Nerve in Medical News

One step closer to an artificial nerve cell

Scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet and Linkping University are well on the way to creating the first artificial nerve cell that can communicate specifically with nerve cells in the body using neurotransmitters. The technology has been published in an article in Nat...

High Blood Fats Tied to Diabetic Nerve Loss

Triglycerides better predictor of neuropathy than blood glucose levels, study suggests THURSDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- Diabetes patients with elevated levels of triglyceride fats are at increased risk of developing a serious complication called neuropathy -- the loss or damage of ...

Preoperative MR may assist surgeons in nerve sparing during robotic prostatectomy

Preoperative MR can help surgeons limit nerve damage while performing a robotic assisted laparascopic prostatectomy (RALP)saving some men from becoming impotent, according to a study performed at the University of California, Los Angeles, CA. Preoperative MR was used to evaluate 38 neurovascul...

Lab-grown nerves promote nerve regeneration after injury

PHILADELPHIA Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have engineered transplantable living nerve tissue that encourages and guides regeneration in an animal model. Results were published this month in Tissue Engineering . About 300,000 Americans suffer peripheral nerv...

Turning down gene expression promotes nerve cell maintenance

February 2, 2009, Cambridge, UK Anyone with a sweet tooth knows that too much of a good thing can lead to negative consequences. The same can be said about the signals that help maintain nerve cells, as demonstrated in a new study of myelin, a protein key to efficient neuronal transmission. ...

Weizmann Institute scientists create working artificial nerve networks

Scientists have already hooked brains directly to computers by means of metal electrodes, in the hope of both measuring what goes on inside the brain and eventually healing conditions such as blindness or epilepsy. In the future, the interface between brain and artificial system might be based on ...

Older Drug Effective in Treating Pediatric Nerve Cancer

Low, short-term doses of DFMO helps prevent disease spread, study finds TUESDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -- An anti-cancer drug shelved because it was thought to be too toxic may be effective in small doses against a devastating pediatric cancer, a new study found. In tests on an...

Scientists reveal structure of new botulism nerve toxin subtype

UPTON, NY Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have determined the atomic-level structure of a third subtype of botulinum neurotoxin a deadly toxin produced by certain bacteria that causes the disease botulism, and is also used in cosmetic and therap...

LSUHSC's England leads development of new testing guidelines for common nerve disorder

John D. England, MD, Professor and Chairman of Neurology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, is the principal investigator of two studies recommending new testing guidelines for neuropathy a common degenerative nerve disorder that to this time had few evidence-based sta...

Prostate Cancer Stimulates Nerve Growth

And this phenomenon is tied to more aggressive disease, researchers say WEDNESDAY, Dec. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Prostate cancer can promote the growth of new nerves that are associated with more aggressive tumors, U.S. researchers report. It's been shown that prostate cancer follows t...

AxoGen Awarded Accreditation from American Association of Tissue Banks : Decision Affirms AxoGen's Commitment to Safety and Ethicality in the Development and Distribution of AVANCE Nerve Graft for Treatment of Peripheral Nerve Injuries

AxoGen, Inc., a leader in the development of treatment options for the repair of peripheral nerve injuries, announced today that the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) has awarded them the prestigious AATB accreditation. This accreditation affirms that AxoGen meets or exceeds all AATB sa...

Spinal Cord Stem Cells May Act as Nerve Repair System

Grown in lab, then returned to body, they could lead to nonsurgical treatments TUESDAY, July 22 (HealthDay News) -- Adult stem cells that may prove valuable in efforts to develop nonsurgical treatments for spinal cord injuries have been identified by researchers in the United States an...

Breakthrough "Neuro Nutrition" Targets the Brain and Vagus Nerve To Boost the Body's Immune, Hormone and Neurological Systems

The Vagus Nerve is the body's most powerful anti-inflammatory system, controlling digestion, detoxification, glucose metabolism as well as immune reciprocity. A new class of "polar lipids" can now nourish the cell membranes of neurons for unprecedented results in fighting the ravag...

The APCs of nerve cell function

BOSTON (June 16, 2008) Rapid information processing in the nervous system requires synapses, specialized contact sites between nerve cells and their targets. One particular synapse type, cholinergic, uses the chemical transmitter acetylcholine to communicate between nerve cells. Cholinergic synap...

Finding clues for nerve cell repair

A new study at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University identifies a key mechanism for the normal development of motor nerve cells (motor neurons) - cells that control muscles. This finding is crucial to understanding and treating a range of conditions involving nerve cell loss or ...

BioForm Medical Acquires Facial Aesthetic Nerve Ablation Technology

Technology designed to selectively weaken specific muscles may provide an attractive alternative treatment for frown lines SAN MATEO, Calif., April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BioForm Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq: BFRM ) announced that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of pr...

Beaumont Sees Results in Nation's 1st Urinary Nerve Rewiring Surgeries for Spina Bifida Patients

ROYAL OAK, Mich., April 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Seven children from across the United States are gaining bladder control through a revolutionary, first-in-the-nation nerve rerouting surgery for patients with spina bifida. The surgeries were conducted in 2007 at Beaumont Hospital in Royal...

Blood vessels: The pied piper for growing nerve cells

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that blood vessels in the head can guide growing facial nerve cells with blood pressure controlling proteins. The findings, which suggest that blood vessels throughout the body might have the same power of persuasion over many nerves, are published this...

Leaky blood vessels open up nerve cells to toxic assault in Lou Gehrig's disease

Leaky blood vessels that lose their ability to protect the spinal cord from toxins may play a role in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrigs disease, according to research published in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience. The results mark the fir...

Post brain injury: New nerve cells originate from neural stem cells

Most cells in the human brain are not nerve cells, but supporting cells (glial cells). They serve as a framework for nerve cells and play an important role in the wound reaction that occurs with injuries to the brain. However, what these reactive glial cells in the brains of mice and men originate...

Model found to determine cause, possible treatment of nerve tumors

CINCINNATI A multi-institutional study led by researchers at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center has led to new insights and a model to help unravel the cause of fibrous, non-cancerous nerve tumors called neurofibromas, which can lead to disfigurement and in rare cases death by compressi...

Transplanted Bone Marrow Cells Aid Nerve Regeneration

Japanese research with stem cells could be a step in developing artificial neurons THURSDAY, Dec. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Transplanted bone marrow cells containing adult stem cells can help regenerate damaged nerves, say Japanese researchers. The Kyoto University School of Medicine team said ...

Neurotransmitters in biopolymers stimulate nerve regeneration

Research reported December 11 in the journal Advanced Materials describes a potentially promising strategy for encouraging the regeneration of damaged central nervous system cells known as neurons. The technique would use a biodegradable polymer containing a chemical group that mimics the neur...

Bone marrow cell transplants help nerve regeneration

Tampa, Fla. (December 4, 2007) A study carried out by researchers at the Kyoto University School of Medicine and published in the current issue of CELL TRANSPLANTATION (Vol.16 No. 8) has shown that when transplanted bone marrow cells (BMCs) containing adult stem cells are protected by a 15mm sili...

Jefferson oncologists show focused radiation is effective as surgery against nerve tumor

(PHILADELPHIA) Specifically aimed, stereotactic radiation may be as good as surgery and in some cases, even better in treating benign but potentially devastating brain tumors called non-acoustic schwannomas, according to a study by rradiation oncologists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jef...

Antibody Helps Repair MS Nerve Damage

Promising results in mice need to be repeated in humans, experts say WEDNESDAY, Oct. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they've made new strides in harnessing the body's natural ability to reverse nerve damage wrought by multiple sclerosis. According to the U.S. team, a single l...

Cell-surface sugar defects may trigger nerve damage in multiple sclerosis patients

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 20, 2007 Defects on cell-surface sugars may promote the short-term inflammation and long-term neurodegeneration that occurs in the central nervous system of multiple sclerosis patients, according to University of California, Irvine researchers. The findings also suggest t...

Consumer Reports' Analysis: Drugs for Nerve Pain, Fibromyalgia Effective, But Not Always Best

Caution Urged In Use of Anticonvulsants, Especially When Prescribed 'Off-Label' WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Some anticonvulsant drugs are effective in treating bipolar disorder, fibromyalgia, and various kinds of pain, but the widely prescribed drugs are not always the bes...

MRI scans can predict effects of MS flare-ups on optic nerve

St. Louis, Dec. 16, 2008 One of the most pernicious aspects of multiple sclerosis (MS) its sheer unpredictability may finally be starting to yield to advanced medical imaging techniques. Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report online in the journal Neur...

Study Revises Dynamin's Role in Nerve Cell Function

An unexpected finding on how nerve cells signal to one another could rewrite the textbooks on neuroscience, says a collaborative team of researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and Yale University. Their study, published as a high-profile research article in the journal Science, sugge...

Nanomedicine Gives the Way for Nerve Cell Regeneration

researchers describe the use of nanotechnology to enhance the regeneration of nerve cells. In the first method, developed at the University of Miami , researchers show how magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) may be used to create mechanical tension that stimulates the growth and elongation of axons of th...

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Linked to Nerve Damage

People with inflammatory bowel disease may also be at risk for developing nerve damage and other neurological problems, according to a research. // Inflammatory bowel disease includes digestive disorders such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease that cause swelling and/or bleeding in the ...

Electronic Nerve Stimulator Enables Walking

Sooner or later, it seems, most everything imagined in science fiction comes true. // From flying in space to talking on a telephone without wires, today's science increasingly resembles yesterday's fiction. And that's becoming more and more true in medicine. For those of us at the AAAS meet...

Cyberkinetics Requests FDA to Sell Nerve Growth Stimulation System

Cyberkinetics, Inc, winner of the Medgadget "Most Sci-Fi Sounding Company Name" Award, has asked the FDA for permission to market// their Andara OFS nerve growth stimulation system. According to Cyberkinetics, “Cyberkinetics' Andara? OFS? System consists of a battery-powered device about the ...

Erectile Dysfunction After Prostate Cancer Surgery can Be Remedied With Nerve Grafts

New York – Some men who become impotent after prostate cancer surgery may find reprieve from this problem with implants of nerve grafts into the penis,// which assists in restoring the lost erectile function, according to a new report by researchers. These findings came to light after a study...

New Nerve Cells From Brain

A latest research suggests that human brain can continuously produce fresh cells. This finding could go a long way in the treatment of diseases like Alzheimer’s.// This research was undertaken by a team from University of Auckland, New Zealand and the Sahlgrenska Academy in Sweden. Stem cells r...

Marijuana Relieves HIV Nerve Pain

Smoking marijuana effectively relieves chronic HIV-associated nerve pain, including aching, painful numbness, and burning//, according to a study. For the study, 50 people with HIV-associated sensory neuropathy, the most common HIV nerve disorder, were admitted to a California hospital and r...

Vagus Nerve and Diabetes

A research team has found that communication between the liver and the brain through a branch of the vagus nerve is responsible for inducing diabetes and hypertension.// Interrupting nerve signals to the liver can prevent diabetes and hypertension in mice, according to scientists at Washingto...

How Ion Channels are Organized to Control Nerve Cell Communication?

The messages passed in a neuronal network can target something like 100 billion nerve cells in the brain alone. //These, in turn communicate with millions of other cells and organs in the body. How, then, do whole cascades of events trigger responses that are highly specific, quick and precisely ti...

Electrical Activity Alters Language Used By Nerve Cells

University of California, San Diego biologists have shown that the chemical language with which neurons communicate depends on the pattern //of electrical activity in the developing nervous system. The findings suggest that modification of nerve activity could have potential as a treatment for a wi...