http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—Buphenyl, an FDA-approved medication for hyperammonemia, may protect memory and prevent the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Hyperammonemia is a life-threatening condition that can affect patients at any age. It is caused by abnormal, high levels of ammonia in the blood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-scientists-buphenyl-drug-alzheimer-disease.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:50:33 EST news282214226 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers at the University of Michigan have found a new potential benefit of a molecule in green tea: preventing the misfolding of specific proteins in the brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-green-tea-formation-amyloid-plaques.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:29:57 EST news281712578 Given that epilepsy impacts more than 2 million Americans, there is a pressing need for new therapies to prevent this disabling neurological disorder. New findings from the neuroscience laboratory of Mark S. Shapiro, Ph.D., at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, published Dec. 20 in the high-impact scientific journal, Neuron, may provide hope. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-nerve-cell-seizures-gene-electrical.html Neuroscience Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:00:09 EST news275136604 Doctors have known for many years that patients with fragile X syndrome, the most common form of inherited intellectual disability, are often also diagnosed with autism. But little has been known about how the two diagnoses are related. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-fragile-protein-linked-genes-involved.html Genetics Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:00:07 EST news274534172 Treatment with a novel agent that inhibits the activity of SIRT2, an enzyme that regulates many important cellular functions, reduced neurological damage, slowed the loss of motor function and extended survival in two animal models of Huntington's disease. The study led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers will appear in the Dec. 27 issue of Cell Reports and is receiving advance online release. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-enzyme-inhibition-huntington-disease-animal.html Neuroscience Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:07:05 EST news273413207 Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's are characterised by the loss of nerve cells and the deposition of proteins in the brain tissue. A group of researchers led by Gabor G. Kovacs from the Clinical Institute of Neurology at the MedUni Vienna has now demonstrated that Alzheimer's disease does not just – as previously believed – involve the proteins that are attributed to Alzheimer's, but instead the condition can involve a mixture of interacting proteins from different neurodegenerative diseases.  http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-foreign-proteins-implicated-alzheimer-disease.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Mon, 24 Sep 2012 08:32:49 EST news267694361 The more that we understand the brain, the more complex it becomes. The same can be said about the genetics and neurobiology of psychiatric disorders. For "Mendelian" disorders, like Huntington disease, mutation of a single gene predictably produces a single clinical disorder, following relatively simple genetic principals. Compared to Mendelian disorders, understanding bipolar disorder has been extremely challenging. Its biology is not well understood and its genetics are complex. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-biological-matrix-bipolar-disorder.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 20 Aug 2012 10:24:23 EST news264677053 (Medical Xpress) -- A team of University of Alberta researchers has identified a new class of compounds that inhibit the spread of malfunctioning proteins in the brain that cause lethal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and animals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-compounds-inhibit-prion-infection.html Medical research Fri, 20 Jul 2012 10:25:15 EST news261998664 The Huntington Study Group (HSG), under the leadership of Ray Dorsey, M.D. with Johns Hopkins Medical and Diana Rosas, M.D. with Massachusetts General Hospital, is conducting a clinical trial in Huntington's disease (HD) throughout the United States and Australia, "A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, study to assess the safety and tolerability, and efficacy of PBT2 in patients with early to mid-stage Huntington's disease" comparing a 100 mg dose or 250 mg dose versus placebo. The HSG is a not-for-profit group of physicians and other clinical researchers who are experienced in the care of HD patients and dedicated to clinical research of the disease. This trial is sponsored by Prana Biotechnology Limited (Melbourne, Australia) and is being managed by the University of Rochester Medical Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-reach2hd-phase-ii-huntington-disease.html Neuroscience Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:51:36 EST news258303082 A new type of anti-epilepsy medication that selectively targets proteins in the brain that control excitability may significantly reduce seizure frequency in people whose recurrent seizures have been resistant to even the latest medications, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-medication-patients-frequent-uncontrollable-seizures.html Neuroscience Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:00:06 EST news253973295 (Medical Xpress) -- A researcher at the University of Sydney has discovered how the increasingly common street drug mephedrone affects the brain, helping to explain why it is potentially such an addictive substance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-party-drug-brain.html Medical research Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:05:25 EST news239281517 Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have uncovered a previously unknown fail-safe (compensatory) pathway that potentially protects the brain and other organs from genetic and environmental threats. The discovery could provide new ways to diminish the negative consequences of genetic mutations and environmental toxins that cause neurological diseases and other maladies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-fail-safe-inherited-disorders.html Medical research Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:06:05 EST news235314350