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NEWS:
Blocking Toxic-Protein Production In ALS
Patients with ALS frequently have a string of repeated DNA code in the cells of their brain, carrying hundreds to thousands of copies within the gene C9orf72. New research looks at what triggers these repeated sequences to eventually produce the toxic proteins that are associated with ALS, frontotemporal dementia, and other neurodegenerative diseases in patients carrying the C9orf72 mutation, the most common cause of inherited ALS. The work finds that neuronal excitation and stress trigger the protein production in cells, and reveals that targeting this stress response with a known drug could reduce toxic protein production.
“Understanding what triggers toxic proteins production helped us hone in on drugs that could block them in laboratory tests,” said co-senior author Aaron Haeusler, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience within the Vickie & Jack Farber Institute for Neuroscience an
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Blood Test Detects Alzheimer’s Damage Before Symptoms
A simple blood test reliably detects signs of brain damage in people on the path to developing Alzheimer’s disease – even before they show signs of confusion and memory loss, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Germany.
The findings, published Jan. 21 in Nature Medicine, may one day be applied to quickly and inexpensively identify brain damage in people with not just Alzheimer’s disease but other neurodegenerative conditions such as multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury or stroke.
“This is something that would be easy to incorporate into a screening test in a neurology clinic,” said Brian Gordon, PhD, an assistant professor of radiology at Washington University’s Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology and an author on the study. “We validated it in people with Alzheimer’s disease b
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MEDITECH Enhances Mobility For Nurses With Expanse Point Of Care
MEDITECH's Expanse Point of Care software, the company's latest web-based, mobile technology for nurses and therapists to provide the best and most efficient patient-facing care, has been implemented at King's Daughters Medical Center (Brookhaven, MS).
Accessible via a smartphone or a handheld mobile device, Expanse Point of Care features an optimized user interface for the company's Expanse Patient Care and Patient Safety solution. It has all the functionality needed to view charts, document, and provide safe medication administration at the patient's bedside on a small, unobtrusive device, giving the patient and provider more face-to-face time.
Expanse Point of Care allows nurses to work efficiently by using modern technology that fits into their workflow, removing burdensome desktop technology like WOWs and clunky peripheral devices that create a barrier between the patient and the
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Protecting Oligodendrocytes May Reduce The Impact Of Multiple Sclerosis
A small molecule, Sephin1, may be able to significantly delay harm to nerve cells caused by multiple sclerosis, a disabling immune-mediated disease that damages nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord.
These nerve fibers are wrapped in a sheath of fatty tissue called myelin, which acts as a protective blanket, like insulation around an electrical wire. The myelin sheath enables electrical impulses to flow along a nerve with speed and accuracy.
This protective sheath is produced and maintained by highly specialized cells called oligodendrocytes. When these cells are damaged by MS, however, the myelin sheath degenerates and nerve impulses slow down or stop. Damage to the sheath can cause the underlying nerve fiber to die.
In the journal Brain, a team based at the University of Chicago show that treating mice suffering from a mouse model of MS with Sephin1 (selective inhibitor of a hol
