Category Health/Medical

Supplementary motor area (SMA) in music-visualization and motor tasks.

Researchers were looking at fMRI brain scans of professional ballet dancers to measure the long-term effects of learning. “We wanted to study how the brain gets activated with long-term rehearsal of complex dance motor sequences,” says Professor Joseph DeSouza, who studies and supports people with Parkinson’s disease. “The study outcome will help with understanding motor learning and developing effective treatments to rehabilitate the damaged or diseased brain.”

METHOD: 11 dancers (19-50 years of age) from the National Ballet of Canada were asked to visualize dance movements to music, while undergoing fMRI scanning...

Copper, zinc superoxide dismutase is essential to life, but when damaged can become toxic. Credit: Photo courtesy of Oregon State University

OSU researchers have announced that they have essentially stopped the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, for nearly 2 years in one type of mouse model used to study the disease – allowing the mice to approach their normal lifespan. In decades of work, no treatment can do anything but prolong human survival less than a month in ALS. This mouse model is one that may more closely resemble the human reaction to this treatment, using copper-ATSM. Researchers are moving as quickly as possible toward human clinical trials, testing first for safety and then efficacy.

ALS is known to be caused by the death and deterior...

Correction of RPGR mutation in patient iPSC line.

CUMC and Uni of Iowa scientists have used CRISPR, to repair a genetic mutation responsible for retinitis pigmentosa (RP), an inherited condition that causes the retina to degrade and leads to blindness in at least 1.5 million cases worldwide. It marks the first time researchers have replaced a defective gene associated with a sensory disease in stem cells that were derived from a patient’s tissue.

“Our vision is to develop a personalized approach to treating eye disease,” says A/Prof Stephen Tsang, MD, PhD. “We still have some way to go, but we believe that the first therapeutic use of CRISPR will be to treat an eye disease. Here we have demonstrated that the initial steps are feasible...

Highlights •TMLHE controls the neural stem cell (NSC) pool in the embryonic mouse neocortex •CPT1A and fatty acid mobilization from lipid droplets regulate the NSC pool •TMLHE deficiencies lead to increased symmetric differentiating division of NSCs •NSC defects under TMLHE deficiencies can be rescued by exogenous carnitine

Besides folic acid, another prenatal supplement could protect against a certain type of autism, according to research: carnitine. It is required for transport of fatty acids into mitochondria – that converts these fats into energy...