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Potential for brain stem cells to be used to cure diabetes

Promising new research by US scientists has shown the potential for brain stem cells to be used to cure diabetes. The work by Stanford University researchers, though not yet ready to be tested on human patients, has shown promising results in animals.

28 Apr 2005

Clues about the causes of dementia in Huntington's disease

Scientists at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have uncovered a clue about the causes of dementia in Huntington's disease, one of the disease's symptoms, by showing that mice susceptible to Huntington's disease have problems with learning and memory before the diseases' typical movement problems appear.

27 Apr 2005

Researchers zero in on sleep gene

Zeroing in on the core cellular mechanisms of sleep, researchers at University of Wisconsin Medical School have identified for the first time a single gene mutation that has a powerful effect on the amount of time fruit flies sleep.

27 Apr 2005

Natural glucose byproduct prevents brain damage and cognitive impairment after diabetic coma

A natural, non-toxic byproduct of glucose may prevent brain cell death and cognitive impairment in diabetics following an episode of severely low blood sugar, according to researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC).

27 Apr 2005

Moderate alcohol consumption enhances the formation of new nerve cells

Moderate alcohol consumption over a relatively long period of time can enhance the formation of new nerve cells in the adult brain. The new cells could prove important in the development of alcohol dependency and other long-term effects of alcohol on the brain. The findings are published by Karolinska Institutet.

26 Apr 2005

Important new finding about the brain and its stem cells

A family's bravery and generosity in the face of their son's death three years ago has enabled researchers to make an important new finding about the brain and its stem cells.

25 Apr 2005

Genetic variation linked to alcohol dependence

The same gene that accounts for part of a genetic risk for developing alcoholism in a U.S. population is found in a Russian population, according to a published study by a Yale School of Medicine researcher.

22 Apr 2005

Gene may boost schizophrenia risk

Clues about how a suspect version of a gene may slightly increase risk for schizophrenia are emerging from a brain imaging study by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The gene variant produced a telltale pattern of activity linked to production of a key brain messenger chemical.

21 Apr 2005

Why people get drowsy and fall asleep, and how caffeine blocks that process

When cells in a certain part of the brain become overworked, a compound in the brain kicks in, telling them to shut down. This causes people to become drowsy and fall asleep. Alter that natural process by adding coffee or tea, and the brain compound – called adenosine – is blocked, and people stay awake.

20 Apr 2005

Louder neurons drown out their quieter neighbors

As the brain develops, neurons reach out helter-skelter to form new connections, only a small number of which take hold. How the brain chooses which connections to keep and which to prune back appears to be governed by which branches have the most electrical activity-a finding that could help to explain how early experiences guide brain development.

20 Apr 2005

Insights could yield new approaches to nerve regeneration

Nervous system development requires billions of neurons to migrate to the appropriate locations in the brain and grow nerve fibers (axons) that connect to other nerve cells in an intricate network.

20 Apr 2005

Cigarette smoking may contribute to the progression of multiple sclerosis

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) recently discovered that cigarette smoking may contribute to the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS), suggesting that quitting smoking could limit or delay central nervous system deterioration.

20 Apr 2005

Gene that plays a key role in brain wiring

The complexity of the brain and, more specifically, how nerve cells form billions of contacts when there are fewer than 30,000 human genes is still a scientific mystery.

20 Apr 2005

Brain-injury rehabilitation depends on acetylcholine circuitry

The ability of the brain to recover from such injury as stroke or trauma depends on a particular circuitry of neurons that "talk" to one another using the brain chemical acetylcholine, researchers led by James Conner and Mark Tuszynski in the Neural repair Group at UCSD have discovered.

20 Apr 2005

Researchers insert engineered human stem cells into the spinal cords of ALS-afflicted rats

Unveiling a delivery method that may one day help surgeons treat the deadly neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have inserted engineered human stem cells into the spinal cords of ALS-afflicted rats.

19 Apr 2005

Alternate view for pathology of Alzheimer's disease

A new paper from researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine challenges the classic theory that the nerve tangles seen in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) victims are the cause of the disease, but rather proposes that they are a protective response to the disease. Their paper appears in the April issue of the journal Trends in Molecular Medicine.

19 Apr 2005

Link between insomnia and obesity

A possible link between lack of sleep (insomnia) and obesity has been traced to hypocretin/orexin cells in the hypothalamus region of the brain that are easily excited and sensitive to stress, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the April issue of Cell Metabolism.

13 Apr 2005

Unconventional wiring of the brain circuits that govern sleep and waking might explain the prevalence of insomnia

Unconventional wiring of the brain circuits that govern sleep and waking might explain the prevalence of insomnia and the condition's association with obesity, according to new work published in the April issue of Cell Metabolism. Characterized by a chronic inability to fall asleep or remain sleeping, insomnia is estimated to affect one in every eight Americans.

12 Apr 2005

Research suggests a central role for NMDA receptors in learning and memory

Learning and memory are processes that link experience with behavior and therefore play central roles in our daily experience. That there exists a physical basis for these processes seems at first hard to imagine--except for the fact that physical disruptions in the brain, such as stroke or disease, can make them go wrong.

11 Apr 2005

Researchers shed light on the brain cell damage caused by Alzheimer's disease

The researchers hope that by gaining a better understanding of the disease's cellular impacts, progress can be made towards developing a treatment. The research is reported in the current edition of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, published by IOS publishers.

7 Apr 2005