Neurology News and Research

Latest Neurology News and Research

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

Researchers identifiy how immune system contributes to nerve fiber damage caused by multiple sclerosis

Researchers have identified how the body's own immune system contributes to the nerve fiber damage caused by multiple sclerosis, a finding that can potentially aid earlier diagnosis and improved treatment for this chronic disease.

16 Oct 2006

Being obese lowers your intelligence!

If French scientists are to be believed being obese is linked to a decline in a person's cognitive function.

16 Oct 2006

Overweight in middle age could mean dementia later in life

To add further fuel to the debate over obesity, researchers in France are saying that being overweight in middle age may indicate a higher risk of dementia later in life.

10 Oct 2006

Mediterranean diet shown to protect against Alzheimer's

A new study has added to the growing body of research which suggests that eating a Mediterranean diet can help to prevent Alzheimer's disease.

10 Oct 2006

NIH funds study that may prevent cognitive dysfunctions among HIV-positive people

NIH is funding a recent effort aimed at studying drugs that might prevent dementia and other cognitive dysfunctions among HIV-positive people, a condition also known as "neuroAIDS," the AP/ABC News reports.

5 Oct 2006

MIT device to detect and prevent epileptic seizures

Epilepsy affects about 50 million people worldwide, and while anticonvulsant medications can reduce the frequency of seizures, the drugs are ineffective for as many as one in three patients.

12 Sep 2006

Seniors who feel their 'mind is going' could very well be right

Older people who complain their "mind is going" may in fact actually be losing a part of their brain along with their memory.

12 Sep 2006

Link between weight loss and dementia

A long-term study of the elderly has revealed that their average rate of weight loss doubles in the year before symptoms of Alzheimer's-type dementia first become detectable.

12 Sep 2006

Older adults who complain their "mind is going" may be losing a part of their brain along with their memory

The study, which looked at 120 people over the age of 60, found people who complained of significant memory problems but still had normal performance on memory tests had reduced gray matter density in their brains even though they weren't diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

12 Sep 2006

Rivastigmine improves memory loss for traumatic brain injury patients

Traumatic brain injury patients with moderate to severe memory loss improved their memories while taking the drug rivastigmine, according to a study published in the September 12, 2006, issue of Neurology.

12 Sep 2006

Weight loss may be a preclinical indicator of Alzheimer's disease

The slow, steady weight loss associated with aging may speed up prior to the onset of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, according to an article in the September issue of Archives of Neurology.

12 Sep 2006