Neurological Disease News and Research

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Nearly half of newly-infected HIV patients experience neurologic issues

A team led by researchers from UCSF and Yale has found that half of people newly infected with HIV experience neurologic issues. These neurologic findings are generally not severe and usually resolve after participants started anti-retroviral therapy.

14 Jun 2016

Standard and intensive blood pressure treatments equally effective in controlling acute intracerebral hemorrhage

An international stroke study found that standard and intensive blood pressure treatments were equally effective in the emergency treatment of acute intracerebral hemorrhage, a type of stroke caused by bleeding into the brain.

9 Jun 2016

Rare DNA alteration may increase rsk of multiple sclerosis

Scientists at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health have proven that multiple sclerosis (MS) can be caused by a single genetic mutation - a rare alteration in DNA that makes it very likely a person will develop the more devastating form of the neurological disease.

6 Jun 2016

REGARDS study shows persistence of racial disparities in stroke incidence, mortality

Blacks between the ages of 45 and 54 die of strokes at a rate that is three times greater than their white counterparts, according to the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, which looked at stroke incidence and mortality of nearly 30,000 participants over the age of 45 from an ethnically and demographically diverse sample of the U.S. population.

3 Jun 2016

New dietary supplement can prevent, reverse massive brain cell loss

A dietary supplement containing a blend of thirty vitamins and minerals--all natural ingredients widely available in health food stores--has shown remarkable anti-aging properties that can prevent and even reverse massive brain cell loss, according to new research from McMaster University.

3 Jun 2016

New research highlights value of exercise for humans looking to keep their brains fit

The relentless desire by mice to run on cage "exercise" wheels has helped explain at a molecular level how exercise benefits a mammal's brain.

2 Jun 2016

Researchers discover ANKRD55 gene linked to multiple sclerosis

The Ikerbasque researcher Koen Vandenbroeck, who heads the Neurogenomiks laboratory which reports to the Achucarro centre and the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country, together with other national and international groups, has shown that a genetic variant in the 5q11 chromosome, which is associated with susceptibility to developing multiple sclerosis, greatly regulates a gene known as ANKRD55. ANKRD55 is a gene with an unknown function.

28 May 2016

Fasting-mimicking diet may help decrease multiple sclerosis symptoms

Evidence is mounting that a diet mimicking the effects of fasting has health benefits beyond weight loss, with a new USC-led study indicating that it may reduce symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

27 May 2016

Scientists develop new technology that helps visualize translation of mRNA into proteins

For the first time, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have developed a technology allowing them to "see" single molecules of messenger RNA as they are translated into proteins in living mammalian cells. Initial findings using this technology that may shed light on neurological diseases as well as cancer were published online today in Science.

9 May 2016

Unique attributes of zebrafish may help study human blood disorders

Genetic regulation of the various types of blood cells in zebrafish and humans is highly similar, making it relatively easy and cost-effective to perform genetic, chemical, imaging and other molecular studies on this invaluable model organism to study normal hematopoetic development in humans as well as blood disorders and malignancies, as described in a Review article in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

9 May 2016

Globin gene transfer to treat beta-thalassemias shows promise in first clinical trial

Promising results from the first clinical trials of globin gene transfer to treat beta-thalassemias-inherited forms of anemia-have eliminated the need for blood transfusions in some individuals.

6 May 2016

Lund study shows transplanted nerve cells can survive for many years in diseased human brain

In the late 1980s and over the 1990s, researchers at Lund University in Sweden pioneered the transplantation of new nerve cells into the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease. The outcomes proved for the first time that transplanted nerve cells can survive and function in the diseased human brain. Some patients showed marked improvement after the transplantation while others showed moderate or no relief of symptoms.

4 May 2016

Riluzole drug can reverse key genetic changes linked to Alzheimer's disease

Aging takes its toll on the brain, and the cells of the hippocampus--a brain region with circuitry crucial to learning and memory--are particularly vulnerable to changes that can lead to Alzheimer's disease or cognitive decline. With the hope of counteracting the changes that can lead to these two conditions, researchers at Rockefeller University and their colleagues have begun examining the effects of a drug known to affect this circuitry.

4 May 2016

Computer-based cognitive remediation at home can improve cognitive symptoms in MS patients

Cognitive impairment is one of the core symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) -- and one of its most troubling concerns for many people with the condition. Now, a new study from NYU Langone Medical Center may provide hope for symptomatic relief for some of the cognitive issues associated with the neurological disease.

18 Apr 2016

Neural stem cells from T cell-derived iPSCs provide neurological disease model

Researchers in Japan report that neural stem cells derived from readily available T cell-derived iPSCs provide a neurological disease model when cultured in a novel protocol developed by them. The findings are important for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and are published in Stem Cell Reports, March 2016.

16 Mar 2016

NIH scientists show how neurons in the eye may use math to differentiate moving objects

Our eyes constantly send bits of information about the world around us to our brains where the information is assembled into objects we recognize. Along the way, a series of neurons in the eye uses electrical and chemical signals to relay the information. In a study of mice, National Institutes of Health scientists showed how one type of neuron may do this to distinguish moving objects.

8 Mar 2016

Understanding range of neurological disease linked with Zika virus is urgent priority, warn researchers

Understanding the scale and range of neurological disease associated with Zika virus infection is an urgent priority, warn researchers from the University of Liverpool's Institute of Infection and Global Health.

27 Feb 2016

Novartis announces FDA approval of Afinitor for progressive, nonfunctional neuroendocrine tumors of GI

Novartis today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration approved Afinitor (everolimus) tablets for the treatment of adult patients with progressive, well-differentiated, nonfunctional neuroendocrine tumors (NET) of gastrointestinal (GI) or lung origin that are unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic.

26 Feb 2016

Novartis receives FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation for PKC412 (midostaurin)

Novartis announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to PKC412 (midostaurin). PKC412 (midostaurin) is an investigational treatment for adults with newly-diagnosed AML who are FLT3 mutation-positive, as detected by an FDA-approved test, and who are eligible to receive standard induction and consolidation chemotherapy.

19 Feb 2016

Pioglitazone drug may prevent recurrent stroke and heart attacks

Pioglitazone, a drug used for type 2 diabetes, may prevent recurrent stroke and heart attacks in people with insulin resistance but without diabetes.

18 Feb 2016