Newsline — Wednesday, May 21, 2014 9:00
Research Shows Strategic Thinking Strengthens Intellectual Capacity
Study Helps Explain Why MS is More Common in Women
Tuesday, May 20, 2014 13:00
Findings published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, may help explain why so many more women than men suffer from multiple sclerosis (MS). Women develop the disorder nearly four times more than men do, however, the reasons why are unclear. The new study is the first to associate a difference between the brains of women and men with MS. The researchers found that females susceptible to MS produce higher levels of a blood vessel receptor protein, S1PR2, compared to males. The protein is present at even higher levels in the brain areas that MS typically damages. “We looked at its function in mice,” said the senior author of the study, “We found that it can determine whether immune cells cross blood vessels into the brain. These cells cause the inflammation that lead to MS.” Additional experiments showed that S1PR2 opened up the blood-brain barrier. This barrier normally blocks potentially harmful substances from entering the brain. Opening it up likely allows the inflammatory cells that cause MS to get into the central nervous system. To read…
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Studies Identify Spinal Cord Neurons that Control Skilled Limb Movement
Tuesday, May 20, 2014 9:00
Findings from two recent studies, published in separate issues of Nature, identified two types of neurons that enable the spinal cord to control skilled forelimb movement. The first is a group of excitatory interneurons that are needed to make accurate and precise movements; the second is a group of inhibitory interneurons necessary for achieving smooth movement of the limbs. “We take for granted many motor behaviors, such as catching a ball or flipping a coin, that in fact require considerable planning and precision,” said a senior author of the study. “While such motor acts seems effortless, they depend on intricate and carefully orchestrated communication between neural networks that connect the brain to the spinal cord and muscles.” To read more about this study, click here.
Researchers Find Neural Signature for Mistake Correction
Monday, May 19, 2014 13:00
In findings from an eight-year study recently published in Cell, scientists at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics discovered the neural circuit associated with correcting one’s mistakes, an elusive brain signal underlying memory transfer. During the study, scientists purposely prevented mice from making correct decisions by blocking gamma oscillations. In order to do so, researchers created a transgenic mouse with a light-activated protein called archaerhodopsin (ArchT) in the hippocampus, which had the ability to shut off gamma activity. As a result, the mice could no longer accurately chose the right direction. The findings of the study highlight the importance of gamma oscillations in cognition and their involvement in other behaviors requiring retrieval and evaluation of working memory. To read more about this study, click here.
Social Workers Can Help Patients Recover from mTBI
Monday, May 19, 2014 9:00
Few people with mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) receive appropriate psychological and social follow-up care that can make the difference in whether or not they fully recover. A University of Washington researcher has found that a 20-minute conversation with a social worker has the potential to significantly reduce the functional decline of those diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury. “Social workers are masters-level trained clinicians who are already embedded in emergency room treatment teams,” Megan Moore said. “The goal of my work is to provide them with specialized training on mild traumatic brain injuries to help bridge the psychological and social aspects of treatment with medical care.” While conducting her doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, she designed a study that is currently running at San Francisco General Hospital, a Level 1 Trauma Center. There, medical staff identify patients with mTBI and refer them to social workers, who provide education, coping strategies, resources and a brief alcohol intervention screening. Social workers later follow up with a phone call to see how the…
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Experimental Antibody Shows Early Promise for Treatment of Advanced Neuroblastoma
Friday, May 16, 2014 13:00
In a study at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, an experimental antibody showed early promise for treatment of advanced neuroblastoma. Tumors shrank or disappeared, and disease progression was temporarily halted in 15 children in a Phase I study of an immune therapy manufactured at the hospital. Four patients are still alive after more than two-and-a-half years and without additional treatment. With initial findings recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the results prompted St. Jude to expand clinical trials of the monoclonal antibody hu14.18K322A to include patients newly diagnosed with neuroblastoma. “This was the first time this experimental antibody was tried in patients. We were encouraged with the response,” said first author Fariba Navid, MD, an associate member of the St. Jude department of oncology. “The percentage of patients who benefited from treatment with hu14.18K322A was unusual for a Phase I study.” To learn more about the study, click here.
New MRI-guided Biopsy for Brain Cancer
Friday, May 16, 2014 10:00
Neurosurgeons at UC San Diego Heath System have, for the first time, combined real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology with novel non-invasive cellular mapping techniques to develop a new biopsy approach that increases the accuracy of diagnosis for patients with brain cancer. The team, led by Clark C. Chen, MD, PhD, vice-chairman of research, division of neurosurgery, UC San Diego School of Medicine, applied an MRI technique called Restriction Spectrum Imaging (RSI) to visualize the parts of the brain tumor that contain different cell densities. To ensure a targeted biopsy, Chen performs the procedure in the MRI suite while the patient is under general anesthesia, using a special MRI-compatible system called ClearPoint. This system utilizes an integrated set of hardware, software and surgical equipment to allow the surgeon to target and visualize the path of the biopsy as well as the actual biopsy site, intraoperatively. To learn more about the process, click here.
Low Tolerance for Pain May Be in the Genes
Thursday, May 15, 2014 13:00
Researchers may have identified key genes linked to why some people have a higher tolerance for pain than others, according to a recent study. Researchers evaluated 2,721 people diagnosed with and taking prescription opioid pain medications for chronic pain for certain genes. The genes involved were COMT, DRD2, DRD1 and OPRK1. Nine percent of the participants had low pain perception, 46 percent had moderate pain perception and 45 percent had high pain perception. The researchers found that the DRD1 gene variant was 33 percent more prevalent in the low pain group than in the high pain group. Among people with a moderate pain perception, the COMT and OPRK variants were 25 percent and 19 percent more often found than in those with a high pain perception. The DRD2 variant was 25 percent more common among those with a high pain perception, compared to people with moderate pain. “Chronic pain can affect every other part of life,” said study author Tobore Onojjighofia, MD, MPH. “Finding genes that may be play a role in pain perception could…
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Using Fat to Fight Brain Cancer
Thursday, May 15, 2014 9:07
In laboratory studies, Johns Hopkins researchers report, in a study published in PLOS ONE, that they have found that stem cells from a patient’s own fat may have the potential to deliver new treatments directly into the brain after the surgical removal of a glioblastoma. As mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have an unexplained ability to seek out damaged cells, they may provide clinicians a new tool for accessing difficult-to-reach parts of the brain where cancer cells can hide and proliferate anew. For their test-tube experiments, Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, MD, FAANS, a professor of neurosurgery, oncology and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and his colleagues bought human MSCs derived from both fat and bone marrow, and also isolated and grew their own stem cell lines from fat removed from two patients. Comparing the three cell lines, they discovered that all proliferated, migrated, stayed alive and kept their potential as stem cells equally well. Ideally, if MSCs work, a patient with a glioblastoma would have some adipose tissue removed — from any number of…
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Study: Mouthguard Type Matters in Reducing Athletes’ Concussion Risk
Wednesday, May 14, 2014 13:00
High school football players wearing store-bought, over-the-counter (OTC) mouthguards were more than twice as likely to suffer mild traumatic brain injures (mTBI)/concussions than those wearing custom-made, properly fitted mouthguards, according to a recent study published in General Dentistry, the peer-reviewed clinical journal of the Academy of General Dentistry. The study followed 412 players from six high school football teams. While all players wore the same style of football helmet, three teams (220 athletes) were randomly assigned to wear custom-made mouthguards, and three teams (192 athletes) wore standard OTC mouthguards of their own choosing. According to the study, 8.3 percent of athletes in the OTC mouthguard group suffered mTBI/concussion injuries. For those with custom-made mouthguards, however, the rate was only 3.6 percent. To learn more about the study, click here.