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) -- About five years ago, Professor Janet Sawicki at the Lankenau Institute in Pennsylvania read an article about nanoparticles developed by MIT's Robert Langer for gene therapy, the insertion of genes into living cells for the treatment of disease. Sawicki was working on treating ovarian cancer by delivering -- through viruses -- the gene for the diphtheria toxin, which kills tumor cells. http://www.physorg.com/news176720244.html Nanotechnology Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:58:32 EST news176720244 Inflammatory response of brain cells -as indicated by a molecular imaging technique -could tell researchers more about why certain neurologic disorders, such as migraine headaches and psychosis in schizophrenic patients, occur and provide insight into how to best treat them, according to two studies published in the November issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news176119933.html Medicine & Health Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:12:48 EST news176119933 Deep brain stimulation may be a safe and effective treatment for Tourette syndrome, according to research published in the October 27, 2009, print issue of Neurology. http://www.physorg.com/news175885169.html Medicine & Health Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:40:02 EST news175885169 Many wheelchair-using children with neurological disorders have much colder hands and feet than other children, and most receive no special help even though they have had these problems for a long time, is revealed in at thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. http://www.physorg.com/news175177435.html Medicine & Health Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:25:03 EST news175177435 Research has previously assumed that animals and plants developed different genetic programs for cell death. Now an international constellation of research teams, including one at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, has shown that parts of the genetic programs that determine programmed cell death in plants and animals are actually evolutionarily related and moreover function in a similar way. The findings were published in Nature Cell Biology October 11. http://www.physorg.com/news174665603.html Biology Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:20:03 EST news174665603 In the second in a six part series on treating mental health problems in resource-poor settings, Caroline Mbuba and Charles Newton (Centre for Geographic Medicine Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kilifi, Kenya) discuss "packages of care" for treating epilepsy. http://www.physorg.com/news174633609.html Medicine & Health Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:20:41 EST news174633609 The blood brain barrier is generally considered an obstacle to delivering therapies from the bloodstream to the brain. However, University of Iowa researchers have discovered a way to turn the blood vessels surrounding brain cells into a production and delivery system for getting therapeutic molecules directly into brain cells. http://www.physorg.com/news172762279.html Medicine & Health Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:32:13 EST news172762279 Researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida and their collaborators worldwide have discovered that a single gene promotes development of essential tremor in some patients and Parkinson's disease in others. These are two common but distinct neurological disorders. Notably, patients with essential tremor shake when they move, and Parkinson's disease patients shake when they are at rest. http://www.physorg.com/news171044532.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:22:36 EST news171044532 In the brain, many types of synaptic proteins are spatio-temporally regulated to maintain synaptic activity at a constant level. Here, the Japanese research group led by Professor Masaki Fukata, Drs. Yuko Fukata and Jun Noritake in National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Japan, found that two types of palmitoylating enzymes finely-tune the location and function of a major synaptic protein, PSD-95, in different ways. They also found that this mechanism contributes to keeping synaptic activity stable when synaptic activity dynamically changes. http://www.physorg.com/news166714374.html Biology Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:33:38 EST news166714374 Researchers in human genetics have long known that expansions of GAA repeats - resulting in this nucleotide triplet repeating hundreds or thousands of times - cause the most common hereditary neurological disorder known as Friedreich's ataxia. There is no cure for this condition, which damages the nervous system and can result in heart disease. http://www.physorg.com/news166360897.html Biology Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:50:01 EST news166360897 Medical problems contributed to nearly two-thirds (62.1 percent) of all bankruptcies in 2007, according to a study in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine that will be published online Thursday. The data were collected prior to the current economic downturn and hence likely understate the current burden of financial suffering. Between 2001 and 2007, the proportion of all bankruptcies attributable to medical problems rose by 49.6 percent. The authors' previous 2001 findings have been widely cited by policy leaders, including President Obama. http://www.physorg.com/news163318959.html Medicine & Health Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:23:39 EST news163318959 A team of neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has demonstrated the mechanism by which a signaling protein found throughout the brain controls the maturation and strength of excitatory synapses, the tiny gaps across which the majority of neurons communicate. http://www.physorg.com/news163077382.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:16:54 EST news163077382 Sensory ataxic neuropathy (SAN) is a recently identified neurological disorder in Golden Retriever dogs with onset during puppyhood. Affected dogs move in an uncoordinated manner and have sensory deficits. Researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala University and the Karolinska Institutet have now revealed that SAN is caused by a mutation in mitochondrial DNA. The study is published May 29 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics. http://www.physorg.com/news162796974.html Medicine & Health Fri, 29 May 2009 06:23:39 EST news162796974 Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health have identified a gene associated with narcolepsy, a disorder that causes disabling daytime sleepiness, sleep attacks, irresistible bouts of sleep that can strike at any time, and disturbed sleep at night. The gene has a known role in the immune system, which strongly suggests that autoimmunity, in which the immune system turns against the body's own tissues, plays an important role in the disorder. http://www.physorg.com/news160592892.html Medicine & Health Sun, 03 May 2009 18:08:51 EST news160592892 Proteins go everywhere in the cell and do all sorts of work, but a fundamental question has eluded biologists: How do the proteins know where to go? http://www.physorg.com/news159559306.html Medicine & Health Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:02:31 EST news159559306 Researchers from the University of Southern California have taken an important first step toward protecting against Huntington disease using gene therapy. http://www.physorg.com/news159461715.html Chemistry Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:55:41 EST news159461715 A new study has identified a potential strategy for removing the abnormal protein that causes Huntington's disease (HD) from brain cells, which could slow the progression of the devastating neurological disorder. In the April 3 issue of Cell, a team of researchers from the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MGH-MIND) describes how an alteration to the mutated form of the huntingtin protein appears to accelerate its breakdown and removal through normal cellular processes. http://www.physorg.com/news157895508.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:52:15 EST news157895508 Injections with a new type of botulinum toxin appears to be well tolerated and may help to improve the appearance of moderate to severe forehead lines with no evidence of diminishing treatment response over 13 months, according to a report in the March/April issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://www.physorg.com/news156449859.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:18:12 EST news156449859 More than a year after developing a unique neurological disorder, the affected pork processing plant workers have improved, but all have some continuing symptoms and many have ongoing mild pain, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 61st Annual Meeting in Seattle, April 25 to May 2, 2009. http://www.physorg.com/news154721268.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:08:32 EST news154721268 Using injections of a small derivate of the protein insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), scientists at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have successfully treated a mouse model of the devastating neurological disorder Rett syndrome. http://www.physorg.com/news153423648.html Medicine & Health Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:41:36 EST news153423648 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