Neurology News and Research

Latest Neurology News and Research

Study underscores importance of cholesterol levels as a risk factor for stroke in women

Healthy women with no history of heart disease or stroke significantly increase their chances of having a stroke if they have high cholesterol, according to a study of more than 27,000 women published in the February 20, 2007, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

20 Feb 2007

Stroke in young Fabry patients study

Stroke is the second leading cause of mortality worldwide and the most common cause of dementia in western countries.

15 Feb 2007

Vasectomy linked to dementia

Researchers in the United States have linked male sterilization surgery to a certain form of dementia.

14 Feb 2007

Marijuana gives relief from chronic pain for AIDS sufferers

Researchers have found that people suffering from chronic foot pain as a result of the AIDS virus gained relief from smoking marijuana.

14 Feb 2007

Vasectomy and trouble with words

Northwestern University researchers have discovered men with an unusual form of dementia have a higher rate of vasectomy than men the same age who are cognitively normal.

13 Feb 2007

Therapy for restless legs may trigger compulsive gambling

Compulsive gambling with extreme losses -- in two cases, greater than $100,000 -- by people without a prior history of gambling problems has been linked to a class of drugs commonly used to treat the neurological disorder restless legs syndrome (RLS).

11 Feb 2007

Stents benefit people at high risk of stroke due to blocked blood vessels in the brain

For the study, researchers in Beijing evaluated 213 people who had received a stent, which is an expandable wire form used to open up a narrowing or totally obstructed blood vessel.

6 Feb 2007

Levetiracetam shows promise for epilepsy

People with newly diagnosed epilepsy experienced few, if any, seizures while taking the drug levetiracetam as a single therapy, giving hope to epilepsy patients who don't respond to or can't tolerate existing treatments, according to a study published in the February 6, 2007 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

5 Feb 2007

Apolipoprotein E gene raises newborns' cerebral palsy risk

Apolipoprotein E (APOE), a gene associated with heightened risk for Alzheimer's disease in adults, can also increase the likelihood that brain-injured newborns will develop cerebral palsy, researchers at Children's Memorial Research Center have discovered.

5 Feb 2007

Startling results from first study of HIV dementia on the Africa

An international study led by Johns Hopkins suggests that the rate of HIV-associated dementia is so high in sub-Saharan Africa that HIV dementia along with Alzheimer's disease and dementia from strokes may be among the most common forms of dementia in the world.

30 Jan 2007

Multiple sclerosis far more common than previously thought

A new review of hundreds of research articles has shown that the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) is far higher than previously thought amongst the U.S. population.

29 Jan 2007

Number of Parkinson's sufferers will double in next 25 years

The study highlights the significant challenge facing countries with rapidly growing economies, particularly in Asia, many of which are ill prepared to meet this impending public health threat.

29 Jan 2007

Potential protection against failed back surgery syndrome

Texas researchers believe that they have discovered how to prevent many cases of the most common problem encountered by patients undergoing spine surgery: failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS).

29 Jan 2007

New prognostic instrument improves prediction of stroke risk after TIA

The existing prognostic scores for early-risk stroke prediction after transient ischaemic attack (TIA have been validated and refined to develop a unified score that is more predictive than previous methods, according to an Article published in this week's issue of The Lancet.

28 Jan 2007

Alteplase for appropriate stroke patients is safe and effective

The thrombolytic drug alteplase, despite recent concerns, is safe and effective in routine clinical use when used within 3 hours of stroke onset, according to an observational study published in this week's issue of The Lancet.

28 Jan 2007

Manipulation of proliferation and differentiation of human bone marrow derived neural stem cells in vitro and in vivo

Stem cells taken from adult human bone marrow have been manipulated by scientists at the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to generate aggregates of cells called spheres that are similar to those derived from neural stem cells of the brain.

28 Jan 2007

Herpes appears to play a role in bringing about Alzheimer's disease

A gene known to be a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease puts out the welcome mat for the virus that causes cold sores, allowing the virus to be more active in the brain compared to other forms of the gene.

3 Jan 2007

Levodopa improves tremors, involuntary movements in Parkinson patients

A drug used to treat epilepsy has been found to significantly improve tremors, motor fluctuations, and other involuntary movements, or dyskinesias, in patients with Parkinson disease, according to a study published in Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

2 Jan 2007

Scans show hysteria is caused by a brain dysfunction

Hysteria is an unexplained neurological disorder in which a patient complains of symptoms, ranging from numbness in a limb, to paralysis, memory loss and seizures, that cannot be traced to any known medical problem and doctors fail to find anything medically wrong with them.

12 Dec 2006

Health officials accused over cover up in deaths from vCJD

A cover up on the part of British health authorities meant a man who had been infected with CJD from contaminated blood during a transfusion was not told until he was dying what was really wrong with him.

11 Dec 2006