http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A New York-based physician-researcher from Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, best known for his research into fertility and twinning, has uncovered a potential connection between autism and a specific growth protein that could eventually be used as a way to predict an infant's propensity to later develop the disease. The protein, called insulin-like growth factor (IGF), is especially involved in the normal growth and development of babies' brain cells. Based on findings of prior published studies, Touro researcher Gary Steinman, MD, PhD, proposes that depressed levels of this protein in the blood of newborns could potentially serve as a biomarker for the later development of autism. However, this connection, described below in greater detail, has never been directly studied. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-uncovers-potential-biomarker-autism-theory.html Autism spectrum disorders Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:10:03 EST news278860131 Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) led by Carmela Abraham, PhD, professor of biochemistry, along with Cidi Chen, PhD, and other collaborators, report that the protein Klotho plays an important role in the health of myelin, the insulating material allowing for the rapid communication between nerve cells. These findings, which appear online in Journal of Neuroscience, may lead to new therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), in which white matter abnormalities are also common but have been largely ignored. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-drug-multiple-sclerosis-alzheimer-disease.html Neuroscience Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:47:57 EST news278765272 Reduced production of myelin, a type of protective nerve fiber that is lost in diseases like multiple sclerosis, may also play a role in the development of mental illness, according to researchers at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The study is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-nerve-cells-contribute-mental-illness.html Neuroscience Wed, 28 Nov 2012 11:36:13 EST news273324965 (Medical Xpress) -- Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered in mice a molecular trigger that initiates myelination, the process by which brain cell networks are reinforced with an insulating material called myelin that speeds their ability to transmit messages. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-brain-electrical-spurs-insulation-wiring.html Medical research Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:49:09 EST news232256925 Researchers including members from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen have developed a new method for making detailed X-ray images of brain cells. The method, called SAXS-CT, can map the myelin sheaths of nerve cells, which are important for conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. The results have been published in the scientific journal, NeuroImage. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-x-ray-method-brain-disorders.html Neuroscience Thu, 12 May 2011 10:51:28 EST news224416267