Neurological Disease News and Research

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Increasing energy supply within injured spinal cord nerves could help them heal

When the spinal cord is injured, the damaged nerve fibers--called axons--are normally incapable of regrowth, leading to permanent loss of function.

3 Mar 2020

Study reports advance in blood test to detect accumulation of Alzheimer's protein in the brain

Researchers report an advance in the development of a blood test that could help detect pathological Alzheimer's disease in people who are showing signs of dementia.

2 Mar 2020

New form of gene editing slows ALS progression in mice

With a new CRISPR gene-editing methodology, scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign inactivated one of the genes responsible for an inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - a debilitating and fatal neurological disease for which there is no cure.

26 Feb 2020

Supplementing diet with amino acid delays signs of ALS in animal study

The addition of dietary L-serine, a naturally occurring amino acid necessary for formation of proteins and nerve cells, delayed signs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in an animal study.

24 Feb 2020

Drugs targeting T cells may be effective in treating cerebral malaria

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health found evidence that specific immune cells may play a key role in the devastating effects of cerebral malaria, a severe form of malaria that mainly affects young children.

18 Feb 2020

Light touch on the skin loses its pleasure in people with migraine

A recent study published in the journal Cephalalgia, the official journal of the International Headache Society, builds on the sensorial characteristics of migraine patients.

14 Feb 2020

Research shows how the brain's immune system could be activated to improve memory

When it comes to memory, immune cells are known as the "bad cops" of the brain. But new research shows they could also be turned into "good cops" to power memory and learning.

11 Feb 2020

Hendra antibody trial shows promise in a world-first human clinical trial

The Hendra virus is a potent pathogen transmitted to humans from animals that cause a severe and often fatal illness in both infected horses and humans. Originating from fruit bats, the virus caused an outbreak in Australia in 1994.

4 Feb 2020

Buck study uncovers how astrocyte senescence promotes neurodegeneration

Although a link has been established between chronic inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases, there have been many open questions regarding how cellular senescence, a process whereby cells that stop dividing under stress spew out a mix of inflammatory proteins, affects these pathologies.

29 Jan 2020

Study shows how gene therapy may help protect against vision loss in multiple sclerosis

New research by Dorothy P. Schafer, PhD, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, reveals the molecular process in which synaptic connections in the brain are damaged in multiple sclerosis and how this contributes to neurodegenerative symptoms.

21 Jan 2020

Observational study uncovers largest outbreak of neurologic illness to date in the U.S.

The Lancet Infectious Diseases recently published the results of an observational study led by researchers on Children's Hospital Colorado Infectious Disease and Neurology teams, along with counterparts at the Centers for Disease Control and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

8 Jan 2020

Parenting your aging parents when they don’t want help

David Solie's 89-year-old mother, Carol, was unyielding. "No, I will not move," she told her son every time he suggested that she leave her home and relocate to a senior living residence.

19 Dec 2019

NIH-funded research finds differences in energy use by immune T cells in ME/CFS

New findings published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggest that specific immune T cells from people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) show disruptions in the way they produce energy.

12 Dec 2019

Accelerating Medicines Partnership program for Parkinson’s disease launches new data portal

The Accelerating Medicines Partnership program for Parkinson's disease (PD) has launched a data portal to provide de-identified information collected from 4,298 PD patients and healthy controls to researchers working to develop effective therapies for the disease.

22 Nov 2019

Study sheds light on potential strategy for treating Charcot-Marie-Tooth

An unexpected finding from the Scripps Research laboratory of Xiang-Lei Yang, PhD, has illuminated a potential strategy for treating the inherited neurological disease Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), for which there is no approved medicine today.

7 Nov 2019

Researchers make progress toward gene-based strategies to treat inherited neurometabolic diseases

Researchers are making great strides toward developing gene-based strategies to treat a variety of inherited neurometabolic diseases characterized by severe neurological involvement.

29 Oct 2019

High levels of dietary salt can activate a brain pathway to cause cognitive impairment

High levels of dietary salt can activate a pathway in the brain to cause cognitive impairment, according to a new study. The paper, which was published in Nature, shows that this effect is not due to a loss in blood flow to the brain as originally thought, but rather to clumps of a protein linked to several forms of dementia in humans.

23 Oct 2019

NIH offers support to address ethical challenges associated with clinical research advances

With support from the National Institutes of Health's Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, scientists are developing powerful new devices and technologies to monitor and regulate brain activity.

18 Oct 2019

NCATS funds 'All of Us Research Program' to evaluate innovative DNA sequencing tools

The All of Us Research Program has selected the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, Alabama, to evaluate the use of leading-edge DNA sequencing technologies that could someday improve diagnosis and treatment of many diseases, both common and rare.