http://medicineworld.org/news/neurology-news.html MedicineWorld.Org brings daily neurology news from various sources to keep you updated on the latest events in the world on this topic. Medicineworld neurology news service is the most comprehensive neurology news service on the internet. We keep an archive of previous few days of news on this site. Please go down through the list to find the older news items. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT en-us http://medicineworld.org/images/human-brain-1140054.jpg http://medicineworld.org/news/neurology-news.html 126 92 http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/smoking-and-seizure.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/smoking-and-seizure.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT A recent study determined there is a significant risk of seizure for individuals who currently smoke cigarettes. Boston-based scientists from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School also observed that long-term, moderate intake of caffeine or alcohol does not increase the chance of having a seizure or developing epilepsy. This is the first prospective study to examine the potential risks linked to cigarette smoking, caffeine intake, and alcohol consumption as they independently relate to epilepsy. Full findings of this study are currently available online and will appear in the February 2010 issue of Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/brains-ability-to-reorganize.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/brains-ability-to-reorganize.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT Visually impaired people appear to be fearless, navigating busy sidewalks and crosswalks, safely finding their way using nothing more than a cane as a guide. The reason they can do this, scientists suggest, is that in at least some circumstances, blindness can heighten other senses, helping individuals adapt........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/structural-brain-changes-in-alzheimers-disease.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/structural-brain-changes-in-alzheimers-disease.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT In a study that promises to improve diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease, researchers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a fast and accurate method for quantifying subtle, sub-regional brain volume loss using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The study will be published the week of November 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/potential-treatment-for-huntingtons-disease.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/potential-treatment-for-huntingtons-disease.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham), the University of British Columbia's Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics and the University of California, San Diego have observed that normal synaptic activity in nerve cells (the electrical activity in the brain that allows nerve cells to communicate with one another) protects the brain from the misfolded proteins linked to Huntington's disease. In contrast, excessive extrasynaptic activity (aberrant electrical activity in the brain, commonly not linked to communication between nerve cells) enhances the misfolded proteins' deadly effects. Scientists also observed that the drug Memantine, which is approved to treat Alzheimer's disease, successfully treated Huntington's disease in a mouse model by preserving normal synaptic electrical activity and suppressing excessive extrasynaptic electrical activity. The research was reported in the journal Nature Medicine on November 15........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/stem-cells-help-paralyzed-rats-to-walk.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/stem-cells-help-paralyzed-rats-to-walk.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT The first human embryonic stem cell therapy approved by the FDA for human testing has been shown to restore limb function in rats with neck spinal cord injuries - a finding that could expand the clinical trial to include people with cervical damage. In January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif., permission to test the UC Irvine therapy in individuals with thoracic spinal cord injuries, which occur below the neck. However, trying it in those with cervical damage wasn't approved because preclinical testing with rats hadn't been completed........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/not-enough-amyloid-beta-protein.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/not-enough-amyloid-beta-protein.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT While too much amyloid beta protein in the brain is associated with the development of Alzheimer's disease, not enough of the protein in healthy brains can cause learning problems and forgetfulness, Saint Louis University researchers have found. The finding could lead to better medications to treat Alzheimer's disease, said John Morley, M.D., director of the division of geriatrics at Saint Louis University and the lead researcher on the study........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/nanomedicine-may-help-spinal-cord-injuries.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/11-2009/nanomedicine-may-help-spinal-cord-injuries.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT Scientists at Purdue University have discovered a new approach for repairing damaged nerve fibers in spinal cord injuries using nano-spheres that could be injected into the blood shortly after an accident. The synthetic "copolymer micelles" are drug-delivery spheres about 60 nanometers in diameter, or roughly 100 times smaller than the diameter of a red blood cell........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/statin-against-parkinsonism.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/statin-against-parkinsonism.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT Simvastatin, a usually used, cholesterol-lowering drug, may prevent Parkinson's disease from progressing further. Neurological scientists at Rush University Medical Center conducted a study examining the use of the FDA-approved medicine in mice with Parkinson's disease and observed that the drug successfully reverses the biochemical, cellular and anatomical changes caused by the disease........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/brain-cell-transplants-to-repair-neural-damage.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/brain-cell-transplants-to-repair-neural-damage.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT A Swiss research team has observed that using an animal's own brain cells (autologous transplant) to replace degenerated neurons in select brain areas of donor primates with simulated but asymptomatic Parkinson's disease and previously in a motor cortex lesion model, provides a degree of brain protection and appears to be useful in repairing brain lesions and restoring function........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/for-regeneration-of-nerve-fibers.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/for-regeneration-of-nerve-fibers.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT Scientists at Children's Hospital Boston report that an enzyme known as Mst3b, previously identified in their lab, is essential for regenerating damaged axons (nerve fibers) in a live animal model, in both the peripheral and central nervous systems. Their findings, published online by Nature Neuroscience on October 25, suggest Mst3b or agents that stimulate it as a possible means of treating stroke, spinal cord damage and traumatic brain injury. Normally, neurons in the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) cannot regenerate injured nerve fibers, limiting people's ability to recover from brain or spinal cord injuries........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/looking-into-eyes-to-find-alzheimers.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/looking-into-eyes-to-find-alzheimers.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT The eyes appears to be the windows to the soul, but new research indicates they also may mirror a brain ravaged by Alzheimer's disease. UC Irvine neuroresearchers have observed that retinas in mice genetically altered to have Alzheimer's undergo changes similar to those that occur in the brain - most notably the accumulation of amyloid plaque lesions........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/now-you-can-see-perception-of-invisible-stimuli.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/now-you-can-see-perception-of-invisible-stimuli.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT Eventhough we assume we can see everything in our field of vision, the brain actually picks and chooses the stimuli that come into our consciousness. A newly released study in the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology's Journal of Vision reveals that our brains can be trained to consciously see stimuli that would normally be invisible........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/deep-into-the-brain-working.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/deep-into-the-brain-working.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT Research presented today at Neuroscience 2009, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health, provide further insights into brain mechanisms, including those involved in music, social interaction, learning and memory........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/why-seizures-occur-with-alcohol-withdrawal.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/why-seizures-occur-with-alcohol-withdrawal.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT Epileptic seizures are the most dramatic and prominent aspect of the "alcohol withdrawal syndrome" that occurs when a person abruptly stops a long-term or chronic drinking habit. Scientists have shown that the flow of calcium ions into brain cells via voltage-gated calcium channels plays an important role in the generation of alcohol withdrawal seizures, because blocking this flow suppresses these seizures. But do the changes in calcium currents contribute to alcohol withdrawal seizures or are they a consequence of the seizures?....... ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/migraine-sufferers-beware.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/10-2009/migraine-sufferers-beware.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:58:27 GMT Migraine sufferers, beware. You appears to be more prone to an alcohol-induced headache after a night of drinking, as per scientists from the Jefferson Headache Center. The research will be presented at Neuroscience 2009, the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in Chicago. Until now, studying the mechanism behind migraine and other forms of recurrent headaches has not been possible in an animal model, as per Michael Oshinsky, Ph.D., assistant professor of Neurology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, and a member of the Jefferson Headache Center team. In order to facilitate the study of migraine, Dr. Oshinsky developed a rat model in which headaches are induced by repeatedly stimulating, over weeks to months, the brain's dura mater with an inflammatory mixture........ ]]>