Newsline — Thursday, June 11, 2015 10:38
Stroke Steals Eight Years’ Worth of Brain Function Overnight
Program Launched to Treat Link Between Domestic Violence and Traumatic Brain Injury
Wednesday, June 10, 2015 17:00
One of the largest (and longest running) domestic violence shelters in the U.S. recently announced plans to develop the first program dedicated to the analysis and treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in women and children coping with domestic violence. Much like professional sports players and military personnel, women and children impacted by domestic violence are more likely than the general public to suffer from a TBI. Previous studies of domestic-violence shelters have found that an estimated 92 percent of women had been hit in the head by their partners, 83 percent had been both hit in the head and severely shaken and nearly eight percent had been hit in the head over 20 times in the previous year. The Sojourner BRAIN Program will serve as a center of leadership for developing a body of knowledge regarding the incidence, short- and long-term effects and treatment of TBI in the domestic violence population. “Accounting for the incidence of TBI in victims of domestic violence could potentially result in 20 million women exhibiting signs and symptoms of…
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MRI Technology Reveals Deep Brain Pathways in Unprecedented Detail
Wednesday, June 10, 2015 10:36
A new type of MRI allows a new level of brain mapping which has exceeded all other methods, while being less invasive than traditional imaging techniques. Scientists at Duke Medicine published a study in the journal Human Brain Mapping detailing the production of a high resolution image using a 10-day scan, followed by 3D-imaging application, which resulted in an unexpected level of clarity and detail. Testing the method on 12 subjects who had already been treated for tumor removal, researchers were able to pinpoint the ideal placement of electrodes instead of using traditional trial and error methods, reducing healing time and patient impact. “These images are 1,000 times more detailed than a clinical MRI,” said the author of the paper. “You can actually see the nerve fibers in the brain, how they’re crossing, and the subtleties of contrast between gray and white matter in the brain far beyond what a clinical scan could offer.” To learn more about this study, click here.
Proteins May Slow Memory Loss in People with Alzheimer’s Disease
Tuesday, June 9, 2015 13:00
A groundbreaking study may indicate that the presence of a protein known as neuronal pentraxin-2 may slow the cognitive decline and brain atrophy found in Alzheimer’s disease, leading to hopes that this effect can be replicated and applied as a treatment. A food science and nutrition researcher at Iowa State University recently discovered the correlation, and presented the findings at the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society‘s annual scientific meeting. Those displaying higher levels of neuronal pentraxin-2 displayed little to no memory loss within two years of diagnosis, while higher levels of inflammatory proteins seemed to accelerate the atrophy process. “Attaining higher levels of education, having a mentally demanding job, or regular and sustained mental effort builds something called cognitive reserve,” the author said. “Cognitive reserve is thought to be a protective factor against memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. Neuronal pentraxin-2 may play a role in building cognitive reserve, helping to help create and remodel connections between neurons to handle the increased complexity thrown at the brain.” To learn more about this study, click here.
Nanotechnology Identifies Brain Tumors Through Virtual Biopsy Technology
Tuesday, June 9, 2015 9:00
Biomedical researchers from Cedars-Sinai recently developed a small drug-delivery system that can identify cancer-cell types in the brain via “virtual biopsies” and then attack the molecular structure of the disease. The drug delivery system and its components, together called a nanobioconjugate, or nanodrug, is in an emerging class of molecular drugs designed to slow or stop cancers by blocking them in multiple ways within the brain. The drug is about 20 to 30 nanometers in size — a fraction of a human hair, which is 80,000 to 100,000 nanometers wide. The results of this study show that this technology could potentially be used to deliver nano-scale drugs in humans that can distinguish and fight tumor cells in the brain without resorting to surgery. “Our nanodrug can be engineered to carry a variety of drugs, proteins and genetic materials to attack tumors on several fronts from within the brain,” said the lead researcher of the study. “Each component serves a specialized function, such as seeking out cancer cells and binding to them, permeating the walls of…
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Researchers Use Implantable Micro-Device to Monitor Oxygen in Glioma Treatment Outcomes
Monday, June 8, 2015 13:00
A new technique known as electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) allows the direct monitoring of oxygen levels in orthotopic human glioma xenograft, which will positively impact treatment outcomes of the condition, if applied with current treatments. Researchers from Dartmouth’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center published a paper in the journal International Journal of Cancer on the technique entitled, “Monitoring oxygen levels in orthotopic human glioma xenograft following carbogen inhalation and chemotherapy by implantable resonator-based oximetry.” According to the main author, “For the first time, we were able to directly monitor oxygen levels in human tumors growing in a mouse brain using EPR oximetry with implantable resonators. This provides exciting opportunities to evaluate and optimize various strategies being developed to improve oxygen levels in the glioma.” Hypoxia has long been associated with glioma developing a resistance to radiotherapy, which impedes treatment success. Using implanted resonators, technicians can observe overall oxygen levels within the glioma in order to route treatment direction to avoid resistance development. To learn more about this study, click here.
Study Identifies Pathway That May Cause Seizures and Shorten Survival for Patients with Severe Brain Tumors
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:02
In findings recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham identified a chemical pathway that may be associated with seizures and shorter patient survival in those with malignant gliomas. The researchers suggest that a transporter known as SXC is responsible for boosting levels of glutamate in the brains of some glioma patients. Glutamate is a vital neurotransmitter in the brain, however, increased expression of glutamate can kill healthy cells surrounding a malignant tumor — giving the tumor more room for growth. Glioma-produced glutamate may also be responsible for seizures that are present in about half of all glioma patients. “We hypothesized that the SXC glutamate transporter, and in particular a sub-unit called SLC7A11, was responsible for this increase in glutamate,” said the senior author of the study. “In both animal models and in human glioma cells, we found that approximately 50 percent of patient tumors had elevated SLC7A11 expression, and those tumors grew faster, killed more healthy cells, induced seizures and shortened overall survival than did tumors…
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Study Identifies Possible Role for Carbon Monoxide in Treating Hemorrhagic Stroke
Friday, June 5, 2015 13:00
Small amounts of carbon monoxide, a compound infamous for causing thousands of deaths as well as numerous brain conditions, may actually protect the brain from damage if administered after a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Researchers from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center wrote in The Journal of Clinical Investigation regarding their experiments in which minute amounts of carbon monoxide were found to accelerate a natural cellular process that removes heme — a highly toxic element found in red blood cells known for accumulating and causing brain inflammation following a hemorrhagic stroke. “My laboratory has been studying the properties of carbon monoxide for years, but we’ve never investigated a possible therapeutic role for CO in the brain,” said a lead researcher. The co-senior authors of the study were interested in subarachnoid hemorrhage and were already investigating mechanisms by which heme caused inflammation in the brain following stroke. “It was this natural multidisciplinary collaboration between our laboratories that helped lead to this exciting paradoxical discovery.” To learn more about this study, click here.
New Technique Speeds NanoMRI Imaging
Friday, June 5, 2015 10:01
NanoMRI, a nondestructive, high-resolution 3D scanning technique, has become a powerful tool for researchers and companies who want to explore the shape and function of biological materials, such as virus and cells, much in the same way that clinical MRI machines enable investigation of whole tissues in the body. However, producing images with near-atomic resolution is difficult and time consuming — a single nanoMRI scan can take weeks to complete. In an attempt to overcome this limitation, researchers in Switzerland developed a parallel measurement technique, also referred to as “multiplexing.” The new technique can measure information at the same time with a single detector, instead of sequentially. “As a loose analogy, think of how your eyes register green, red and blue information at the same time using different receptors — you’re measuring different colors in parallel,” said a key researcher on the team. The research team’s work greatly accelerates the speed of nanoMRI measurements, and could allow for potential commercial implementation. To read more about this study, click here.
Risks of Whole Brain Radiation Therapy Outweigh Benefits for Patients with Brain Metastases
Friday, June 5, 2015 9:00
New findings strongly recommend that whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) causes significant damage to cognitive function in patients with brain metastases, overwhelming any perceived benefits of the treatment. Researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are presenting their findings at the plenary session of the American Society for Clinical Oncology’s 2015 annual meeting. The research follows up on randomized studies that were conducted in order to determine a stronger relationship between cognitive damage and this treatment. “The question we were left with was understanding the toxicities associated with whole brain radiation therapy, specifically cognitive function,” said the lead author of the study. “We needed to understand what’s worse — the cognitive impact of the whole brain radiation therapy, or, in other words, the therapy itself, or the recurrence of tumors. Our study gives us the clearest picture of the impact of WBRT on cognitive function. To date, we’ve really not had that.” The study revealed higher rates of cognitive progression (defined in the study as a cognitive decline in any of the…
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