Nervous System News and Research

Latest Nervous System News and Research

Chemotherapy beneficial for children with intracranial ependymoma

Use of chemotherapy to treat children with intracranial ependymoma avoids or delays the need for use of radiotherapy which can potentially cause serious damage to the child's nervous system, without compromising chances of survival.

23 Jul 2007

Study looks at cancer incidence among recipients of blood from donors

Individuals who receive blood transfusions from donors with undiagnosed cancers are at no higher risk of developing malignant disease than people who receive blood from donors without cancer, according to the results of a retrospective study published in The Lancet last month.

23 Jul 2007

Blood transfusions not likely to spread cancer

23 Jul 2007

New understanding of how anaesthetics work in the brain

An important clue to how anaesthetics work on the human body has been provided by the discovery of a molecular feature common to both the human brain and the great pond snail nervous system, scientists say today.

20 Jul 2007

New genetic risk factors for restless leg syndrome

In Germany alone 8 million patients are affected by RLS, which makes it one of the most common neurological diseases.

20 Jul 2007

Older women with memory problems at higher risk of sleep disorders

Older women experiencing memory loss are more likely than women without cognitive decline to have problems falling asleep and staying asleep, according to a study published in the July 17, 2007, issue of Neurology ®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

17 Jul 2007

How children with brain tumors perform at school

While children who have had brain tumors perform worse in school than healthy kids, grades in foreign language are the most affected and girls have a harder time than boys in getting good grades, according to a study published in the July 17, 2007, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

17 Jul 2007

Children with Tourette's better at mental grammar skills

Children with Tourette's syndrome may have to put up with some unwanted movement and verbal tics, but neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center and the Kennedy Krieger Institute have found that they are much quicker at processing certain mental grammar skills than are children without the disorder.

16 Jul 2007

Study shows that folic acid added to flours lowers incidence of congenital neural tube deformation

Dr. Philippe De Wals of Universit' Laval's Department of Social and Preventive Medicine today publishes a study clearly indicating that the addition of folic acid to flours has led to a 46% drop in the incidence of congenital neural tube deformation (mainly anencephaly and spina bifida) in Canada. Such deformations either result in the child's death or in major health problems, including physical and learning disabilities.

13 Jul 2007

New data about the laws governing embryo development in organisms

Research aimed at understanding the mechanisms underlying embryo development has taken a step forward thanks to collaborative work between biologists specialized in the study of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and scientists specialized in the design of mathematical models that simulate the functioning of biological systems.

12 Jul 2007

St. Jude study holds promise for improving neuroblastoma treatment

A treatment for neuroblastoma that lands a one-two punch works best when the second punch is timed to take maximum advantage of the first one, according to results of studies at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

12 Jul 2007

New evidence of very recent human adaptation

A Cornell study of genome sequences in African-Americans, European-Americans and Chinese suggests that natural selection has caused as much as 10 percent of the human genome to change in some populations in the last 15,000 to 100,000 years, when people began migrating from Africa.

12 Jul 2007

New genetic function involved in embryo development in organisms

11 Jul 2007

Genetically engineered herpes simplex virus keeps arteries free-flowing

A genetically engineered herpes simplex virus, primarily known for causing cold sores, may help keep arteries "free-flowing" in the weeks following angioplasty or stent placement for patients, according to research published early in the online edition of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).

11 Jul 2007

Adiponectin serves as energy-conserving signal to the brain

A fat-derived protein known for its effects on the liver and skeletal muscle might also serve as an energy-conserving signal to the brain during periods of starvation, suggests a new study in the July issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press.

11 Jul 2007

Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners starts U.S. phase II trial of CPP-109 in patients with cocaine dependence

Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. a specialty pharmaceutical company that acquires or in-licenses, develops and commercializes prescription drugs for the treatment of drug addiction, today announced that it has initiated its randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled U.S. Phase II clinical trial of CPP-109 in patients with cocaine dependence.

11 Jul 2007