Nervous System News and Research

Latest Nervous System News and Research

New diagnostic test aims to accurately track progression of symptoms in MS patients

With a recent two-year, $833,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, kinesiology professor Richard van Emmerik and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst hope to eventually help an estimated 1 million people worldwide living with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) by creating an improved diagnostic test for this form of the disease, which is characterized by a steady decrease in nervous system function.

9 Mar 2017

Researcher shows how natural molecule can promote axon repair

A foray into plant biology led one researcher to discover that a natural molecule can repair axons, the thread-like projections that carry electrical signals between cells. Axonal damage is the major culprit underlying disability in conditions such as spinal cord injury and stroke.

9 Mar 2017

CYSTINET-Africa project aims to find new strategies against pork tapeworm infection

Infections of the human nervous system with larval stages of the pork tapeworm are the most common cause of epileptic seizures in Africa.

6 Mar 2017

Study provides better understanding of MS patients at higher risk of getting worse

In older people with MS, having fatigue and limited leg function is more often seen in people with MS progression than in those without, according to a preliminary study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 69th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 22 to 28, 2017.

3 Mar 2017

Scientists reveal new ‘threshold theory’ of how Parkinson's disease spreads

The toxic protein behind Parkinson's disease may not spread like an infection from nerve cell to nerve, according to a new theory by Technion and Harvard University scientists.

2 Mar 2017

Neuroprotective compound could save brain cells during stroke, rat study shows

Researchers from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have shown that a neuroprotective compound tested in rats provides two-pronged protection for brain cells during stroke and improves physical and cognitive outcomes in the treated animals.

2 Mar 2017

New wireless patch may help reduce migraine pain as well as drugs, study suggests

A preliminary study suggests that a new, wireless patch that you wear on your arm may help reduce migraine pain as well as drugs. The study is published in the March 1, 2017, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

2 Mar 2017

Shared reading can be useful therapy for chronic pain sufferers, study finds

A study conducted by researchers from the University of Liverpool, The Reader and the Royal Liverpool University Hospitals Trust, and funded by the British Academy, has found that shared reading (SR) can be a useful therapy for chronic pain sufferers.

1 Mar 2017

Novel non-pharmacological approach shows promise to manage chronic pain

Chronic pain afflicts over 100 million people across the United States. It diminishes their productivity and their quality of life and costs hundreds of billions of dollars each year to medically manage. It shatters people's emotional wellbeing, tears apart families and claims lives through suicides and accidental drug overdoses.

1 Mar 2017

Gentle Chinese martial art could help prevent falls in people with Parkinson’s disease, study shows

Statistics show that 25 per cent of recently diagnosed patients suffered a fall in the first year. That came as a surprise to researchers. They had thought that falls tended to occur during later stages of the disease.

28 Feb 2017

Study findings may bring new hope for children and teens with epilepsy

There's good news for kids with epilepsy. While several new drugs have come out in the last several years for adults with epilepsy, making those drugs available for children and teenagers has been delayed due to the challenges of testing new drugs on children.

28 Feb 2017

Stem cells strictly abide by innate developmental clocks, study shows

The mystery of what controls the range of developmental clocks in mammals — from 22 months for an elephant to 12 days for an opossum — may lie in the strict time-keeping of pluripotent stem cells for each unique species.

28 Feb 2017

Researchers aim to identify cause of eye pathologies in astronauts

Many astronauts who come back from space experience poorer vision after flight, some even years after, and researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are working to see why.

28 Feb 2017

Researchers identify genetic variants that may contribute to schizophrenia

New research has identified sections of DNA associated with altered regulation of gene expression underlying schizophrenia.

27 Feb 2017

Living with children linked to insufficient sleep among women, study finds

New research backs up what many women already know: They're sleep deprived. Unlike men, a good night's sleep for women is affected by having children in the house, according to a preliminary study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 69th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 22 to 28, 2017.

27 Feb 2017

High levels of physical activity affects pain perceptions in older adults, study finds

Older adults with higher levels of physical activity have pain modulation patterns that might help lower their risk of developing chronic pain, reports a study in PAIN, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Pain. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

24 Feb 2017

Study: Epilepsy patients want physicians to share information about rare risk of death

People with epilepsy want their health care providers to tell them about a rare risk of death associated with the disorder, according to a preliminary study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 69th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 22 to 28, 2017.

24 Feb 2017

Study identifies new role of cholesterol in regulating brain proteins

A study led by researchers at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute and the Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics at the Faculty of Medicine in Charité Hospital, Berlin, published in the journal Nature Communications, demonstrates that the cholesterol present in cell membranes can interfere with the function of an important brain membrane protein, through a previously unknown mode of interaction.

23 Feb 2017

Johns Hopkins researchers find how itch-detecting neurons manage pain

There are neurons in your skin that are wired for one purpose and one purpose only: to sense itchy things.

22 Feb 2017

Study shows way to reverse high blood pressure in baby rats born to hypertensive mothers

Mothers contribute a lot of defining traits to their offspring, from eye color to toe length. But pregnant mothers with health complications, such as diabetes or hypertension, also can pass these symptoms to their children.

22 Feb 2017