Nervous System News and Research

Latest Nervous System News and Research

NeurAxon closes convertible debenture financing

NeurAxon, Inc., a development-stage pharmaceutical company that is designing and developing next-generation pain therapeutics targeting neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), today announced that it has closed a convertible debenture financing in which the convertible debentures are convertible under specified circumstances into existing class B preferred shares for a total of approximately $14 million.

29 Sep 2010

NINDS establishes new sites as part of Morris K. Udall Centers of Excellence in Parkinson's Disease Research

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a component of the National Institutes of Health, has established two new sites as part of the Morris K. Udall Centers of Excellence in Parkinson's Disease Research. The NINDS grants will provide a five-year investment totaling more than $16 million for Emory University in Atlanta and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y.

29 Sep 2010

Neurons that control sexual behavior mapped

How the bundles of neurons in the brain controls behaviour remains an ongoing mystery. Researchers from the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), in Vienna, Austria, and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB/MRC), Cambridge, United Kingdom, have mapped neurons of the fruit fly, Drosophila, that controls sexual behavior. "We literally untangled the mess of wires in the fly brain and laid the ground plans for investigating a complex behavior in a simple organism," says Jai Yu, whose doctoral work is published in Current Biology.

29 Sep 2010

Unexpected social rejection reflects transient slowing of heart rate: Study

Social rejection isn't just emotionally upsetting; it also upsets your heart. A new study finds that being rejected by another person makes your heart rate drop for a moment. The study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

29 Sep 2010

Critical piece of puzzle in treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

University of Missouri researchers believe they have found a critical piece of the puzzle for the treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) - the leading genetic cause of infantile death in the world. Nearly one in 6,000 births has SMA, and it is estimated that nearly one in 30 to 40 people have the trait that leads to SMA.

29 Sep 2010

Scientists discover way of shrinking tumours in cancers

Australian and American scientists have found a way of shrinking tumours in certain cancers - a finding that provides hope for new treatments.

29 Sep 2010

SCS, PNS prove to be effective tools in treating chronic pain: NANS, ASIPP

Afflicting countless people worldwide, chronic pain is a largely misunderstood and under-treated disease that forever alters the lives of more than 50 million Americans each year.

28 Sep 2010

Optogenetics helps to restore optimal movement in people with physical disabilities

Researchers at Stanford University were able to use light to induce normal patterns of muscle contraction, in a study involving bioengineered mice whose nerve-cell surfaces are coated with special light-sensitive proteins.

28 Sep 2010

Study indicates majority of children suffering from chronic headache may outgrow the condition

Most children who suffer from chronic daily headache may outgrow the disabling condition, according to research published in the July 15, 2009, online issue of NeurologyÂ®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

28 Sep 2010

New study shows peripheral nerves regenerate themselves after injury

Unlike nerves of the spinal cord, the peripheral nerves that connect our limbs and organs to the central nervous system have an astonishing ability to regenerate themselves after injury. Now, a new report in the October 1st issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication, offers new insight into how that healing process works.

28 Sep 2010

Progenika receives CE Mark approval to market LPLchip in Europe

Progenika Biopharma S.A., a pioneer in the field of personalized medicine, announced today that it has obtained the CE Mark allowing the sale in Europe of its LPLchip(R), the first DNA chip to detect mutations in the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene.

27 Sep 2010

Individuals with growing amount of white matter hyperintensities are more likely to develop dementia

Elderly people with no memory or thinking problems are more likely to later develop thinking problems if they have a growing amount of "brain rust," or small areas of brain damage, according to a study published in the July 14, 2009, print issue of NeurologyÂ, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

27 Sep 2010

Clinical Data announces Stedivaze agonist data at ASNC2010 meeting

Clinical Data, Inc., today presented data from Phase I studies of Stedivaze (apadenoson), which demonstrated overall safety and tolerability in patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

27 Sep 2010

Sixth sense a reality: Research

A five year study monitoring brain activity during therapy sessions uncovered the mystery of “sixth sense” and how two people interact on a physiological level. The study from Sydney revealed how parts of their nervous systems can be aligned despite having no physical contact with each other.

27 Sep 2010

Post-stroke patients experience phantom limb sensations: Report

After the loss of a limb, most patients experience the feeling of a phantom limb - the vivid illusion that the amputated arm or leg is still present. Damage to the nervous system, such as stroke, may cause similar illusions in weakened limbs, whereby an arm or leg may feel as if it is in a completely different position or may even feel as if it is moving when it is not. Cases of phantom limbs in non-amputees have previously been considered rare events, but a new study published in the October 2010 issue of Elsevier's Cortex reports that more than half of patients recovering from stroke may in fact experience phantom limb sensations.

27 Sep 2010

UC San Diego receives grant to study hypoxia susceptibility

Gabriel G. Haddad, MD, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego has received a $10 million grant from the National Institute of Health's Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

24 Sep 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

FDA grants clearance for HPβCD treatment for Niemann Pick Type C disease

Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted clearance of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to introduce Trappsol Cyclo (Hydroxypropyl Beta Cyclodextrin or HPβCD) into the brains of six year old identical twin girls dying of a rare brain-destroying cholesterol disease called Niemann Pick Type C (NPC).

24 Sep 2010

Athersys presents MultiStem phase I study results at TCT Conference

Athersys, Inc. announced at its presentation at the Transvascular Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) Conference held in Washington, D.C., updated results from its phase I clinical trial of MultiStem, its allogeneic cell therapy product, administered to individuals following acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

23 Sep 2010