Brain Diseases

A team led by Portuguese researchers discovered brain substructures with different connectivity profiles which affect the motor and non-motor aspects of the human body. These findings can help medical teams to improve the targets of their Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) procedures in patients with dystonia and Parkinson’s disease. The results have just been published in one of the most prestigious journals in the field of Neuroscience, Neuroimage.

There are important, long-term gains from hastening the processes around surgical interventions against epilepsy – before the disease has had too much negative impact on brain functions and patients’ lives. These are some of the findings of a thesis for which more than 500 patients were studied and followed up.

Astrocytes, the brain’s most abundant cells, are essential to the survival and healthy function of nerve cells. But aberrant astrocytes may be driving brain disorders.

Contact Gabe Cherry, 734-763-2937, [email protected]

Stanford researchers used a rodent model to discover that shifting the firing pattern of a particular set of brain cells is all it takes to initiate, or to terminate, an absence seizure.

Familial Dysautonomia may be slowed by phosphatidylserine,
Tel Aviv University researchers say

UVA researchers discover an influential type of immune cell in the membranes around the brain;
These cells kick off powerful immune responses to disease or injury;
Their presence around the brain comes as a surprise;
The cells may play a vital role connecting the brain with our gut microbiota, which is essential for good health;
The cells have a major effect on recovery from spinal cord injury, UVA shows;
By targeting the cells, doctors may be able to develop new treatments for many neurological conditions, including migraines.

Neural stem cells have been found in epileptic brain tissue — outside the regions of the brain where they normally reside. In a group of patients who underwent surgery for epilepsy, over half had stem cells where healthy individuals do not have them, according to a study from Sahlgrenska Academy.

An achievement by UCLA neuroscientists could lead to a better understanding of astrocytes, a type of cell in the brain that is thought to play a role in Lou Gehrig’s disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS; Alzheimer’s disease; Huntington’s disease; and other neurological disorders.

NIH scientists film inside mouse brains to uncover biology behind the disease.

The finding by USC researchers may explain how Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s affect men and women

Computer Simulations by CMU's Maria Kurnikova Helped Identify the Drug's Binding Sites

Researchers have linked a debilitating neurological disease in children to mutations in a gene that regulates neuronal development through control of protein movement within neuronal cells.

Researchers centered at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) identify novel type of cell death in Huntington’s disease that may uncover new treatments

Rice University scientists analyze repeats in proteins implicated in neurological diseases – See more at: http://news.rice.edu/2016/11/10/hunt-for-huntingtons-cause-yields-clues/#sthash.KXYKOE4Q.dpuf

The compound huperzine A can increase resistance to induced seizures in mouse models of genetic epilepsy, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have found.

Synapses, the place where brain cells contact one another, play a pivotal role in the transmission of toxic proteins. This allows neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s to spread through the brain. This the main conclusion of new research led by professor Patrik Verstreken (VIB-KU Leuven), in collaboration with Janssen Research & Development (Johnson & Johnson). If the spreading of these toxic proteins could be prevented, the progression of neurodegenerative diseases might be slowed down substantially. The research paper is published in the leading trade journal Cell Reports.

Scientists have identified a gene in the French-Canadian population that predisposes them to the development of intracranial aneurysm (IA), a potentially life threatening neurological condition that is responsible for approximately 500,000 deaths worldwide per year, half of which occur in people less than 50 years of age.

You probably know someone who has it. It is the most common movement disorder, yet most people don’t even know its name.

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin will study the interaction between acute illness and brain dysfunction after they were awarded significant funding – a projected $1.2 million over five years — from the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).