Feature Channels: Neuro

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Researchers devise formula to examine just what types of change occur over time among complex and integrated structures.

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A new guideline from the American Academy of Neurology and the Child Neurology Society finds botulinum toxin type A to be an effective treatment for spasticity, muscle tightness that interferes with movement, in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy, but poses some risk. The guideline is published in the January 26, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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People's preferences for current versus later rewards may be influenced by fluctuating blood glucose levels: Volunteers who drank a regular soda containing sugar were more likely to select receiving more money at a later date while the volunteers who drank a diet soda were likelier to opt for receiving smaller sums of money immediately.

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Preventing deadly ruptures of the blood vessels in the brain is the aim of a new Mayo Clinic project to help radiologists detect aneurysms with far greater speed and accuracy.

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To test three theories that might explain an outfielder’s ability to catch a fly ball, researcher Philip Fink, PhD, from Massey University in New Zealand and Patrick Foo, PhD, from the University of North Carolina at Ashville programmed Brown University’s virtual reality lab, the VENLab, to produce realistic balls and simulate catches. The team then lobbed virtual fly balls to a dozen experienced ball players.

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Older people who have “mental lapses,” or times when their thinking seems disorganized or illogical or when they stare into space, may be more likely to have Alzheimer’s disease than people who do not have these lapses, according to a study published in the January 19, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Clinical and basic science papers do not have to be published in large, high-impact publications to garner attention, and in fact when it comes to specialized areas of medicine such as neurosurgery, publications devoted to the subspecialty produce many citation classics. “Citation classic” is a term given to articles that have been cited more than 400 times.

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A 68-year-old woman became the first patient in Houston to have her brain aneurysm treated with a recently FDA-approved liquid material instead of traditional open skull surgery or platinum coils.

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How do the visual images we experience, which have no tangible existence, arise out of physical processes in the brain? New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science provides evidence, for the first time, that an “ignition” of intense neural activity underlies the experience of seeing.

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New research shows that migraine and depression may share a strong genetic component. The research is published in the January 13, 2010, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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We all have at one time or another experienced the typical signs of an infection: the fever, the listlessness, the lack of appetite. They are orchestrated by the brain in response to circulating cytokines, the signaling molecules of the immune system. But just how cytokines' reach extends beyond the almost impenetrable blood-brain barrier has been the topic of much dispute.

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An excess of one type of serotonin receptor in the center of the brain may explain why antidepressants fail to relieve symptoms of depression for 50 percent of patients, a new study from researchers at Columbia University Medical Center shows.

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A study published in the January 13, 2010 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience links a loss of smell function in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) model animals with amyloid beta (protein) accumulation in the brain, a distinguishing hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. Research conducted by NYU Langone Medical Center suggests that olfactory dysfunction, a common symptom of AD, may serve as an early diagnostic tool for the disease.

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Sleeping is known to help humans stabilize information and tasks learned during the preceding day. Now, researchers have found that sleep has similar effects upon learning in starlings, a discovery that will open up future research into how the brain learns and preserves information.

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Loss of spiral ganglion neurons or hair cells in the inner ear is the leading cause of congenital and acquired hearing impairment. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health found that Sox2, a protein that regulates stem cell formation, is involved in spiral ganglion neuron development.

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A fast-acting compound that appears to improve cognitive function impairments in mice similar to those found in patients with progressive Alzheimer’s disease has been identified by scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Program in Drug Discovery. Researchers hope to one day replicate the result in humans.

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Prof. Kobi Rosenblum, University of Haifa, has been awarded a €1.6 million grant from DIP, a German-Israeli Project Cooperation. It will fund Prof. Rosenblum's international research of the role of protein expression in memory formation and stability.

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Older women with hypertension are at increased risk for developing brain lesions that cause dementia later in life, according to data from the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS).

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Moderate physical activity performed in midlife or later appears to be associated with a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment, whereas a six-month high-intensity aerobic exercise program may improve cognitive function in individuals who already have the condition, according to two reports in the January issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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Stroke patients admitted to the hospital on the weekend appear more likely to receive the clot-dissolving medication tissue plasminogen activator than patients admitted during the week, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, stroke death rates appear similar among weekend and weekday admissions.

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A combined positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scan of the whole body appears to detect cancer in individuals with related neurologic complications more accurately than some other commonly used tests, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the March print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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New research has shown that reducing the dosage of dopamine agonist (DA) drugs, a mainstay treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD), sometimes causes acute withdrawal symptoms similar to those reported by cocaine addicts -- including anxiety, panic attacks, depression, sweating, nausea, generalized pain, fatigue, dizziness and drug cravings. These symptoms can be severe, and are not alleviated by other PD medications.

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Blocking the function of an enzyme in the brain with a specific kind of vitamin E can prevent nerve cells from dying after a stroke, new research suggests.

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Forgot where you put your car keys? Having trouble recalling your colleague’s name? If so, this may be a symptom of subjective cognitive impairment (SCI), the earliest sign of cognitive decline marked by situations such as when a person recognizes they can’t remember a name like they used to or where they recently placed important objects the way they used to. Studies have shown that SCI is experienced by between one-quarter and one-half of the population over the age of 65. A new study, published in the January 11, 2010, issue of the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, finds that healthy older adults reporting SCI are 4.5 times more likely to progress to the more advanced memory-loss stages of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia than those free of SCI.

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MDA awards $2.5 million grant to ALS TDI, of Cambridge, MA., in unique, collaborate pact to fund therapeutic treatments for deadly neurological disease. ALS TDI is on the fast track in developing treatments for ALS patients, using previous MDA funding of $18 million.

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Using laboratory mice that had been bred to have brain changes similar to Alzheimer’s disease, scientists were able to reduce two characteristic features of the disease by modifying the mice’s immune systems with a special peptide (MOG45D) related to the myelin sheath that insulates nerve cells and nerve fibers. As a result, anti-inflammatory cells were recruited from the blood into the brain, dampening the local inflammatory response.

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A new type of brain scan, called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), appears to be better at detecting whether a person with memory loss might have brain changes of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study published in the January 6, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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The less you use your brain’s frontal lobes, the more you see yourself through rose-colored glasses, a University of Texas at Austin researcher says.

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Neuroscientists at MIT have developed a powerful new class of tools to reversibly shut down brain activity using different colors of light. When targeted to specific neurons, these tools could potentially lead to new treatments for the abnormal brain activity associated with disorders such as chronic pain, epilepsy, brain injury, and Parkinson’s disease.

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A canine chromosome 7 locus that confers a high risk of compulsive disorder susceptibility has been identified through a collaboration between the Behavior Service at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, the Program in Medical Genetics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The findings are published in the January 2010 edition of Nature Molecular Psychiatry.

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Inheritance of an extra copy of the gene- ß -amyloid precursor protein, APP, in individuals with Down syndrome leads to the inevitable development of early onset Alzheimer’s disease, known to be linked to the deposition of Amyloid ß peptide or Aß in the brain. However, a new study published online in PNAS identifies ßCTF, a small protein found in APP, as a novel factor for the development of Alzheimer’s disease related endosome abnormalities, which have also been tied previously to the loss of brain cells in Alzheimer’s disease.

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A new guideline issued by the American Academy of Neurology finds that transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS), a widely used pain therapy involving a portable device, is not recommended to treat chronic low-back painpain that has persisted for three months or longerbecause research shows it is not effective. The guideline is published in the December 30, 2009, online issue of Neurology®.

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Older adults who used the herbal supplement Ginkgo biloba for several years did not have a slower rate of cognitive decline compared to adults who received placebo, according to a study in the December 23/30 issue of JAMA

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By combining a research technique that dates back 136 years with modern molecular genetics, a Johns Hopkins neuroscientist has been able to see how a mammal’s brain shrewdly revisits and reuses the same molecular cues to control the complex design of its circuits.

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Several similar small molecules appear capable of protecting cells from alpha-synuclein toxicity, a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. There is currently no cure for the disease, and current Parkinson’s therapies only address disease symptoms, not the disease’s cellular cause.

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The early stages of Alzheimer’s disease are thought to occur at the synapse, since synapse loss is associated with memory dysfunction. Evidence suggests that amyloid beta (Aβ) plays an important role in early synaptic failure, but little has been understood about Aβ’s effect on the plasticity of dendritic spines.

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Like a spotlight that illuminates an otherwise dark scene, attention brings to mind specific details of our environment while shutting others out. A new study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies shows that the superior colliculus, a brain structure that primarily had been known for its role in the control of eye and head movements, is crucial for moving the mind’s spotlight.

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UCLA scientists have identified a molecular switch that prevents Huntington's disease from developing in mice. Published in the Dec. 24 edition of the journal Neuron, the discovery suggests a new approach to treating the genetic disorder, which ultimately leads to death in as little as 10 years.

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People who have Alzheimer’s disease may be less likely to develop cancer, and people who have cancer may be less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study published in the December 23, 2009, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A group of Norwegian and American researchers have shown that common variations in genes associated with microcephaly – a neuro-developmental disorder in which brain size is dramatically reduced – may explain differences in brain size in healthy individuals as well as in patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders.

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A simple bedside exam performed by a skilled physician can be superior to a high-tech CT scan. Researchers found that bedside exams did a better job than CT scans in predicting which patients would need to return to the operating room to treat complications.

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Over three decades, a world-recognized medical team at UC San Diego Medical Center has spurred the evolution of a complex surgery to destroy dangerous clusters of arteries and veins in the brain. Integrating innovative approaches in radiology, anesthesia, and surgery, the team has perfected a method to systematically starve these abnormal brain lesions, artery by artery, vein by vein.

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Scientists have developed a new web-based tool that may better predict whether a person will suffer a second stroke within 90 days of a first stroke, according to research published in the December 16, 2009, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Bobbie Laird was suffering a life-threatening stroke triggered by a blood clot in her brain nearly half an inch long. Her physician stopped the stroke in its tracks by using a cathether device that busted up the clot and suctioned the debris.

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The NREF has reached an agreement with Codman & Shurtleff, Inc. to provide funding to the NREF in support of the Foundation’s new post-residency fellowship grant program. These fellowships will cover general neurosurgery as well as subspecialty areas such as pediatrics, neurosurgical oncology, peripheral nerve, neurocritical care, and stereotactic & functional neurosurgery.

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Persons with higher levels of leptin, a protein hormone produced by fat cells and involved in the regulation of appetite, may have an associated reduced incidence of Alzheimer disease and dementia, according to a study in the December 16 issue of JAMA.

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Although there were promising results in a phase 2 trial, patients with mild Alzheimer disease who received the drug tarenflurbil as part of a phase 3 trial did not have better outcomes on measures of cognitive decline or loss of activities of daily living compared to patients who received placebo.

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The study, led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is the first of its kind to demonstrate that social service programs can have the added benefits of improving the cognitive abilities of older adults. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers found that seniors participating in a youth mentoring program made gains in key brain regions that support cognitive abilities important to planning and organizing one’s daily life.

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For the first time, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have shown that brain plaques in apparently healthy individuals are associated with increased risk of diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease years later.

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Intensive medical therapy, including aggressive control of blood pressure and cholesterol levels, for patients with asymptomatic plaque buildup in their carotid arteries (which supply blood to the brain) appears to be associated with reduced rates of cardiovascular events and reduced risk of microemboli (microscopic-sized blood clots) in the brain arteries, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the February 2010 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.