http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is being increasingly explored as a therapeutic tool for movement disorders associated with deficient inhibition throughout the central nervous system. This includes treatment of focal hand dystonia (FHD), characterized by involuntary movement of the fingers either curling into the palm or extending outward. A new study published in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience reports short-term changes in behavioral, physiologic, and clinical measures that support further research into the therapeutic potential of rTMS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-short-term-benefits-repetitive-transcranial-magnetic.html Neuroscience Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:28:25 EST news284732815 In a study designed to differentiate why some stroke patients recover from aphasia and others do not, investigators have found that a compensatory reorganization of language function to right hemispheric brain regions bodes poorly for language recovery. Patients who recovered from aphasia showed a return to normal left-hemispheric language activation patterns. These results, which may open up new rehabilitation strategies, are available in the current issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-shift-language-function-hemisphere-impedes.html Neuroscience Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:46:39 EST news284298392 In a mouse model of early Parkinson's disease (PD), animals displayed movement deficits, loss of tyrosine-hydroxylase (TH)-positive fibers in the striatum, and astro-gliosis and micro-gliosis in the substantia nigra (SN), without the loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons. These findings, which may cast light on the molecular processes involved in the initial stages of PD, are available in the current issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-early-parkinson-disease-pathology.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:45:44 EST news284031930 Administration of the active compound tetrahydroxystilbene glucoside (TSG) derived from the Chinese herbal medicine Polygonum multiflorum Thunb, reversed both overexpression of α-synuclein, a small protein found in the brain, and its accumulation using a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. These results, which may shed light on the neuropathology of AD and open up new avenues of treatment, are available in the current issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-herbal-compound-potential-alzheimer-disease.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:17:39 EST news280199842 Little is known about oculomotor function in amblyopia, or "lazy eye," despite the special role of eye movements in vision. A group of scientists has discovered that abnormal visual processing and circuitry in the brain have an impact on fixational saccades (FSs), involuntary eye movements that occur during fixation and are important for the maintenance of vision. The results, which raise the question of whether the alterations in FS are the cause or the effect of amblyopia and have implications for amblyopia treatment, are available online in advance of publication in the November issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-abnormal-involuntary-eye-movements-amblyopia.html Neuroscience Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:07:23 EST news269622436 Amputation disrupts not only the peripheral nervous system but also central structures of the brain. While the brain is able to adapt and compensate for injury in certain conditions, in amputees the traumatic event prevents adaptive cortical changes. A group of scientists reports adaptive plastic changes in an amputee's brain following implantation of multielectrode arrays inside peripheral nerves. Their results are available in the current issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-neural-interface-prosthesis-function-motor.html Neuroscience Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:59:23 EST news264686306 Research has found that declines in temporal information processing (TIP), the rate at which auditory information is processed, underlies the progressive loss of function across multiple cognitive systems in the elderly, including new learning, memory, perception, attention, thinking, motor control, problem solving, and concept formation. In a new study, scientists have found that elderly subjects who underwent temporal training improved not only the rate at which they processed auditory information, but also in other cognitive areas. The study is published in the current issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-scientists-cognitive-elderly.html Neuroscience Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:57:55 EST news264686266 In a study published in the current issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience scientists report that a therapy combining exercise with the neurovascular protective agent S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) improved recovery from stroke in a rat model. GSNO is a compound found naturally in the body and it has no known side effects or toxicity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-therapy-combining-neuroprotective-agent-victims.html Neuroscience Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:45:09 EST news264253502 Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) use sound or touch to help the visually impaired perceive the visual scene surrounding them. The ideal SSD would assist not only in sensing the environment but also in performing daily activities based on this input. For example, accurately reaching for a coffee cup, or shaking a friend's hand. In a new study, scientists trained blindfolded sighted participants to perform fast and accurate movements using a new SSD, called EyeMusic. Their results are published in the July issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-device-images-music-individuals-vision.html Neuroscience Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:33:24 EST news260706783