Implications for language development, autism, epilepsy
Researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have found that a gene already implicated in human speech disorders and epilepsy is also needed for vocalizations and synapse formation in mice. The finding, they say, adds to scientific understanding of how language develops, as well as the way synapses — the connections among brain cells that enable us to think — are formed.
Discovery may shed light on brain disease, development of regenerative therapies
Understanding how aggrecan controls the formation of brain circuits could help scientists understand how to repair the injured brain or spinal cord after injury or disease.
Discovery from Case Western Reserve, Cleveland Clinic researchers may spare patients from disappointing results
About one-third of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy do not respond to medical treatment and opt to do lobectomies to alleviate their symptoms. Yet the surgery’s success rate is only 60 to 70 percent because of the difficulties in identifying the diseased brain tissue prior to the procedures.
Rutgers scientists also find strong evidence of a genetic connection in areas of social skills and repetitive behaviors
New research by scientists at Rutgers University and The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio, reveals that there is a genetic link connecting family members with autism like Lorenzo Miodus-Santini to those like his brother, Christian, who have specific language impairment characterized by speech and language difficulties that can’t be explained by cognitive or physical problems.
Researchers found that giving subjects a treatment to temporarily rid the body of antibodies provides the virus safe passage to targeted cells
Scientists in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have found a way to overcome one of the biggest obstacles to using viruses to deliver therapeutic genes: how to keep the immune system from neutralizing the virus before it can deliver its genetic payload.