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Thalidomide, Lenalidomide show promise against Lou Gehrig's disease

New animal research suggests that two well-studied drugs, thalidomide and its derivative, lenalidomide, might extend the survival of patients with the neurological disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

9 Mar 2006

University of Michigan researchers target stubborn gram-negative bacteria

Ronald Woodard's team set out looking for a way to kill a stubborn type of bacteria and they succeeded - but not in the way he expected.

9 Mar 2006

Research challenges theories on the organization of the visual system

Neuroscientists from the University of Washington and the University of Minnesota have found that the first area in the cortex of the human brain that receives information from the eyes processes the perceived size, rather than the actual size, of an object.

9 Mar 2006

Penn researchers study link between potassium and sodium channels aiming at new treatments for neurological diseases

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered the mechanism that facilitates how two ion channels collaborate in the control of electrical signals in the brain.

9 Mar 2006

Researchers find compound that interferes with the pathogenic effects of Huntington's disease

There is no cure for Huntington's, a neurodegenerative disorder that now afflicts 30,000 Americans, with another 150,000 at risk. The fatal disease, which is genetically inherited, usually strikes in midlife and causes uncontrolled movements, loss of cognitive function and emotional disturbance.

9 Mar 2006

Important milestone in understanding the neural circuitry that coordinates walking movements

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified an important circuit in the spinal cord that controls the speed with which our leg muscles contract and relax.

9 Mar 2006

G protein-coupled receptors cool passion of 'kiss and run' nerve cells

A new subtlety in the process of how the body's nervous system relays information may hinge on how "wet" the "kiss" is when one neuron fires a packet of neurotransmitter across a synapse to a receptive nerve cell.

9 Mar 2006

Details of protein-cleaving complex key to microbe's survival may improve drug design

With the hope of designing more effective treatments for tuberculosis (TB), scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborating institutions have published the first detailed reports on the biochemistry and structure of a protein-cleaving complex that is essential to the TB bacterium's survival.

9 Mar 2006

Genetic switch that turns off an oxygen-poor cell's combustion engine - finding has potential to limit toxic molecules

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a previously unrecognized role played by the gene HIF-1 as it helps cell survive when a lack of oxygen decreases production of an energy-rich molecule called ATP and increases production of toxic molecules.

9 Mar 2006

Sex chromosome genes influence aggression

It has been well documented that, across human cultures and in most mammals, males are usually more aggressive and less nurturing than females.

9 Mar 2006

ATF2 protein may play a crucial role in cancer's ability to resist chemotherapy and radiation treatment

Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a molecular mechanism that may play a crucial role in cancer's ability to resist chemotherapy and radiation treatment and that also may be involved in Alzheimer's and heart disease.

9 Mar 2006

Taipan venom may stop excessive bleeding during vascular surgery

A blood-clotting protein in taipan venom has been identified by Queensland University of Technology PhD researcher Liam St Pierre to rapidly stop excessive bleeding during vascular surgery and major trauma.

9 Mar 2006

Inflammation is a crucial and dangerous step in the development of obesity

New research by the University of Warwick's Warwick Medical School shows that the biggest health threat to fat and obese people isn't the fat itself but the fact that the fat fuels a killer inflammation response in people.

8 Mar 2006

Major biomarker candidates for Alzheimer's disease explored

Alzheimer's disease - specific biomarkers clearly are needed for the differential diagnosis of cognitive impairment in the elderly.

8 Mar 2006

Scientists fight leukaemia with 'natural killer' cells

Scientists at the University of the West of England and the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at the Bristol Children's Hospital have just won funding for a two-year project aimed at improving the outcome of bone marrow stem-cell transplants in young leukaemia patients.

8 Mar 2006

Scientists find brain function most important to maths ability

Scientists at University College London (UCL) have discovered the area of the brain linked to dyscalculia, a maths learning disability. The finding shows that there is a separate part of the brain used for counting that is essential for diagnosis and an understanding of why many people struggle with maths.

7 Mar 2006

Dual functions of sight - perception and action - demonstrated for first time

The dissociation in the visual system between two separate functions - one that enables us to identify objects and the other to interact with them - has been clearly demonstrated for the first time in healthy humans by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

7 Mar 2006

Potential new treatment for Huntington and Parkinson patients

A potential new treatment for neurodegenerative disorders, which seems to be able to reduce the toxic protein aggregates characteristic of many of these diseases, is published online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

7 Mar 2006

Some people are more than twice as likely to become depressed as others

The paper, which has just been published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, has found more than a fifth of the population has a genetic predisposition to depression, in response to a series of stressful life events.

7 Mar 2006

Genes play a key role in stress response

Both nature and nurture - genetic makeup and the environment experienced through life - combine to influence health and well-being, Duke University Medical Center researchers and their colleagues have determined in four new studies.

7 Mar 2006