Oxidative stress could be a driving force in the spreading of aberrant proteins involved in Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease with clinical manifestations that include motor (e.g., tremor and slowness in movements) as well as non-motor (e.g., sleep disorders and depression) symptoms. At the microscopic and pathological levels, the disease is characterized by…

Much like a supply truck crossing the countryside, the misfolded proteins that damage neurons in Alzheimer’s disease travel the ‘roads’ of the brain, sometimes stopping and sometimes re-routing to avoid roadblocks. The findings shed light on how tau proteins, which form tangled clumps that damage brain cells in Alzheimer’s, move through the brain. The study…

Adolescent girls who reach puberty at an earlier age may also have a greater chance of developing migraine headaches, according to new research. «We know that the percentage of girls and boys who have migraine is pretty much the same until menstruation begins,» says Vincent Martin, MD, professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine…

MW189 blocks abnormal inflammation in the brain that is known to contribute to injury- and disease-induced neurologic impairments in a number of acute and chronic brain disorders. This study examined MW189 in healthy adult volunteers. The paper was accepted in February by Clinical Pharmacology in Drug Development and the article published online this week. Clinical…

Many psychiatric drugs act on the receptors or transporters of certain neurotransmitters in the brain. However, there is a great need for alternatives, and research is looking at other targets along the brain’s metabolic pathways. Lack of glycine betaine contributes to brain pathology in schizophrenia, and new research shows that betaine supplementation can counteract psychiatric…

Scientists have found that certain self-renewing stem cells have built-in tracers — made out of sugars — that can do the job without added chemical ‘labels’ when injected into mouse brains. The finding, made with stem cells widely engineered into experimental therapies for multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases, was a welcome surprise, the investigators…

A new study has revealed that treatment for heart attacks could be improved thanks to a novel method of evaluating heart function using contrast-based MRI scans. The research, published in the top science journal Advanced Science, found that injection of the trace mineral manganese could enhanced MRI scans so that they provided more accurate details…

Adolescents who had received a mental health disorder diagnosis were often excluded from the labor market and education as young adults. This particularly applied to adolescents who had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder or psychosis. The results were found out in a birth cohort study of people born in Finland in 1987. Almost…

As the nationwide opioid epidemic continues, more young people are developing a life-threatening heart infection that can result from drug abuse. It predominantly affects young, white, poor men who also have higher rates of HIV, hepatitis C and alcohol abuse. Infective endocarditis occurs when bacteria or fungi in the blood stream enter the heart’s inner…

Findings show that cell-free DNA in cerebrospinal fluid can be used to detect measurable residual disease and identify patients at risk of relapse. Medulloblastoma is among the most common malignant pediatric brain tumors. Imaging at the end of therapy is helpful to assess for the absence of bulky disease but, to date, there is no…