The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Xadago (safinamide) tablets as an add-on treatment for patients with Parkinson’s disease who are currently taking levodopa/carbidopa and experiencing “off” episodes. An “off” episode is a time when a patient’s medications are not working well, causing an increase in Parkinson’s symptoms, such as tremor and difficulty walking....
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Unexpected new lung function discovered: Making blood
Our bodies still hold plenty of secrets, and scientists have just uncovered a doozy: the lungs play a key role in producing blood. Until now, this task was ascribed solely to bone marrow, but studies on mice at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) have found that, surprisingly, the majority of the body’s platelets...
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Scientists have figured out how to stop our bodies from fighting electronic implants
An employee of Digiwell shows a RFID-Chip which can be engrafted in a person’s hand at the CeBIT trade fair, the world’s biggest computer and software fair, in Hannover March 13, 2016. We may dream of one day becoming cyborgs, with RFID chips implanted in our hands or bionic eyes, but the human body won’t necessarily cooperate. Implantable...
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Would YOU choose to live forever? Age-reversing pill that Nasa wants to give to astronauts on Mars will begin human trials within six months
Scientists have discovered a key signalling process in DNA repair They have used this process in the development of a drug to reverse ageing Trials on mice found that the pill repaired DNA damage after a week Nasa wants the new technology to protect its astronauts from solar radiation Scientists have made a discovery that...
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New multiple sclerosis drug, backed by 40 years of research, could halt disease
An MRI scan of a person with multiple sclerosis shows bright spots, which are MS plaques. A newly approved drug that is the first to reflect the current scientific understanding of multiple sclerosis (MS) – is holding new hope for the hundreds of thousands Americans living with the disease. It also highlights the importance...
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MicroRNA treatment restores nerve insulation, limb function in mice with multiple sclerosis
The restored presence of proteins indicating myelin reformation (shown in red) in the lumbar spinal cord of a mouse treated with miR-219 mimic after injury to its central nervous system. Researchers report March 27 in Developmental Cell …more Scientists partially re-insulated ravaged nerves in mouse models of multiple sclerosis (MS) and restored limb mobility by...
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Improving memory with magnets
Researchers gave 17 individuals auditory memory tasks that required them to recognize a pattern of tones when it was reversed, while being recorded on MEG and EEG. Credit: Philippe Albouy The ability to remember sounds, and manipulate them in our minds, is incredibly important to our daily lives—without it we would not be able to...
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Ever wondered how your mouth moves to make different sounds? Try this strange voice simulator to find out
The ‘Pink Trombone’ app lets users manually change the shape of the mouth Moving the lips, tongue and oral cavity creates different sounds It simulates the physical form and movements of the human vocal tract Ever wondered how you made your first word? This nifty app could show you how. An odd dismembered mouth called ‘Pink...
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Cracking the brain’s genetic code to prevent neurological and psychiatric diseases
The network will provide data from 800 scientists and the brain diseases they study, which are represented on this map in different colors. An international network of neurologists, geneticists and researchers led by the Keck School of Medicine of USC is cracking the human genetic code so that one day people could check their...
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Could nasal insulin be an effective therapy for Alzheimer’s?
Can insulin, the hormone used for nearly a century to treat diabetes, improve cognition, memory and daily function in people with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease? Rush University Medical Center is testing this innovative potential treatment as part of a new nationwide study. Neurologists at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center...