonstrated experimentally, with adult rats, that mobility can be restored in patients with Parkinson's disease, the major degenerative disease of the motor system worldwide.

22 Dec 2014

MU researcher recognized as AAAS Fellow for contributions to ophthalmology research

Cataracts, a clouding of the lens in the eye leading to vision loss, affects more than 24 million people in the United States, according to National Institutes of Health estimates. Often linked to the natural process of aging, cataracts are a major cause of blindness worldwide. K. Krishna Sharma, an ophthalmology researcher at the University of Missouri, has worked for more than two decades to study the mechanisms involved in this degenerative disease.

12 Dec 2014

Researchers show that iPS cells can be used to edit genetic mutations that cause DMD

Researchers at the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University, show that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be used to correct genetic mutations that cause Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

27 Nov 2014

Lifestyle of young people could pose risk for developing diabetes mellitus

Research performed by the University of Veracruz, in the east coast of Mexico, called Lifestyles Nutrition Students and Risk of Type II Diabetes, showed that the lifestyle of young people between 17 and 24 years of age, like lack of physical activity, mild psychological stress, and the omission of breakfast could pose a risk for developing diseases such as diabetes mellitus.

18 Nov 2014

New blood test could predict early onset Alzheimer’s disease with high accuracy

The research team previously identified that changes in the brain occur two decades before patients show signs of dementia. These changes can be detected through expensive brain imaging procedures.

30 Oct 2014

Longer looks: Obamacare in the midterm campaign; watching Ebola mutate; lessons on dying

According to Kantar Media, a firm that tracks political advertising, health care is the main subject of campaign ads, especially Republican ones. Obamacare is unpopular-;over half of Americans disapprove of it. Republicans talk about it constantly on the campaign trail, though not as intemperately as they did during their own party's primaries. Democrats scarcely mention it (10/18).

24 Oct 2014

RegeneRx to begin RGN-259 Phase 3 trials for treatment of neurotrophic keratopathy

RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. ("the Company" or "RegeneRx") today announced that it met with the FDA in September and as a result of the meeting may begin Phase 3 to evaluate RGN-259 preservative-free eye drops for the treatment of patients with neurotrophic keratopathy (NK), an orphan disease of the cornea.

20 Oct 2014

Pitt researchers awarded $1.25 million DOD grant to establish whole-eye transplantation program

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers have been awarded $1.25 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to fund two projects that aim to establish the groundwork for the nation's first whole-eye transplantation program.

8 Oct 2014

New findings raise hope for novel class of drugs to treat lupus

New findings by a biomedical engineer and his team at the University of Houston raise hope for a new class of drugs to treat lupus that may not include the long list of adverse risks and side effects often associated with current treatments for this disease.

25 Sep 2014

Research could help eventual treatment of degenerative muscle, brain diseases

Our genetic information is stored in DNA, tiny strands of nucleic acid that contain instructions for the functioning of our bodies. To express this genetic data, our DNA is copied into RNA molecules, which then translate the instructions into proteins that perform tasks in our cells.

19 Sep 2014

Researchers develop novel technique to promote tissue repair in damaged muscles

Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) have developed a novel technique to promote tissue repair in damaged muscles.

8 Sep 2014

People with increased yellow in macula could maintain better vision: Study

Human eyes naturally contain yellow pigment in the macula, a spot near the center of the retina responsible for high-resolution vision. Those with more yellow in their macula may have an advantage when it comes to filtering out atmospheric particles that obscure one's vision, commonly known as haze.

5 Sep 2014

New chemical compound protects against blindness and diabetes in animals

In a new study led by UC San Francisco scientists, a chemical compound designed to precisely target part of a crucial cellular quality-control network provided significant protection, in rats and mice, against degenerative forms of blindness and diabetes.

11 Jul 2014

Scientists discover why cerebellar granule cell neurons in A-T patients fail to repair DNA damage

A team of scientists, led by Stuart Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Neuroscience and Aging Research Center at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, recently discovered why cerebellar granule cell neurons in patients suffering from ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) were unable to repair DNA damage and thus died.

26 Mar 2014

Study: Stem cell transplant effective in halting degenerative disc disease of spine

Stem cell transplant was viable and effective in halting or reversing degenerative disc disease of the spine, a meta-analysis of animal studies showed, in a development expected to open up research in humans.

10 Mar 2014

Researchers identify high levels of certain protein in brains of people suffering from essential tremor

A team of researchers from Universit- Laval and CHU de Qu-bec identified unusually high levels of a certain protein in the brains of people suffering from essential tremor (ET), a movement disorder that affects 4% of the adult population.

5 Mar 2014

Research shows biological link between paternal diet and health of offspring

Research involving rats suggests that there is a biological link between paternal diet, bodyweight and health at the time of conception and the health of his offspring. In a new research report published online in The FASEB Journal, scientists show that if male rats ate a high fat diet, had diabetes and were obese, their offspring had altered gene expression in two important metabolic tissues--pancreas and fat (even though they were not yet obese).

16 Jan 2014

RegeneRx's Tβ4 gets FDA Orphan Drug designation for treatment of Neurotrophic Keratopathy

RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it has received Orphan Drug designation from U.S. FDA's Office of Orphan Products Development for its drug candidate, Thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4), for the treatment of Neurotrophic Keratopathy, a serious degenerative disease of the corneal epithelium (the outside layer of the eye).

5 Jan 2014

Research findings point to possible new strategy for treating ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a devastating illness that gradually robs sufferers of muscle strength and eventually causes a lethal, full-body paralysis. The only drug available to treat the disease extends life spans by a meager three months on average.

17 Dec 2013

PRP therapy improves functionality of tendons in athletes with degenerative disease

Ultrasound-guided delivery of platelet-rich plasma improves functionality and reduces recovery time in athletes with degenerative disease in their tendons, according to a study being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

2 Dec 2013