Neurodegeneration News and Research

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Neurodegeneration is the umbrella term for the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, including death of neurons.

Study confirms link between gut microbiota and Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. Still incurable, it directly affects nearly one million people in Europe, and indirectly millions of family members as well as society as a whole.

16 Nov 2020

Baycrest scientists use individualized brain stimulation to treat aphasia in stroke survivors

Baycrest scientists are pioneering the use of individualized brain stimulation therapy to treat aphasia in recovering stroke patients.

12 Nov 2020

Postdoctoral fellow at LSU Health New Orleans becomes first NIH Outstanding Scholar

Khanh Do, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence, is a member of the first group chosen by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as NIH Outstanding Scholars in Neuroscience.

11 Nov 2020

Research explores links between Alzheimer's and Parkinson′s to COVID-19

In a recent medRxiv* preprint paper, Dr. L. Miguel Martins and colleagues from the University of Cambridge investigate the links between neurodegeneration and COVID-19.

9 Nov 2020

The road to achieving single molecular spectroscopy using nanoIR

In this interview, Francesco Simone Ruggeri from the University of Cambridge talks to News-Medical Life Sciences about their research into biomolecules and the methods that are helping to achieve spectra at the single-molecule scale.

From Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology 30 Oct 2020

Research on autophagy and coronavirus, implicates ULK1

Researchers from the University of British Columbia have discovered that the betacoronavirus-encoded papain-like protease disrupts autophagy, partly by targeting ULK1. Their work is reported on the preprint server bioRxiv* in October 2020.

27 Oct 2020

Interaction between PTSD and klotho gene may cause premature aging in the brain

Study Finds PTSD Interacts With Klotho Gene, May Cause Premature Aging In The Brain

27 Oct 2020

Experimental ALS drug shows potential to prolong patient survival

An experimental medication that was recently shown to slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, has now demonstrated the potential to also prolong patient survival.

16 Oct 2020

Anti-inflammatory drugs may hold the potential to alleviate Parkinson's disease, study suggests

Around 15% of Parkinson's disease cases are related to a known genetic background, out of which mutations in the Parkin and PINK1 genes are among the most frequent ones.

14 Oct 2020

Scientists examine a novel approach to analyzing dendritic spine shapes

Dendritic spines are small protrusions from a neuron's dendrite membrane, where contact with neighboring axons is formed to receive synaptic input.

13 Oct 2020

New computer program detects neurodegeneration biomarkers through magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging is the most sensitive and reliable technique for diagnosing and monitoring neurodegenerative diseases.

8 Oct 2020

Simple sugar in human breast milk can promote myelin repair in multiple sclerosis patients

N-acetylglucosamine, a simple sugar found in human breast milk and sold as an over-the-counter dietary supplement in the United States, promotes myelin repair in mouse models and correlates with myelination levels in multiple sclerosis patients according to a new University of California, Irvine-led study.

8 Oct 2020

Researchers identify a promising method to treat multiple sclerosis

Seema Tiwari-Woodruff, a professor of biomedical sciences in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Riverside, and her colleagues have received a grant of $373,000 from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for a project in which her lab will select the five best candidate compounds to speed up nerve impulses, a promising new avenue to treat multiple sclerosis.

1 Oct 2020

First pathoconnectome shows how eye disease alters retinal circuitry

Scientists from the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah have achieved another first in the field of connectomics, which studies the synaptic connections between neurons.

30 Sep 2020

New study links 160 genes to brain shrinkage

A new study implicates 160 genes in brain shrinkage seen on MRIs of 45,000 healthy adults. The shrinkage is in the cortex, the dimply outer layer of the brain that gives rise to thinking, awareness and action, and largely consists of gray matter.

25 Sep 2020

Personality traits are associated with cognitive resilience in older adults

Our aging brains collect tangles and sticky plaques that can interfere in our cognition and memory. But some older adults with this neuropathology have more cognitive resilience than others, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.

25 Sep 2020

Alzheimer’s disease-associated protective genetic variant enhances key functions of immune cells

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Eastern Finland found that the PLCG2-P522R genetic variant, which protects against Alzheimer's disease, enhances several key functions of immune cells. The results obtained in the study highlight the importance of immune cells as a target of future development of new therapies for Alzheimer's disease.

25 Sep 2020

Chaperone-mediated autophagy could be a new therapeutic target for spinocerebellar ataxia

A research team from Kumamoto University, Japan has developed an animal model that reproduces motor dysfunction and cerebellar neurodegeneration similar to that in spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) by inhibiting chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) in cerebellar neurons.

23 Sep 2020

Intensive physical exercise session improves memory

If sport is good for the body, it also seems to be good for the brain. By evaluating memory performance following a sport session, neuroscientists from the University of Geneva demonstrate that an intensive physical exercise session as short as 15 minutes improves memory, including the acquisition of new motor skills.

23 Sep 2020

'Silent' wave of neurological consequences may be on its way due to COVID-19

Is the world prepared a wave of neurological consequences that may be on its way as a result of COVID-19? This question is at the forefront of research underway at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.

23 Sep 2020