http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Most students read about genetics in a textbook. Stanford University students are reading something far more intimate: their own DNA code. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-medical-students-glimpse-future-genetic.html Genetics Mon, 03 Jun 2013 05:30:01 EST news289455141 Scientists investigating the interaction of a group of proteins in the brain responsible for protecting nerve cells from damage have identified a new target that could increase cell survival. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-sumo-cells-reveal-mechanism.html Medical research Fri, 17 May 2013 11:30:01 EST news288008223 The central nervous system's mop-up crew, microglia, play an important role in protecting the brain against disease and injury. A research group at Lund University in Sweden has now developed a method that makes it possible to follow the behaviour of these support cells at close quarters. Increased knowledge about the specific role of microglia could open the door to new research avenues on several different neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's disease and stroke. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-brain-guardian-cells.html Medical research Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:39:08 EST news286011539 Americans with brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis (MS) who need to see a neurologist may face longer wait times or have more difficulty finding a neurologist, according to a new study published in the April 17, 2013, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The findings are being released as nearly 150 neurologists will descend on Capitol Hill next Tuesday, April 23, 2013, to encourage Congress to protect patients' access to neurologists and ensure there will be care for the one in six Americans currently affected by brain disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-neurologist-shortage.html Neuroscience Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:00:02 EST news285429385 (Medical Xpress)—Clumps of α-synuclein protein in nerve cells are hallmarks of many degenerative brain diseases, most notably Parkinson's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-parkinson-disease-protein-gums-garbage.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Thu, 28 Mar 2013 08:50:02 EST news283677861 Researchers will be able to access samples from more than 7,000 donated human brains to help study major brain diseases, thanks to a new on-line database, launched by the Medical Research Council (MRC) today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-human-brain-easier-database.html Neuroscience Thu, 21 Mar 2013 07:40:35 EST news283070424 Doctors may in the future be able to take a blood test to determine if a patient is suicidal, hopefully decreasing the number of people taking their own lives. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-suicide-critical.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:10:04 EST news280570179 Researchers have overcome a major challenge to treating brain diseases by engineering an experimental molecular therapy that crosses the blood-brain barrier to reverse neurological lysosomal storage disease in mice. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-experimental-molecular-therapy-blood-brain-barrier.html Medical research Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:00:19 EST news279195985 (Medical Xpress)—Research led by Queen Mary, University of London, has opened up the possibility that drug therapies may one day be able to restore the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, potentially slowing or even reversing the progression of diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS). The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-possibility-therapies-blood-brain-barrier.html Medical research Wed, 02 Jan 2013 10:55:59 EST news276346551 (Medical Xpress)—An outbreak of fungal meningitis recently resulted in one of the worst public health disasters in recent U.S. history. Thirty-two people died and more than 400 became ill after the New England Compounding Center distributed contaminated vials of injectable steroids. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-two-faced-drugs-hidden-killers.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 11 Dec 2012 08:14:33 EST news274436057 German scientists have demonstrated a new way to investigate mechanisms at work in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, which also could prove useful in the search for effective drugs. For new insights, they turned to the zebrafish, which is transparent in the early stages of its life. The researchers developed a transgenic variety, the "MitoFish," that enables them to see – within individual neurons of living animals – how brain diseases disturb the transport of mitochondria, the power plants of the cell. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-see-through-mitofish-window-brain-diseases.html Neuroscience Wed, 05 Dec 2012 10:53:09 EST news273927179 Scientists have discovered for the first time how humans – and other mammals – have evolved to have intelligence. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-intelligence-mental-illness-linked-ancient.html Neuroscience Sun, 02 Dec 2012 13:00:23 EST news273667896 Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have found that a protein, known for causing cancer cells to spread around the body, is also one of the molecules that trigger repair processes in the brain. These findings are the subject of a paper, published this week in Nature Communications. They point the way to new avenues of research into degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer's. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-reconsidering-cancer-bad-guy.html Medical research Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:19:35 EST news272283565 World-leading experts in Magnetic Resonance Imaging from The University of Nottingham's Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre have made a key discovery which could give the medical world a new tool for the improved diagnosis and monitoring of brain diseases like multiple sclerosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-mri-nerve-fibers-brain.html Medical research Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:47:34 EST news271072007 President Obama's national plan to fight Alzheimer's disease just got a lift thanks to a team of international researchers whose recent discovery may lead to enhanced imaging of and improved drug delivery to the brain. A research report appearing in The FASEB Journal, describes an entirely new class of antibody discovered in camelids (camels, dromedaries, llamas, and alpacas) that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier, diffuse into brain tissue, and reach specific targets. Having such antibodies, which are naturally available, may be part of a "game changer" in the outcomes for people with brain diseases that are poorly diagnosed and treated, at best, using today's tools. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-camels-obama-alzheimer.html Medical research Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:01:02 EST news268311654 Human and chimp brains look anatomically similar because both evolved from the same ancestor millions of years ago. But where does the chimp brain end and the human brain begin? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-sophisticated-wiring-bigger-brain-humans.html Neuroscience Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:31:58 EST news264861105 (Medical Xpress) -- A team of University of Alberta researchers has identified a new class of compounds that inhibit the spread of malfunctioning proteins in the brain that cause lethal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and animals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-compounds-inhibit-prion-infection.html Medical research Fri, 20 Jul 2012 10:25:15 EST news261998664 Degeneration of the axon and synapse, the slender projection through which neurons transmit electrical impulses to neighboring cells, is a hallmark of some of the most crippling neurodegenerative and brain diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease and peripheral neuropathy. Scientists have worked for decades to understand axonal degeneration and its relation to these diseases. Now, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School are the first to describe a gene – dSarm/Sarm1 – responsible for actively promoting axon destruction after injury. The research, published today online by Science, provides evidence of an exciting new therapeutic target that could be used to delay or even stop axon decay. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-scientists-gene-axon-degeneration.html Genetics Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:00:07 EST news258295032 Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have for the first time transformed skin cells—with a single genetic factor—into cells that develop on their own into an interconnected, functional network of brain cells. The research offers new hope in the fight against many neurological conditions because scientists expect that such a transformation—or reprogramming—of cells may lead to better models for testing drugs for devastating neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-skin-cells-brain-lab.html Medical research Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:04:16 EST news258280588 Teasing out the exact type or types of dementia someone suffers from is no easy task; neurodegenerative brain diseases share common pathology and often co-occur. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are continuing efforts to differentiate diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) from frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), as FTLD is often clinically difficult to distinguish from atypical presentations of AD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-range-diagnostic-spinal-fluid-differentiate.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:40:01 EST news254140199 (Medical Xpress) -- A research team led by the University of Melbourne has developed a novel technique that tracks diseased proteins behaving badly by forming clusters in brain diseases such as Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-tracking-proteins-badly-insights-treatments.html Medical research Mon, 19 Mar 2012 07:15:10 EST news251360080 (AP) -- Dr. Richard Olney, an internationally renowned researcher who dedicated his life to finding a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease, has died after his own eight-year battle with the disease. He was 64. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-als-succumbs-disease.html Medical research Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:49:27 EST news247225741 The human body has a love-hate relationship with iron. Just the right amount is needed for proper cell function, yet too much is associated with brain diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-hysterectomy-iron-brain.html Neuroscience Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:49:41 EST news236958572 Researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center have identified a new pathway of stem cell activity in the brain that represents potential targets of brain injuries affecting newborns. The recent study, which raises new questions of how the brain evolves, is published in the current issue of Nature, one of the world's most cited scientific journals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-scientists-stem-cell-human-brain.html Medical research Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:47:59 EST news236440069