neurodegenerative disorders

New study could lead to better understanding of neurodegenerative disease

harminka — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:26:33 -0500

Genetic evolution is strongly shaped by genes' efforts to prevent or tolerate errors in the production of proteins, scientists at The University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University have found.

Advanced MRI studies provide new insight on early Parkinson's disease

harminka — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:24:52 -0500

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the brain affecting movement, speech, mood, behavior, thinking and sensation for which there is no known cause or cure.

Cow stomach holds key to turning corn into biofuel

harminka — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:27:24 -0500

In recent months a spate of mutations have been found in a disease protein called TDP-43 that is implicated in two neurodegenerative disorders: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, and certain types of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). These mutations could potentially become candidates for drug targets.

Paradoxical Alzheimer's finding may shed new light on memory loss

harminka — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 06:18:41 -0500

Do you remember the seventh song that played on your radio on the way to work yesterday? Most of us don’t, thanks to a normal forgetting process that is constantly “cleaning house” – culling inconsequential information from our brains. Researchers at the Buck Institute now believe that this normal memory loss is hyper-activated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and that this effect is key to the profound memory loss associated with the incurable neurodegenerative disorder.

Learning disabilities associated with language problems later in life

harminka — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:34:52 -0600

Individuals with a neurodegenerative condition affecting language appear more likely to have had a history of learning disabilities than those with other types of dementia or with no cognitive problems, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Trichloroethylene is a risk factor for parkinsonism

harminka — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 07:50:11 -0600

Parkinson’s disease, the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder caused by aging, can also be caused by pesticides and other neurotoxins. A new study found strong evidence that trichloroethylene (TCE) is a risk factor for parkinsonism, a group of nervous disorders with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease.

Abnormal glutamine repeats interfere with key transcription factor

harminka — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:36:24 -0600

Although repeating sequences of three nucleotides encoding some of the bodies' 20 amino acids are a normal part of protein composition, abnormal expansion of trinucleotide repeats is the known cause of multiple inherited neurodegenerative disorders, including Huntington disease.

Scientists link fragile X tremor syndrome to binding protein in RNA

harminka — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 06:47:35 -0500

Scientists have discovered a key protein in the toxic brain pathway that leads to fragile X tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS), an inherited neurodegenerative disorder. The finding, in a Drosophila (fly) model of FXTAS, could help unravel the complex mechanisms of FXTAS and lead scientists to develop therapies to target the protein. The research will be published in the Aug. 16 issue of the journal Neuron.

Huntington's disease study shows animal models on target

harminka — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 01:38:44 -0500

An international team of researchers has published a benchmark study showing that gene expression in several animal models of Huntington’s Disease (HD) closely resembles that of human HD patients.

Alzheimer's associated enzyme can disrupt neural activity in brain

harminka — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:21:44 -0500

An enzyme involved in the formation of the amyloid-beta protein associated with Alzheimer's disease can also alter the mechanism by which signals are transmitted between brain cells, the disruption of which can cause seizures.

Lithium devastating neurodegenerative disorder in mouse model

harminka — Tue, 29 May 2007 06:26:07 -0500

Lithium is one of the oldest psychiatric drugs and still used routinely to ameliorate the symptoms of mood disorders. New results by Huda Zoghbi (Baylor College of Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute), Harry Orr (University of Minnesota) and colleagues now suggest that lithium also holds promise in treating a group of devastating neurodegenerative disorders for which no other treatments exist at present.

Mechanism for Decoding Histone Modification Marks Demonstrated

harminka — Sat, 19 May 2007 02:22:31 -0500

Jerry Workman, Ph.D., Investigator, and Bing Li, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate in the Workman Lab, have published evidence demonstrating that a combinatorial action of multiple protein domains is required to read a histone modification.