http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—Scientists have long pondered the roots of aggression—and ways to temper it. Now, new research is beginning to illuminate the cellular-level circuitry responsible for modulating aggression in fruit flies, with the hope of someday translating the findings to humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-link-individual-neurons-aggressive-behavior.html Neuroscience Fri, 19 Apr 2013 07:47:48 EST news285576460 (Medical Xpress)—Tumours need a steady supply of sufficient nutrients to be able to grow. In order to secure the nutrient availability, they secrete messenger compounds to stimulate neighbouring blood vessels to proliferate and sprout. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research in Cologne, Germany, have now identified a new positive feedback loop involving the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and its receptor 'VEGFR-2' in human lung adenocarcinoma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-fasting-tumour-cells.html Cancer Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:25:31 EST news282551120 The three most important factors in real estate are location, location, location, and the same might be said for mutations in the gene MECP2, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) at Texas Children's Hospital in a report in the journal Cell. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-mutation-key-prognosis.html Genetics Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:32:15 EST news281277127 In 1999, Dr. Huda Zoghbi and colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine identified the genetic cause of Rett syndrome (a neurological disorder that begins after birth) – MECP2 mutation. Too little of the MeCP2 protein associated with the gene causes the girls whom it affects to regress, gradually losing their speech, the use of their hands and many cognitive functions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-mecp2-duplication-affects-immune-brain.html Medical research Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:00:02 EST news273926510 The ability of the eye of a fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) to respond to light depends on a delicate ballet that keeps the supply of light sensors called rhodopsin constant as photoreceptors turn on and off in response to light exposures, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital in an article that appears online in the journal PLOS Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-crag-fantastic-photoreceptors.html Neuroscience Tue, 04 Dec 2012 17:06:39 EST news273863189 Researchers in Argentina report that women with multiple sclerosis (MS) who undergo assisted reproduction technology (ART) infertility treatment are at risk for increased disease activity. Study findings published in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, suggest reproductive hormones contribute to regulation of immune responses in autoimmune diseases such as MS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-infertility-treatments-significantly-multiple-sclerosis.html Neuroscience Wed, 03 Oct 2012 00:00:03 EST news268408347 When mice are born lacking the master gene Atoh1, none breathe well and all die in the newborn period. Why and how this occurs could provide new answers about sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), but the solution has remained elusive until now. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-master-gene-affects-neurons-birth.html Neuroscience Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:00:01 EST news266148023 Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered that an FDA-approved anti-epileptic drug reverses memory loss and alleviates other Alzheimer's-related impairments in an animal model of the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-epilepsy-drug-levetiracetam-reverses-memory.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Mon, 06 Aug 2012 15:00:21 EST news263479325 Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have unraveled a process by which depletion of a specific protein in the brain contributes to the memory problems associated with Alzheimer's disease. These findings provide new insights into the disease's development and may lead to new therapies that could benefit the millions of people worldwide suffering from Alzheimer's and other devastating neurological disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-scientists-mechanism-contribute-problems-alzheimer.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:35:50 EST news254662523 The anxiety and behavioral issues associated with excess MeCP2 protein result from overexpression of two genes (Crh [corticotropin-releasing hormone] and Oprm 1 [mu-opioid receptor MOR 1]), which may point the way to treating these problems in patients with too much of the protein, said Baylor College of Medicine scientists in a report that appears online in the journal Nature Genetics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-genes-affect-anxiety-behavior-mice.html Genetics Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:00:14 EST news245240348 (Medical Xpress) -- The structure of the corpus callosum, a thick band of nerve fibres that connects the two halves of the brain with each other and in this way enables the rapid exchange of information between the left and right hemispheres, plays an important role in the regaining of motor skills following a stroke. A study currently published in the journal Human Brain Mapping has shown that in stroke patients with particularly severely impaired hand movement, this communication channel between the two brain hemispheres in particular was badly damaged. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-regeneration-requires-intact-channels-halves.html Neuroscience Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:27:42 EST news241093648 A scientist at the Gladstone Institutes has discovered a novel way to convert human skin cells into brain cells, advancing medicine and human health by offering new hope for regenerative medicine and personalized drug discovery and development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-gladstone-scientist-human-skin-cells.html Neuroscience Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:50:01 EST news231074897 Many roads can lead to the same place, often crossing over one another and sometimes passing the same landmarks. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-genes-landmarks-roadmap-autism.html Genetics Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:00:08 EST news226756870 A new study published today in the journal Science has shown that the childhood disorder Rett syndrome, can be reestablished in adult animals by "switching off" a critical disease causing gene in healthy adult animals. The gene was "switched off" in adult mice by use of a sophisticated genetic trick, resulting in the appearance of behaviors typically seen in Rett syndrome. The leading author Christopher McGraw, MD/PhD student, carried out the study in the laboratory of Dr. Huda Zoghbi, a renowned neuroscientist based at Baylor College of Medicine, and director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston TX. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-developmental-disease-recreated-adult.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:26:00 EST news226254345 The protein MeCP2 is porridge to the finicky neuron. Like Goldilocks, the neuron or brain cell needs the protein in just the right amount. Girls born with dysfunctional MeCP2 (methyl-CpG-binding protein 2) develop Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder. Too much MeCP2 can cause spasticity or developmental delay with autism-like symptoms in boys. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-rett-protein-mecp2-proper-adult.html Neuroscience Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:00:05 EST news226241618