Neurons News and Research

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Single gene forms common link between diabetes and Alzheimer's

In recent years it became clear that people with diabetes face an ominous prospect - a far greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Now researchers at The City College of New York (CCNY) have shed light on one reason why. Biology Professor Chris Li and her colleagues have discovered that a single gene forms a common link between the two diseases.

15 Jun 2012

MIT engineers develop new glucose-powered implantable medical device

MIT engineers have developed a fuel cell that runs on the same sugar that powers human cells: glucose. This glucose fuel cell could be used to drive highly efficient brain implants of the future, which could help paralyzed patients move their arms and legs again.

14 Jun 2012

RNA-binding proteins accumulate in the brains of patients with AD

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified a novel group of proteins that accumulate in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. These findings, which appear online in the Journal of Neuroscience, may open up novel approaches to diagnose and stage the progression likelihood of the disease in Alzheimer patients.

14 Jun 2012

14-3-3 zeta protein involved in generating chronic pain

Researchers in France and Sweden have discovered how one of the body's own proteins is involved in generating chronic pain in rats. The results, which also suggest therapeutic interventions to alleviate long-lasting pain, are reported in The EMBO Journal.

13 Jun 2012

Researchers demonstrate effectiveness of a potential new therapy for stroke patients

Researchers at the University of Missouri have demonstrated the effectiveness of a potential new therapy for stroke patients in an article published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration. Created to target a specific enzyme known to affect important brain functions, the new compound being studied at MU is designed to stop the spread of brain bleeds and protect brain cells from further damage in the crucial hours after a stroke.

12 Jun 2012

RGS proteins play an essential role in night blindness

In a pair of related studies, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have identified several proteins that help regulate cells' response to light-and the development of night blindness, a rare disease that abolishes the ability to see in dim light.

12 Jun 2012

Mutation responsible for rare, hereditary motor neuron disease disrupts vital links

Studying how nerve cells send and receive messages, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered new ways that genetic mutations can disrupt functions in neurons and lead to neurodegenerative disease, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

11 Jun 2012

Researchers identify six genes that predispose to migraine without aura

Researchers studied genetic data of more than 11 000 people and found altogether six genes that predispose to migraine without aura. Four of these genes are new and two of them confirm previous findings.

11 Jun 2012

dSarm/Sarm1 gene promotes axon destruction after injury

Degeneration of the axon and synapse, the slender projection through which neurons transmit electrical impulses to neighboring cells, is a hallmark of some of the most crippling neurodegenerative and brain diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease and peripheral neuropathy.

8 Jun 2012

ReproCELL to begin commercialization of human iPS-derived neurons for Alzheimer's

ReproCELL, Inc. announces today that the company will start commercializing human iPS-derived neurons in which an Alzheimer's disease related gene has been incorporated.

8 Jun 2012

Researchers identify brain receptor that appears to play a central role in regulating appetite

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have identified a brain receptor that appears to play a central role in regulating appetite. The findings, published today in the online edition of Cell, could lead to new drugs for preventing or treating obesity.

8 Jun 2012

CDI introduces MyCell Services

Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI), the world's largest commercial producer of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell lines and tissue cells, today announced the launch of its MyCell Services.

7 Jun 2012

Paper spotlights unique developmental strategy undertaken by all mammals

Ask the average person the street how the brain develops, and they'll likely tell you that the brain's wiring is built as newborns first begin to experience the world. With more experience, those connections are strengthened, and new branches are built as they learn and grow. A new study conducted in a Harvard lab, however, suggests that just the opposite is true.

7 Jun 2012

Study describes how seizures in people with AS could be linked to brain cell activity imbalance

New research by scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine may have pinpointed an underlying cause of the seizures that affect 90 percent of people with Angelman syndrome (AS), a neurodevelopmental disorder.

7 Jun 2012

Inflammation instigated by the immune system in ALS can trigger macrophages

In an early study, UCLA researchers found that the immune cells of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, may play a role in damaging the neurons in the spinal cord.

6 Jun 2012

Transcranial magnetic stimulation enhances visual abilities in healthy adults

Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), an international team led by researchers from the Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (CNRS / Inserm / UPMC) has succeeded in enhancing the visual abilities of a group of healthy subjects.

6 Jun 2012

Scientists identify rhythmic brain cell firing patterns in the motor cortex

A new model for understanding how nerve cells in the brain control movement may help unlock the secrets of the motor cortex, a critical region that has long resisted scientists' efforts to understand it, researchers report June 3 in Nature.

5 Jun 2012

Scientists propose new theory of the brain activity behind arm movements

Unlike their visual cousins, the neurons that control movement are not a predictable bunch. Scientists working to decode how such neurons convey information to muscles have been stymied when trying to establish a one-to-one relationship between a neuron's behavior and external factors such as muscle activity or movement velocity.

4 Jun 2012

Initial data to construct first whole-brain wiring diagram of vertebrate brain

Neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) reached an important milestone today, publicly releasing the first installment out of 500 terabytes of data so far collected in their pathbreaking project to construct the first whole-brain wiring diagram of a vertebrate brain, that of the mouse.

2 Jun 2012

Molecular structure of APP protein could lead to new therapeutics for AD

The molecular structure of a protein involved in Alzheimer's disease - and the surprising discovery that it binds cholesterol - could lead to new therapeutics for the disease, Vanderbilt University investigators report in the June 1 issue of the journal Science.

1 Jun 2012