weakness

Muscle-targeted gene therapy reverses rare muscular dystrophy in mice

...ses, all of which are characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal muscles which control movement. The Muscular Dystrophy Association and Genzyme Corporation supported the research. Several forms of Pompe disease affect more than 5,000 people in the U.S. If symptoms appear during i...

Brain-mapping technique aids understanding of sleep, wakefulness

...ve daytime sleepiness and experience sudden muscle weakness called cataplexy. Because orexin-producing neurons play such a key role in regulating sleep, determining how they are connected to other neurons in the brain is an important step toward understanding how and why we sleep. Mapping the neurons to whi...

Ancient immune defense mechanism is no match for HIV-1

...dentification of what might be a long sought after weakness in the virus may have application for rational design of future anti-HIV-1 therapies. The study is published in the May issue of Immunity. RNA silencing is a type of natural immune defense in which sequence-specific RNA degradation follows the recog...

Immune system's distress signal tells bacteria when to strike back

...erms such as Pseudomonas are always "probing for a weakness in the host and are ready and willing to strike whenever they find one." He and his colleagues, however, are testing an alternative theory: that "bacteria are perfectly content in their niche until signals from the host ?usually during stress, such a...

Diabetic nerve therapy shows 'striking' results

...thy that can cause numbness and sometimes pain and weakness in the hands, arms, feet and legs. Currently, patients are treated with painkillers and antidepressants that do not treat the underlying nerve damage. Progression to amputation is not inevitable but is always a threat. Problems may also occur in ot...

Attacks of King George III's madness linked to key metabolism molecule

...e, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, constipation, weakness in the limbs, and psychiatric symptoms such as confusion, fits and hallucinations. Earlier this year, the British journal Lancet published a report saying that a test of strands of George III's hair contained arsenic, which can provoke porphyria att...

Can't serve an ace? Could be muscle fatigue

... could reduce skills and cause injuries and muscle weakness during sport because the brain does not consider the extra effort required for movement, Monash University researchers have found. Professor Uwe Proske, from Monash's Department of Physiology, found when muscles were weakened from overuse or fatigue...

No small feat: First ever gene therapy success for muscular dystrophy achieved

...rized by progressive and severe muscle wasting and weakness first noticed soon after birth. No effective treatments exist and children usually die quite young. Despite gene therapy being among the most vigorously studied approaches for muscular dystrophy, it has been beset with uniquely difficult hurdles. Th...

Gene therapy reverses genetic mutation responsible for heart failure in muscular dystrophy

...own as delta-sarcoglycan lead to severe damage and weakness to muscles, particularly around the hips and shoul...oglycan gene defect have severe muscle wasting and weakness and significantly shortened lifespans due to cardiac and respiratory failure. After injecting a ver...

Bones from blood: Scientists aim to break new ground on fractures

...ronment and define potential barriers and areas of weakness in their use. They will consider questions such as safety and standards, commercial viability, potential investment, consensus amongst scientists and clinical distribution. Dr Stephen Holland and Professor Tom Baldwin, of the Department of Philosoph...

Trial success for diabetic nerve therapy

...thy that can cause numbness and sometimes pain and weakness in the hands, arms, feet and legs. Progression to amputation is not inevitable, but it is always a threat. Problems may also occur in other organs, including the heart, kidneys, sex organs, eyes and digestive tract. "Diabetic neuropathy is a major...

Survivors of childhood polio do well decades later as they age

...parts, but rather experience only modest increased weakness which may be commensurate with normal aging. "Ot...leted questionnaires about symptoms of progressive weakness at the beginning and end of the study period. Though the majority complained of progressive weakness...

Taking the wrinkles out of motoneuronal disease

...ly debilitating disorders which lead toprogressive weakness and wasting of muscles. Many of the diseases are incurable. Dr Meunier is developing botox to selectively deliver drugs to motoneurons to directly treatmotorneuron diseases. "I first became interested in investigating neurotoxins because they are f...

'Smart' genetic therapy helps the body to heal itself

...neurons in the spinal cord patients develop muscle weakness and atrophy of the legs, arms and trunk. In patients with SMA the survival motor neuron genes (SMN1) is deleted, but they all carry a copy gene (SMN2). However, this only produces about 10% of the correct protein; insufficient to prevent the disea...

Highly concentrated botulinum preparation for cosmetic injections can result in severe illness

...tients eventually reported symptoms of progressive weakness and cranial neuropathies (abnormality of the nerves that control a number of functions, including movement of the facial muscles and swallowing), with two patients experiencing shortness of breath. The researchers report the patients may have rece...

Patients can report statins' adverse effects on new web site

...se effects, nearly 60% of patients reported muscle weakness or fatigue, and about half reported cognitive problems. "We believe it is important to understand the full spectrum of effects, both beneficial and adverse," said Golomb. "Our work is geared toward expanding knowledge of the impact of statins in o...

Experimental cancer drugs counter muscle deterioration seen in muscular dystrophy

Muscle weakness and fiber deterioration seen in muscular dystrophy... 30 genetic diseases, characterized by progressive weakness and deterioration of skeletal muscles. All are inherited, caused by a mutation in one of a group of ...

Stroke symptoms common among general population

...mbness on one side of the body; 5.8 percent sudden weakness on one side of the body; 4.6 percent sudden vision loss in one or both eyes; 2.7 percent sudden loss of the ability to understand what others were saying; and 3.8 percent suddenly could not express themselves in speech or writing. African American...

Moonlighting enzyme linked to neurodegenerative disease

...is devastating. Symptoms are mild at first: muscle weakness in the arms and legs, vision impairment and slurred speech, but eventually the symptoms progress and most patients become wheelchair-bound and succumb to heart failure later in life. There is no cure at this time, but Mayo Clinic researchers have ide...

Key found to kill cystic fibrosis superbug

...ions. The team of researchers has identified a weakness in the armour that protects the B. cenocepacia bacterium from the effects of antibiotics. They hypothesize that preventing the synthesis of a key sugar required for this armour, 4-amino-4-deoxy-L-arabinose (Ara4N), may lead to a susceptibility within...

Cancer researchers add spice to research against rare neuromuscular disease

... from the spine to certain muscles, causing muscle weakness and wasting throughout body. Symptoms typically include difficulty speaking and swallowing, and weakness in the arms and legs. Patients are often diagnosed in their 30s and 40s, and while most live a norma...

Scientists unveil piece of HIV protein that may be key to AIDS vaccine development

...he initial point of CD4 contact is a site of gp120 weakness because it is the site of recognition—called an epitope—for b12. "One of our primary goals is to develop HIV vaccines that can stimulate broadly neutralizing antibodies," says Dr. Nabel. "The structure of this gp120 epitope, and its susceptibility...

Robotic therapy helps restore hand use after stroke

...WARD). Each patient had at least moderate residual weakness and reduced function of the right hand, although the affected hands were neither totally paralyzed nor unable to feel. Seven women and six men who had suffered a stroke at least three months prior participated in the pilot study using this robotic de...

Salk scientists hammer out a pathway that promotes muscle cell survival in mice

... engineered to lack CREB and suffering from muscle weakness as a result. "We’ve discovered that SIK1 provides a completely unexpected link between two important mechanisms of gene regulation, CREB and HDAC, and have shown that this pathway plays a major role in maintaining normal muscle function," sai...