JCI table of contents, February 1, 2006
... of blindness in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), refers to abnormal blood vessel growth in t...d protein deposits found in the eye during macular degeneration The presence of insoluble misfolded clumps of protein called " amyloid fibrils" is a characteristic ...Approaching a stem cell therapy for Parkinson's disease
... of patients. Parkinson's Disease is caused by the degeneration of dopamine-producing cells in a certain part of the brain. By studying the embryonic development of the central nervous system, research groups led by Johan Ericson and Thomas Perlmann at Karolinska Institutet have been able to show that two genes, ...Scientists link another gene to degenerative blindness
...odegenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). It has been a painstaking scientific journey as AMD and RP each belong to a complex family of disorders, in which every disorder has many forms and each form is encoded with a distinct genetic recipe. Even AMD, a ...Weizmann Institute suggests that immune cells help to maintain cognition and brain cell renewal
...amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and the nerve degeneration that results from trauma or stroke. In their earlier research, Schwartz and her team provided evidence to suggest that T cells directed against CNS components do not attack the brain but instead, recruit the help of the brain's own resident immune ce...JCI table of contents: January 12, 2006
...characterized by progressive loss of vision due to degeneration of the choroid and retina. The disorder is caused ...bsence of REP-1 results in nutrient deficiency and degeneration of light-sensitive photoreceptors embedded within the thin layer at the rear of the eye (the retinal...Dogs keep dying: Many owners unaware of toxic dog food
...liver unique for aflatoxin toxicity, such as fatty degeneration of individual cells. "Even if dogs show no signs of illness, if they have eaten the affected food, they should have blood tests submitted to detect liver injury," Center stressed. "Dogs that show positive results on any of the above tests should be ...Brain's own cannabis compound protects against inflammation
...d to new drugs to treat the inflammation and brain degeneration from MS or other such disorders. In an article in the January 5, 2006, issue of Neuron, the researchers reported experiments showing how the endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) protects brain cells from inflammation. Such a role in the brain's immune sy...Standing up to paraplegia with gene therapy
...save sensory and skeletal muscle nerve fibers from degeneration in mice with hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP). ...se for many other disorders characterized by nerve degeneration due to loss of function of a known gene. Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), a neurodegenerative di...JCI table of contents: December 15, 2005
...save sensory and skeletal muscle nerve fibers from degeneration in mice with hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP). ...se for many other disorders characterized by nerve degeneration due to loss of function of a known gene. Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), a neurodegenerative di...Increasing norepinephrine stabilizes breathing patterns in a mouse model of Rett Syndrome
...ergic pathways. Here the authors show that further degeneration of breathing patterns is associated with a reduction in medullary serotonin content, evident in the mouse at about two months of age. "Re-focusing on a disturbed neuromodulatory state which was first reported in the late 1980's by Huda Zoghbi, is ve...Bone quality regulator identified, suggests drug target
... is known as osteoarthritis. Some diseases of bone degeneration are genetic, such as osteogenesis imperfecta, which is characterized by brittleness of bone, rather than loss of bone, and osteopetrosis, in which bones become overly dense, leading to a variety of significant disorders, including blindness, deafness...A Jekyll-and-Hyde enzyme's role in Alzheimer's
... mechanisms can go awry to contribute to the brain degeneration of AD. The researchers' studies concentrated on a key brain regulatory enzyme called Cdk5. Elevated levels of Cdk5 had been found in the brains of AD patients, as well as elevated levels of a regulatory protein called p25 that is known to hyperactiva...Gene linked with precursor to visual loss
...the increased risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) largely or entirely through its impact on the development of a precursor of advanced AMD called soft drusen (small yellowish, extracellular deposits of lipid, protein and cellular debris in the back of the eye), according to a multinational tea...Lost neurons affect energy balance
... Allison Wanting Xu et al. reveal that progressive degeneration of two types of hypothalamic neurons affects energy balance associated with aging. Located in the hypothalamus, the two types of neurons that regulate fat buildup, or adiposity, contain proopiomelanocortin (Pomc) and agouti-related protein (Agrp) ...Study links progressive aphasia syndrome to prion gene
...otemporal dementia because of the pattern of brain degeneration it causes. The primary symptoms of the disease are problems speaking or understanding speech, and these problems gradually get worse over time. People with PPA also may develop difficulty with math. Most other functions remain normal for at least ...Breakdown of myelin insulation in brain's wiring implicated in childhood developmental disorders
...on of a novel model of human brain development and degeneration pioneered by a UCLA neuroscientist identifies disr... of a lifelong trajectory of brain development and degeneration embraces the human brain as a high-speed Internet rather than a computer," Bartzokis said. "The spee...Disease-causing protein protects against nerve damage in Parkinson's disease
... their first three weeks, then undergo rapid nerve degeneration and die at one to four months of age. When mutant...alpha-synuclein undergo a slowly progressing nerve degeneration resembling Parkinson's. The researchers bred mice lacking CSP with mice with excessive human synucle...Combination therapy for mouse model of human inherited blindness
...oreceptor cells in the retina, extremely premature degeneration of these cells, or when the cells lack essential metabolic ingredients necessary for vision. In a subset of these diseases, it is known that the retina stops functioning due to loss of the lecithin retinol acyl-transferase enzyme (LRAT). LRAT is requ...JCI table of contents October 1, 2005
...LIGHT IN MACULAR DEGENERATION Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the main cause of blindness in patients over the age of 60. In these AMD patients, choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is the most common cause of visual loss. The earliest clinically visible abnormality in AMD are extracellular deposits, cal......g one in every 3,500 individuals, in which retinal degeneration leads to blindness or severe vision loss. Among the outward signs and symptoms are loss of peripheral vision, night blindness, and abnormal results from an electroretinogram (ERG), a test that measures the electrical activity and function of the ret...