http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- In his own words, MIT neuroscientist Mark Bear admits he did not "wake up one day and say 'Hey, I'm going to cure autism.'" But, after decades of painstaking basic research on how the brain rewires itself in response to external cues, Bear has discovered a way to reverse the symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome, a disorder that can cause autism, mental retardation and epilepsy. http://www.physorg.com/news176455642.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:28:09 EST news176455642 NIH-supported scientists at Seaside Therapeutics in Cambridge, Mass., are beginning a clinical trial of a potential medication designed to correct a central neurochemical defect underlying Fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability. There has to date been no medication that could alter the disorder's neurologic abnormalities. The study will evaluate safety, tolerability, and optimal dosage in healthy volunteers. http://www.physorg.com/news176387082.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:25:42 EST news176387082 The heritable Fragile X tremor/ataxia syndrome is a common neurodegenerative disease. It is assumed to result from a relative lack of the protein Pur-alpha. A new study by a German team under the leadership of Dr. Dierk Niessing of the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and the Gene Center at Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universitaet in Munich provides important insights into the structure and function of this protein, which may lead to the development of a therapy. http://www.physorg.com/news175516941.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:43:14 EST news175516941 Growth factors. They are the proteins that trigger a countless number of actions in cells. Drugs that increase or decrease certain growth factors have lead to treatments for cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Georgetown University Medical Center researchers say a new understanding of a growth factor implicated in some mental retardation disorders could lead to a novel treatment. http://www.physorg.com/news175276262.html Medicine & Health Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:00:02 EST news175276262 With more than 1,500 eyes, not much escapes the fruit fly's sight. Now, a new research report in the journal Genetics, describes how researchers from the United States and Ireland used those eyes to "see" new proteins necessary for memory. In addition to shedding light on this critical neurological process, the study also provides information on a form of mental retardation in humans. http://www.physorg.com/news170345536.html Medicine & Health Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:15:07 EST news170345536 (PhysOrg.com) -- Chemists at the University at Buffalo have used rational drug design to synthesize small, cell-permeable molecules that are effective in vitro against two common types of myotonic muscular dystrophy, a result that has implications for potentially curing muscular dystrophy, as well as other diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news168876812.html Chemistry Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:30:01 EST news168876812 (PhysOrg.com) -- The weak tendons and fragile bones characteristic of osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, stem from a genetic mutation that causes the incorrect substitution of a single amino acid in the chain of thousands of amino acids making up a collagen molecule, the basic building block of bone and tendon. http://www.physorg.com/news168618876.html Medicine & Health Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:35:50 EST news168618876 Researchers from the University of California, Davis have developed a specific and quantitative means of measuring levels of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) protein (FMRP), which is mutated in fragile X syndrome. The related report by Iwahashi et al, "A quantitative ELISA assay for the fragile X mental retardation 1 protein," appears in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. http://www.physorg.com/news165038363.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:10:01 EST news165038363 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have shed light on how a protein implicated in cognitive disorders maintains and regulates brain cell structures that are key to learning and memory. http://www.physorg.com/news160755604.html Medicine & Health Tue, 05 May 2009 15:21:10 EST news160755604 Molecules that selectively interfere with protein production can stop human cells from making the abnormal molecules that cause Huntington's disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. http://www.physorg.com/news160591718.html Biology Sun, 03 May 2009 18:04:49 EST news160591718 A Brown University research team has discovered something in the brain that could serve as a target for future autism and mental retardation treatments. http://www.physorg.com/news152994663.html Medicine & Health Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:31:46 EST news152994663 (PhysOrg.com) -- A cure for debilitating genetic diseases such as Huntington`s disease, Friedreich`s ataxia and Fragile X syndrome is a step closer to reality, thanks to a recent scientific breakthrough. http://www.physorg.com/news151662099.html Medicine & Health Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:22:08 EST news151662099 Researchers have long known that some repetitive DNA sequences can make human chromosomes "fragile," i.e. appearing constricted or even broken during cell divisions. Scientists at Tufts University have found that one such DNA repeat not only stalls the cell's replication process but also thwarts the cell's capacity to repair and restart it. The researchers focused on this CGG repeat because it is associated with hereditary neurological disorders such as fragile X syndrome and FRAXE mental impairment. http://www.physorg.com/news150905205.html Biology Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:06:45 EST news150905205 A pilot trial of an oral drug therapy called fenobam has shown promising initial results and could be a potential new treatment option for adult patients with Fragile X syndrome (FXS). Findings of the open label, single-dose study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center and the University of California, Davis, Medical Center are to be published in the upcoming January issue of the Journal of Medical Genetics. http://www.physorg.com/news150543311.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:35:11 EST news150543311 Parents of children with intellectual disabilities have long been frustrated by intelligence quotient (IQ) testing that tells them little to nothing about the long-term learning potential of their children. http://www.physorg.com/news148642082.html Medicine & Health Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:28:02 EST news148642082 A UC Riverside-led team of biomedical scientists has found that a readily available drug called minocycline, used widely to treat acne and skin infections, can be used to treat Fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of mental impairment and the most common cause of autism. http://www.physorg.com/news142249702.html Medicine & Health Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:48:22 EST news142249702 Lack of both the fragile X syndrome gene and one that is related could account for sleep problems associated with the disorder, which is the common cause of inherited mental impairment, said a consortium of researchers led by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Their findings appear in a report in the current issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics. http://www.physorg.com/news133701927.html Medicine & Health Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:25:27 EST news133701927