Neurology News and Research

Latest Neurology News and Research

Large brains linked to regressive autism: Study

In this new study researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute, show there are multiple biological subtypes of autism including likely differences between males and females. They looked at 114 children with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 2 and 4 and compared them with 66 healthy children of the same age. Of the 114 with the disorder, 54% had regressive autism and 46% had non-regressive autism.

29 Nov 2011

Ferrer introduces citicoline oral solution medical food

Ferrer Therapeutics, the U.S. subsidiary of the international pharmaceutical group, Ferrer Grupo, is introducing CerAxon- Oral Solution to the U.S. market, the first and only oral solution medical food containing citicoline, a nutrient naturally produced by the body and found in the brain.

29 Nov 2011

More neural connecting pathways in the language network than originally thought

While it has long been recognized that certain areas in the brain's left hemisphere enable us to understand and produce language, scientists are still figuring out exactly how those areas divvy up the highly complex processes necessary to comprehend and produce language.

29 Nov 2011

Repeated heading of a soccer ball increases risk for brain injury, cognitive impairment

Using advanced imaging techniques and cognitive tests, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center , the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, have shown that repeatedly heading a soccer ball increases the risk for brain injury and cognitive impairment.

29 Nov 2011

First time mothers may put themselves and baby at risk by choosing home-birth: Report

A new report suggests that first time mothers who opt for a home birth are almost three times more likely to have a baby who dies or suffers brain damage. It also found that traditional maternity units in hospital are the safest place for women to have their first child.

28 Nov 2011

Inspiration initiates second OBI-1 phase III clinical trial in congenital hemophilia A with inhibitors

Ipsen today announced that its partner Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. has initiated the treatment of the first patient in the second of two pivotal studies from the OBI-1's Accur8 clinical trial program.

28 Nov 2011

Most people with Timothy syndrome mutation have autistic symptoms

Neuroscientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have homed in on potential differences in autistic people's brain cells by studying brainlike spheres grown in an elaborate process from skin cells.

28 Nov 2011

Migraines and depression risk: Study finds link

According to a new Canadian study, people who get attacks of migraine may be at a higher risk for developing clinical depression.

27 Nov 2011

Scientists decode how Machado-Joseph disease arises

Neurodegenerative diseases represent one of the greatest challenges of our aging society. However, investigation into these diseases is made particularly difficult due to the limited availability of human brain tissue. Scientists from the Life & Brain Research Center and Neurology Clinic of Bonn University have now taken a roundabout path: They reprogrammed skin cells from patients with a hereditary movement disorder into so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) and obtained functional nerve cells from them.

24 Nov 2011

Carefully selected young, healthy neurons can repair brain circuitry

Neuron transplants have repaired brain circuitry and substantially normalized function in mice with a brain disorder, an advance indicating that key areas of the mammalian brain are more reparable than was widely believed.

24 Nov 2011

Study looks at effects of antipsychotic drugs on two brain receptors linked to schizophrenia

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, have identified the pattern of cell signaling induced by antipsychotic drugs in a complex composed of two brain receptors linked to schizophrenia.

24 Nov 2011

Combination of radiation treatment and LY2109761 can prevent glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is regarded as the most malignant form of brain tumor. In many cases, neurosurgeons are not able to remove such tumors completely because of the risk of destroying too much brain tissue in the process. Moreover, it is often impossible to identify all the fine extensions by which the tumor spreads into surrounding healthy tissue. To at least slow down the growth of tumor cells that have remained in the head, almost all glioblastoma patients are treated by radiotherapy after surgery.

24 Nov 2011

Takeda submits alogliptin plus metformin NDA to FDA for treatment of type 2 diabetes

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary Takeda Global Research & Development Center, Inc., U.S., submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the fixed-dose combination therapy alogliptin/metformin, which combines alogliptin with metformin in a single tablet.

24 Nov 2011

NIH grant to support Cedars-Sinai's Department of Neurology research

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a four-year, $1.4 million grant to Cedars-Sinai's Department of Neurology to study an unexpected recent discovery: After ischemic stroke - the type caused by a clogged artery but with no bleeding into the brain - a normal protein that plays a positive role in blood clotting escapes intact arteries and damages healthy brain cells.

24 Nov 2011

Virtues of a simple “Thank You” a day

Gratitude is a positive emotion with strong psychological effects say researchers. Now psychologists are trying to figure out the brain chemistry behind gratitude and the best ways of showing it.

22 Nov 2011

Alzheimer’s disease progression and body weight may be linked: Study

There have been studies that show that people who are overweight in middle age are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease decades later than people at normal weight. However some studies also show that people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease are more likely to have a lower body mass index (BMI).

22 Nov 2011

Study examines link between early-stage Alzheimer's and lower BMI

Studies have shown that people who are overweight in middle age are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease decades later than people at normal weight, yet researchers have also found that people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease are more likely to have a lower body mass index (BMI). A current study examines this relationship between Alzheimer's disease and BMI.

22 Nov 2011

Study shows degeneration of corpus callosum in stroke patients with impaired hand movement

The structure of the corpus callosum, a thick band of nerve fibres that connects the two halves of the brain with each other and in this way enables the rapid exchange of information between the left and right hemispheres, plays an important role in the regaining of motor skills following a stroke. A study currently published in the journal Human Brain Mapping has shown that in stroke patients with particularly severely impaired hand movement, this communication channel between the two brain hemispheres in particular was badly damaged.

22 Nov 2011

Scientists discover second faulty gene linked to ALS

Following a major Northwestern Medicine breakthrough that identified a common converging point for all forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS and Lou Gehrig's disease), a new finding from the same scientists further broadens the understanding of why cells in the brain and spinal cord degenerate in the fatal disease.

21 Nov 2011

Nature Medicine publishes dexpramipexole Phase 2 ALS study results

Knopp Biosciences LLC today announced the publication in Nature Medicine of comprehensive results from the Phase 2 study of dexpramipexole, a small-molecule modulator of mitochondrial bioenergetics, in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

21 Nov 2011