http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A novel drug may help increase the effectiveness of radiation therapy for the most deadly form of brain cancer, report scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center. In mouse models of human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the new drug helped significantly extend survival when used in combination with radiation therapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-drug-treatment-brain-cancer-preclinical.html Cancer Tue, 14 May 2013 13:21:59 EST news287756500 The production of a certain kind of brain cell that had been considered an impediment to healing may actually be needed to staunch bleeding and promote repair after a stroke or head trauma, researchers at Duke Medicine report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-brain-injury-astrocytes-unexpected-role.html Medical research Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:00:01 EST news286022977 Alcohol consumption affects the brain in multiple ways, ranging from acute changes in behavior to permanent molecular and functional alterations. The general consensus is that in the brain, alcohol targets mainly neurons. However, recent research suggests that other cells of the brain known as astrocytic glial cells or astrocytes are necessary for the rewarding effects of alcohol and the development of alcohol tolerance. The study, first-authored by Dr. Leonardo Pignataro, was published in the February 6th issue of the scientific journal Brain and Behavior. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-alcohol-consumption-brain-cells.html Neuroscience Mon, 18 Mar 2013 09:32:20 EST news282817900 Do you ever wake up with a raging hangover and picture the row of brain cells that you suspect have have started to decay? Or wonder whether that final glass of wine was too much for those tiny cells, and pushed you over the line? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-alcohol-braincells-medical-myth.html Health Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:25:18 EST news282299086 A new study published in the March issue of The American Journal of Pathology suggests that cortical type 2 cannabinoid (CB2) receptors might serve as potential therapeutic targets for cerebral ischemia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-cortical-cannabinoid-receptors-ameliorates-ischemic.html Medical research Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:52:43 EST news280669957 Researchers from King's College London have discovered that neuronal activity can stimulate tau release from healthy neurons in the absence of cell death. The results published by Diane Hanger and her colleagues in EMBO reports show that treatment of neurons with known biological signaling molecules increases the release of tau into the culture medi-um. The release of tau from cortical neurons is therefore a physiological process that can be regulated by neuronal activity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-neuronal-tau-healthy-neurons.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:20:03 EST news280148351 When a nerve is damaged, glial cells produce the protein neuregulin1 and thereby promote the regeneration of nerve tissue. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-glial-cells-nerves.html Neuroscience Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:15:54 EST news278612147 (Medical Xpress)—Zhen Huang freely admits he was not interested in blood vessels four years ago when he was studying brain development in a fetal mouse. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-chance-reveals-blood-vessels-brain.html Medical research Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:07:21 EST news278262434 Researchers using sophisticated genetic testing techniques have identified a promising new biomarker for diagnosis of glioma—the most common type of malignant brain tumor, reports the January issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-biomarker-gliomas.html Cancer Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:01:20 EST news277563674 Epileptic seizures occur when neurons in the brain become excessively active. However, a new study from MIT neuroscientists suggests that some seizures may originate in non-neuronal cells known as glia, which were long believed to play a mere supporting role in brain function.  http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-discovery-seizures-glial-cells-epilepsy.html Neuroscience Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:57:00 EST news277552613 (Medical Xpress)—Adriano Aguzzi, Ben Barres and Mariko Bennett, noted American neurologists for their research into the role glia cells play in brain function, have written a review paper for the journal Science. In it, they assert that it is their belief that glia cells play a far more important role in brain function than is commonly believed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-neurologists-reveal-insights-glia-cell.html Medical research Fri, 11 Jan 2013 08:47:38 EST news277116345 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers in China have developed a technique for reprogramming cells found in urine into neural progenitor cells that are capable of growing into neurons. In their paper published in Nature Methods, the team describes how they were able to reprogram kidney epithelial cells found in urine into neural progenitor cells that are suitable for use in studying neural diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-method-reprogramming-cells-urine-neural.html Medical research Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:30:03 EST news274347931 Borrowing from microfabrication techniques used in the semiconductor industry, MIT and Harvard Medical School (HMS) engineers have developed a simple and inexpensive way to create three-dimensional brain tissues in a lab dish. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-precisely-d-brain-tissues.html Neuroscience Thu, 29 Nov 2012 13:21:25 EST news273417677 Animals that are socially isolated for prolonged periods make less myelin in the region of the brain responsible for complex emotional and cognitive behavior, researchers at the University at Buffalo and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine report in Nature Neuroscience online. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-brain-plasticity-social-isolation-disrupts.html Neuroscience Sun, 11 Nov 2012 13:00:40 EST news271860226 (Medical Xpress)—An international team of scientists has discovered the mechanism by which zebrafish can re-grow brain neurons after they have suffered traumatic brain injury, and that this mechanism is associated with inflammation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-zebrafish-regrow-brains.html Medical research Fri, 09 Nov 2012 05:40:01 EST news271655654 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers from the US and Japan have shown that an aggressive type of brain tumor can arise from normal cells in the central nervous system such as neurons. The cells revert to an earlier, undifferentiated stem cell stage, which can then reproduce prolifically. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-brain-tumors-neurons.html Cancer Fri, 19 Oct 2012 05:50:01 EST news269842779 Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have solved an important piece of one of neuroscience's outstanding puzzles: how progenitor cells in the developing mammalian brain reproduce themselves while also giving birth to neurons that will populate the emerging cerebral cortex, the seat of cognition and executive function in the mature brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-protein-key-fate-decision-cortical.html Neuroscience Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:05:30 EST news267451518 A growing body of research shows that children who suffer severe neglect and social isolation have cognitive and social impairments as adults. A study from Boston Children's Hospital shows, for the first time, how these functional impairments arise: Social isolation during early life prevents the cells that make up the brain's white matter from maturing and producing the right amount of myelin, the fatty "insulation" on nerve fibers that helps them transmit long-distance messages within the brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-early-social-deprivation-impairs-long-term.html Neuroscience Thu, 13 Sep 2012 14:00:01 EST news266762291 Depression takes a substantial toll on brain health. Brain imaging and post-mortem studies provide evidence that the wealth of connections in the brain are reduced in individuals with depression, with the result of impaired functional connections between key brain centers involved in mood regulation. Glial cells are one of the cell types that appear to be particularly reduced when analyzing post-mortem brain tissue from people who had depression. Glial cells support the growth and function of nerve cells and their connections. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-brain-growth-depression.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 15 Aug 2012 11:11:52 EST news264247905 Epileptic fits are like thunderstorms raging in the brain: Nerve cells excite each other in an uncontrolled way so that strong, rhythmic electrical discharges sweep over whole brain regions. In the wake of such a seizure, the nerve cells are severely affected, and permanent damage is possible. The glia, a class of cells that surround the neurons in the brain, was long suspected to contribute to the damaging effects of epilepsy. Quite the opposite is the case, as the team of Prof. Dr. Carola Haas from the Bernstein Center and Dr. Matthias Kirsch from the Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Freiburg shows for the first time. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-astrocytes.html Neuroscience Tue, 07 Aug 2012 15:28:41 EST news263572108 In a study published June 25 in the Journal of Neuroscience, a collaborative team of researchers led by Linda J. Van Eldik, director of the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, and D. Martin Watterson of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, present results showing that a new central nervous system drug compound can reduce Alzheimer's pathology in a mouse model of the disease. The drug, called MW-151, is a selective suppressor of brain inflammation and overproduction of proinflammatory molecules from glial cells. The drug can be taken by mouth and readily enters the brain. The new study tested the hypothesis that intervention with drugs like MW-151 could be effective as a preventive measure, when administered at an early stage before Alzheimer's pathology appears, as well as after disease symptoms have begun to appear. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-effect-early-drug-administration-alzheimer.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:10:42 EST news262368632 Scientists in Australia are studying the mechanisms of spinal cord repair in zebrafish, which unlike humans and other mammals can regenerate their spinal cord following injury. Their findings suggest a family of molecules called fibroblast growth factors could be a therapeutic target for encouraging nerve regeneration. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-zebrafish-reveal-mechanism-spinal-cord.html Genetics Fri, 06 Jul 2012 14:43:46 EST news260804612 Around 100 billion neurons in the human brain enable us to think, feel and act. They transmit electrical impulses to remote parts of the brain and body via long nerve fibres known as axons. This communication requires enormous amounts of energy, which the neurons are thought to generate from sugar. Axons are closely associated with glial cells which, on the one hand, surround them with an electrically insulating myelin sheath and, on the other hand support their long-term function. Klaus Armin and his research group from the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Göttingen have now discovered a possible mechanisms by which these glial cells in the brain can support their associated axons and keep them alive in the long term. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-glial-cells-nerve-fibres-energy-rich.html Medical research Thu, 10 May 2012 07:20:02 EST news255851227 John W. Tsuang, M.D., principal investigator at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed), in conjunction with Steven J. Shoptaw, Ph.D., from the UCLA Department of Family Medicine, is spearheading a Phase I clinical safety trial that for the first time examines the effects of Ibudilast when administered with metamphetamine (MA), an addictive stimulant that is closely related to amphetamine. Ibudilast is a non-selective phosphodiesterase inhibitor known as a modulator of glial activation in the central nervous system; the role of these glial cells is to regulate the repair of neurons after an injury, such as the neurocognitive deficits caused by long-term MA addiction. The study is being funded by the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-effects-ibudilast-metamphetamines.html Addiction Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:50:09 EST news254591077 A vast majority of cells in the brain are glial, yet our understanding of how they are generated, a process called gliogenesis, has remained enigmatic. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have identified a novel transcripitonal cascade that controls these formative stages of gliogenesis and answered the longstanding question of how glial cells are generated from neural stem cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-reveals-glial-cell.html Neuroscience Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:00:04 EST news253364034 A paper published online today in Nature describes the results of using bone marrow transplant (BMT) to replace faulty immune system cells in models of Rett Syndrome. The procedure arrested many severe symptoms of the childhood disorder, including abnormal breathing and movement, and significantly extended the lifespan of Rett mouse models. Exploring the function of microglia deficient in methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (Mecp2), the protein encoded by the "Rett gene," principal investigator Jonathan Kipnis, Ph.D. and his team at the University of Virginia School of Medicine uncovered a completely novel approach to this devastating neurological syndrome. The work was funded by the Rett Syndrome Research Trust and the Rett Syndrome Research Trust UK. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-bone-marrow-transplant-symptoms-rett.html Immunology Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:00:20 EST news251297067 (Medical Xpress) -- Three research teams have published papers in Nature, that together offer evidence suggesting that isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) enzyme mutations may play a role in altering activity that could have an impact on whether or not cancerous tumors begin to grow. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-idh-enzyme-mutations-growth-cancer.html Medical research Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:28:04 EST news248610418 An attentive, nurturing mother may be able to help her children better resist the temptations of drug use later in life, according to a study in rats conducted by Duke University and the University of Adelaide in Australia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-mother-drug-cravings.html Neuroscience Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:29:11 EST news242414937 The Allen Institute for Brain Science announced today the discovery of a new class of cells in the spinal cord that act like neural stem cells, offering a fresh avenue in the search for therapies to treat spinal cord injury and disease. The published collaborative study, authored by scientists from the University of British Columbia, the Allen Institute for Brain Science and The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital at McGill University and titled "Adult Spinal Cord Radial Glia Display a Unique Progenitor Phenotype," appears in the open access journal PLoS One. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-class-stem-cell-like-cells-possibility.html Medical research Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:45:24 EST news235305621 A gene network that controls repair to the central nervous system (CNS) after injury has been discovered in the fruit fly, Drosophila, by scientists at the University of Birmingham. This breakthrough may help to aid understanding of cell manipulation techniques necessary to repair damage to the human CNS, according to research published today in the journal PLoS Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-scientists-uncover-gene-network-responsible.html Medical research Wed, 31 Aug 2011 07:10:01 EST news233993371