Nerve News and Research

RSS

Human neural stem cells protect cone photoreceptors: StemCells preclinical data

StemCells, Inc. announced today new preclinical data showing that its human neural stem cells protect cone photoreceptors (cones) in the eye from progressive degeneration and preserve visual function long term.

20 Oct 2009

Researchers use biotechnological tools to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease

No one has yet found a cure or a way to prevent people from developing Alzheimer's disease. Researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, among others, are breaking new ground in biotechnology to find new tools that can help provide new solutions.

20 Oct 2009

First Edition: October 20, 2009

A new poll finds increased support for a public insurance plan in health reform just as Senate leaders discuss and debate in closed door meetings the various versions of this approach that might still draw enough votes to gain passage.

20 Oct 2009

Remote-controlled robot for testing visual prosthesis

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a remote-controlled robot that is able to simulate the "visual" experience of a blind person who has been implanted with a visual prosthesis, such as an artificial retina.

20 Oct 2009

Testicular cancer survivors at risk of effective treatment

Testicular cancer survivors can face an increased risk of long-term illness, not because of the malignancy, but the highly effective treatment they receive, according to a study in the urology journal BJUI.

20 Oct 2009

Tel Aviv University develops scaffold to regenerate damaged bones and tissues

Mother Nature has provided the lizard with a unique ability to regrow body tissue that is damaged or torn ― if its tail is pulled off, it grows right back. She has not been quite so generous with human beings. But we might be able to come close, thanks to new research from Tel Aviv University.

20 Oct 2009

NIH funded regeneration research to be presented at Society for Neuroscience annual meeting

Biologists long have marveled at the ability of some animals to re-grow lost body parts. Newts, for example, can lose a leg and grow a new one identical to the original. Zebrafish can re-grow fins.

20 Oct 2009

Children with neurological disorders have low skin temperature

Many wheelchair-using children with neurological disorders have much colder hands and feet than other children, and most receive no special help even though they have had these problems for a long time, is revealed in at thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

19 Oct 2009

New 3D scaffolding technology may help grow skin and blood vessels in labs

Scientists are developing new scaffolding technology which could be used to grow tissues such as skin, nerves and cartilage using 3D spaghetti-like structures. Their research is highlighted in the latest issue of Business, the quarterly highlights magazine of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

19 Oct 2009

Researchers find the genetic mutation that is linked with changes in brain development

For decades, scientists have thought the faulty neural wiring that predisposes individuals to behavioral disorders like autism and psychiatric diseases like schizophrenia must occur during development. Even so, no one has ever shown that a risk gene for the disease actually disrupts brain development.

19 Oct 2009

Findings provide new insight on skin pigmentation

The skin's pigment cells can be formed from completely different cells than has hitherto been thought, a new study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet shows. The results, which are published in the journal Cell, also mean the discovery of a new kind of stem cell.

19 Oct 2009

Exercise prevents memory decline post brain radiation treatments

Exercise is a key factor in improving both memory and mood after whole-brain radiation treatments in rodents, according to data presented by Duke University scientists at the Society for Neuroscience meeting.

19 Oct 2009

BJUI: Testicular cancer survivors face an increased risk of long-term illness due to effective treatment

19 Oct 2009

A study on development of deaf children fitted with a Cochlear Implant

A multidisciplinary group at Malaga University, headed by Ignacio Moreno-Torres, is collecting information on the milestones that mark the development of deaf children fitted with a Cochlear Implant (CI) and studying to what extent the social and family environment affects this development. This research is funded with 101,000 euro by the Andalusian Regional Ministry of Innovation.

15 Oct 2009

Human brains have amazing ability to be energy efficient, say researchers

Our brains, it turns out, are eco-friendly. A study published in Science and reviewed by F1000 Biology members Venkatesh Murthy and Jakob Sorensen reveals that our brains have the amazing ability to be energy efficient.

15 Oct 2009

Modern tissue engineering gives hope for better prosthetic hands

Modern tissue engineering developed at the University of Michigan could improve the function of prosthetic hands and possibly restore the sense of touch for injured patients.

15 Oct 2009

International Stem Cell launches human cell culture products into commercial research markets

International Stem Cell Corporation, announces that it has launched fifteen new human cell culture products into the commercial research markets over the last twelve months through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Lifeline Cell Technology, (Walkersville, MD), leading to a 12-month average month-to-month revenue growth of 50%. ISCO, the parent company, is the first company to create human “parthenogenetic” stem cells from unfertilized eggs.

14 Oct 2009

Decreased expression of tumor suppressor gene PTEN transforms neurofibromas into cancer

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center showed for the first time that the loss or decreased expression of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN plays a central role in the malignant transformation of benign nerve tumors called neurofibromas into a malignant and extremely deadly form of sarcoma.

14 Oct 2009

New neurosurgical procedure may prove helpful for patients with treatment-resistant depression

A new neurosurgical procedure may prove helpful for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Bilateral epidural prefrontal cortical stimulation (EpCS) was found generally safe and provided significant improvement of depressive symptoms in a small group of patients, according to lead researcher Ziad Nahas, M.D. at the Medical University of South Carolina. The data are reported in the on-line issue of Biological Psychiatry.

14 Oct 2009

Researchers to investigate an existing drug for speedy recovery of stroke patients

New research will determine whether an inexpensive drug called L-dopa, widely used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, could also help thousands of stroke patients regain mobility and independence.

14 Oct 2009