Ever since scientists first elucidated the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathology and loss of nerve cells in Alzheimer's disease, drug companies have been working to develop drugs which will inhibit the outbreak of this severe form...

The Debiopharm Group (Debiopharm), a global independent biopharmaceutical development company specialising in oncology and serious medical conditions, today announced that it received European orphan drug designation from the Commission of...

Sachiko Murase and Ronald D. McKay Neurotrophins are being explored as potential neuroprotective agents in Parkinson's disease (PD). This week, Murase and McKay explore a possible role for fibroblast growth factor 20 (FGF-20) in the surviv...

Jon T. Sakata and Michael S. Brainard We have something in common with birds when it comes to how we communicate. Both species rely on hearing the sounds they produce to learn and maintain accurate vocalization, a built-in quality-control...

Laura Taylor, Leonard Jones, Mark H. Tuszynski, and Armin Blesch Neurotrophic factors can stimulate the growth of axons after spinal cord injury. For example, when genetically modified cells expressing the neurotrophin NT-3 are grafted int...

Kristen M. S. O'Connell, Annah S. Rolig, Jennifer D. Whitesell, and Michael M. Tamkun Voltage-gated ion channels have to be in just the right spots for proper neuronal function. This week, O'Connell et al. examined the mechanisms governing...

Researchers have found a possible way to protect people with multiple sclerosis (MS) from severe long-term disability: increase nervous-system levels of a vital compound, called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), by giving its chemic...

Perceived facial similarity of children is effectively an estimate of the probability that two children are close genetic relatives according to a study recently published in Journal of Vision , an online, free access publication of th...

In three independent studies, researchers have deepened our understanding of the remarkable ability of some specialized areas of the brain to activate both in response to one's own actions and in response to sensory cues (such as sight...

A drug commonly used to treat severe acne can lead to depressive behaviour in mice, according to research published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology . Since the drug's introduction in the early 1980s there have been controversial rep...