Proteins Deep Inside The Nucleus Hold Clues For Two Diseases
...aps the most important area that we now work on is spinal muscular atrophy,"notes Dreyfuss. Reduced levels o...erized by degeneration of motor nerve cells in the spinal cord. SMN (survival of motor neurons) interactswith one type of hnRNP. Essentially, these two prote...Wistar Scientists Locate Genes Involved In Mammalian Tissue Regeneration
...ions for wound and burn healing, organreplacement, spinal cord regeneration and controlled tissue growth. Because mice are genetically similar to humans, they are an ideal model for thelaboratory study of mammalian regeneration. Prior to Dr. Heber-Katz's discoveryof the "healer" mouse, it was possible t...New Test Spots ALD Carriers With Near-Perfect Accuracy
...port informationwithin the brain and from brain to spinal cord. The adrenal glands also aredestroyed. Boys with ALD appear healthy and normal until early childhood, whenthey begin to regress mentally. Thinking deteriorates, along with the abilityto move or see. The severe form, which affects about 40 pe...... called T cells cause inflammation inthe brain and spinal cord, which is eventually followed by demyelination, thebreakdown of the protective sheath that surrounds nerve axons. Certain T cellswork in conjunction with proteins called cytokines to cause the damage. "Inbrains of EAE mice, we saw that the cytok...Cell Suicide Prevented By Survival Signals
...e target for therapy ofneurodegenerative diseases, spinal cord injury or stroke. Researchershypothesize that stroke reduces brain cells' access to survival signals andgradually causes apoptosis in millions of additional cells that survive theinitial insult. "It may be that the Hid pathway operates for the s...Medical Tip Sheet - November 1, 1998
...caused by stroke, Parkinson'sdisease, epilepsy and spinal cord injuries. The treatment involves removal andregeneration of carefully targeted brain cells, which are then re-introducedinto the patient, where growth continues and the brain is repaired. Available for interviews: Michel Levesque, M.D., Director...Hopkins Research Team Cultures Long-Awaited Human Embryonic Stem Cells
...lls could becometransplant therapies for diabetes, spinal cord injury, neurodegenerativedisorders like Parkinson's disease, muscular dystrophies, atherosclerosis andwound healing," says Gearhart. Stem cells could prove valuable in studies onbirth defects, pregnancy loss and cancer biology by revealing whic...First Derivation Of Human Embryonic Stem Cells Reported In Science
...cations in wound healing, stroke, heart attack and spinal cord injury. Collaborations with ES Cell Leaders To accomplish its hES cell program objectives, Geron has established collaborations with renowned researchers in the field. The company funds research by and holds worldwide licensing agreements wit...Sex-Specific Behavior Controlled By Peripheral Nervous System
...on how todevelop treatments for injuries involving spinal cord damage, or which result insensory damage," Weissburg said. For his experiments, Weissburg chose marsh fiddler crabs (Uca pugilator)as a sample species because they are quite common in the eastern United States, andthe males and females a...Scientists Find First Protein In Central Nervous System Junctions
.... In one, stiff baby syndrome, some synapses inthe spinal cord fail to function properly. In the other, moly...e protein, gephyrin, in 1982, isolatingit from the spinal cord and brain. They named it after the Greek word for"bridge" because they thought it might connect...Fetal Surgery For Spina Bifida Still Under Investigation At VUMC
... fetus and sewing shut the opening over thefetus's spinal cord. VUMC is one of only three medical centers in...a," Bruner said. The first damage, or hit, to the spinal cord comes from the fact that the fetushas spina bifida and the spinal cord is developing in an abno...Supernutrients Mean Super Health for Children
... as spina bifida, which occur when asegment of the spinal nerve cord grows outside the bony spiny column. "There are certainly increased requirements of folic acid during fetal growth,"Squires said. "In the 1990s, we have the option of preventing neural-tubedefects. All women of child-bearing age should co...Molecular Basis Of Leading Genetic Cause Of Infant Death Discovered
...d a link between this basic biological process and spinal muscularatrophy, the leading genetic cause of infa...uced levels ormutations in the SMN protein lead to spinal muscle atrophy. Dreyfuss and hiscolleagues -- Penn researchers Livio Pellizzoni, Bernard Charroux, a...New Insight Into Genetic Cause Of Infant Mortality
...hers identified a genetic mutation associated with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), an inherited neuromuscular...ed levels of or mutations in the SMN protein cause spinal muscle atrophy. Dreyfuss and his colleagues have now answered two lingering questions: What is the S...Biochemical Markers Could Help Identify Battered Children
...uild-up of pressure with fluid from patients given spinal taps forother reasons. Some of the children studied had been injured by adults who admittedabusing them. Preliminary evidence suggests that victims of abuse usually have a"whole host of biochemical derangements in the brain", says Kochanek. H...UB Stroke Researchers Develop New Technique To Measure Blood Rate-of-flow, Treat Brain Malformations
...AVM is a tangle of fragile vessels in the brain or spinal chord that forms between an artery, which carries oxygen-rich blood to the brain, and a vein, which drains oxygen-depleted blood back to the lungs for replenishment. It creates a short-circuit between the two circulation systems, shunting blood direc...Severe Pain Following Shingles Safely Relieved In Clinical Trial Of Anti-Convulsant Drug Gabapentin
...ium channel inpain-transmitting nerve cells of the spinal cord, Rowbotham said. What isalready apparent is that gabapentin does not affect the same nerve pathways thatopioids or tricyclics do, making it a new kind of drug for pain. "This is the first non-opioid medication in at least a decade to bep...Jackson Laboratory Researchers Identify Neuromuscular Degeneration Gene
...ases in humans asamyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy. The results are publishe... muscle atrophy due to progressive degeneration of spinal motorneurons, which control the movement of voluntary muscles. The mice exhibitprogressive paralysis......omedical engineering. Renn explains. "In a spinal cord injury, scar tissue blocks the nerveimpulses coming from the brain," he said. "Maybe this technique could be used tobuild a bridge of nerve cells that could be placed over the injured area." Thetissue could also be used to better understand and ...