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New findings identify Sortilin as a potential therapeutic site to alter PGRN pathology in dementia

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) refers to a group of disorders associated with degeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. Symptoms include dementia, aphasia, and semantic disorders.

18 Nov 2010

Lead exposure may reverse blindness: Research

Some unexpected effects of lead exposure that may one day help prevent and reverse blindness have been uncovered by a University of Houston (UH) professor and his team.

26 Oct 2010

Highlights of Frontiers in Optics 2010/Laser Science XXVI Meeting

Scientists and engineers from around the world will gather on the shores of Lake Ontario in Rochester, N.Y. next week to discuss some of the latest breakthroughs in lasers and optics and their applications to cutting-edge science, the development of new materials, and medicine.

21 Oct 2010

Scientists find potential Achilles Heel in JC polyomavirus

The JC polyomavirus doesn't strike very often, but it's a mean bug that preys on people with weakened immune systems, including people with AIDS, and almost always kills them. Now an international team of scientists at Brown University, the University of T-bingen in Germany, and Imperial College in London has found a potential Achilles Heel and painted a target on it: The virus must bind to a very specific sugar molecule dangling from the side of the brain cells it attacks.

21 Oct 2010

NEUROKIN accentuates its leadership in the treatment of acute neurological diseases

Bbiotechnology company NEUROKIN, dedicated to the development of neuroprotective drugs to treat acute neurological diseases, announces today that the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted patent EP 1998778 protecting the use of NK-102, its most advanced drug candidate. This first European award constitutes an important milestone for NEUROKIN. An application for registration is under way in Brazil, Canada, China, USA and Japan.

29 Sep 2010

MediciNova receives FDA approval to proceed with initial trial of ibudilast

MediciNova Inc, a biopharmaceutical company publicly traded on the NASDAQ Global Market and the Hercules Market of the Osaka Securities Exchange (Code Number:4875), today reported FDA's approval to proceed with an initial trial of the company's neurological drug candidate, ibudilast (MN-166/AV411), as a potential new pharmacotherapy for methamphetamine addiction.

27 Sep 2010

Rush University researchers identify potential new way to prevent Alzheimer's disease progression

Neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found a new therapeutic target that can potentially lead to a new way to prevent the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The target called neutral sphingomyelinase (N-SMase) is a protein that when activated, can cause a chain of reactions in the cell leading to neuronal death and memory loss.

22 Sep 2010

Research on BMP6 protein suggests potential therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease

Elevated levels of a growth protein in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients is linked to impaired neurogenesis, the process by which new neurons are generated, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego in today's edition of The Journal of Neuroscience.

17 Sep 2010

Researchers discover generation of pyramidal neurons by glial cell precursors

In an unanticipated finding, researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine have discovered that, during early adulthood, the brain produces new excitatory neurons, and that these neurons arise from non-neuronal support cells in an area of the brain that processes smell.

10 Sep 2010

Human umbilical cord blood cells appear to protect astrocytes from cell death: Research

Human umbilical cord blood cells (HUCB) used to treat cultured rat brain cells (astrocytes) deprived of oxygen appear to protect astrocytes from cell death after stroke-like damage, reports a team of researchers from the University of South Florida (USF) Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair.

25 Aug 2010

Xcelligence System provides real-time detection of neuronal cell death

Time course analyses of neuronal cell death and its underlying mechanisms require laborious experiments and multiple endpoint assays, often involving labelling with irritating compounds and cell disruption. A recent study used the xCELLigence System of Roche to investigate the response of the neuronal-like cell line HT-22 and cultured primary rat cortical neurons to different cell death stimuli and neuroprotectants.

18 Aug 2010

Researchers develop genetically mutated stem cells for myelin research

Vanishing White Matter (VWM) disease is a devastating condition that involves the destruction of brain myelin due to a mutation in a central factor. To understand the disease and test potential treatments that could apply to other disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, Prof. Orna Elroy-Stein of Tel Aviv University's Department of Cell Research and Immunology is leading a scientific breakthrough by developing laboratory mice which carry the VWM mutation an important new tool.

18 Aug 2010

Non-viral gene therapy delays onset of eye disease

In one of only two studies of its kind, a study from researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts demonstrates that non-viral gene therapy can delay the onset of some forms of eye disease and preserve vision. The team developed nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic genes to the retina and found that treated mice temporarily retained more eyesight than controls.

17 Aug 2010

Transition commences dosing in TT-301 Phase 1 clinical study for rheumatoid arthritis, ICH, TBI

Transition Therapeutics Inc. announced today that the first patient has been dosed with drug candidate TT-301 in a Phase 1 clinical study. TT-301 is a small molecule compound that has demonstrated efficacy in preclinical models of rheumatoid arthritis, intracerebral haemorrhage and traumatic brain injury.

30 Jun 2010

Special public meeting to spotlight stem cell-based therapies for ALS

Local scientists, health advocates and leaders from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will gather in San Diego June 23 for a special public meeting to spotlight a new University of California, San Diego grant to pursue novel, fast-tracked stem cell-based therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

18 Jun 2010

Study reveals increase of enzyme MAO-A in female brain during immediate postpartum period

Within the first week after giving birth, up to 70 percent of all women experience symptoms of the baby blues. While most women recover quickly, up to 13 percent of all new mothers suffer from symptoms of a clinical-level postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is defined as a major depressive episode starting within 4 weeks after delivery and is a significant public health problem. Postpartum blues represents a major risk factor for developing postpartum depression and severe postpartum blues symptoms can be viewed as a prodromal stage for postpartum depression.

17 Jun 2010

Johns Hopkins professor receives $1M MSCRF grant to study glial cells for treating myelin disorders

Q Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that Piotr Walczak, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University has received notification of a $1,000,000 grant to be awarded by the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) which will enable further study of Q's human neural glial cell product Q-Cells® in preclinical models of demyelinating disease.

2 Jun 2010

Mannitol improves effectiveness of HUCBs in neonatal rat models of cerebral palsy

The sugar-alcohol compound mannitol improved the therapeutic effectiveness of human umbilical cord blood cells injected into neonatal rat models of cerebral palsy, reports a new international study led by the University of South Florida. The mannitol opened the blood-brain barrier by temporarily shrinking the tight endothelial cells that make up the barrier.

2 Jun 2010

New study provides cause-and-effect link between immune system cells and mental illness

A Nobel Prize-winning University of Utah geneticist discovered that bone marrow transplants cure mutant mice who pull out their hair compulsively. The study provides the first cause-and-effect link between immune system cells and mental illness, and points toward eventual new psychiatric treatments.

28 May 2010

UCSF scientists discover new stem cell in developing human brain

UCSF scientists have discovered a new stem cell in the developing human brain. The cell produces nerve cells that help form the neocortex - the site of higher cognitive function -- and likely accounts for the dramatic expansion of the region in the lineages that lead to man, the researchers say.

26 May 2010