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Research shows mobile phones raise children's risk of brain cancer by five times

New research from Sweden is certain to alarm many as it has found that young people today are five times more likely to get brain cancer if they are mobile phones users.

22 Sep 2008

Medulloblastoma in children - two studies find clues to treatment

Medulloblastoma is one of the most common and most malignant brain tumours among children and teenagers. These tumours grow very rapidly, and fifty percent of patients in the long term die from the condition. The details of the processes that lead to the growth of these tumours have remained unknown until now.

12 Aug 2008

Research team creates human ALS motor neurons

A team of researchers from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) and Columbia University, in a collaboration catalyzed by the Project A.L.S./Jenifer Estess Laboratory for Stem Cell Research, has demonstrated that pluripotent stem cells generated from a patient with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) can be directed to differentiate into motor neurons - the very brain cells destroyed by ALS.

31 Jul 2008

UAB joins elite brain cancer research group

Brain cancer experts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have been selected for membership in the Ivy Genomics-Based Medicine Project. The project is a national consortium of cutting-edge hospitals and academic centers working to improve treatment and survival for patients with a kind of malignant brain tumor called a glioma.

8 Jul 2008

100 percent oxygen resuscitation after brain injury may do more harm than good to children

The current standard practice of giving infants and children 100 percent oxygen to prevent brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation may actually inflict additional harm, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

1 Jul 2008

Nerve cells derived from stem cells may one day provide improved brain treatments

Scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research have, for the first time, genetically programmed embryonic stem (ES) cells to become nerve cells when transplanted into the brain, according to a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

24 Jun 2008

Transplants of mononuclear human umbilical cord blood may help Lou Gehrig's patients

A study at the University of South Florida has shown that transplants of mononuclear human umbilical cord blood (MNChUCB) cells may help patients suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

24 Jun 2008

New discovery could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's

Rutgers researcher Karl Herrup and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University have discovered that a protein that suppresses cell division in brain cells effectively "puts the brakes" on the dementia that comes with Alzheimer's disease (AD). When the brakes fail, dementia results.

24 Jun 2008

Nerve cells derived from embryonic stem cells and transplanted into mice may lead to improved brain therapies

24 Jun 2008

Discovery of a molecular scaffold that guides connections between brain cells

Brain cells known as neurons process information by joining into complex networks, transmitting signals to each other across junctions called synapses. But "neurons don't just connect to other neurons," emphasizes Z. Josh Huang, Ph.D., "in a lot of cases, they connect to very specific partners, at particular spots."

21 May 2008

Constraint induced therapy causes increase in gray matter

A rehabilitation therapy developed by a UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) neuroscientist produces changes in the structure of the brain, the first evidence of actual brain remodeling resulting from a rehabilitation therapy.

17 Apr 2008

New regulatory circuit identified for aggressive, malignant brain tumor

Research using a newly developed algorithm has significantly advanced understanding of the molecular events associated with the most common primary brain tumor in adults, human glioblastoma (GBM).

8 Apr 2008

Post brain injury: New nerve cells originate from neural stem cells

Most cells in the human brain are not nerve cells, but supporting cells (glial cells).

12 Mar 2008

Mouse model tightly matches pediatric tumor syndrome, will speed drug hunt

Frustrated by the slow pace of new drug development for a condition that causes pediatric brain tumors, a neurologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis decided to try to fine-tune the animal models used to test new drugs.

3 Mar 2008

Immune system may target some brain synapses

A baby's brain has a lot of work to do, growing more neurons and connections.

14 Dec 2007

sLRP1-alpha provides relief from neuropathic pain

Injury to peripheral nerves (the causes of which include shingles, HIV-AIDS, toxins, alcoholism, repetitive motion disorders, surgery, and cancer) causes neuropathic pain, which differs from ordinary pain and is usually perceived as a steady burning, pins and needles, electric shock sensations, and/or tickling.

4 Dec 2007

New non-addictive pain-killers

Two University of Adelaide pharmacologists working with one the world's leading neuroscientists have helped pave the way for the development of new pain-killing drugs that are not addictive.

20 Nov 2007

Neurofibromatosis 1 gene drives pivotal decision in early brain development

A gene linked to pediatric brain tumors is an essential driver of early brain development, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.

14 Nov 2007

Viewing dye-packed vesicles causes them to explode

It's a long-standing question: Can just the act of observing an experiment affect the results, According to a new study by Rockefeller University scientists, if the experiment uses a fluorescent dye called acridine orange, the answer is a resounding yes."

25 Sep 2007

Fetal neurons play role in adult brain

Subplate neurons - once thought to die after directing the wiring of the cerebral cortex or gray matter - remain in the white matter of the adult brain in small numbers and maintain activity, communicating with other neurons in the brain said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Alabama at Birmingham in a report that appears in today's issue of the Journal of Neuroscience

12 Sep 2007