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FDA designates NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System as HUD device for ALS patients

Synapse Biomedical Inc. announces today that they have received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designation of the NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System (DPS) as a Humanitarian Use Device (HUD) for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients with a stimulatable diaphragm who are experiencing chronic hypoventilation and has now submitted for Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) approval.

11 Oct 2010

Researchers discover rhythmic changes in synapse numbers regulate sleep cycles

With the help of tiny, see-through fish, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers are homing in on what happens in the brain while you sleep. In a new study, they show how the circadian clock and sleep affect the scope of neuron-to-neuron connections in a particular region of the brain, and they identified a gene that appears to regulate the number of these connections, called synapses.

8 Oct 2010

McGill University joins two leading Swiss research institutions to enhance neuroscience research

Building on its worldwide reputation as a leader in neuroscience research, McGill University today joined with two leading Swiss research institutions - the University of Zurich (UZH) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) - to enhance neuroscience research in a host of areas, in fields that include pain therapy, Alzheimer's disease, synapse modelling and repair, neuroimmunology and genetic mechanisms of brain diseases.

5 Oct 2010

Scientists uncover alternative source for damage associated with MS

Scientists have uncovered an alternative source for some of the damage associated with multiple sclerosis, an incurable neuroinflammatory disorder. The research, published online by Cell Press on September 23rd in the journal Immunity, reveals a direct interaction between immune cells and neurons that plays a significant role in neuronal injury and may respond to therapeutic intervention.

24 Sep 2010

Immune-mediated disturbances of neurons contribute to MS: Research

Researchers in Germany have gained new insight into how the immune system causes damage associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), an incurable neuroinflammatory disorder.

24 Sep 2010

APC dysfunction prevents synapse function required for learning, memory: Study

A clue to the causes of autism and mental retardation lies in the synapse, the tiny intercellular junction that rapidly transfers information from one neuron to the next. According to neuroscientists at Tufts University School of Medicine, with students from the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts, a protein called APC plays a key role in synapse maturation, and APC dysfunction prevents the synapse function required for typical learning and memory.

23 Aug 2010

Abnormalities in certain genes may cause autism: Research

Together with colleagues from an international research group, autism researcher Christopher Gillberg of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has found in a new study that autism can be partially explained by abnormalities in certain genes. The group's results could, in the long run, pave the way for more appropriate treatments for autism.

16 Aug 2010

MeCP2 protein regulates properties of psychostimulant drugs: Research

When a certain protein is mutated or missing, symptoms of the neurodevelopmental disorder Rett syndrome arise, causing a gradual loss of brain function during early development.This fact led Duke University Medical Center researchers to test a theory that the protein might also contribute to nerve-cell connection (synapse) changes in a fully formed adult mouse brain when exposed to psychostimulant use.

16 Aug 2010

Genomic sequence of living marine sponge reveals some basic information about cancer: Scientists

This week's publication of the complete genomic sequence of a living marine sponge reveals genes dating back hundreds of millions of years -- a result far exceeding the expectations of the scientific world.

5 Aug 2010

Exercise, restricted-calorie diets help to stave off mental, physical degeneration of aging: Research

Harvard University researchers have uncovered a mechanism through which caloric restriction and exercise delay some of the debilitating effects of aging by rejuvenating connections between nerves and the muscles that they control.

3 Aug 2010

Tel Aviv University discovers molecular power behind memory

Neuroscientists have long wondered how individual connections between brain cells remain diverse and "fit" enough for storing new memories. Reported in the prestigious science journal Neuron, a new study led by Dr. Inna Slutsky of the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University describes what makes some memories stick.

30 Jul 2010

First patient enrolled in Phase 3 SyNAPSe study of BHR-100 for TBI

BHR Pharma, LLC announced today that the first patient has been enrolled in its SyNAPSe study, a global, Phase 3, pivotal trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of its intravenous progesterone infusion product (BHR-100) as a neuroprotective agent for treating severe (Glasgow Coma Scale scores of 4-8) traumatic brain injury patients.

23 Jul 2010

Major breakthrough in Alzheimer's disease research

Researchers from the University of Sydney's Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease Laboratory have achieved a major breakthrough by finding the causes of Alzheimer's disease at a cellular level and thereby identifying a potential therapy as a result.

23 Jul 2010

New technique to measure ATP from arterioles helps understand hypertension in women

Research at the University of Arkansas took a step toward understanding hypertension in women by using a new technique to examine the release of a neurotransmitter in small blood vessels.

20 Jul 2010

Study explains how vesicular release of neurotransmitters is impaired

Effective brain function depends on the efficient signaling from one neuron to the next, a lightning-fast process that depends on a quick release of neurotransmitters at synapses. Exposure to lead during early childhood and even later in life has long been known to affect the release of these critical neurotransmitters. However, the precise mechanism by which lead ions (Pb2+) impair this process has remained unknown.

23 Jun 2010

Research may lead to better treatments for depression and substance abuse

In what has been hailed as a breakthrough, scientists from Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical College have outlined the molecular mechanism of membrane transport. The research shows how a protein transforms its shape to transport substances across the cell membrane in order to regulate transmission of the brain's messages across the synaptic gap from one neuron to another.

11 Jun 2010

New genetic discoveries from Autism Genome Project

An international consortium of researchers working under the auspices of Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism science and advocacy organization, has announced new genetic discoveries from the second phase of its collaborative study: the Autism Genome Project. The results were published today in the journal Nature, one of the world's most respected peer-reviewed scientific publications.

10 Jun 2010

World's largest DNA scan reveals new genetic changes in autistic children

The world's largest DNA scan for familial autism has uncovered new genetic changes in autistic children that are often not present in their parents. Identified in less than 1 percent of the population, these rare variants occur nearly 20 percent more in autistic children.

10 Jun 2010

Role of neurotransmitter acetylcholine may suggest new treatment for Parkinson's disease: Researchers

Chicago and Montreal researchers studying the lowly lamprey eel have identified an overlooked nervous system pathway running parallel to known brainstem locomotor command circuitry in vertebrates such as birds, fishes and mammals.

20 May 2010

Fragile X syndrome iPS cells and embryonic stem cells behave differently: Study

In the last three years, a new technique for reprogramming adult cells has given scientists an easier and less controversial way to harness the power of embryonic-like stem cells to study human disease from its earliest beginnings in hopes of gleaning new insights into the root causes of disease and developing new therapies.

7 May 2010