Nervous System News and Research

Latest Nervous System News and Research

Endothelial progenitor cells may repair leaky blood-brain barrier

University of South Florida Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair faculty members have received a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate the potential for cells derived from human bone marrow to benefit post-stroke patients by repairing the blood-brain barrier.

12 Aug 2011

New model for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

By isolating cells from patients' spinal tissue within a few days after death, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed a new model of the paralyzing disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

12 Aug 2011

InVivo Therapeutics reports net loss of $1,370,000 for second quarter 2011

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp., a company focused on the development of groundbreaking technologies for the treatment of spinal cord injuries (SCI), today reported financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2011 and provided a business update.

11 Aug 2011

Link between brain shrinkage, memory loss in Alzheimer's changes across age spectrum

A new study suggests that the relationship between brain shrinkage and memory loss in Alzheimer's disease changes across the age spectrum.

11 Aug 2011

Neurologist care may improve quality of life for people with Parkinson's

People with Parkinson's disease who go to a neurologist for their care are more likely to live longer, less likely to be placed in a nursing home and less likely to break a hip than people who go to a primary care physician, according to a study published in the August 10, 2011, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

11 Aug 2011

FUS Foundation awards $112,002 grant to Harvard brain researcher

The Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation has announced its latest Research Award recipient is Nathan McDannold, Ph.D. The $112,002 award will support McDannold's efforts to increase the regions in the brain that can be safely targeted by MR-guided focused ultrasound, an innovative, noninvasive medical technology being championed by the Foundation.

11 Aug 2011

57 genes associated with multiple sclerosis

An international research team has found nearly 30 genetic risk factors that predispose to developing multiple sclerosis. It brings to more than 50 the total number of genetic clues to the disease. The research, published in Nature, will help identify risk factors and perhaps future treatments or even a cure, hopes the MS Society.

11 Aug 2011

Acorda Therapeutics receives U.S. patent allowance for aminopyridine compositions

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has allowed U.S. Patent Application No. 11/102,559 entitled "Method of Using Sustained Release Aminopyridine Compositions."

10 Aug 2011

Scientist determines how nyctalopin gene makes night vision possible

A scientist from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute has determined how a particular gene makes night vision possible. The study, which was published in the August 10, 2011 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience, focuses on a gene called nyctalopin. Mutations in the gene result in inherited "night blindness," a loss of vision in low-light environments.

10 Aug 2011

Moderate exercise may help prevent cognitive decline after bacterial infection

A small amount of exercise shields older animals from memory loss following a bacterial infection, according to a study in the August 10 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

10 Aug 2011

Study shows how certain woodrats put themselves on diet to avoid poisoning

Life is tough for woodrats in deserts of the U.S. Southwest. There are few plants for food, and those plants produce poison to deter rodents, insects and other animals. A new University of Utah study shows how certain woodrats put themselves on a diet to avoid poisoning: They sample a smorgasbord of toxic plants, eat smaller meals, increase time between meals and drink more water if it is available.

9 Aug 2011

NIH awards Jefferson $4.8M grant to study vaccine to clear rabies virus from central nervous system

Thomas Jefferson University received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) $4.8 million grant to test a new rabies vaccine with the potential to cure the virus infection, even after it has made its way into a person's central nervous system (CNS). Today, if an unvaccinated person is infected with rabies and it spreads to the brain, there is little chance for survival.

8 Aug 2011

Simcyp extends application in areas of PD modelling and drug distribution within CNS

Simcyp Limited is pleased to announce significant additions to its flagship simulator in line with priorities established by the Simcyp Consortium of global pharmaceutical companies.

6 Aug 2011

Alexza resubmits AZ-004 NDA for treatment of agitation in schizophrenia patients

Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has resubmitted its AZ-004 New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in response to a Complete Response Letter (CRL) received in October 2010.

5 Aug 2011

Scientists identify small molecule inhibitors of cellular uptake

Scientists from Freie Universität Berlin and the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence led by biochemist Volker Haucke in collaboration with colleagues from Australia and the Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology in Berlin have developed small molecules that inhibit the internalization of important signaling molecules but also of pathogenic organisms such as the immunodeficiency virus and bacteria into cells.

5 Aug 2011

Scientists convert human skin cells into forebrain neurons

Columbia University Medical Center researchers have for the first time directly converted human skin cells into functional forebrain neurons, without the need for stem cells of any kind.

5 Aug 2011

Researchers identify genes that play a key role in pain perception

By working with individuals suffering from a severe disorder that causes sensory neurons to degenerate, researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital and CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital have discovered how a specific genetic mutation causes their patients' condition, which in turn has revealed more information about the mechanisms in our bodies which enable us to sense pain.

5 Aug 2011

UH undergraduates seek solutions to many maladies like diabetes, Alzheimer's

Students from a variety of majors are devoting their summers to serious research at the University of Houston (UH), seeking eventual solutions to many serious maladies that include Alzheimer's, high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, alcoholism and anxiety.

4 Aug 2011

Insight into how brain organizes during development

Scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have taken an important step in identifying how the brain organizes itself during development. The findings, published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology today, describe - in more detail than ever before - the consequences of the loss of a key molecule involved in establishing proper brain architecture during brain development.

3 Aug 2011