http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Researchers at Northeastern University in Boston have developed a gene therapy approach that may one day stop Parkinson's disease (PD) in it tracks, preventing disease progression and reversing its symptoms. The novelty of the approach lies in the nasal route of administration and nanoparticles containing a gene capable of rescuing dying neurons in the brain. Parkinson's is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder caused by the death of dopamine neurons in a key motor area of the brain, the substantia nigra (SN). Loss of these neurons leads to the characteristic tremor and slowed movements of PD, which get increasingly worse with time. Currently, more than 1% of the population over age 60 has PD and approximately 60,000 Americans are newly diagnosed every year. The available drugs on the market for PD mimic or replace the lost dopamine but do not get to the heart of the problem, which is the progressive loss of the dopamine neurons. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-noninvasive-avenue-parkinson-disease-gene.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:02:02 EST news285789711 Last month, the National Institutes of Health announced a new collaborative initiative that aims to accelerate the search for biomarkers—changes in the body that can be used to predict, diagnose or monitor a disease—in Parkinson's disease, in part by improving collaboration among researchers and helping patients get involved in clinical studies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-effort-parkinson-biomarkers.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:41:45 EST news281709697 Among those who suffer from depression, the dual inabilities to experience enjoyment in things once pleasurable and to physically motivate oneself—to meet challenges, or even to get out of bed in the morning—have been documented for decades, though it has been mysterious why these very different kinds of symptoms show up together, and also disappear together when depression is successfully treated. It has been suspected that the brain chemical dopamine could be a key player in the illness. And yet, in the long history of the study of depression, no one has been able to clearly tie these key concepts together, until now. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-scientists-relieve-depression-symptoms-mice.html Neuroscience Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:00:12 EST news274534134 Scientists may have discovered why the standard treatment for Parkinson's disease is often effective for only a limited period of time. Their research could lead to a better understanding of many brain disorders, from drug addiction to depression, that share certain signaling molecules involved in modulating brain activity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-parkinson-dogma.html Medical research Wed, 24 Oct 2012 15:16:25 EST news270310551 In an early-stage breakthrough, a team of Northwestern University scientists has developed a new family of compounds that could slow the progression of Parkinson's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-parkinson-breakthough-disease.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:31:21 EST news270304265 Researchers in the Taub Institute at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have identified a mechanism that appears to underlie the common sporadic (non-familial) form of Parkinson's disease, the progressive movement disorder. The discovery highlights potential new therapeutic targets for Parkinson's and could lead to a blood test for the disease. The study, based mainly on analysis of human brain tissue, was published today in the online edition of Nature Communications. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-mechanism-sporadic-parkinson-disease.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Tue, 25 Sep 2012 13:19:02 EST news267797910 A genetically-modified version of the rabies virus is helping scientists at Harvard to trace neural pathways in the brain, a research effort that could one day lead to treatments for Parkinson's disease and addiction. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-rabies-virus-tracks-dopamine-neurons.html Neuroscience Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:57:14 EST news258206224 While we often think of memory as a way of preserving the essential idea of who we are, little thought is given to the importance of forgetting to our wellbeing, whether what we forget belongs in the "horrible memories department" or just reflects the minutia of day-to-day living. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-scientists-neurotranmitters.html Neuroscience Wed, 09 May 2012 17:07:20 EST news255801993 What characterizes many people with depression, schizophrenia and some other mental illnesses is anhedonia: an inability to gain pleasure from normally pleasurable experiences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-brain-mechanism-reward-enjoyment.html Neuroscience Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:44:37 EST news251552669 A single injection of cocaine or methamphetamine in mice caused their brains to put the brakes on neurons that generate sensations of pleasure, and these cellular changes lasted for at least a week, according to research by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-discovery-brain-natural-resistance-drugs.html Neuroscience Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:10:01 EST news250425664 Treatments for Parkinson's disease, estimated to affect 1 million Americans, have yet to prove effective in slowing the progression of the debilitating disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-gene-potentially-role-parkinson.html Neuroscience Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:20:33 EST news247857617 Parkinson's disease researchers at the University at Buffalo have discovered how mutations in the parkin gene cause the disease, which afflicts at least 500,000 Americans and for which there is no cure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-parkinson-disease-human-neurons-reveals.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:05:08 EST news247838693 Harvard scientists have developed the fullest picture yet of how neurons in the brain interact to reinforce behaviors ranging from learning to drug use, a finding that might open the door to possible breakthroughs in the treatment of addiction. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-neurons-interact-treatment-addiction.html Neuroscience Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:00:04 EST news246104934 A brain cell type found where habits are formed and movement is controlled has receptors that work like computer processors to translate regular activities into habits, researchers report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-habit-formation-enabled-gateway-brain.html Neuroscience Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:33:36 EST news243693199 (Medical Xpress) -- Morphine's analgesic properties are as potent as its addictive potential are problematic. The neural pathway for that addiction is typically associated with dopamine (DA) neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), despite the fact that the specific neuronal mechanisms involved are not well articulated. Recently, however, research conducted at the Université de Bordeaux and Université de Strasbourg in France found that morphine increases the firing of dopamine neurons by activating μ opioid receptor (μOR) receptors on the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (the VTA's GABAergic tail) – and that there is no morphine-induced activation of dopamine neurons in the absence of tonic VTA glutamatergic modulation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-brain-drugs-neural-anatomy-physiology.html Neuroscience Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:00:01 EST news236946333 Oxford University researchers have succeeded in using stem cell technology to grow nerve cells in the laboratory from initial skin samples taken from Parkinson’s patients. It’s the first large-scale effort of its kind in the UK. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-nerve-cells-grown-stem-insight.html Medical research Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:08:14 EST news227779681 The effects of nicotine upon brain regions involved in addiction mirror those of cocaine, according to new neuroscience research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-nicotine-cocaine-similar-brain-contact.html Neuroscience Tue, 03 May 2011 17:00:01 EST news223649420