Researchers from the Department of Neurology at NYU Langone Medical Center identified potential benefits of a new computer application that automatically detects subtle brain lesions in MRI scans in patients with epilepsy. In a study published in th…
In a breakthrough study, scientists have found that common painkillers such as ibuprofen and naproxen may actually dissolve the brain lesions — or amyloid plaques — that are one of the definitive hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. The findings are reported in the March 31 issue of Neuroscience. Principal investigator Jorge R. Barrio, professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has used FDDNP, a new chemical marker developed in his laboratory at UCLA, to visually zero in on the brain lesions present in Alzheimer’s disease. He discovered that common over-the-counter pain medications — known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs — bind to amyloid plaques, and may help dissolve existing plaques and prevent the formation of new ones.
In older people with high blood pressure, a sharp increase in blood pressure in the morning increases the risk of stroke and is linked to brain lesions known as “silent” strokes, according to a study in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. “This study is the first to show that an excessive morning blood pressure surge is a predictor of stroke in elderly people with high blood pressure,” says lead author Kazuomi Kario, M.D., from the department of cardiology at Jichi Medical School in Tochigi, Japan.
An anti-epileptic drug may help treat symptoms of a condition that affects as many as 1 in 10 people in developing countries. In a clinical study the drug helped reduce the incidence of seizures in people whose central nervous systems have become infected with the pork tapeworm taenia solium. The condition is associated with seizures, headache, and other neurological symptoms, but of these, seizures are the most common, occurring in nearly 90 percent of all patients.