Nervous System News and Research

Latest Nervous System News and Research

Spine surgery is safe in advanced-age patient group

Spine surgeons from seven institutions in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, conducted a multicenter, prospective study of spine surgeries performed in patients 80 years of age and older.

17 Dec 2019

Researchers demonstrate a novel method for treating multiple sclerosis

Measuring changes in the speed of electrical signals along nerves connecting the eyes to the brain may accurately reflect recovery from myelin loss in multiple sclerosis (MS), according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and could be used to evaluate new treatments for the disease.

17 Dec 2019

The sympathetic nervous system can modulate action of defense cells in autoimmune disease

The results of a study conducted in Brazil suggest that the sympathetic nervous system - the part of the autonomous nervous system that controls responses to danger or stress - can modulate the action of defense cells in patients with autoimmune diseases.

16 Dec 2019

Older teens may have similar opioid overdose risk factors as adults

Older teens may have similar risk factors for prescription opioid overdose as adults, a new study suggests.

16 Dec 2019

Researchers identify rare genetic disorder

A team of South Australian researchers has cracked a rare gene variant for a disorder that sees a normal healthy child start to lose muscle tone and motor skills, ultimately losing the capacity to walk and use language.

16 Dec 2019

UAB seminar on the extraordinary science of the immune system

"The human immune system makes my head explode," Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Matt Richtel recently told a University of Alabama at Birmingham freshman seminar on immunology. "This is by far the hardest subject I have ever had to explore."

15 Dec 2019

Novel drug shows efficacy against advanced ROS1 and NTRK fusion-positive NSCLC

Pooled analysis of three phase 1 and 2 clinical trials published online ahead of print in the journal Lancet Oncology show that the drug entrectinib is effective and well-tolerated against advanced ROS1 and NTRK fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC).

14 Dec 2019

Problem drinkers have higher likelihood of using benzodiazepines

Problem drinkers are more likely than teetotalers and moderate drinkers to take benzodiazepines, a class of sedatives that are among the most commonly prescribed drugs -- and the most abused.

14 Dec 2019

Research could pave way for regenerative TBI-IV therapy

A team of researchers from the University of Georgia's Regenerative Bioscience Center has found that neural exosomes- "cargo" molecules within the nervous system that carry messages to the brain- can minimize or even avert progression of traumatic brain injury when used as part of a new cell-to-cell messaging technology.

12 Dec 2019

Research suggests contributory role of 'Asian glow' mutation and alcohol to Alzheimer’s

A new study from Stanford, published on December 12 in the journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications, suggests that an important enzyme that helps break down alcohol in the body is defective in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Understanding its relationship with alcohol and with genes that predispose to AD could help avert the latter in humans at risk.

12 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

Taking long midday naps or sleeping nine or more hours at night may increase stroke risk

People who take long naps during the day or sleep nine or more hours at night may have an increased risk of stroke, according to a study published in the December 11, 2019, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

11 Dec 2019

Malaysia announces first case of polio in the country for 27 years

Malaysia health officials have reported the first case of polio in the country for 27 years.

9 Dec 2019

Methamphetamine undermines success in treatment for opioid-use disorder

Judith Tsui, a UW Medicine clinician specializing in addiction treatment, was seeing more and more patients she was treating for opioid-use disorder also using methamphetamines, a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system.

8 Dec 2019

Researchers validate RNA sequencing methods using crab's nervous system model

"Being crabby" might have a whole new meaning.

6 Dec 2019

Cancer in the eye does not always develop into central nervous system lymphoma

Researchers at Okayama University report in the Journal of clinical and experimental hematopathology that primary intraocular lymphoma, a cancer in the eye, does not always develop into central nervous system lymphoma.

6 Dec 2019

Researchers reveal why granule cells and interneurons process information differently

The dentate gyrus is the "input point" for the hippocampus part of the brain. It transmits information from the short term memory to the long term. It consists of granule cells, which are especially dense in this area of the brain, and interneurons, which are linked up in the central or peripheral nervous system between several nerve cells and have an inhibiting effect on their activity. Both types of cell process information and differentiate closely-related memories.

5 Dec 2019

Gabapentin – a drug for nerve pain could help patients with spinal injury finds study

A preclinical study with mice has shown that Gabapentin, a drug that is commonly used in nerve pain could be useful for patients with spinal cord injury. Use of the drug showed improvement in upper limb function among the mice models of spinal cord injury, wrote the researchers. The study titled, “Gabapentinoid treatment promotes corticospinal plasticity and regeneration following murine spinal cord injury,” was published this week in the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

4 Dec 2019

Scientists create artificial neurons that help cure chronic diseases

Artificial brain cells could now be implanted in the brain to repair the damage caused by chronic diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, thanks to a team of scientists who created bionic neurons that work like the real thing.

4 Dec 2019

Study shows intestinal involvement in the development and progression of MS

It is incompletely understood which factors in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) act as a trigger for the immune system to attack the brain and spinal cord.

4 Dec 2019