Researchers have identified a new gene that causes a common form of inherited Parkinson’s disease (PD) and whose understanding they believe “will impact not only patients and their families but will open novel avenues of research aimed at identifying and ultimately halting the molecular events that lead to PD.”

The international research team reported finding the gene in a mutant form in five families from Spain and the United Kingdom. They have named the protein “dard

Retina specialists and ophthalmologists are encouraged by promising new scientific approaches that could have the potential to reduce the devastating effects of wet AMD for patients and offer the medical community a new paradigm of care, according to presentations made at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in New Orleans.

Many experts consider AMD, the leading cause of blindness in Americans over age 50, as a growing public health epidemic. Diagno

A piece of the puzzle of how nerves find their way across the midline of the brain and spinal cord in a developing embryo has been found by Medical College of Georgia researchers.

They have found that an enzyme called focal adhesion kinase tells the arm-like extension of a neuron to cross the midline of the spinal cord, says Dr. Wen-Cheng Xiong, developmental neurobiologist and lead author on the paper in the November issue of Nature Neuroscience. After crossing, the axon become

American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurological Association, together representing more than 18,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, today announced their support for government funding of adult and embryonic stem cell research.

The “The AAN and ANA recognize there are differing ethical opinions on the status of embryos that cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of all through medical science alone,” according to American Academy of Neurology president Sand

A test that generally is used to measure the amount of vitamin B12 in the body is not sensitive enough to detect a deficiency of the vitamin, which has been linked to several neurological conditions, according to Saint Louis University research. The findings were presented this month at a meeting of the American Neurological Association.

“B12 deficiency is associated with dementia, peripheral neuropathy and spinal cord disease,” says Florian Thomas, M.D., Ph.D., associate profess

A little over a year ago, the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), the D. Collen Research Foundation, and the Catholic University of Leuven invested in the acquisition of a new technology provided by the zebra fish. This small aquarium fish can be used to aid the study of the function of human genes. That this investment is reaping returns is evident from the study that VIB researchers at the Catholic University of Leuven are publishing today in the renowned journal Nature.

An errant enzyme linked to bipolar disorder, in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, impairs cognition under stress, an animal study shows. The disturbed thinking, impaired judgment, impulsivity, and distractibility seen in mania, a destructive phase of bipolar disorder, may be traceable to overactivity of protein kinase C (PKC), suggests the study, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Institute on Aging (NIA), and the

Russian researchers have developed a small, smart and tolerant to vibrations spectrometer, which is equally reliable in the outer space and in oceanic depths. The development was performed with financial support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) and the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE). The unique device is based on a completely new principle: the light goes through an acoustooptical filter in the device.

Specialists of the Sci

In August and September of this year, three powerful icebreakers transited to the North Pole in search of a climate record stored in sediments below the Arctic Ocean floor. During the spectacular Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX), conducted by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), 340 meters of sediment core were retrieved from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean — a true “first.” With these sediments in hand, earth scientists for the first time can move away from pure speculation about the

Caspase levels are associated with liver injury

Caspase activity in the sera of patients with chronic hepatitis C infection (HCV) may be a more sensitive measure of liver injury than conventional surrogate markers like aminotransferases, according to a new study published in the November 2004 issue of Hepatology. Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is available online via Wiley

Fibrin gel matrix-based vessel ready for test transplantation after only two weeks in culture

The search for a stable, renewable source of blood vessels, especially for potential use in heart bypass surgery, has reached a milestone at the State University of New York at Buffalo. A multi-disciplinary team at SUNY Buffalo designed tissue engineered blood vessels (TEVs) using a matrix of vascular smooth muscle embedded in fibrin gels. After only two weeks in culture, the TEVs show

The Minimally Invasive Surgical Therapies (MIST) Consortium for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) has launched a new study to compare long-term benefits and risks of transurethral needle ablation (TUNA) and transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT) to a regimen of the alpha-1 inhibitor alfuzosin and the 5-alpha reductase inhibitor finasteride. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at NIH, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is investing more tha

Medical scientists at the University of Leicester have announced they have narrowed the search for the ’death clock’ gene in humans. Their study relates to a hunt for a gene that has important implications for aging and cancer as well as other age-related diseases.

The gene controls the length of human telomeres – repeat DNA sequences that cap a chromosome. Each time a human cell divides, the cap shortens. When it gets too short, cells die. Telomere length therefore acts

A gene hunt being carried out at the University of Leicester for a skin disorder that affects over one million people in the UK alone has made a new breakthrough which could lead to the design of new and more targeted drugs.

The research team in the University of Leicester Division of Medical Genetics, led by Professor Richard Trembath, has been investigating Psoriasis – an inflammatory skin condition – for a number of years. Now Professor Trembath believes the research has made

Moscow engineers have invented and produced a ’black box’ the size of a meccano brick which is able to record and memorise all details of movement of the object carrying the device. In fact, the device does not do it during its entire life-cycle but only within the last 15 seconds. However, these last seconds in particular are often the most important ones.

This device has been invented, produced and is being tested by engineers of the Moscow CONUS Company, specialisi

It depends on what we’re thinking about!

Researchers are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to probe brain activity in search of the answer. According to a new fMRI study using a “diary” method to collect memories, it all depends on what we’re thinking about!

Researchers have known for decades that thinking about autobiographical facts is different from thinking about autobiographical episodes that happened only once. Since both kinds of thoughts

Duke University Medical Center geneticists have discovered new proteins that help the olfactory system in mammals organize properly. Thus the proteins are key to the ability of mammals, including humans, to detect and respond appropriately to chemicals in the environment via their sense of smell. The finding in mice paves the way for scientists to unravel the underlying code that allows the brain to interpret smells, according to the researchers.

Using genetic manipulations, th

Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Geographic potential of Argentine ants (Linepithema humile Mayr) in the face of global climate change by Dr N Roura-Pascual, Dr AV Suarez, Dr C Gómez, Dr P Pons, Dr Y Touyama, Dr AL Wild and Dr AT Peterson

We examined the potential worldwide distribution of the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) based on current climate models and also in the face of projected future climate change. Native to South Americ

The last novel written by author Iris Murdoch before she died reveals signs of the first stages of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the latest online issue of Brain.

As part of their on-going research into the effects of Alzheimer’s disease on language, scientists at University College London and Medical Research Council’s Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit decided to compare three of Dame Iris Murdoch’s works, including her final novel written just befo

While millions of people across the world enjoyed the tale of a father fish in search of his lost son in the film Finding Nemo, a research project at the University of Leicester has delved into the reality of how fish find and recognise one another.

In a case of life imitating art, the scientists at Leicester have discovered that there are techniques that ’friendly fish’ use to find one another.

The study by Dr Paul Hart and Dr Ashley Ward, of the Department of Biology