While approximately one in five Parkinson's disease patients experience impulse control disorder symptoms, the disease itself does not increase the risk of gambling, shopping, or other impulsivity symptoms, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Working with fruit flies, Johns Hopkins scientists have decoded the activity of protein signals that let certain nerve cells know when and where to branch so that they reach and connect to their correct muscle targets. The proteins’ mammalian counterparts are known to have signaling roles in immunity, nervous system and heart development, and tumor progression, suggesting broad implications for human disease research. A report of the research was published online Nov. 21 in the journal Neuron.
Using brain scans of children and adults watching Sesame Street, cognitive scientists are learning how children’s brains change as they develop intellectual abilities like reading and math. The novel use of brain imaging during everyday activities like watching TV, say the scientists, opens the door to studying other thought processes in naturalistic settings and may one day help to diagnose and treat learning disabilities.
When initial computed tomography (CT) scans show bleeding within the brain after mild head injury, decisions about repeated CT scans should be based on the patient's neurological condition, according to a report in the January issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
A study by Johns Hopkins researchers has shown that a widely accepted model of long-term memory formation — that it hinges on a single enzyme in the brain — is flawed. The new study, published in the Jan. 2 issue of Nature, found that mice lacking the enzyme that purportedly builds memory were in fact still able to form long-term memories as well as normal mice could.
Johns Hopkins researchers have uncovered strong evidence that mice have a specific set of nerve cells that signal itch but not pain, a finding that may settle a decades-long debate about these sensations, and, if confirmed in humans, help in developing treatments for chronic itch, including itch caused by life-saving medications.
Researchers used electricity on certain regions in the brain of a patient with chronic, severe facial pain to release an opiate-like substance that's considered one of the body's most powerful painkillers.
Image series and other data help researchers shed new light on the rare and devastating condition of second impact syndrome.
People who study or treat Alzheimer’s disease and its earliest clinical stage, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), have focused attention on the obvious short-term memory problems. But a new study suggests that people on the road to Alzheimer’s may actually have problems early on in processing semantic or knowledge-based information, which could have much broader implications for how patients function in their lives.
New research suggests that thinning of a layer of the retina in the eyes may show how fast multiple sclerosis (MS) is progressing in people with the disease. The study is published in the January 1, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Autistic-like behaviors can be partially remedied by normalizing excessive levels of protein synthesis in the brain, a team of researchers has found in a study of laboratory mice. The findings provide a pathway to the creation of pharmaceuticals aimed at treating autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that are associated with diminished social interaction skills, impaired communication ability, and repetitive behaviors.
The causes of learning problems associated with an inherited brain tumor disorder are much more complex than scientists had anticipated, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report.
From the moment a stroke occurs, patients must race against the clock to get treatment that can prevent lasting damage. Now, a new 24-hospital study shows the promise – and challenges – of getting them state-of-the-art treatment safely at their local hospital, saving precious minutes.
Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a new way of looking at standard MRI scans that more accurately measures damage to the blood-brain barrier in stroke victims, a process they hope will lead to safer, more individualized treatment of blood clots in the brain and better outcomes.
A new study suggests that people without a spouse are represented less in Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials compared to people with spouses. The study is published in the December 19, 2012, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Johns Hopkins scientists have created stunning images of the branching patterns of individual sensory nerve cells. Their report, published online in the journal eLife on Dec. 18, details the arrangement of these branches in skin from the backs of mice.
Results of a clinical trial that began in 2001 show that a gene therapy cocktail conveyed into the brain by a molecular special delivery vehicle may help extend the lives of children with Canavan disease, a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disorder.
There are promising results from the first-ever use of a virus-based gene therapy for a neurodegenerative/neurological disorder. The therapy was given to 19 young patients with Canavan disease, a devastating inherited childhood condition.
Working with mice, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a particular protein helps nerve cells extend themselves along the spinal cord during mammalian development. Their results shed light on the subset of muscular dystrophies that result from mutations in the gene that holds the code for the protein, called dystroglycan, and also show how the nerve and muscle failings of the degenerative diseases are related.
Hospital MRIs may be better at predicting long-term outcomes for people with mild traumatic brain injuries than CT scans, the standard technique for evaluating such injuries in the emergency room, according to a clinical trial led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH).
Neurobiologists at the Research institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna have discovered one of the key genes required to make a brain. Mutations in this gene, called TUBB5, cause neurodevelopmental disease in children.
A survey has identified career burnout as a significant problem among neurologists who predominantly work with hospital inpatients.
For people with multiple sclerosis — as many as 350,000 Americans, and an estimated 200 new diagnoses every week — managing the debilitating symptoms can be an arduous process. A range of medications are available to help with the fluctuating neurological symptoms such as numbness, lack of balance, muscle spasticity, pain, and fatigue that get in the way of everyday life. But even while addressing the symptoms, people with MS should get appropriate care for other health needs.
A team of doctors and practitioners implanted a ventriculoperitoneal shunt followed by a new operation to stabilize and reduce the size of the baby’s head in it's first week of life - the first time these two surgeries have been performed in a child so young, according to the authors.
People who sometimes went hungry as children had slower cognitive decline once they were elderly compared to people who always had enough food to eat, according to a new study by neurological researchers from the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center.
People who sometimes went hungry as children had slower cognitive decline once they were elderly than people who always had enough food to eat, according to a new study published in the December 11, 2012, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida have uncovered a toxic cellular process by which a protein that maintains the health of neurons becomes deficient and can lead to dementia. The findings shed new light on the link between culprits implicated in two devastating neurological diseases: frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Stroke the soft body of a newborn fruit fly larva ever-so-gently with a freshly plucked eyelash, and it will respond to the tickle by altering its movement—an observation that has helped scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) uncover the molecular basis of gentle touch, one of the most fundamental but least well understood of our senses.
Good news may be on the horizon for Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, and other women stricken with severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, thanks to the work of a University at Buffalo professor who is conducting research on a drug that is showing success treating pregnant women with this condition.
Children with persistent and drug-resistant seizures treated with the high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet may get an added therapeutic benefit from periodic fasting, according to a small Johns Hopkins Children's Center study.
Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have proven with fMRI and EEG that ultrasound applied to the periphery, such as fingertips, can stimulate sensory pathways to the brain. The discovery has bearing on diagnosing and treating neuropathy, which affects millions.
Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders among people with epilepsy. A review of studies shows that between 32% and 48% of people suffer from depression, impacting quality of life and family functioning more even than seizure frequency.
Scientists from Southern Illinois University today reported the results of a study evaluating the potential effect of two selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressant medications in reducing the risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). In a report presented at the American Epilepsy Society’s 66th Annual Meeting, the research team found that certain SSRI medications in the study failed to achieve the same selectivity for prevention of SUDEP as fluoxetine, an SSRI they had previously investigated.
Epilepsy and depression are common co-morbidities. Concern for the potential of certain antidepressants to induce seizures has led to under-treating depression and anxiety disorders in epilepsy patients. Research presented today at the 66th American Epilepsy Society meeting suggests that antidepressants in normal dosage may have a positive impact on both mood and seizure frequency.
Many epilepsy patients believe that stress is a factor in their seizure control, while many other epilepsy patients do not have this perception. To better understand the potential role of stress among these patients, researchers in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati conducted a functional neuroimaging study of patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy under imposed psychosocial stress.
A survey of healthcare providers concerning the initial diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy presented today at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 66th Annual Meeting has found significant misinformation held among physicians who see children who have seizures. Many physicians surveyed are misinformed about what constitutes intractable epilepsy, when to refer their pediatric patients for surgical evaluation, and what types of seizures may be amenable to surgical intervention.
A new technology called the Pipeline embolization device (PED) shows encouraging results in patients with certain types of difficult-to-treat brain aneurysms, reports the December issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
A behavioral test widely used on rodents to study spatial learning and memory, the Morris water maze (MWM), was recreated using software developed to create custom video game environments. By creating a virtual reality analogue for humans, it was possible to obtain a direct comparison between the results of studies on a rodent model of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), whose spatial memory performance was found to be severely impaired, and patients with TLE.
A Loyola University Medical Center neurologist is reporting surprising results of a study of patients who experience both epileptic and non-epileptic seizures.
Surveys of healthcare providers in the U.S. and Canada have found wide variability in practices concerning discussion with patients and caregivers about Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), as well as a lack of awareness among some providers of the relative risk for SUDEP in children who have epilepsy. Results of these surveys support the need for SUDEP education and the creation of practice guidelines to encourage SUDEP discussion and assist providers in counseling families about this tragic, though rare, epilepsy outcome.
A developing new laser surgical technique for epilepsy appears to be safe and effective and reduces hospital stays to one or two days, according to two research reports presented today during the American Epilepsy Society 66th Annual Meting at the San Diego Convention Center. Both studies were conducted on pediatric patients with refractory focal seizures. Investigators reported the laser technique which requires only a small scalp incision and twist drill hole in the skull to be more precise and with fewer complications than conventional resective surgery. The laser system is already FDA cleared for neurosurgery.
The results of the first reported study of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in an animal model for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) presented today at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 66th Annual Meeting suggests that DBS may have potential as therapy for this common and often difficult to treat form of epilepsy. A team of investigators at Ghent University, Belgium, and the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, found that long-term hippocampal DBS has a strong effect in reducing seizures in the experimental model.
The long-term benefits of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for epilepsy in the SANTE trial (Stimulation of the Anterior Nucleus of Thalamus for Epilepsy) were reported today during the 66th annual scientific meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES). Of patients with at least five-years stimulation, more than two-thirds experienced sustained efficacy and continuous reduction in their seizures. All of the patients had a long history of epilepsy and had tried and failed most other epilepsy treatment options before entering the trial.
One of the largest studies examining disparities of care ever to be conducted in a developed country, involving almost 200,000 adults with epilepsy will be presented for the first time at the American Epilepsy Society’s 66th Annual Meeting in San Diego California. While there have been studies that have examined the impact of individual factors such as age, income level, and race, this retrospective study is the first to investigate the impact of epilepsy on a whole community, taking in to account the socioeconomic status of a neighborhood and its health system resources.
Neuroscientists from Japan’s Yamaguchi University today reported that chronic focal brain cooling suppresses seizures during wakefulness and achieves the effect without significantly affecting brain function. Their research, and that of others in the field, provides critical evidence that this approach to seizure control has reached a stage where testing in humans will soon be possible.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the VA San Diego Healthcare System have found that deficiencies in the neural processing of simple auditory tones can evolve into a cascade of dysfunctional information processing across wide swaths of the brain in patients with schizophrenia.
Take a look inside the brains of many soldiers, football players, and boxers, and you’ll find shrinking structures and massive, spreading pathology. Scientists now realize the pattern looks different from any known neurodegenerative disease. A fledgling scientific field has sprung up around these findings and is hurrying to identify, study, and prevent this newly described disease. Special coverage from Alzforum, a respected news source on Alzheimer’s and related diseases, details their latest efforts.
GM1 ganglioside slowed progression of disease in patients over at least a two-year period.
Scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have identified two genes involved in establishing the neuronal circuits required for breathing, findings which could advance treatments for spinal cord injuries, ALS.
People are able to detect, within a split second, if a hurtful action they are witnessing is intentional or accidental, new research on the brain shows. The study is the first to explain how the brain is hard-wired to recognize when another person is being intentionally harmed.
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