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Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Active genes found in budding mammal brain

Tue, 07/14/2009 - 03:08 by surajdogra

State College, Pa. -- U.S. scientists studying a mammal's early brain development have found evidence of a large number of genes, including those linked to neurological disorders.

The Pennsylvania State University study led by Professor Hong Ma and Associate Professor Gong Chen is the first to use high-throughput sequencing to uncover active genes in developing brains. The results, said the researchers, might lead to development of drugs or gene therapies for neurological disorders such as autism and mental retardation.

Brain scan could stop epilepsy pre-surgery

Tue, 05/19/2009 - 11:08 by Salinder Kumar

Washington -- U.S. experts said a technology being developed for use in diagnosing brain issues could eliminate costly and invasive pre-surgery for epilepsy patients.

Susumu Sato, a physician and researcher with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke within the National Institutes of Health, said epilepsy patients often must undergo a pre-surgery procedure that involves removing a portion of the patient's skull and temporarily placing electrodes on the surface of the brain to detect areas involved in producing seizures. Doctors then determine whether those parts of the brain can be removed.