Newsline — Friday, October 26, 2012 8:00
Researchers Report Widespread Internet Use by Caregivers of Children with Shunts
Neurosurgeon Experiences ‘Proof of Heaven’ While in Coma
Thursday, October 25, 2012 13:00
Four years ago, Harvard neurosurgeon Eben Alexander III, MD, FACS, almost died from a spontaneous E. coli meningitis infection that attacked his brain and sent him into a week-long coma. Brain scans showed that his entire cortex — the area of the brain that provide consciousness, thought, memory and understanding — was not functioning. Doctors gave him little chance to live. His family was told that if he did survive, he would probably have brain damage for the rest of his life. “Nurses would come in, and they would pull his eyelids back, shine in the flashlight, and his eyes were just off and cocked,” says his wife, Holly Alexander. “It’s just like no one was there.” Against all odds, one week later, Alexander woke up, claiming to have experienced what he calls “Proof of Heaven.” To read the full article and see Dr. Alexander’s interview with ABC’s Newsline, click here. To read a first-person account of Dr. Alexander’s coma experience in AANS Neurosurgeon, click here.
Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Network Receives Donations, Funding for Therapy Trial
Thursday, October 25, 2012 8:00
Leading researchers at the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Network (DIAN) have announced that two pharma companies have agreed to donate three investigational drugs and at least partially fund a five-year therapy trial to test those drugs side-by-side in people who are destined by genetics to develop early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Trials directly comparing drugs by different companies have been done in cancer, but are unprecedented in the field of Alzheimer’s research. One of the therapeutics is a small molecule designed to reduce amyloid beta production by blocking the enzyme BACE-1; two are monoclonal antibodies. One of those antibodies, solanezumab, recently was shown to benefit those diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s in a large clinical trial. The other antibody, gantenerumab, currently is in a separate phase 2/3 trial in prodromal AD — the earliest form of disease that is being diagnosed. The DIAN trials will be done in participants at much earlier stages of disease, where researchers hope all anti-amyloid drugs will be more effective. The trials rely on biological markers to ensure that participants actually have amyloid pathology….
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Easy Eye Scan Can Detect Level of Brain Damage in MS Patients
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 13:00
An inexpensive, five-minute eye scan can accurately assess the amount of brain damage in patients suffering from the autoimmune disorder multiple sclerosis (MS) and provide clues to how quickly the disease is progressing — that’s according to two new studies out of Johns Hopkins University. “The eye is the window into the brain, and by measuring how healthy the eye is, we can determine how healthy the rest of the brain is,” says Peter A. Calabresi, MD, a professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the studies described in recent issues of The Lancet Neurology and Archives of Neurology. “Eye scans are not that expensive, are really safe and are widely used in ophthalmology, and now that we have evidence of their predictive value in MS, we think they are ready for prime time. We should be using this new quantitative tool to learn more about disease progression, including nerve damage and brain atrophy.” For more information, click here to read the full release.
Plaque Build-Up in Brain May Cause More Memory Decline than Having Alzheimer’s Gene
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 8:00
A new study shows that having a high amount of beta amyloid or “plaques” in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s may cause steeper memory decline in mentally healthy older people than does having apolipoprotein E (APOE) e4 allele, which also is associated with the disease. The study is published in the Oct. 16, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Our results show that plaques may be a more important factor in determining which people are at greater risk for cognitive impairment or other memory diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease,” says study author Yen Ying Lim, MPsych, of the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. “Unfortunately, testing for the APOE genotype is easier and much less costly than conducting amyloid imaging.” For more information, click here to read the full release.
Salk Institute Scientists Say Glioblastoma Multiforme Can Originate in a Range of Nervous System Cells
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 13:00
Scientists have long thought that glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive type of primary brain tumor, starts in glial cells that make up supportive tissue in the brain or in neural stem cells. But in a paper published Oct. 18, 2012, in the journal Science, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies say that the tumors can originate from other types of differentiated cells in the nervous system, including cortical neurons. GBM is one of the most devastating forms of brain tumor. Despite progress in genetic analysis and classification, the prognosis of these tumors remains poor, with most patients dying within one to two years of diagnosis. The Salk researcher’s findings offer an explanation for the recurrence of GBM following treatment and suggest potential new targets for the treatment of these deadly brain tumors. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Researchers Investigate Neuroprotective Treatment for Parkinson’s Disease
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 8:00
Years before movement problems such as shaking hands, rigid limbs and a loss of balance set in, many Parkinson’s patients struggle with fainting, incontinence, sexual dysfunction, anxiety and depression. To date, these patients often are treated with a 42-year-old drug called L-DOPA, which temporarily delays symptoms, but can also cause heart arrhythmias, stomach bleeding and hallucinations. Now, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have identified a set of experimental drugs called LRRK2 inhibitors that may go beyond symptom relief to directly counter the inflammation and nerve cell death that is at the root of Parkinson’s Disease (PD), based on mouse and cell culture studies meant to approximate human disease. UAB researchers reported on these findings at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans. For more information, click here to read the full release.
New NIH Grant to Further Development of Brain Surgery Robot
Monday, October 22, 2012 15:07
A research team from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue developing a small robot that could one day aid neurosurgeons in removing hard-to-reach brain tumors. The grant is one of the first from the NIH to be awarded to a joint UMB and UMCP research project under the collaboration known as University of Maryland: MPowering the State. Team members Jaydev P. Desai, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering at UMCP; along with Rao Gullapalli, MD, associate professor of diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine, and J. Marc Simard, MD, professor of neurosurgery, both of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, have developed a “Minimally Invasive Neurosurgical Intracranial Robot” (MINIR) prototype over a number of years and demonstrated its feasibility, supported in part by a previous NIH grant. They have evaluated the device under continuous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). According to the researchers, work done on the previous NIH grant helped…
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NASCAR Reconsiders How it Handles Concussion Testing
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 13:00
NASCAR is reviewing with its medical experts all aspects of how the organization deals with concussions, including baseline testing that the IndyCar Series and other contact sports use. For Steve Park, testing can’t come soon enough. The former Sprint Cup driver suffered a massive brain injury in a 2001 Nationwide Series crash at Darlington Raceway. At the recommendation of NASCAR physician Jerry Petty, MD, Park took the ImPACT baseline test in 2003 after suffering a second concussion. Because Park was not tested previously for comparison, there was no way to determine the full extent of his injury. He has wondered for years why NASCAR hasn’t made the test a part of its pre-season health exam. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Researchers Choose Drugs for Major Alzheimer’s Trial
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 9:23
Scientists have selected the first drugs to be evaluated in a worldwide clinical study to determine whether Alzheimer’s disease can be prevented. The pioneering trial is expected to start by early 2013, and initially will test three promising drugs, each meant to target Alzheimer’s differently. In people with inherited mutations that cause early-onset Alzheimer’s, the study will investigate whether the drugs can improve Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers and prevent the loss of cognitive function. For more information, click here to read the full release.