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

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

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

Discovering how the brain ages

Researchers at Newcastle University have revealed the mechanism by which neurons, the nerve cells in the brain and other parts of the body, age. The research, published today in Aging Cell, opens up new avenues of understanding ...

Neuroscience created Sep 12, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | 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

When nerve meets muscle, biglycan seals the deal

A protein that has shown early promise in preventing the loss of muscle function in mouse models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, has been found in a new study to be a key player in the process of joining nerves ...

Neuroscience created Feb 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

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

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

Devastating disease provides insight into development and death of motor neurons

Researchers at UCLA have been searching for the cause of a rare disease that virtually no one has ever heard: PCH1, or pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 1, which attacks the brain and the spine.

Genetics created Apr 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Stem cell study aids quest for motor neurone disease therapies

A breakthrough using cutting-edge stem cell research could speed up the discovery of new treatments for motor neurone disease (MND).

Medical research created Mar 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists measure communication between stem cell-derived motor neurons and muscle cells

In an effort to identify the underlying causes of neurological disorders that impair motor functions such as walking and breathing, UCLA researchers have developed a novel system to measure the communication between stem ...

Neuroscience created May 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Stay-at-home transcription factor prevents neurodegeneration

A study in The Journal of Cell Biology shows how a transcription factor called STAT3 remains in the axon of nerve cells to help prevent neurodegeneration. The findings could pave the way for future drug therapies to slow ...

Medical research created Oct 29, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

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

New gene mutations linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and nerve cell growth dysfunction

Researchers have linked newly discovered gene mutations to some cases of the progressive fatal neurological disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Shedding light on how ALS destroys ...

Genetics created Jul 15, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

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


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.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Latest Spotlight News

If you can remember it, you can remember it wrong

(Medical Xpress)—Native peoples in regions where cameras are uncommon sometimes react with caution when their picture is taken. The fear that something must have been stolen from them to create the photo ...

Insight into the dazzling impact of insulin in cells

Australian scientists have charted the path of insulin action in cells in precise detail like never before. This provides a comprehensive blueprint for understanding what goes wrong in diabetes.

Estimates reveal low population immunity to new bird flu virus H7N9 in humans

The level of immunity to the recently circulating H7N9 influenza virus in an urban and rural population in Vietnam is very low, according to the first population level study to examine human immunity to the virus, which was ...

Study finds vitamin C can kill drug-resistant TB (w/ video)

In a striking, unexpected discovery, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have determined that vitamin C kills drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) bacteria in laboratory culture. The finding ...

Study shows where scene context happens in our brain

In a remote fishing community in Venezuela, a lone fisherman sits on a cliff overlooking the southern Caribbean Sea. This man –– the lookout –– is responsible for directing his comrades on the water, ...

New immune system discovered

(Medical Xpress)—A research team, led by Jeremy Barr, a biology post-doctoral fellow, unveils a new immune system that protects humans and animals from infection.

Genetic predictors of postpartum depression uncovered

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered specific chemical alterations in two genes that, when present during pregnancy, reliably predict whether a woman will develop postpartum depression.

The compound in the Mediterranean diet that makes cancer cells 'mortal'

New research suggests that a compound abundant in the Mediterranean diet takes away cancer cells' "superpower" to escape death. By altering a very specific step in gene regulation, this compound essentially re-educates cancer ...

Do salamanders hold the solution to regeneration?

Salamanders' immune systems are key to their remarkable ability to regrow limbs, and could also underpin their ability to regenerate spinal cords, brain tissue and even parts of their hearts, scientists have ...

Losing weight may ease chronic heartburn

(HealthDay)—Obese and overweight men and women who suffer from heartburn often report relief when they lose weight, a new study shows.