Neurology News and Research

Latest Neurology News and Research

Case studies examine role of hormones, psychology in false pregnancy

Recent case studies of pseudocyesis, or false pregnancy, as well as studies of similar conditions in animals, suggest that hormones and psychology might contribute to the condition, the New York Times reports.

5 Dec 2006

Human embryonic stem cells show potential in treating rats with Parkinson's symptoms

Brain cells derived from human embryonic stem cells improved the condition of rats with Parkinson's-like symptoms dramatically, but the treatment caused a significant problem - the appearance of brain tumors - that scientists are now working to solve.

2 Dec 2006

Drug for shingles relieves spinal cord injury pain

Australian doctors have discovered that patients with spinal cord injuries with moderate to severe nerve pain, received relief from a drug usually given to alleviate diabetic nerve pain and the pain from shingles.

2 Dec 2006

Scientists shed light on the roll of junk DNA

University of Iowa scientists have made a discovery that broadens understanding of a rapidly developing area of biology known as functional genomics and sheds more light on the mysterious, so-called "junk DNA" that makes up the majority of the human genome.

13 Nov 2006

Researchers use gene therapy to reduce the development of epileptic seizures

For the first time, researchers have inhibited the development of epilepsy after a brain insult in animals. By using gene therapy to modify signaling pathways in the brain, neurology researchers found that they could significantly reduce the development of epileptic seizures in rats.

8 Nov 2006

Researchers show brain injury may occur within one millisecond after head hits windshield

Research by a Sandia National Laboratories engineer and a University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center neurologist shows that brain injury may occur within one millisecond after a human head is thrust into a windshield as a result of a car accident.

7 Nov 2006

Environment the culprit in women's higher risk of MS

Researchers in the UK are suggesting that there is an environmental link to the rising number of women being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Canada.

1 Nov 2006

Long-term use of topiramate and kidney-stones

Topiramate (Topamax), a drug commonly prescribed to treat seizures and migraine headaches, can increase the propensity of calcium phosphate kidney stones, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

31 Oct 2006

Biomarkers in blood indicate likelihood of having another stroke

People who have just suffered their first ischemic stroke, a blood clot in the brain, often have elevated inflammatory biomarkers in their blood that indicate their likelihood of having another stroke or an increased risk of dying, according to Columbia University Medical Center researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

24 Oct 2006

Veggies best to fight mental decline in old age

Researchers in the United States say it is vegetables rather than fruit that protect those over 65 from a decline in cognitive ability.

24 Oct 2006

There's good news for kids and teens with migraines

Nearly 40 percent of kids and teens with migraine no longer had headaches 10 years later, and another 20 percent developed less severe headaches, according to a new study published in the October 24, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

23 Oct 2006

Eating vegetables, not fruit, helps slow down the rate of cognitive change in older adults

Of the different types of vegetables consumed by participants, green leafy vegetables had the strongest association to slowing the rate of cognitive decline. The study also found the older the person, the greater the slowdown in the rate of cognitive decline if that person consumed more than two servings of vegetables a day.

23 Oct 2006

Discovery of mechanism by which Ebola and Marburg viruses cause disease

Researchers in the Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Caribbean Primate Research Center have discovered a key mechanism by which the Filoviruses, Ebola and Marburg, cause disease.

16 Oct 2006