Neurology News and Research

Latest Neurology News and Research

Rapid number naming test can detect cognitively impaired people with AD

For the first time, researchers have determined that a brief, simple number naming test can differentiate between cognitively healthy elderly individuals and cognitively impaired people with Alzheimer's disease (AD), including those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), as well as those with AD dementia.

6 Jul 2016

Researchers identify potential biomarker for Parkinson's disease in biobanked urine samples

For more than five years, urine and cerebral-spinal fluid samples from patients with Parkinson's disease have been locked in freezers in the NINDS National Repository, stored with the expectation they might someday help unravel the still-hidden course of this slow-acting neurodegenerative disease.

6 Jul 2016

Alnylam reports new results from investigational RNAi therapeutic programs

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), the leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today preliminary results from its ongoing Phase 2 open-label extension (OLE) studies with patisiran and revusiran, both investigational RNAi therapeutics targeting transthyretin (TTR) for the treatment of hereditary TTR-mediated amyloidosis (hATTR amyloidosis).

6 Jul 2016

Health care resource use and costs of H.P. Acthar® gel for multiple sclerosis relapse

Mallinckrodt plc, a leading global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced new retrospective health economic data on H.P. Acthar® Gel (repository corticotropin injection; RCI), which may be an option for the management of multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses.

6 Jul 2016

Deuteration offers alternative chorea treatment for Huntington disease patients

Treatment with a deuterated form of tetrabenazine has resulted in improved motor signs among patients with Huntington disease, making it a potential treatment for chorea, trial findings show.

6 Jul 2016

Researchers identify shingles as persistent risk factor for stroke

The study by researchers from the Department of Neurology at the University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul showed that herpes zoster infection not only raised the risk of ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke but also that of a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), a warning mini-stroke often preceding a full-blown stroke.

4 Jul 2016

Brain vessel diseases may contribute to Alzheimer's dementia

While strokes are known to increase risk for dementia, much less is known about diseases of large and small blood vessels in the brain, separate from stroke, and how they relate to dementia.

4 Jul 2016

Tablet-based system allows physicians to diagnose stroke patients in pre-hospital setting

A clinical trial testing mobile videoconferencing as a means for physicians to diagnose stroke patients while they're being transported to the hospital has found that a tablet-based system produced diagnoses highly correlating with a bedside assessment -- a finding that could have important implications for the early treatment of stroke and for preventing the disability it causes.

1 Jul 2016

New software tool could help routinely measure brain atrophy in MS patients

The loss of brain tissue, called brain atrophy, is a normal part of aging, but multiple sclerosis (MS) accelerates the process.

1 Jul 2016

Virtual reality games fail to outplay card and ball games in stroke rehabilitation

Researchers have found inexpensive recreational activities such as playing cards or ball games are as effective add-on therapies to conventional stroke rehabilitation as virtual reality interventions.

1 Jul 2016

Transorbital ACS can improve vision in patients with glaucoma, optic nerve damage

Vision loss due to glaucoma or optic nerve damage is generally considered irreversible. Now a new prospective, randomized, multi-center clinical trial demonstrates significant vision improvement in partially blind patients after 10 days of noninvasive, transorbital alternating current stimulation.

30 Jun 2016

Stem cell procedure may be safe for ALS patients

A phase II clinical trial in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, suggests that transplanting human stem cells into the spinal cord may be done safely.

30 Jun 2016

Scientists use Sanger sequencing to conduct detailed genetic screening of PD patients

A team of scientists at the University of Granada has used a next-generation genetic sequencing method and a technique known as "Sanger sequencing" to conduct a detailed genetic screening of patients in Granada suffering from Parkinson's disease.

29 Jun 2016

Telemedicine shows promise in Parkinson’s disease care

Like countless other patients, Ann Johnson, a retired veterinarian, has been willing to travel long distances and devote an entire day to be treated by a specialist at Rush University Medical Center. But a recent appointment lasted less than 30 minutes, and the only travel was to her living room.

29 Jun 2016

LIF-treated muscle stem cells show promise in treatment of muscular dystrophy

Satellite cells are stem cells found in skeletal muscles. While transplantation of such muscle stem cells can be a potent therapy for degenerative muscle diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, these cells tend to lose their transplantation efficiency when cultured in vitro.

28 Jun 2016

Blocking c-Abl enzyme prevents Parkinson’s disease progression in mice

Researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have gleaned two important new clues in the fight against Parkinson's disease: that blocking an enzyme called c-Abl prevents the disease in specially bred mice, and that a chemical tag on a second protein may signal the disorder's presence and progression.

28 Jun 2016