Microcephaly News and Research

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Measuring head circumference (also known as occipito-frontal circumference) is a significant part of the proper evaluation of a child’s growth and development, as it represents a direct indication of head growth. Therefore deviations from normal head growth may reveal certain congenital or acquired problem.

Leading global health bodies share data related to Zika crisis

Leading global health bodies including academic journals, NGOs, research funders and institutes, have committed to sharing data and results relevant to the current Zika crisis and future public health emergencies as rapidly and openly as possible.

12 Feb 2016

Zika: an update

Since the Zika outbreak in Brazil early last year, the virus has spread to 20 countries across the Americas. As of February 3rd, 35 cases of Zika have been reported in the U.S., all of which have been associated with international travel.

11 Feb 2016

UW-Madison research team starts work on Zika virus infection

In October, when David O'Connor last visited Brazil as part of a decade-long research program studying drug-resistant strains of HIV, one of his Brazilian collaborators had a request.

11 Feb 2016

Zika virus can have substantial economic impact in Americas

"Zika virus isn't going anywhere," says Frank Esper, MD, infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital. "If it's anything near what happened with SARS or with Ebola, people are going to be very hesitant to travel to those areas.

11 Feb 2016

First case of Zika virus found in Ohio

"This is not unexpected," says Frank Esper, MD, infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, after learning of the first case of Zika virus in Ohio, found in a Cleveland woman who traveled to Haiti. "We know people are going to come back and they're going to have the Zika virus."

11 Feb 2016

ESCMID gathers more solid data to better assess Zika virus risks, prepares for possible outbreak in Africa, Europe

Experts at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases – an organization promoting research, risk assessment, knowledge sharing and best practices in the fight against infectious diseases – are developing tools to monitor the spread of the Zika virus and are conducting research to gather more solid data to better assess the risks associated with the infection.

10 Feb 2016

International collaboration critical in dealing with Zika virus outbreak

The rapid spread of the Zika virus in Latin America and its apparent association with microcephaly is concerning, said an expert in legal and ethical issues relating to public health responses to epidemics. However, fear-based reactions are not the answer.

3 Feb 2016

Zika virus threat across the Americas

Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil was “spreading explosively” in the Americas and that as many as four million people could be infected by the end of the year.

29 Jan 2016

PAHO recommendations for preventing or slowing spread of Zika virus

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus that is new to the Americas. Since Brazil reported the first cases of local transmission of the virus in May 2015, it has spread to 21 countries and territories* of the Americas (as of 23 January 2016).

27 Jan 2016

Facts associated with Zika virus

As the Zika virus captures headlines across the United States, with its possible link to birth defects and the first cases reported in the U.S. (all traced back to overseas travel), it's an opportune time to review the facts associated with this disease.

22 Jan 2016

A Thai man with Zika virus has been hospitalized in Taiwan

A man from Thailand has been hospitalized in Taiwan after having arrived there infected with Zika virus, an agent thought to be associated with brain-damaging birth defects in infants.

21 Jan 2016

Oxitec prepares to increase supplies of OX513A to address recent outbreak of Zika virus in Brazil

Intrexon Corporation, a leader in synthetic biology, today announced that Oxitec, a UK-based subsidiary of the Company, is prepared to increase supplies of its proprietary mosquito control solution, OX513A, through its Brazil facilities to assist Brazil in addressing the recent devastating outbreak of the Zika virus and other diseases transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

8 Dec 2015

Determining the dynein-dynactin complex structure: an interview with Dr Gabriel C. Lander

This is a macromolecular assembly is made up of two components, dynein and dynactin, that works to move molecular cargo (organelles, RNA, vesicles, proteins, viruses) along microtubule highways within our cells.

16 Aug 2015

IRB Barcelona scientists provide molecular details about Seckel Syndrome

Today in Nature Communications, scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) provide molecular details about Seckel Syndrome, a rare disease that causes microcephaly, or small brain, and growth delays.

8 Jul 2015

Essential fatty acids play crucial role in human brain growth and function

New research conducted in a rural community in Pakistan highlights the crucial role that essential fatty acids play in human brain growth and function.

26 May 2015

RowanSOM researcher awarded NINDS grant to develop stem cell-based therapy for Canavan disease

Paola Leone, PhD, the director of the Cell and Gene Therapy Center and a professor of Cell Biology at the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, has been awarded a three-year, $477,000 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to develop a stem cell-based therapy for Canavan disease, a rare but devastating neurological disorder in children that typically takes a child's life by age 10.

26 Feb 2015

Scientists discover genetic pathway responsible for brain development

Scientists at A*STAR's Institute of Medical Biology and Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology have identified a genetic pathway that accounts for the extraordinary size of the human brain.

19 Dec 2014

Research on zebrafish helps identify cause of unknown genetic disorder

Research in zebrafish has helped identify the cause of an unknown genetic disorder affecting a boy and two of his uncles, scientists report in an article published October 14 in the journal GENETICS.

16 Oct 2014

DUF1220 protein domain also linked to severity of autism

The same gene family that may have helped the human brain become larger and more complex than in any other animal also is linked to the severity of autism, according to new research from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

24 Mar 2014

Asparagine found in meat, eggs and dairy products is important for normal brain development

Asparagine, found in foods such as meat, eggs, and dairy products, was until now considered non-essential because it is produced naturally by the body. Researchers at the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital found that the amino acid is essential for normal brain development.

26 Nov 2013