Futurity.org » neurodegenerative diseases

Tease the brain. It may lower Alzheimer’s risk

Sarah Yang-Berkeley — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:09:25 +0000

UC BERKELEY (US) — Brain-stimulating habits over a lifetime are linked to lower levels of a key Alzheimer’s protein, new research shows.

Brain scans show people with no symptoms of Alzheimer’s who engaged in cognitively stimulating activities throughout their lives had fewer deposits of beta-amyloid, a destructive protein that is the hallmark of the disease.

Worms stop and go with human-like circuits

Jim Erickson-Michigan — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:57:47 +0000

U. MICHIGAN (US) — The strategies used by the tiny C. elegans roundworm to control its motions are remarkably similar to those used by the human brain to command movement of eyes, arms, and legs.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have shown that the roundworm uses two neural circuits that respectively act as a gas pedal and a brake release to change direction. The gas pedal circuit has been known for years and was thought to be the only neural pathway involved.

The scientists found that a second, previously unknown neural pathway is also involved. It acts like releasing the brake pedal on your car to allow motion. The human brain uses both the gas pedal and brake release circuits to command the movement of eyes, arms, and legs.

Mutant worms may tag Parkinson’s drugs

Daniel Oppenheimer-U. Texas — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:35:39 +0000

U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US) — Dopamine-deficient worms with a motor switching problem may help identify drugs that will benefit people with Parkinson’s disease.

Researchers have devised a simple test, based on the difficulty that “parkinsonian” C. elegans worms have in switching from swimming to crawling when they’re taken out of water.

Brain feedback may ease Parkinson’s

Chris Jones-Cardiff — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:52:45 +0000

CARDIFF (UK) — People experiencing the early signs of Parkinson’s disease could see their symptoms improved through a process of regulating and re-training how their brains respond to certain activities and actions.

Experts from Cardiff University report in a paper published in the Journal of Neuroscience using real-time brain imaging to identify how people with Parkinson’s disease react to their own brain responses.

Protein slows brain atrophy in mice

Marla Paul-Northwestern — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:00:28 +0000

NORTHWESTERN (US) — A protein that promotes the growth of neurons and blood vessels may halt the spread of a brain disease that ravages the cerebellum.

The disease, spinocerebellar ataxia type 1, typically strikes people in their 30s and 40s and causes degeneration of the part of the brain that helps coordinate movement. As the disease progresses over 10 to 20 years, patients eventually die from aspiration or infectious pneumonia.

Brain receptors targeted for Alzheimer’s drug

Ellen Goldbaum-Buffalo — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:27:38 +0000

U. BUFFALO (US) — A tiny piece of a critical receptor that fuels the brain shows promise as a new drug target for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

“This is the first time that this site has been shown to be useful as a drug target,” says Gabriela K. Popescu, associate professor of biochemistry at the University at Buffalo.

Technology ‘reads mind’ to make movies

Yasmin Anwar-UC Berkeley — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:19:32 +0000

UC BERKELEY (US) — Researchers decoded the brain signals of people as they watched movie trailers, and replayed those thoughts as movies.

As yet, the technology can only reconstruct movie clips people have already viewed. However, the breakthrough paves the way for reproducing the movies inside our heads that no one else sees, such as dreams and memories, according to researchers.

‘Power plants’ in cells linked to disease

Jim Scott CU-Boulder — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:51:13 +0000

U. COLORADO-BOULDER (US) — Close contact between mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum may be linked to a variety of degenerative diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and stroke.

Mitochondria—tiny sausage-shaped organelles within cells that contain their own DNA—act like miniature power plants, providing cells with the energy to move and divide. The endoplasmic reticulum is a complex network of sacs and tubules that makes proteins and fats.

Cause of Lou Gehrig’s disease found

Marla Paul-Northwestern — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:52:57 +0000

NORTHWESTERN U. (US) — Scientists have identified a common cause for all forms of ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), a fatal neurodegenerative disease that paralyzes its victims.

The discovery by Northwestern University researchers, published in the journal Nature, provides a common target for drug therapy and shows that all types of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are, indeed, tributaries, pouring into a common river of cellular incompetence.

Molecules go to sleep to save power

Jocelyn Duffy-Carnegie Mellon — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 18:55:47 +0000

CARNEGIE MELLON (US) — To conserve cellular fuel, tiny protein motors that transport vital cargo around a cell are able to put themselves into energy save mode to control what is moved and when.

A new study published in Science describes how the motors fold in on themselves, or save energy, when their transport services aren’t required. The solution to this molecular puzzle provides new insight into how molecular motor proteins are regulated, and may open new avenues for the treatment of various neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases.