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Report shows identical genetic mutations are shared among neurodevelopmental disorders

A paper published this month in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet Neurology suggests that a broad spectrum of developmental and psychiatric disorders, ranging from autism and intellectual disability to schizophrenia, should be conceptualized as different manifestations of a common underlying denominator, "developmental brain dysfunction," rather than completely independent conditions with distinct causes.

3 Apr 2013

Salk neuroscientist applauds launch of BRAIN Initiative

Salk neuroscientist Terrence J. Sejnowski joined President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2013, at the launch of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative-a major Administration neuroscience effort that advances and builds upon collaborative scientific work by leading brain researchers such as Salk's own Sejnowski.

3 Apr 2013

Researchers at UC Davis MIND Institute to establish Autism Center of Excellence and Treatment Network

Autism researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute have received a prestigious $13 million award from the National Institutes of Health to establish an Autism Center of Excellence and Treatment Network, making the MIND Institute one of only nine such centers in the United States.

3 Apr 2013

LSUHSC researchers study common STI

Research led by David H. Martin, MD, Professor and Chief of Infectious Diseases at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has found that a common sexually transmitted infection-causing parasite "cultivates" bacteria beneficial to it, changing thinking about which comes first-infection or bacteria.

3 Apr 2013

Antibodies neutralize mosquito-transmitted chikungunya virus, researchers reveal

Researchers have learned the precise structure of the mosquito-transmitted chikungunya virus pathogen while it is bound to antibodies, showing how the infection is likely neutralized.

3 Apr 2013

Pregnancy-related events increase women's risk of deadly blood clot: Study

Newly identified pregnancy-related events, such as stillbirth or pre-term birth, may dramatically increase a woman's risk of developing a potentially deadly blood clot immediately after pregnancy, according to the results of a large, population-based study published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology.

3 Apr 2013

Obama to announce initiative to map human brain

The New York Times reports that President Barack Obama will unveil a broad new research initiative Tuesday, starting with $100 million next year, to find ways to record and map human brain circuits.

3 Apr 2013

NIH awards funding to two recipients of Autism Centers of Excellence program

The National Institutes of Health has awarded $5.3 million in initial one-year funding to the latest two recipients of the Autism Centers of Excellence program. With these awards, announced on World Autism Awareness Day, these and nine other ACE centers around the country are now being funded for up to five years.

3 Apr 2013

Kavli Foundation applauds launch of new brain research initiative

The Kavli Foundation applauds today's launch by President Obama of his Administration's ambitious research effort to understand the brain by deciphering the brain's activity that gives rise to our perceptions, our experiences and our consciousness.

3 Apr 2013

Researchers find association between melatonin, type 2 diabetes

With previous evidence suggesting that melatonin may have a role in glucose metabolism, researchers have found an independent association between decreased secretion of melatonin and an increased risk for the development of type 2 diabetes, according to a study in the April 3 issue of JAMA.

3 Apr 2013

Research facilitates development of treatments, cures to Alzheimer's disease

A team of researchers at The New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute led by Scott Noggle, PhD, Director of the NYSCF Laboratory and the NYSCF - Charles Evans Senior Research Fellow for Alzheimer's Disease, and Michael W. Nestor, PhD, a NYSCF Postdoctoral Research Fellow, has developed a technique to produce three-dimensional cultures of induced pluripotent stem cells called embryoid bodies, amenable to live cell imaging and to electrical activity measurement.

3 Apr 2013

CU Cancer Center researchers identify switch that regulates production of E-Cadherin

Prostate cancer doesn't kill in the prostate - it's only once the disease travels to bone, lung, liver, etc. that it turns fatal. Previous studies have shown that loss of the protein E-Cadherin is essential for this metastasis.

3 Apr 2013

Both black and white Americans have similar, higher lifetime risk of heart failure, study shows

Lifetime risk for heart failure is similar for blacks and whites and higher than expected for both groups -- ranging from 20 to 45 percent -- according to a new Northwestern Medicine- study.

3 Apr 2013

EEG can be used to identify treatable causes of common disorders in hospital patients, say researchers

EEG Could be More Widely Used to Identify Treatable Causes of Common Disorders in Hospital Patients, Say Researchers in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

2 Apr 2013

Scientists say DHA-rich fish oil enhances B cell activity

Fish oil rich in DHA and EPA is widely believed to help prevent disease by reducing inflammation, but until now, scientists were not entirely sure about its immune enhancing effects. A new report appearing in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, helps provide clarity on this by showing that DHA-rich fish oil enhances B cell activity, a white blood cell, challenging the notion that fish oil is only immunosuppressive.

2 Apr 2013

Study: Pradaxa drug may increase risk and severity of viral infections

A study led by researchers at the University of North Carolina indicates that a newly approved blood thinner that blocks a key component of the human blood clotting system may increase the risk and severity of certain viral infections, including flu and myocarditis, a viral infection of the heart and a significant cause of sudden death in children and young adults.

2 Apr 2013

Study: Two-thirds of asthmatics also have allergy

Asthma is becoming an epidemic in the United States. The number of Americans diagnosed with asthma grows annually, with 26 million currently affected. And according to a new study, nearly two-thirds or more of all asthmatics also have an allergy, which can make this spring season particularly bothersome.

2 Apr 2013