Motor Neurone Disease

Brain diseases affecting more people and starting earlier than ever before

Professor Colin Pritchard's latest research published in Public Health journal has found that the sharp rise of dementia and other neurological deaths in people under 74 cannot be put down to the fact that we are living longer ...

Health created May 10, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Structure that edits messenger RNA transcripts defective in two different forms of motor neuron diseases

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are degenerative motor neuron diseases in which the key mutated genes are involved in RNA metabolism. This similarity suggests that a ...

Medical research created Apr 26, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Increased stability of a misfolded protein linked to age of onset of common form of motor neuron disease

Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the aggregation of misfolded proteins, which accumulate to form insoluble clumps within or around nerve cells. In the adult motor neuron disease amyotrophic ...

Medical research created Apr 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Reinventing drug discovery: Promising drug target for ALS

Using a new stem-cell based drug screening technology with the potential to reinvent and greatly reduce the cost of the way new pharmaceuticals are developed, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Apr 18, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Strikingly similar' brains of man and fly may aid mental health research

A new study by scientists at King's College London and the University of Arizona (UA) published in Science reveals the deep similarities in how the brain regulates behaviour in arthropods (such as flies ...

Neuroscience created Apr 11, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Study offers new approach for spinal muscular atrophy

Spinal muscular atrophy is a debilitating neuromuscular disease that in its most severe form is the leading genetic cause of infant death. By experimenting with an ALS drug in two very different animal models, researchers ...

Neuroscience created Apr 09, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A fly mutation suggests a new route for tackling ALS

A team of researchers, led by Marc Freeman, PhD, an early career scientist with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and associate professor of neurobiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have discovered ...

Genetics created Apr 08, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Lithium shows no benefit to MND patients

(Medical Xpress)—Results from a clinical trial into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), led by King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry show that lithium carbonate is ineffective at treating the ...

Neuroscience created Mar 19, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Mutations in VCP gene implicated in a number of neurodegenerative diseases

New research, published in Neuron, gives insight into how single mutations in the VCP gene cause a range of neurological conditions including a form of dementia called Inclusion Body Myopathy, Paget's Disease of the Bone a ...

Neuroscience created Mar 14, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Mutated gene causes nerve cell death

Researchers identify new mechanism in the onset of incurable nerve disease The British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking is likely to be the world's most famous person living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ...

Medical research created Mar 13, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Ability of brain to protect itself from damage revealed

The origin of an innate ability the brain has to protect itself from damage that occurs in stroke has been explained for the first time.

Medical research created Feb 24, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Stem cell discovery gives insight into motor neurone disease

A discovery using stem cells from a patient with motor neurone disease could help research into treatments for the condition. The study used a patient's skin cells to create motor neurons - nerve cells that control muscle ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Feb 11, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers identify new genetic mutation for ALS

Researchers at Western University in London, Canada, have identified a new genetic mutation for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), opening the door to future targeted therapies. Dr. Michael Strong, a scientist ...

Genetics created Jan 15, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A treatment for ALS? Neural stem cell transplants slow progression of disease

(Medical Xpress)—Results from a meta-analysis of 11 independent amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research studies are giving hope to the ALS community by showing, for the first time, that the fatal disease ...

Neuroscience created Jan 03, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers identify quadruplex structure in C9ORF72

(Medical Xpress)—A Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association funded research project at UCL has given new insights into the structure and function of an MND gene called C9ORF72. The work is published in the journal Scientific Re ...

Medical research created Dec 24, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast


The motor neurone diseases (or motor neuron diseases) (MND) are a group of neurological disorders that selectively affect motor neurones, the cells that control voluntary muscle activity including speaking, walking, breathing, swallowing and general movement of the body. They are generally progressive in nature, and can cause progressive disability and death. The drug riluzole can slow progression slightly; apart from this the medical care is supportive. The condition was first described in full by the French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot in 1869.

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