Neurological Disease News and Research

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Reducing levels of the protein tau can prevent seizures and neurological deficits related to Alzheimer's disease

The findings, reported in the journal Science, demonstrate that when tau is removed from mice genetically engineered to simulate Alzheimer's disease, their memory function is retained and they live a normal lifespan. Reducing tau levels also made mice more resistant to epileptic seizures.

4 May 2007

Study provides better understanding of how to treat individuals affected by copper imbalances

Copper is an essential part of our lives. From copper pipes and wires - to important copper-containing proteins in the body, copper is necessary for healthy growth and neurological development.

2 May 2007

Burnham awarded $7.39 million for study on Neuron-Glia communication in development

A team of researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (“Burnham”) has been awarded $7.39 million from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.

24 Apr 2007

Pediatric multiple sclerosis and related disorders

Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders has just been published by the International Pediatric MS Study Group as a supplement to the journal Neurology.

24 Apr 2007

Lactate instead of glucose after traumatic brain injury

The chemical lactate has gotten a bad rap. Conventional wisdom considered it to be little more than the bane of runners and other athletes, causing stiff muscles and fatigue, and the "sour" in sour milk. It turns out that view may have been too narrow.

15 Apr 2007

Researchers discover enzyme that is a natural tumor suppressor

Building on their 2005 discovery of an enzyme that is a natural tumor suppressor, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have now identified two variants of that enzyme which could provide new targets for therapies to treat diabetes, heart and neurological disease.

10 Apr 2007

MIT model helps see how folds develop and decay in the cerebral cortex

Large mammals--humans, monkeys, and even cats--have brains with a somewhat mysterious feature: The outermost layer has a folded surface. Understanding the functional significance of these folds is one of the big open questions in neuroscience.

10 Apr 2007

Regenerative medicine project taps into human stem cells

Researchers at the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida have initiated a project to treat human brain and other diseases by plundering the secrets of regeneration from creatures with remarkable powers of self-renewal, such as salamanders, newts, starfish and flatworms.

2 Apr 2007

Researchers look at whether creatine slows progression of Parkinson's disease

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center are leading one of the largest clinical trials ever for Parkinson's disease.

25 Mar 2007

Maps of brains online

Digital atlases of the brains of humans, monkeys, dogs, cats, mice, birds and other animals have been created and posted online by researchers at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience.

28 Feb 2007

Neurological disorders a global problem

A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that neurological disorders, ranging from epilepsy to Alzheimer disease, from stroke to headache, affect up to one billion people worldwide. Neurological disorders also include brain injuries, neuroinfections, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson disease.

27 Feb 2007

Scientists find new genes linked to Lou Gehrig's disease

In the first genome-wide search for the genetic roots of the most common form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Johns Hopkins scientists have newly identified 34 unique variations in the human genetic code among 276 unrelated subjects with ALS.

21 Feb 2007

Smart bladder pacemaker

Duke University biomedical engineering researchers have moved a step closer to a "smart bladder pacemaker" that might one day restore bladder control in patients with spinal cord injury or neurological disease.

18 Feb 2007

Vasectomy and trouble with words

Northwestern University researchers have discovered men with an unusual form of dementia have a higher rate of vasectomy than men the same age who are cognitively normal.

13 Feb 2007

Scientists tackle huntingtin protein

McMaster scientists are very close to defining small molecule drugs that should be able to redirect the huntingtin protein from accumulating in the wrong place within brain cells, which could potentially translate to a therapy for Huntington's Disease (HD).

29 Jan 2007

Minor mistake in protein production at the cellular level may lead to serious neurological diseases

But exactly how the cell avoids such mistakes has remained unclear until now. Researchers at Ohio State University found the mechanism that prevents such errors, and explain their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

28 Jan 2007

U.S. surplus mercury strategy welcomed prior to UN negotiations

Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman cited recognition of health and environmental concerns as prime reasons why DOE "has no current plans to sell" their stockpile of over 1,200 metric tons of mercury.

3 Jan 2007

High dopamine transporter levels not linked to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

Results from a brain-imaging study conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory in collaboration with Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York indicate that levels of a brain protein proposed as a diagnostic marker for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are not positively correlated with the disease.

2 Dec 2006

FDA approves silicone gel-filled breast implants

After rigorous scientific review, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the marketing of silicone gel-filled breast implants made by two companies for breast reconstruction in women of all ages and breast augmentation in women ages 22 and older.

19 Nov 2006

Benign virus previously used as a marker in tracing human migration may be unreliable

...according to researchers at Penn State. Results of this study also suggest that some viruses might be undergoing much higher rates of evolution than previously thought.

24 Oct 2006