Neurology News and Research

Latest Neurology News and Research

Tips on toy safety during holiday season

With the excitement of the holidays, parents and relatives eagerly purchase the hottest toys and latest items for their children. But it's during the hustle and bustle of the season that many fail to buy age appropriate gifts for their children, and they tend to disregard warnings on these toys and gifts to ensure they are safe.

22 Dec 2010

Jazz Pharmaceutical receives USPTO patent for Xyrem oral solution

Jazz Pharmaceuticals, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent related to Xyrem oral solution titled "Microbiologically Sound and Stable Solutions of Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate Salt for the Treatment of Narcolepsy."

22 Dec 2010

Biogen Idec acquires Neurimmune subsidiary

Biogen Idec and Neurimmune Holding AG today announced that Biogen Idec has acquired a subsidiary of Neurimmune, which includes the world-wide rights to three pre-clinical immunotherapy programs. The three programs are focused on the discovery and development of novel human antibodies that address three central nervous system (CNS) targets: alpha-synuclein, tau and TDP-43.

21 Dec 2010

Proteins that unlock the mystery of over 100 brain diseases

An Anglo-American team of researchers have made a medical breakthrough after identifying a large collection of nerve proteins that are involved in around 130 brain diseases including Alzheimer’s and autism.

20 Dec 2010

Natus Medical anticipates revenue of $247M to $250M for full year 2011

Natus Medical Incorporated today announced its financial guidance for the first quarter and full year 2011.

20 Dec 2010

Exciting progress made in MS research during 2010

Exciting advances were made in 2010 in virtually every field of MS research. Progress toward finding new therapies for MS is illustrated by the availability of the first oral disease-modifying therapy for MS. Progress was also made toward finding ways to restore function and improving quality of life and specific MS symptoms through exercise, meditation, rehabilitation and medications, including the first therapy specifically approved to treat a symptom of MS (Ampyra).

20 Dec 2010

Improved brain-machine technologies

A new study published in the Dec 15 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience found that monkeys were able to move thought-controlled computer cursors more quickly and accurately when provided with additional sensory feedback.

19 Dec 2010

Completely fearless woman stirs scientific interest

It has been known since the 1930s that when a certain part of monkeys’ brains were removed, the animals became fearless. Now similar effects are being seen in humans according to a study in the journal Current Biology. Justin Feinstein, the study’s lead author and a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Iowa said, “There’s not very many humans with this sort of brain damage… Luckily for us, we had access to a patient, SM, and we studied her different fear behaviours and we read her personal diaries.”

19 Dec 2010

NIAID renews funding of PRIME to develop mathematical models to study influenza infection

Mount Sinai School of Medicine today announced that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has renewed funding of the Program for Research on Immune Modeling and Experimentation. This program seeks to develop easy-to-use, predictive mathematical models to better understand patterns of infection among individuals affected by the H1N1 and 1918 influenza viruses and other related viruses.

17 Dec 2010

Ischemic stroke patients at substantial risk once leaving the hospital: Study

A UCLA-led has study found that after leaving the hospital, nearly two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for acute ischemic stroke either died or were rehospitalized within a year.

17 Dec 2010

Gene variant affects brain function long before brain begins accumulating amyloid: Study

People with a known, high risk for Alzheimer's disease develop abnormal brain function even before the appearance of telltale amyloid plaques that are characteristic of the disease, according to a new study.

17 Dec 2010

MDA awards Repligen $1.4M for research of new compound with therapeutic potential for SMA

The Muscular Dystrophy Association today announced it has awarded $1.4 million in new research funding to the biopharmaceutical firm Repligen of Waltham, Mass., to complete the preclinical work needed to begin human clinical trials of a promising therapeutic compound for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

17 Dec 2010

Bayer's SAFYRAL oral contraceptive receives FDA approval

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new oral contraceptive (OC), SAFYRAL™ (drospirenone 3 mg/ ethinyl estradiol 30 mcg/ levomefolate calcium 451 mcg tablets and levomefolate calcium 451 mcg tablets). In women who choose an OC for birth control, SAFYRAL raises folate levels for the purpose of reducing the risk of rare neural tube defects (NTDs) in a pregnancy conceived while taking SAFYRAL or shortly after discontinuing it.

17 Dec 2010

Researchers begin placebo-controlled trial to test drug treatment for Rett syndrome

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have begun a randomized, placebo-controlled trial to test a potential drug treatment for Rett syndrome, the leading known genetic cause of autism in girls.

16 Dec 2010

Second brain death exam impacts organ donation rates

Requiring a second exam on a person who is considered brain dead may be unnecessary, according to a study on the impact of a second brain death exam on organ donation rates. The research is published in the December 15, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

16 Dec 2010

UT Southwestern and Rabin Medical Center enter innovative 5-year affiliation agreement

UT Southwestern Medical Center and Rabin Medical Center, Israel, two of the world's top academic medical centers, announced today that they have entered into an innovative affiliation agreement for the next five years.

16 Dec 2010

USAgainstAlzheimer's applauds House passage of National Alzheimer's Project Act

USAgainstAlzheimer's today applauded the passage by the House of Representatives of the National Alzheimer's Project Act and released statements from its Chairman and Founder George Vradenburg, its Scientific Advisory Board Chair and Nobel Laureate Stanley Prusiner and its ally in the Alzheimer's Movement, First Lady of California Maria Shriver.

16 Dec 2010

Synthetic derivative of curry spice can be effective neuroprotective for stroke and TBI

A synthetic derivative of the curry spice turmeric, made by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, dramatically improves the behavioral and molecular deficits seen in animal models of ischemic stroke and traumatic brain injury.

16 Dec 2010

MDA supports Repligen with $1.4M grant for RG3039 Spinal Muscular Atrophy development program

Repligen Corporation today announced that the Company has received $1,400,000 in research funding from the Muscular Dystrophy Association ("MDA") to support the ongoing development of RG3039 for Spinal Muscular Atrophy ("SMA"). RG3039, our lead compound, is an inhibitor of an RNA processing enzyme which targets increased production of SMN, a protein of deficient levels in patients with SMA.

15 Dec 2010

Researchers examine expression of toxic mRNA in patients with Fragile X Tremor Ataxia Syndrome

Expression of a toxic RNA that leads to Fragile X Tremor Ataxia Syndrome is modifiable by genetic or pharmacologic means, according to new research from U-M Medical School scientists.

15 Dec 2010