Nervous System News and Research

Latest Nervous System News and Research

Scientists get unprecedented view of brain development through high-resolution genomic map

Researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have created a massive database of the changes in gene activity of individual cells in the cerebellum during embryonic development and immediately after birth.

14 Sep 2018

Obesity changes airway muscle function, raises asthma risk

New research suggests that obesity changes how airway muscles function, increasing the risk of developing asthma. The study is published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology--Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology.

14 Sep 2018

ADHD patients have increased risk of developing Parkinson's and other similar diseases

While about 11 percent of children (4-17 years old) nationwide have been diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, the long-term health effects of having ADHD and of common ADHD medications remains understudied.

12 Sep 2018

Researchers find neural network that helps control babies' brain activity in response to pain

Researchers from the Department of Paediatrics and Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging at the University of Oxford, UK, have identified the neural network that helps control babies' brain activity in response to pain in a similar way to adults.

12 Sep 2018

Daytime sleepiness found to be a potential risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease

Older adults who frequently report feeling sleepy during the day are three times more likely to develop Alzheimer's in later life, according to a new study.

7 Sep 2018

Mimicking Human Brain Development Using Organoids

Dr. Paul Tesar from the Tesar Laboratory at Case Western University, Ohio, discusses the importance of organoids in biological research and the development of organoids which are capable of simulating the early stages of human myelin.

7 Sep 2018

Stress can permanently and profoundly impact connectivity of developing nerves

Scientists stunted the puberty of male worms by starving them before they underwent sexual maturation. In a study funded by the National Institutes of Health, the scientists suggested that stress from starvation even days before sexual maturation prevented normal changes in the wiring patterns of key neuronal circuits, which caused adult male worms to act immature.

7 Sep 2018

BeiGene collaborates with SpringWorks to evaluate new combinational therapy for solid tumors

BeiGene, Ltd., a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative molecularly-targeted and immuno-oncology drugs for the treatment of cancer, and SpringWorks Therapeutics, a clinical-stage rare disease and oncology company focused on sourcing and developing innovative treatments for underserved patient populations, announced today that the companies have entered into a global clinical collaboration agreement to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of combining BeiGene's investigational RAF dimer inhibitor, lifirafenib and SpringWorks Therapeutics' investigational MEK inhibitor, PD-0325901, in patients with advanced solid tumors.

6 Sep 2018

Doctor with Guillain Barré syndrome recovers back to normal life

Doctors do the darndest things. Take the one who walked right up to Dan Thomas, MD, at a lecture, got into the ready position, and proceeded to perform several squats as Thomas watched, puzzled.

6 Sep 2018

Chalmers University professor develops new theory for origin of 'phantom limb pain'

Dr Max Ortiz Catalan of Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has developed a new theory for the origin of the mysterious condition, 'phantom limb pain'. Published in the journal Frontiers in Neurology, his hypothesis builds upon his previous work on a revolutionary treatment for the condition, that uses machine learning and augmented reality.

6 Sep 2018

Smoking cessation linked with reduced dementia risk

In an Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology analysis of nationwide health claims from Korea, men who smoked had an elevated risk of dementia.

6 Sep 2018

Medical marijuana may alter brain connections to provide relief from chronic nerve pain

When medical marijuana is taken for chronic nerve pain, it may provide pain relief by reducing connections between the areas of the brain that process emotions and sensory signals, according to a study published in the September 5, 2018, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

6 Sep 2018

Research reveals noise-canceling mechanisms in developmental biology

Noise is usually considered a nuisance, for example when preventing us from clearly hearing what someone is saying. The general concept of noise applies more broadly. In biology, the physical differences between organisms of the same type, for example two humans, originate from so-called developmental noise -- ultimately stemming from probabilistic collisions between reacting molecules and environmental conditions in cells during the early stages of the organism's growth.

4 Sep 2018

Dopamine receptor study opens door to targeted treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders

New work from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons sheds light on how dopamine receptors signal within cells, opening the door for more targeted--and more tolerable--therapeutics to treat an array of neuropsychiatric disorders.

4 Sep 2018