http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A multicenter study led by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine shows that mild traumatic brain injury after blast exposure produces inflammation, oxidative stress and gene activation patterns akin to disorders of memory processing such as Alzheimer's disease. Their findings were recently reported in the online version of the Journal of Neurotrauma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-mild-blast-injury-molecular-brain.html Neuroscience Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:55:08 EST news286019674 An iron imbalance caused by prion proteins collecting in the brain is a likely cause of cell death in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-prion-protein-iron-metabolism.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:46:49 EST news282397602 Oxidative stress is a primary villain in a host of diseases that range from cancer and heart failure to Alzheimer's disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found that blocking the interaction of a critical enzyme may counteract the destruction of neurons associated with these neurodegenerative diseases, suggesting a potential new target for drug development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-scientists-uncover-potential-drug-block.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:18:37 EST news277053507 Levels of the protein appoptosin in the brain skyrocket in Alzheimer's disease and traumatic brain injury. Appoptosin is known for helping the body make heme, the molecule that carries iron in the blood. In a study published Oct. 31 in the Journal of Neuroscience, Huaxi Xu, Ph.D. and his group at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute discovered that excess heme leads to the overproduction of reactive oxygen species and triggers apoptosis, causing neurons to die. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-neuron-killers-alzheimer-traumatic-brain.html Neuroscience Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:03:14 EST news271677782 Neural excitotoxicity can be involved in spinal cord injury, traumatic hearing loss and Alzheimer's. The Stressprotect project has gathered data on this often devastating phenomenon at biochemical, genomic and physiological levels. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-excitotoxicity-nerve-cell-death.html Medical research Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:41:39 EST news267781288 Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) used an innovative technique to examine chemical interactions that are implicated in Parkinson's Disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-yields-insights-parkinson-disease.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:21:39 EST news258041957 In an effort to identify the underlying causes of neurological disorders that impair motor functions such as walking and breathing, UCLA researchers have developed a novel system to measure the communication between stem cell-derived motor neurons and muscle cells in a Petri dish. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-scientists-stem-cell-derived-motor-neurons.html Neuroscience Sat, 05 May 2012 03:56:11 EST news255408900 University of Iowa biologists have advanced the knowledge of human neurodevelopmental disorders by finding that a lack of a particular group of cell adhesion molecules in the cerebral cortex -- the outermost layer of the brain where language, thought and other higher functions take place -- disrupts the formation of neural circuitry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-human-cells.html Neuroscience Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:40:03 EST news255016314 Spanish researchers at the Institute of Neurosciences at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB) identified the fundamental role played by the Nurr1 gene in neuron survival associated with synaptic activity. The discovery, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, allows scientists to study a new target that could help to understand the relationship between alterations in neural connections, which are known to cause early cognitive deficit, and the neurodegeneration characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-gene-key-role-neuronal-survival.html Neuroscience Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:19:58 EST news253790390 An agent under consideration for use in PET imaging combats neuronal death to relieve Parkinsonian symptoms in animal models, according to a study published on April 2nd in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-heart-gray-parkinson-disease.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:00:03 EST news252584374 Microglia are the first line defence of the brain and are constantly looking for infections to fight off. Overactive microglia can cause uncontrolled inflammation within the brain, which can in turn lead to neuronal damage. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Journal of Neuroinflammation shows that, honokiol (HNK) is able to down-regulate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory enzymes in activated microglia via Klf4, a protein known to regulate DNA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-japanese-traditional-therapy-honokiol-blocks.html Inflammatory disorders Mon, 19 Mar 2012 05:16:19 EST news251352973 Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have identified a single prion protein that causes neuronal death similar to that seen in "mad cow" disease, but is at least 10 times more lethal than larger prion species. This toxic single molecule or "monomer" challenges the prevailing concept that neuronal damage is linked to the toxicity of prion protein aggregates called "oligomers." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-scientists-lethal-species-prion-protein.html Medical research Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:57:36 EST news248021728