Popular Articles

Depression May Increase Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease In People With Memory Problems
People with memory problems who are depressed are more likely to develop Alzheimer"s disease compared to people who are not depressed, according to a study published in the June 16, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. However, the research also shows that the popular Alzheimer"s drug donepezil may delay the progression to Alzheimer"s disease for depressed people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or memory problems.

Seattle Genetics To Present SGN-35 And Lintuzumab Clinical Data At The European Hematology Association Congress
Seattle Genetics, Inc. (Nasdaq:SGEN) announced that data from a phase I clinical trial evaluating every three week dosing of SGN-35 and a phase I clinical trial of lintuzumab (SGN-33) will be reported at the 14th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) being held June 4-7, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. The abstracts are available from the EHA website at http://www.ehaweb.org.
News of the day
Good Males Are Bad Fathers
Contrary to predictions, males of high genetic quality are not very successful when it comes to fertilizing eggs. A new study on seed beetles by Swedish and Danish scientists Goran Arnqvist and Trine Bilde shows that when a female mates with several males, the males of low genetic quality are the most successful in fertilizing eggs. The study is published in this week"s issue of Science.
Mental Health

Alzheimer, Headache & Co.: Detecting Neurological Illnesses Better And Earlier

The rapid development of modern neuroimaging has made a decisive improvement in the diagnosis of neurological illnesses. As Professor Filippi notes: "Neuroimaging makes new diagnostic tools available with the potential to quantify the extent of CNS injury, to define the nature of the different pathological substrates of the various CNS affections and to assess the functional changes following tissue damage with the ability to limit the clinical consequences of injury." The research team of Professor Filippi is presenting a study at the ENS Congress that could contribute to better distinguishing between Alzheimer"s disease and the normal aging processes of the brain. With the help of diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI), researchers examined the white matter changes in healthy persons, in those with Alzheimer"s and in patients with cognitive impairment. Sure enough, differences appear, as the study shows: The major brain fibre bundles show diffusivity alterations which followed the trajectory normal ageing - mild cognitive impairment - Alzheimer"s disease. In another very frequently occurring disease, modern neuroimaging is also delivering important new findings: a separate study being presented at the Milan Congress compared - using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) - specific neuronal networks between healthy people and those with cluster headache. "The analysis of resting states networks reveals abnormalities of the visual and motor networks in cluster headache patients outside the acute attack," the Milan researches noted in summarizing their results. "These findings suggest a diffuse dysfunction of functional connectivity which extends beyond the antinoceptive system." Another current work of the research team shows the usefulness of modern neuroimaging for the early detection of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS is the most common adult-onset motor neuron disease with a dramatic course. The diagnosis of ALS is based on clinical criteria and no diagnostic biomarkers objectively assessing damage to the corticospinal tracts are available, making the early diagnosis especially difficult. That might change. Professor Filippi: "We were able to show with diffusion tensor MRI tractography that - compared with controls - ALS patients with mild disability have a clear damage to the corticospinal tracts." European Neurological Society


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