Tag: Neurodegenerative-Diseases
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Role of calcium in Parkinson’s disease
The international team, led by the University of Cambridge found that excess levels of calcium in brain cells may lead to the formation of toxic clusters that are the hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. Their research found that calcium can mediate the interaction between small membranous structures inside nerve endings, which are important for neuronal signalling…
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Protein Wnt5a is important in sustaining adult neuron structure in mice hippocampus
Humans and other vertebrates depend on a portion of the brain called the hippocampus for learning, memory and their sense of location. Nerve cell structures in the adult hippocampus are sustained by factors whose identities have remained largely mysterious so far. Now, research led by a Johns Hopkins University biologist Dr. Kuruvilla sheds light on…
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Squalamine shows promise as potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease in lab studies
A naturally-occurring compound has been found to block a molecular process thought to underlie Parkinson’s Disease and to suppress its toxic products, scientists have reported. The findings, although only preliminary, suggest that the compound, called squalamine, could be exploited in various ways as the basis of a potential treatment for Parkinson’s Disease. Credit: Geralt/pixabay The…
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Concussion and Alzheimer’s disease link
New research has found concussions accelerate Alzheimer’s disease-related brain atrophy and cognitive decline in people who are at genetic risk for the condition. The findings, which appear in the journal Brain, show promise for detecting the influence of concussion on neurodegeneration. Brain. Ashton University Moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury is one of the strongest environmental risk…
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Early detection of Alzheimer’s disease using tau protein biomarker in platelets
Researchers have pioneered the technology that detects pathological oligomeric forms of brain tau protein levels in platelets to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. More importantly, the ratio between this anomalous tau and the normal tau protein can discriminate Alzheimer’s disease patients from normal controls, and are associated with decreased cognitive impairment. This…
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NeuroVascular Unit on a chip created to mimic functions of Blood-brain barrier
The blood-brain barrier is a network of specialized cells that surrounds the arteries and veins within the brain. It forms a unique gateway that both provides brain cells with the nutrients they require and protects them from potentially harmful compounds. This is an illustration of the neurovascular unit on a chip.Credit: Dominic Doyle, Vanderbilt University An…
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Computer models to analyze Huntington disease pathology
Rice University scientists have uncovered new details about how a repeating nucleotide sequence in the gene for a mutant protein may trigger Huntington’s and other neurological diseases. Researchers used computer models to analyze proteins suspected of misfolding and forming plaques in the brains of patients with neurological diseases. Their simulations confirmed experimental results by other…
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Research finds role of Messenger RNA in Huntington’s disease patholgy
A research effort at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain, reveals new molecular mechanisms of Huntington’s disease. The results, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, question the approaches used up to now for treatment of the disease. They also point to messenger RNA as a key pathogenic component that will make it…
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Research finds that disruption of mitochondria-associated membrane in neurons as a possible pathological basis for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
A schematic illustration for MAM disruption in ALS. IP3R3, a MAM specific Ca2+ channel (an orange arrow, left), was mislocalized from the MAM in the ALS model mice (white arrow heads, right). Credit: Koji Yamanaka laboratory Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an adult onset, fetal neurodegenerative disease that selectively affects motor neurons. To date, more…
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